Hook Home Help has been helping with decluttering. Any sort of tidying is hard to start but so rewarding when it is done. It can be helpful to have some company to help get things started and to have someone to help with the decisions of what to keep - and also someone to take away the heavy bags to the charity shops.

This summer my son has done an accidental garden makeover. Last summer when I suggested that he could help out with some gardening, he looked a bit scared and said he didn't know the difference between a weed and a plant! But as last summer's job was weeding a client's block paving, he couldn't get it wrong! If it was green it had to go.

His confidence grew. He learnt how to paint fences by practicing on mine and then took on this fence. While he was there some other jobs were found for him. Under careful instruction from the client he cleared brambles and weeds, cut down climbing plants and harvested rhubarb. Bit by bit the garden was cleared and compost put down.

Then the planting began. A look of panic spread across his face. He said quietly, "How do I know where to plant them?".

Well there are X fence panels and Y plants - you're the one with the maths A level 😂

Happy that there was a mathematical solution to the problem he set about planting the many plants that we had got from the garden centre.

While he does the garden, I make cups of tea, fold laundry, iron clothes, clean the kitchen, do some decluttering, run things up and down stairs and do what I can to make the inside more comfortable while he works on the outside.

Imagine a world where age doesn't limit your ability to enjoy life's simple pleasures. That's exactly the reality Hook Home Help is creating in the village of Hook. Our latest adventure? A touching story of companionship, independence, and a very energetic dog!

When a local family reached out to us, unsure if we could help, we were eager to assist. Their loved one, a vibrant individual with a lifetime of adventures, needed some support to continue enjoying their daily dog walks through the picturesque fields of Hook.

Putting my son to work in the summer holidays and getting a client's fence painted. When he'd done the fence we got him going up ladders installing new smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. With him in charge of maintenance I could get on with the day to day household tasks. In a short space of time, working together, we made this client's home a bit nicer and a bit safer both inside and out

Today Hook Home Help helped to make someone's birthday a bit more special than usual. Someone who is housebound and isolated. I organised a visit from an old friend and we had tea and homemade cake with candles. When someone phoned she told them she couldn't chat because she was having a birthday party

In today's visit I changed a bed, did some cleaning and heard about how my client had left school at 14 in 1941 and gone to build planes somewhere near Reading. I heard about how he cycled 12 miles to get there and the spotlights shining around as he frantically pedalled home. He told me about the places that he knew which were bombed and how he remembers the local pillboxes being built. He told me how he went on to be an electrician, installing the wires in some homes that had never had electrcity before. I love hearing the stories of people's lives, the things that they have seen and sharing their experiences. We lost track of time as he shared his special memories, then as I left he gave me an Easter egg! What a special afternoon with a very special gentleman

Hook Home Help is excited to now have a real gardener on the team! Up till now we've been happy to do basic weeding and tidying but now we have someone who knows more about plants than I ever imagined there was to know.

He understands how to keep plants happy and healthy, what should go where and why, and is also a lovely gentle person who I've known for years.

He is happy to help in any way and ended up fixing a sink as well as a garden on Monday! He repairs garden furniture, has installed a gate to keep my crazy cats under control and has the patience of a saint.

Contact me if your garden needs a helping hand

Hook Home Help has come a long way in a year. This time last year I was launching the business and looking for new clients. Over the past 12 months I have met so many wonderful people whose stories have become part of my story. Now it is time to expand the team.

Over the past year I have heard about long lives well lived. I have shed tears with people as they shared their losses, and have laughed until I cried on other occasions

Hook Home Help often helps with basic cleaning or specific things that are hard to reach or hard to get to. To be honest changing a double duvet is a bit of a task for even the fittest of us but as we get older these things get harder and I am happy to “help with the tricky things” as one client says.

In this case the tricky things are usually changing the beds, and cleaning floors for someone who finds it hard to kneel down but is fiercely independent and proud to be coping on their own in every other way. I love being able to support this independence while ensuring that the house stays clean and safe.

What does Hook Home Help do? Last week, I popped in to see an older gentleman and cleaned two bathrooms and the kitchen floor, had a cup of tea and discussed the conflict in Gaza, the cabinet reshuffle, the last few prime ministers and the ethical issues around sending refugees to Rwanda. The conversation ended in the war in Yemen. "Yemen" was the only word that he couldn't remember, aged 94! Luckily he had an ancient globe to hand which helped us to find it.

Every client is different and you never know where the conversation might lead, but it rarely lands in Yemen! I am looking forward to the next instalment already

This day was all about raking. Raking is not usually a life changing activity but I have one client who lives in a bungalow surrounded by grass that gets quite long before it gets cut by the housing association. The cut grass is left to dry and drift about in the wind. This probably wouldn’t usually be a problem but she finds that if she leaves either front or back door open, the grass drifts in and for someone with mobility issues, this can be hard to sort out and makes the difference between being able to open the doors for some fresh air and interaction with the neighbours, or not.

So one sunny day I set to work to clear up all the grass so that it wouldn’t happen again. It was harder work than I thought but during the time I was out there I met several neighbours who all stopped for a chat, and it was rewarding to see the difference it made.

My lady who lives here has been very hesitant to leave the house since the onset of Covid and rarely ventures out but she came out to talk to me while I raked. She stood in the sunshine for the first time in ages and was delighted with what I had done and what it would mean to her.

Today was decluttering and cleaning in preparation for some home improvements. It can be hard to know where to start. Sometimes we don't see the things that are in front of us and think that because they have been there for some time, they always have to be there. A new person can be helpful just to ask, "Do you often use that?", and one by one things become more manageable.

Then the space becomes more manageable and more easy to clean. A clean and tidy environment can be beneficial to our mental and physical health. Today was an important step towards that.

"Thank you for listening to me yesterday and for the work you did. So motivating and what a joy to come down to a clean and tidy kitchen this morning."

I am finding that these are the two things that many people need. Firstly someone to genuinely listen to their troubles. Secondly, some emotional and practical support and a plan to make things manageable.

They need someone who will listen non judgementally to what has happened without trying to minimise the issues or offer advice. It can be an important part of moving on to be able to acknowledge the stress that has happened or the pain that they are in.

It is very hard to ask for help for anyone of any age. I try to handle this as delicately as possible in every situation. I try to assess the most pressing needs, the support they have already and how I can help.

Then I ask, "What can I do for you today that would help most?".