Football team surprises local care home resident super fan

A Bury St Edmunds resident received a surprise visit from Ipswich Town Football Club – after more than 60 years supporting the team. 

Lifelong Tractor Boys fan Nora Cowell, aged 98, from Care UK’s Glastonbury Court, on Glastonbury Road, spent the afternoon reminiscing about the team’s greatest moments with Sam Oakley, the team’s Head of Health and Wellbeing, and Lauren Revill, who coaches the under 4s team.

The Ipswich Town FC passion runs in the family for Nora. It was her late husband’s favourite team, and so she naturally also became a fan in the 1960s, going to hundreds of matches in the following three decades with her husband and their son John. While Nora hasn’t been to a match since her husband passed away in the 1990s, preferring to watch them on TV instead, her son and his children continue to attend every home game religiously. 

On the day, Nora, Sam and Lauren, who spent time looking through old matchday programmes to enable Nora to reminisce, were amazed by her memories and pictures from past games. They chatted through the way football has evolved in the last 60 years, with Nora highlighting how players would have “a crafty fag” at halftime – unthinkable today, according to Sam, who told her that players are now encouraged to think of their bodies as temples.

To top the afternoon off, Sam and Lauren gifted Nora a twiddle muff in the team’s colours – a sensory knitted tool designed to help older people who may be living with dementia or have restless hands. 

Nora said: “I had a lovely time – I could have spent ages talking to Sam and Lauren, and I felt honoured that they came to see me. Being able to be the one to tell my family some Ipswich news definitely made for a change!”

Ana Mihai, Home Manager at Glastonbury Court, said: “Nora never misses a game for Ipswich Town – although she prefers to watch from the comfort of her own home these days! 

“The team is an integral part of her family’s history, so we wanted to do something special to help reminisce and reached out to the team. We were amazed by how many matchday stories she told Sam and Lauren, and they were too – she truly is the ultimate fan, and we’re thrilled their visit enabled her to reminisce on such happy times. 

“We’d like to say a big thank you to Sam and Lauren for coming, and for bringing the thoughtful gifts too – and we’d like to wish them luck on the rest of their season!”

Glastonbury Court is a modern care home which provides full-time residential, nursing and dementia care, as well as short-term respite care. Designed to enable its residents to live enjoyable and fulfilling lives, the care home has its very own cinema and hair salon, and there is plenty of space both in and outdoors for relaxation and recreation.