Meet our Lavender Fields Family…
Chris Mitchell - Chairman
As Chairman of the company, Chris graduated in 2015 with a degree (not bad for a 56 year old at the time!) in Dementia Studies from Bradford University, the leading light in research and training into the physical and psychological effects of the debilitating and progressive condition.
Being candid, he did not of course do this degree to improve his CV, but because he saw it as his duty and responsibility to understand issues facing many of his residents, their loved ones and his staff every single day.
In typical Chris style, he says he has done enough talking on the web site elsewhere, and so we should move onto the rest of the team!
Anthony Mitchell - Managing Director
Anthony is a very safe pair of hands for the role of Managing Director at Lavender Fields. He has gained enormous experience in all aspects of care to augment his previous career in Healthcare Information Technology. He gained a university degree in Business Computing, before taking up positions at two of the leading technology companies, EMIS, followed by Accenture, both of whom specialise in healthcare technology. With several years of industry experience under his belt, he decided to join the family business in 2006. In his position as IT Director, he was able to bring the very latest technology to both the care side of the business and of course the accounting side. However, wishing to gain extensive knowledge of all sides of the business, he embarked on a journey of numerous care courses, including delivery of care relating to dementia, including Dementia Care Mapping with his fellow Directors a few years ago.
Anthony is enormously busy at the care village as we move closer towards the care home opening day early in early 2024, and recently commented, “To finally see this long-held vision coming to fruition really is a dream come true. To be at the helm of our family company, putting into practice the vision my father had a decade ago makes me prouder than words could possibly say.”
Chris Lane- Commercial Director
Chris’ titles would stretch right across the page, were we to list everything he ‘Excels’ in! A chartered accountant by profession, working in both accountancy practices and then later in industry, unlike any other accountant we have ever known, he busies himself on all aspects of care delivery. He is the guy responsible for overseeing the entire financial operations of the company, which allows us to make quick financial decisions on all aspect of the business. However, he spends much of his time in dialogue with the managers, supporting them on all aspect of daily care, ensuring correct staffing levels, equipment and environment are catered for at all times. Not an easy task. Lavender Fields has given him another thing to pour all over to make sure we get it right! He says, “I cannot believe that this was all conceived nearly a decade ago and now here we are! It really is the culmination of all we have learnt that is great about the sector, all within one community!”
Leigh Lockwood - Community Manager
A warm welcome to Leigh, the lady who is the ‘go to’ person for everything Lavender!
A highly experienced insurance underwriter by profession, she joined the estate agency sector over twenty years ago and is pretty much an encyclopaedia of knowledge about the local housing market. There seems to be hardly a property locally that she has not bought or sold on behalf of clients over the years.
Indeed, she loved what we are doing at Lavender Fields so much that she decided to join us! As such, she has been the first port of call for R M English, our bungalow selling agents, but with most of them now sold, she has blossomed out into our overall Community Manager, although most living here would agree she was also this from the start! She is everyone’s ‘go to’ Mum! If you want anything doing, ask Leigh! This has become our mantra and we are so lucky to have her in the team.
Leigh told us: “When I came on site and became immersed into this dream of a location, it was beyond exciting to contemplate being involved. Now, over two years on, I cannot believe the speed with which it has all come together. To have sold nearly all the bungalows before the care home even opens has been beyond my wildest expectations and I would say to anyone looking to purchase, you should move quickly now! The New Year is going to be manic for sure with the care home opening, but I relish every single minute of it. Come and join the Lavender Fields Family.”
Andrew Shepherd - HR and Health and Safety Director
Andrew gained a law degree and worked extensively for the Crown Prosecution Service in West Yorkshire prior to joining us. We approached him about a change of career path and I think it is true to say that neither side have regretted it. His deep examination of the legal aspects of running care homes in an ever complex world, where health and safety issues, the Mental Capacity Act and numerous other critical issues are at the fore, have proved vital in delivering the correct decisions for us. He combines all of this with running our Human Resources team, overseeing the joining and leaving side of the company which is never an easy path to walk down … and of course he relishes this new challenge. He commented, “I cannot believe we are here at last! I remember Chris telling me about his ideas when we first talked and although it was a planning ‘long shot’ due to the issues surrounding such an amazing location, he and indeed we, got there in the end! Massively exciting!”
