BelongLife
BelongLife
BelongLife
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An interview with...<br />
“I love my work and it’s<br />
a bonus to get paid.”<br />
Forget the Olympics and Diamond Jubilee, 2012<br />
marks a special anniversary for one of Belong’s<br />
General Managers, Gill Menguy. In January, she<br />
completed 25 years of service for the CLS group,<br />
and talks to Belong Life about her experiences.<br />
On the 5th January, Gill Menguy was sitting in the Bistro at<br />
Belong Wigan happily getting on with a staff meeting when she<br />
was asked to rush upstairs to see a brick that had, apparently,<br />
just been put through a window. “It was just an excuse to get me<br />
upstairs,” laughs Gill. “I walked into the venue and was greeted<br />
with a bouquet of flowers, a group of Belong staff and nine of<br />
our longstanding residents.”<br />
Gill has spent the last two and a half decades climbing the care<br />
career ladder, and launched Belong Wigan three years ago. For<br />
her, Wigan is where it all began too, as in 1986 she started as a<br />
Care Assistant in the old CLS care home, which stood on the site.<br />
She spills the beans on her career:<br />
What attracted you to the care sector?<br />
My mum managed a care home for young adults and in those<br />
days you lived on site and so I’ve grown up with it. Although I<br />
enjoyed the work then, I wanted to move into older people’s<br />
care because I never had a grandmother figure, and have a lot<br />
of respect for what older people have experienced. I love my<br />
work and it’s a bonus to get paid.<br />
Gill Menguy<br />
Gill on site during the building of Belong Wigan<br />
What do you find the most<br />
challenging?<br />
Treating people as individuals in a large<br />
environment was difficult, so I’m pleased<br />
that Belong has different, smaller<br />
households to support older people in.<br />
Funding is also very challenging.<br />
What are you most proud of?<br />
I didn’t leave school with the best<br />
qualifications, so I’m glad I’ve<br />
completed those while on the road to<br />
becoming a manager. I’m also happy<br />
with how I’m developing my staff, I<br />
think because I worked through from<br />
care assistant, I can honestly say to my<br />
team ‘I’ve been there and done it.’<br />
What is the secret to your success?<br />
Liking what you do, and wanting to do the best for older<br />
people.<br />
What piece of advice would you give someone starting out<br />
in the sector?<br />
Look at small, homely environments that offer personalised care.<br />
Push and develop yourself, but get a work and life balance.<br />
When you aren’t at work, what do you enjoy doing?<br />
Looking after my grandchildren and spending time with my<br />
husband. This year is our silver wedding anniversary! Locally, I<br />
go to Bingo! It’s great, I don’t have to think and I can have a<br />
good catch up with my friends.<br />
News from...<br />
Belong Atherton manager scoops<br />
first prize within months of opening<br />
Julie Washington, General Manager at Belong Atherton,<br />
has been distinguished for a national award, taking home<br />
the title:<br />
‘Most outstanding community village manager’<br />
at the prestigious UK Over 50s Housing Awards 2011, presented<br />
last week in Westminster, London.<br />
“Running a village with such a wide range of services is certainly<br />
a challenge,” says Julie, “but it’s one we had been working up<br />
to for years. It’s fabulous to finally be in the new building, with<br />
a great team of staff working together, and all there to serve<br />
members of the community and provide high quality support<br />
for the older people of Greater Manchester.”<br />
The Over 50s Housing Awards, now in their third year, are run by<br />
the Over 50s Housing Weekly News, a leading business journal<br />
in the care home and retirement village sector in the UK.<br />
“The most notable trend,” said editor of the title, Mr. Esmonde<br />
Crawley, “is the emergence of new entrants to the sector taking<br />
out the major awards.”<br />
“Standards in the UK have risen dramatically in the past three<br />
years, and the UK now leads the world in some key areas,” he<br />
said, adding that: “Judging is against the prevailing international<br />
standards and not just a UK measurement.”<br />
Belong Life Spring 2012<br />
Describe yourself in three words.<br />
Friendly, approachable, caring.<br />
Gill pictured during a visit from the<br />
Elisabeth Svendsen Trust<br />
Belong Atherton<br />
Julie Washington, General Manager<br />
at Belong Atherton, awarded ‘Most<br />
outstanding community village<br />
manager’<br />
Gill with Rex the guard dog<br />
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