Residents Honour Remembrance Day

In the lead-up to Remembrance Day, our residents here at Tŷ Llandaff very proudly decorated the home as a mark of respect to those who have fought in the great wars and this included their very own hand-made poppies and wreaths that were created by residents in our recent arts & crafts sessions.

We have several service men and women here at our care home in Cardiff, so to honour them and all those who fought for our nation, we invited them to share their stories with us.

Philip Mears, aged 96

"What does remembrance Sunday mean to you?"

“To me it means we must remember all the brave souls who fell in the war, fighting for us and our country and doing their duty.”

"Did anyone in your family fight in WW1?"

“My uncle on my father's side was from Exeter. He joined up despite being underage. He sailed from Plymouth eventually landing in France. Whilst in France he was shot and hit 3 times by a sniper. He lay in a crater caused by an exploded shell. He lay there wounded for 2 days before finally being rescued and brought home to recover."

"What are your strongest memories of the Second World War?"

My most vivid memory is of when the blitz hit Canton and Leckwith- woods were ablaze lighting up the night sky. I was 12 and a girl next door knocked on my door to tell me my school was alight. I opened the door to run down there and saw an unexploded incendiary bomb lying in the street. The flames from the school were visible above the rooftops and the firemen were already there with hoses all over the street. We still went to school the following day despite most of the building being raised to the ground. Other children and I would play amongst the burnt classrooms. At home, I have a photograph of my friends and me, in the charred school hall standing next to a molten mess of metal that the day before had been our brand-new school organ."

Arthur Llewellyn Thomas, aged 93 years

"What does Armistice Day mean to you?"

"It means a great deal to me, I was in the army. It is a day we do not forget our soldiers and we remember what they went through."

"What memories do you have of growing up in the war?"

I was 9 or 10 years old. I remember we had to carry our gas masks everywhere with us. One of my most vivid memories is being rushed into the shelter, we saw German planes overhead, I saw the doors open and I saw the bombs fall from the plane… We ran to the shelter and as we turned to shut the door we saw the bombs hit Ely cemetery.”

Joan Cunningham, aged 99

"What are your Memories of WW2?"

"I joined the RAF during WW2 at 17 and a half years old. I was a driver and one of my strongest memories of the war was how I was tasked with driving the ambulance that collected injured soldiers from the airport and transported them to the hospital".

Ruth Harldorsen, aged 95 years

"What does Armistice Day mean to you?"

"It’s a very important day where every 12 months we remember the tragedies of the war."

"Did anyone in your family play a part in WW1?"

"My father had been to fight in France in WWI. He was lucky to come back."

"What memories do you have of growing up in WW2?"

I was 14 and a half years old when the war broke out. My mum told me I had to leave school and get a job so I worked in a shop that sold medicines for extra money. I remember when we first got an air raid shelter. When the air raid sirens would go off we would grab sandwiches so we had something to eat while we were in the shelter as we could be there for a long time. I lived in Liverpool so the sirens would sound a lot as we got hit by a lot of bombs in Liverpool."

At Tŷ Llandaff Care Home, it is important to us that we take the time to learn all about our residents and acknowledge their lives, including careers, memories, and achievements. We do all that we can to recognise them through activities and events and celebrate them. We are proud of taking a person-centered approach to both the personal and medical support that we provid to our residents.