A compassionate police community support officer has surprised a 107-year-old woman on her special day.
PCSO Chris Jones visited Silverwood Care Home, Beeston on Wednesday (10 December) to gift Olive Sanderson with flowers and hundreds of birthday cards collected from the community.
Last year, the care home received 356 birthday cards for Olive’s 106th birthday. This year, after an appeal on Facebook and a little help from PCSO Jones, Olive received a total of 450 birthday cards.
Olive, who was born in 1918, is originally from South Leicestershire and moved to Beeston around 30 years ago.
She grew up working on her family’s farm, and went on to become a landlady, running not one but two pubs, where she honed her love of good company and conversation.
The grand total of birthday cards also included a card from the King and Queen which PCSO Jones was invited to present and open with Olive.
He said:
“To have the opportunity for me to open the King and Queen’s card and give it to her was phenomenal.
“I think the care home staff are grateful for what we managed to achieve this year, and it was their way of saying thank you.”
PCSOs play a vital role in community policing. Through engagement with local care homes and schools, police community support officers, like PCSO Jones, serve as a familiar face in the community.
He added:
“It’s really important that we get out to these places and engage with our local communities to build that rapport with people.
“We want to make sure people know who we are and to keep everyone safe.
“We’re community-based policing and we’re here to help people.”