Leanne Hatch - Care Manager – a tribute from the Chairman!
As the construction of the care home nears completion early in the New Year, our thoughts turn now to the fusion of it and the current close care facilities. Our stated mission behind the dream I had a decade ago, was that those in their more senior years should only need to decide once about where they wanted to spend the rest of their lives. Moving home is traumatic at any age, but even more so as we get older. Therefore, Lavender Fields was created to offer those living here peace of mind, knowing that in the vast majority of cases, we will be able to offer them tender loving care, supported by our background and long proven track record in Care.
Our close care bungalows provide care for those living largely independently, but with one-to-one support as and when needed. In other words, independence when they crave it, but help when needed. This is their choice.
The care home provides care for those whose needs have surpassed the practical considerations and restraints of care within their own home. However, both facilities, when fused together into one holistic care environment, surely provide the best of both worlds.
With this in mind, I wanted to choose a Head of Care from within our organisation that would be able to drive both of these areas forward together. I wanted someone who I could trust implicitly with such a massive responsibility, but I also wanted someone who had worked with us for a long time and knew the standards we require.
Leanne Hatch has been with us for over fifteen years, starting as a care assistant, before moving to senior carer, then to head of shift, assistant manager, and then eventually manager of one of our care homes. Care is very closely monitored these days by numerous regulatory bodies, as of course it should be. In the last few years, however, a new British Standard (BS8606) has been created by an independent regulator of great importance within the sector. At the time of writing, they have performed over 2,000 inspections under that standard, at care homes up and down the country. Out of all these inspections, very few certificates have ever been awarded. Not only was Leanne’s former home the first to receive the award, it was also the first to retain it at their next inspection and the one after that!
More than this though, I am confident that anyone who comes into contact with her – however regularly, and in whatever capacity – will be left with that warm glow of knowing that she will always ensure that people here are looked after. I trust her completely and have awarded her the prize role of running Lavender Fields care operations of what is personally my flagship location. I cannot speak more highly than this. Her standards are impeccable, and she has already made great strides in overseeing the close care we’ve offered for the last twelve months. I am supremely confident that Leanne is the best choice to take us forward in relation to all the care we offer here and am equally confident that everybody else will feel the same way.
Chris Mitchell
Chairman
December 2023
Emma Dixon - Finance Director
Emma is the Finance Director of our wider care home interests in the North of England and now we are delighted to announce that the Lavender Fields Care Village site also falls within her remit. She joined us as a fully qualified Chartered Accountant back in 2006 and has been with us throughout our journey in care to the present day. It was a great decision we made back then! Her commitment to the cause, perennially putting in very long hours to meet accounting deadlines set upon us by the powers that be and our various banking teams, is not an easy task, but she rises to the task with alacrity and good humour! Clearly, numbers were always her first love!
Emma heads up an extensive accounting team at our HQ, but regularly makes trips around the homes in order to fully understand the human side behind the numbers, something she sees as a vital part of her work. She has also nurtured a close knit team at HQ that work equally hard for her and are ambitious in their own right, thus ensuring total commitment from all members of our accounting division, vital to the smooth running of every organisation. Emma says: “We started acquiring care homes in late 2005 and so to have joined in early 2006 puts me pretty much there at the start of this journey. Much is said about the family angle at Lavender Fields and I can say that this extends way beyond there. We are a very close knit ownership team within Lavender and the wider care home group and we all believe that this holistic approach to care has served us well. The care of residents is THE biggest thing in our working lives and my role is to ensure a smooth financing function that enables Directors to make the right decisions in a timely manner, thus ensuring that the right funds get into the right care hands at the right time. I am so proud of all we have achieved together over the years and Lavender Fields has to be the most exciting chapter yet!”