Becky joined Kemble 13 years ago and worked for the first 10 years with us before moving to London. When she returned to Hereford she picked up where she had left off. She is full of praise for all the office staff, who she mentioned helped her personally through a challenging time. “The training is thorough and very professional; nothing is too silly a question and there is great support.” She finds the work she does incredibly rewarding and is planning on spending the next 11 years continuing to work for Kemble as a carer before she retires.
“I absolutely love being a carer. I don’t need to be praised by my manager, I see the smile on my clients’ face and that is enough for me…it’s lovely!”
One of the ways that Becky shows she cares is by treating the people she is supporting like members of her family. She enjoys walking to some of their homes and particularly enjoys seeing them eating her home cooked meals. “I enjoy making meals from scratch and they love it!”
Becky first became interested in care while working in a residential home and knew she wanted to stay in the care industry so went on to get her NVQ 3 in Health and Social Care and was drawn to domiciliary care because she liked being with people in their own homes. As a military wife, Becky was often on her own. She had the support of her mum when her children were little, and was able to fit in the work around bringing them up. She has enjoyed being able to work flexibly around her family life. She is a proud mum to her two boys.
It is clear that Becky likes taking new carers under her wing, contacting them and being available to help whenever they want is very much part of her nature. She takes her clients’ well and truly under her wing too and together with a few other carers saw one of her client’s husband on a monthly basis, since his wife died over 5 years ago.
“He asked me to take his wife’s ashes to Everest Base Camp in 2017.”
Not shy of putting herself forward for an incredible challenge (Becky was quick to point out that the morning after a big night out she was surprised when her husband told her she’d agreed to climb to Everest Base Camp!) Becky signed up with 29 other military wives, having never before done anything like it. She trained hard and between them they raised an incredible £120,000 for two different charities. “The day before we were due to come back the weather turned really bad and we had to get helicoptered out. It was scary!” She had significant altitude sickness and called her husband and mum to say that was her checking out…she didn’t think she would make it out alive. Thankfully she lives to tell the tale and the legacy of the largest women’s group to reach Base Camp lives on, the money they raised helped to build a house for CAN (Community Action Nepal) a charity set up by Doug Scott. I asked Becky if she would like to visit again, she laughed; “not to go to Base Camp, but to visit the house and see how that is getting on”
Becky and her husband have recently enjoyed growing vegetables on their newly acquired allotment, with loads of courgettes, bell peppers and beans. She is looking forward to a role reversal and coming home to home cooked food and all and washing and housework done as her husband goes into retirement.
It was a pleasure to chat with Becky and it struck me that here is a courageous, caring and kind hearted woman, who has conquered some impressive challenges and continues to give back to those around her. Thank you Becky, we are lucky to have you in our Kemble team.
