Horncastle area care home’s appeal to gather 105 cards for Frank’s big birthday bash

Frank Pocklington mark his amazing milestone on April 13 and Debbie Storey, manager of The Grove residential care home in West Ashby, has vowed to make it a day to remember.

She said: “Frank has no surviving family that we know of. He was married twice but has no children and no living relatives, so we are trying to make his birthday as special as we can because we are literally his family.

"I would like people to send in birthday cards so we can get to a total of 10. So far we have about 30 at the moment.”

Frank has lived in Horncastle all his life, apart from his time as a telecommunications engineer with the Army in the war and moved to the care home in 2016.

Debbie explained that he was a well known local photographer and has hundreds of images of life in the area from 1950 to 1955, which were saved for future interest in an online archive by photographer Paul Scott when the reels of film were destined for the bin. See https://www.flickr.com/photos/alansaxman/collections/72157625898703486/

The home has a big day planned for Frank’s birthday including a visit from the popular therapy ponies followed by his favourite fish and chip lunch. Then it is armchair exercise with a mobility coach, followed by a singer and rounded off with a dance routine.

"It will be a full day,” said Debbie.

Any birthday cards can be sent to: The Grove care home, Main Street, West Ashby, LN9 5PT.