An adventurous former geography teacher and assistant headmaster has soared to the top of his class in the world of social care.
Linley Jenkins secured a prestigious Bronze accolade at the Wales Care Awards 2024, making him one of this year’s top three professionals in his field in Wales.
He was presented with his award at a glittering ceremony held at Holland House Hotel, Cardiff, and attended by his peers from all around Wales.
Linley, 62, entered the social care sector after retiring from education.
In 2020 he became a maintenance operative at Silver Crest care group’s 98 bed Cwrt Enfys residential home in the Swansea Valley village of Ystradgynlais.
His cheerful personality and willingness to rise to any challenge quickly made an impression on colleagues who nominated him for recognition.
The Wales Care Awards are organised by Care Forum Wales and have become widely known as the Oscars of social care.
They are attended by hundreds of professionals from across the nation.
Ontex Healthcare was the overall sponsor for the presentation evening held at Holland House Hotel, Cardiff. It was compered by radio and TV presenter Jason Mohammad.
Linley was rewarded in the category for commitment to a support function, sponsored by leading residential home resources supplier Care Home Life.
The result was announced by Care Home Life head of customer experience, Amy Martin and the award was presented to Linley by BP Khanal, Managing Director of Bird Care Homes.
Mario Kreft, chairman of Care Forum Wales, said the standard of entries was extremely high.
He added : “There are only winners here tonight so it is only fitting that the finalists will receive a gold, silver or bronze Wales Care Award.
“I trust that they will continue to inspire those around them as role models and encourage others to aspire to even greater heights in the months and years to come.
“This awards ceremony is our opportunity to pay tribute and to celebrate the talent and commitment that is improving the quality of life for thousands and thousands of people throughout Wales.
”We take our hats off to them.”
Cwrt Enfys home manager Lindsey Davies who nominated Linley for an award said: “Whenever you ask anyone about Linley they’ll have a smile on their face, he is just the nicest, kindest person around.
“He doesn’t need to interact with residents but he’s made it his mission to get to know them, discover their likes and dislikes, hobbies and interests so he can strike up meaningful conversations. It means the world to residents when he does this. They really love to hear about all his latest travels.”
Linley’s job includes doing general repairs, innovative project designs and helping with structural maintenance.
Between shifts he is always happy to chat with residents and entertains them with talks and slide shows about his far-flung travels.
In life, as in his work, Linley always goes the extra mile. He has climbed Earth’s fourth highest peak, Kilimanjaro, trekked Africa’s Atlas Mountains, and cycled the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in northern Spain.
His love of travel stems from his geography specialism as a teacher.
He said: “I’ve lost count of the number of school trips I led to places like Iceland, Italy, France and Spain. My wife and I have also toured Australia. We love to travel, overseas and at home.”
Linley was assistant head at Bishop Vaughan Catholic School, Swansea before he retired when he was aged 55 after a teaching career spanning more than 35 years.
But he still wanted to contribute to his community and make use of his other love, practical handicrafts.
He said: “I was lucky to retire early and I knew I had a fairly good skills profile after years of doing odd jobs and practical work around our house and garden. I started as a maintenance assistant on a casual basis at Cwrt Enfys. Then I was offered a permanent part-time role which I love.”
He goes above and beyond in other ways too such as giving a unique, personal touch to a new library. He also led others in the maintenance team designing and building a sundial for the home’s gardens.
Linley and his wife retired teacher Alison have two grown up daughters and have just welcomed a baby granddaughter, Erin.
The shortlist of finalists in each category of award was whittled down from hundreds of nominees in the social care sector across Wales.
