{"id":566447,"date":"2026-05-04T23:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/566447\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T23:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:01:12","slug":"pensioners-like-dorothy-93-pen-must-read-open-letter-for-anyone-considering-voting-for-nigel-farages-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/566447\/","title":{"rendered":"Pensioners like Dorothy, 93, pen must-read open letter for anyone considering voting for Nigel Farage’s Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

Care home residents have written an open letter to the public urging them to stop Reform this week from getting any more council seats. They said they were left ‘terrified’ after the home where they felt ‘safe’ came under threat<\/p>\n

22:17, 04 May 2026Updated 22:26, 04 May 2026<\/p>\n

\"Nigel<\/p>\n

Ex-nurse Dorothy Devereux has delivered a warning on voting for Nigel Farage’s Reform Party(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Caring Dorothy Devereux has spent 12 years living at Woodlands \u2013 where she once worked as a nurse<\/a> looking after its elderly residents.<\/p>\n

Now 93 and having become one of them herself, she told the Mirror<\/a>: \u201cThis was the obvious place to come. It is home and everything I own is here.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, she and many friends at the Clayton-le-Moors home were almost turfed out when Reform<\/a>-run Lancashire County Council last year earmarked it for closure to save money<\/a> \u2013 until a public outcry.<\/p>\n

A group of them \u2013 from 83-year-old Carmel Wickham to Ken Ormerod aged 100 \u2013 have now written an open letter, today published by the Mirror, urging voters to help stop Nigel Farage<\/a>\u2019s party winning any more council seats at Thursday\u2019s elections.<\/a><\/p>\n

SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE TO READ THE LETTER IN FULL<\/p>\n

\"Dorothy<\/p>\n

Dorothy Devereux is urging the public to help stop Reform this week<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Should the state pension triple lock be scrapped? Have your say<\/a>READ MORE: Nigel Farage’s chilling detention centres plan as Reform ‘sinks to new low’<\/a>Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n

Dorothy said: \u201cVote and speak up. You might think it doesn\u2019t count, but it does. I might have felt the same if my Reform-run council hadn\u2019t tried to force me out of my care home. But they did<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope nobody votes for Reform. I understand the need to cut costs but we are not lines on a spreadsheet. We are people who\u2019ve spent our lives caring for others and deserve dignity and stability in our final years.<\/p>\n

\u201cReform thought the elderly would be an easy target, and no-one would notice if they closed our homes, but they were wrong. We\u2019ve had so much support.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dorothy<\/p>\n

Dorothy Devereux says she feels “safe” at her care home and was left “devastated” at the thought of moving.(Image: Marie Jacquemin)<\/p>\n

Residents of Woodlands still face uncertainty. Dorothy added: \u201cWe don\u2019t know if they\u2019re going to keep their promise, privatise Woodlands or increase the fees, which I can\u2019t afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her daughter, former teacher Frances Duxbury, 68, said: \u201cThe level of stress this has caused the residents and family members has taken its toll. My mum has not been well since and this can\u2019t have helped matters\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Frances<\/p>\n

Dorothy’s daughter Frances Duxbury said the plans had taken their toll<\/p>\n

Wayne Campbell, 68, whose mum Joyce Porter, 88, lives at the home, said: \u201cWhen she moved in three years ago she was on end of life, but it changed her \u2013 she came alive again. She fell in love with the place. There\u2019s a real warm atmosphere and the staff are outstanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thought of it closing has affected her and her dementia has come on. She hasn\u2019t got a good word to say about Reform. This is good money spent on good public services. It\u2019s not wasted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to Reform at a consultation and found they were out of their depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

Woodlands care home in Clayton-Le-moors no longer faces closure to the relief of residents<\/p>\n

The council announced a review of five care homes and five day centres last October in a bid to make around \u00a34millon in savings. They were identified due to concerns around their condition, safety and viability.<\/p>\n

After protests, Reform announced they would not be closing and instead announced \u201cinvestment\u201d in them. It also emerged that Graham Dalton, a Reform councillor, co-owned a private care company.<\/p>\n

Reform won 52 of 84 Lancashire County Council seats in May 2025. In Derbyshire, a Reform-run council has announced its intention to close eight care homes following failed sale negotiations.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for campaigning organisation Avaaz said: \u201cThis is a stark warning of what Reform in power could mean.\u201d Unison\u2019s Jon Richards said: \u201cReform\u2019s only interest is in peddling easy answers, not rolling up sleeves to fix problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said: \u201cA report about the outcome of the consultation is due to go to our Cabinet later this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cMembers will then consider next steps. We will be keeping residents and their families fully informed and very much value their contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The open letter – signed by residents and their families<\/p>\n

The letter below was signed by residents and their families including Ken Ormerod, 100, Dorothy Devereux, 93, Brenda Radford, 88, Sylvia Henderson, 94, Anna Zieba, 88, Carmel Wickham, 83, Marion Wolstenholme, 93, the son of Joyce Porter, the wife of Keith Ralph and Marjorie Searling, 98.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo people across England, For many of you, the local elections on May 7 will be just another vote. For many of us, they could be our last chance to be heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re writing as elderly people living in a care home in England, together with our families, who love and support us.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of us have complex needs. But we\u2019ve also spent our lives caring for others – as parents, nurses, teachers. We believed that, in our final years, we would be cared for too.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when Reform UK took control of Lancashire county council, they proposed to close our care home, as well as four other elderly care homes, and five day care centres, in a bid to save money. Since then, we\u2019ve been terrified.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur care home is where we are known, where we feel safe, where wonderful staff understand our needs, our routines, our memories. The thought of being moved on, our care homes becoming privatised, or our local day care centres being closed, is frightening – not just for us, but for our families too. To us, this feels like a betrayal of elderly people in England.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t usually get involved in politics, and many of us have never written anything like this before. But we can not stay silent while decisions are being made that could tear us from our homes – especially when what\u2019s happening to us today could just as easily happen to you, or to the people you love most: your parents or grandparents.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, please, vote in the local elections on 7 May. Vote to protect the care and dignity of older people, who\u2019ve contributed so much to this country. Vote to stop Reform winning any more council seats – and leaving more people like us behind. The choices we make now will decide the kind of country we all grow old in. Thank you for hearing us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Care home residents have written an open letter to the public urging them to stop Reform this week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5202,59,57,58,50,49286,104249,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-566447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-care-homes","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-nursing-homes","tag-reform-party","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}