Saltcoats family’s fundraiser to keep winter care home visits going

The Hyslop clan took on different sponsored challenges to fund a replacement shelter at Caledonia Care Home in Saltcoats after the original was blown away.

Mum, gran and great-gran, Jean Hyslop, moved into the home on March 11, the day before the Caledonia went into coronavirus lockdown – 11 days before the whole country.

Daughter Jean Harbison said: “My mum was used to seeing somebody in her family everyday of her life.

“You can imagine the effect. It was three months before we had the garden visits.”

The shelter that was blown away in the wind.

Mrs Hyslop, who is 95-year-old, suffers from dementia and the separation from her loved ones was unbearable.

So when they were finally able to visit in the small outdoor shelter at the care home it helped her get back to her old self.

Jean said: “My mum has dementia so when we were first able to visit it was as though she was devastated.

“She felt as though we’d all abandoned her.

“Gradually, as we visited her, she was coming on great, and then [lockdown] happened again.”

The extended Hyslop family

But the outdoor shelter that allowed family to visit relatives at Caledonia Care Home was blown away in strong winds, meaning it was impossible for the visits to happen outdoors in the cold weather while in accordance with restrictions.

So Mrs Hyslop’s family; her two daughters Jean and Maureen, her two sons Douglas and Tom and her son-in-law Jim, cycled 40 miles from the care home to Prestwick and back to raise money to fund a permanent enclosure.

Granddaughter, Kerri ran 30 miles and family friend Katie Guinan, of Linwater Caravan Park, ran 10km to help raise the cash to purchase a more substantial structure to ensure garden visits can continue throughout the winter months.

Other families of relatives in the home were eager to make contributions to the cause, and they reached their target of £1,000 in just four hours.

Now donations have exceeded double that with it at £2,680 at time of publication.

Jean said: “It’s totally amazing, the generosity of people.

“It is something that is needed.”

Katie Guinan leaving Linwater Holiday Park for her 10k challenge.

Mrs Hyslop saw team Hyslop depart from Caledonian Care Home yesterday morning.

Jean said: “On March 11, I gave her a hug, that was the last. She hasn’t had any contact, we’ve had to sit two metres apart.

“This is a generation that came through the war and everything else, where would we be?”

Douglas after the challenge.

The family hope to fund the erection of a summer house or other permanent structure so that residents and relatives will benefit for years to come.

To make a donation to the cause here.