Meet the Team
| There’s always a warm welcome at Pendine Park. We are passionate about providing the best care and are very proud of our staff, they are our biggest asset. They provide the highest standard of care and expertise in a friendly and personal way. There is great continuity of employment here with many of the team having been with us for a long time and in some cases other family members come to work with us too – which all adds to the family feel! Working with Mario and Gill and the care practitioners and nursing staff is a strong team who ensure that everyone feels happy they have chosen Pendine Park. Find out more about us by clicking on Meet the Team. You can also meet some of our residents in Meet our Residents. Read about our team members below: |
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Mario Kreft Proprietor Mario was motivated to set up Pendine Park so he could ensure his Grandparents had the best possible care. Twenty three years later he is still constantly striving to develop the care services Pendine Park offer. He understands how important staff are in making residents and clients happy and is passionate about workforce development. Which is why he set up an on site Teaching Care Centre and why he founded the Wales Care Awards to recognise staff across Wales. He also loves to travel, often to Italy and watch Manchester United when he can! more... |
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Gill Kreft Proprietor Creating a home-from-home atmosphere and caring for people as you would want to be cared for yourself is what drives Gill. Since setting up Pendine Park in 1985 she has remained passionate about the importance of expert staff and a comfortable, homely environment to help people feel relaxed and contented. She has an eye for interior design and works closely with our ‘soft furnishing ladies’ to develop the décor. When she is not busy working she loves walking with Suzi her beloved Samoyed and of course Mario! |
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Mildred Heyward Manager at Hillbury Mildred joined Pendine Park to manage Hillbury in 2003 after 38 years nursing at a senior level in the NHS. She loves the friendly, homely atmosphere at Pendine Park and is great at organising in-house activities such as the Fashion Shows, very popular with those residents who can’t get out to the shops and our Annual Christmas Concert at Hillbury Chapel, which gets us all in the festive spirit. When she’s not at work she still loves organising as member of a local hospice group and events organiser for The Ladies Guild. |
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Cindy Clutton Manager at Gwern Alyn Cindy has been in the caring profession for 25 years and it’s certainly in her genes. Her mum worked at Hillbury when Cindy was a teenager, so she came and helped out in her school holidays and weekends. After working in other caring roles, she came ‘home’ to Pendine Park in 2000 and now manages Gwern Alyn. It certainly is a family affair her husband Gareth is on hand as part of the busy Pendine Park Maintanence Team. |
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Veronica Smaje Manager at Penybryn Veronica has over 35 years nursing experience and been at Pendine Park for 15 years. She finds working with younger people who have brain injuries very rewarding. With staff and residents often being similar ages they talk about what they’ve been up like friends do – a great help in rehabilitation. Keeping Veronica young and giving her funny stories to tell residents are her 4 grandchildren. |
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Tracey Smith Manager Bryn Bella and Highfield Tracy has been at Pendine 8 years and loves the family feel of the business. She enjoys seeing the pleasure residents get from the outdoor parties and Pendine Park has such lovely gardens, they’re the perfect setting. She finds it very rewarding when people with complex nursing needs are able to enjoy activities and outings thanks to the high level of training, competence and ability the staff have. She says the best thing is that every day is different. |
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Ann Chapman Manager Cae Bryn Ann has been a Nurse Manager for over 20 years, with Pendine Park for 8 years and inspires confidence here at Pendine Park. She often deals with changing and difficult conditions and believes the highly expert staff and purpose built home, create a safe and happy home environment. She believes that understanding residents’ backgrounds is key to helping them lead as fulfilled lives as possible and works closely with families to help and support them. She also works on a number of research projects with leading higher education establishments and brings this leading edge thinking back to her staff. |
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Megan Simpson Admin and Accounts Manager Megan is our Admin and Accounts Manager. She came for 2 weeks 17 years ago and Mario hasn’t let her go! Everything runs so smoothly with Megan and her team being so supportive, friendly and knowledgeable. This is a great help to the families who need help to understand claims and support groups etc. She also has another very important role - looking after Suzi – Mario and Gills beloved Samoyed dog who comes to work with Mario – and is a therapy for residents who love to stroke her. |
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Sarah Edwards Click here to view the movie of Pendine Park on ITV News Wales Tonight |
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Carol Roberts Cook Carol has been with Pendine Park for over 20 years, there were 14 beds when she started, now there are 270. In May 2007, as a reward for her long service, she was treated to a well deserved weekend in London with a friend. She loves developing menus to cater for individual tastes and dietary requirements. It is the little things she does that matter so much – like baking Birthday cakes for every resident. She says it is the people that make her job great and the laughs she has with the great team! |
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Eileen and Sharon Soft Furnishings Eileen and Sharon are known as our ‘the soft furnishing ladies’. They make sure Pendine Park looks great and create the right environment for our residents. Working closely with Gill, they choose wonderful new fabrics and design individual rooms to create a homely feel. Many residents are able to personalise their room working with Eileen and Sharon to get just what they want. |
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John The Gardner John has been making the gardens at Pendine Park beautiful for over 20 years. As Pendine Park has grown, so have the gardens so he now works with Jill and Mark. He likes to see the residents enjoying their surroundings and some like to put pots out on their patios. After 20 years John generally knows what works well and get lots of compliments. Currently he is updating the sensory garden, which was planted a couple of years ago and gives a lovely aromatic sensory experience for the residents and visitors alike. |
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Joyce Williams Physiotherapy Assistant Joyce has been at Pendine Park for 7 years and is a full time technical instructor. Rehabilitation is very important at Pendine Park, which is why we have physiotherapy on site. Joyce works with a team of four physiotherapists to help individuals have greater independence and well being. She and the team can work with all residents especially those with MS, Parkinsons or who have had a stroke and gets great job satisfaction seeing people improve and gain more independence. |
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Gerry Humphreys Activities Co-ordinator Gerry joined Pendine as a care practitioner 7 years ago and became Activities Co-ordinator 4 years ago. She is passionate that just because people are living in a care home their social life shouldn’t stop. Getting ideas from residents and going through the papers every weekend to see what’s happening helps her plan future events. She says the best bit of her job is knowing that she makes person happy each day. |
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Sheila George Housekeeping Manager Sheila has been at Pendine Park for 17 years and knows the residents really well. Her responsibilities are wide varied and she and her team were delighted with the recent ISO Quality report that praised the high standard of housekeeping. He is involved early in design testing out the practicality of new flooring for example. She is often referred to fondly as the ‘Sergeant Major’ due to her military precision. |
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Dave Slawson Maintenance Manager Dave has been with Pendine Park for 16 years. With so many beds, now over 270, and the different locations around Wrexham, Dave and his team have got there work cut out. There’s always something to do, it’s like the Forth Bridge! It’s critical however that all structural and maintenance problems are sorted swiftly for us to maintain the quality of care expected. |
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