Welcome to Stonehaven Care Group, a family run company who enjoys providing a specialist care service, both in residential and nursing.
Stephen Stone – Chairman
Stephen has a natural connection with the older generations – he was raised by his Grandparents. He left school in 1966 and spent the following years supporting his relationship with Dawn and later their family, through a few employed positions, starting as a buyer (10yrs) with a food multi-national, later a house-builder and much later having been one of the first 25 people at Dyson Appliances Ltd, again as a buyer. In 1994, with his children through University and ‘flown the nest’, Stephen (and Dawn – his wife of 46-years) was able to really think about what they wanted from their lives, and subsequently, from their work… and it was to continue caring for people in some way.
In 1996 Stephen and Dawn purchased a small Residential Care Home in Dartmouth, Devon. They both took naturally to this caring role, applying their caring desires with their lifetime developed professional skills, and neither has looked back since. Stephen now frequently reminds us all just how much he loves his work.
Stephen, in his role as Chairman, is the figurehead for the Stonehaven Care Group. He is the gatekeeper of the standards to which all in the company aspire. His position is greatly facilitated by the quality of the team of people working with him, all of whom share a simple yet tremendously important (and sometimes too easily forsaken in the World) commodity – they care for, and about, people.
Nick Connors – Managing Director
Originally from the South East of England, Nick ventured to Devon in 1998 for University and has not left the wonderful South West since, now firmly settled with his wife and three children in Exeter.
An 18 year career in Corporate Banking, working with businesses across all sectors and sizes, has provided Nick with a strong understanding of the economy, the evolution of businesses through their life cycle, forecasting, funding and more….. Ten of these years were spent working with clients in the Healthcare sector, predominantly with care homes, and Nick rapidly developed a strong affinity to the sector, seeing the positive impact upon residents of the care provided, and how the sector contributed more widely to society.
Three years working for a Swedish bank in the UK, focussing on the property sector broadened his experience further but put into focus how much he enjoyed working with the care sector and thus the opportunity to join Stonehaven was perfect.
As Managing Director it is Nick’s role to oversee and pull together the various aspects of the company, to ensure it is operating effectively to provide the best level of care possible, whilst also focussing upon the strategic growth of the company.
Outside of work, Nick enjoys spending time with the family, football, running and listening to music (live and recorded).
Dawn Stone – Director Of Care
Dawn has been married to Stephen since she was 21-years old, with whom she began our family in 1974. Before that she had been in a ‘one girl amongst three brothers’ family… which took care and effort.
Dawn had before been mostly in the catering industry, but when she and Stephen purchased the first Residential Care Home in 1996 Dawn naturally assumed the role of ‘Care Home Manager’. Much akin to Stephen’s experience, Dawn took to this, like a duck to water. The position was a natural vent for her outgoing, caring nature (whilst bringing her into daily contact with care team members, residents and their families) with whom she was able to have occasional good old gossips!
As Stonehaven has developed, thus has Dawn’s role. Dawn regularly visits each Care Home to provide support and guidance where needed and to ensure that our rigorous standards are constantly met within each home, and to promote our team-training programmes.
Dawn’s role brings her into regular contact with CQC (Regulatory body for the Care Industry) with whom she and Stonehaven have a very healthy and productive working relationship. As a company, Stonehaven Care Group welcomes input from the regulatory and inspection support bodies, as we know the service is improved and strengthened that way.
Ralphe Stone – Facilities & Procurement Director
Ralphe’s Business Degree pre-disposed him perfectly to assume the Facilities & Procurement Director role in our fast-growing service.
He is strategically responsible for; procurement (including bought ledger), property, fixed and floating equipment assets, utilities, insurance and maintenance as well as being responsible for implementation of all of the Boards strategies across fifty percent of the groups care homes.
In the early days of Stonehaven, Ralphe’s involvement included actual personal care activity during which he proved to be a great asset to the home as he is instinctively compassionate and caring. That experience of working in a care home is of great value to the company in ensuring that all decisions made at every level in the business are fundamental to one simple quality value, “will this improve the lifestyle experience of our residents?”
Ralphe sees his challenges as keeping up-to-date with new technologies and implementing those, where beneficial; also seeking innovation and ideas that can offer quality improvements and add to the customer ‘Value for Money’ experience.
Nathan Stone – Director Of Services Development & Human Resources
Nathan is Stephen and Dawn’s eldest son. Having completed a Psychology degree at Leeds University Nathan then choose to pursue a career in retail through what was, at the time, a new and fairly small company, The Carphone Warehouse. Within a period of three and a half years Nathan had progressed to roles of Retail Operations Manager and then Area Sales Manager – responsible for the Oxford Street Stores in London.
The people-management skills, larger organisation efficiencies and customer-lead mind set that Nathan had developed with The Carphone Warehouse, and not least his closely relevant degree, increasingly had real relevance to the needs of Stonehaven as our company continued to shows signs of results and recommendation rapid growth. Having joined Stonehaven Care Group in May 2004, Nathan is involved in any aspect of the business that has an impact upon the quality of service experienced by; our residents, care-team members, social services, inspection and ‘the outside World’
Nathan’s role is clear – it is to apply his skills to help ensure that any Stonehaven care home is the best home for elderly people in need of Residential Care. Also to ensure that these people feel that Stonehaven Care Group is the best care provider for them to be with and for all to have easy access to information about our company and the service that we provide.
Nathan is delighted to now be using his earlier developed skills in a company with so vital a role in people’s lives. The focus in our company is clear in itself – and is clearly valued by every team member – it is ‘to enable our residents to achieve the best from their lives’.
Naomi Cronk – Financial Controller, PA To Chairman & Company Secretary
Naomi joined the company in 2015 as Financial Controller. Her role also extends to PA to Stephen and Company Secretary. She was previously at Old Mill Accountants in Exeter so brings with her a wealth of financial knowledge and experience.
Naomi lives in Exeter with her husband and two children, and enjoys running, elaborate cake decorating and horseplay.
Fiona Searle – Care Standards Manager
Fiona, a trained RGN, was managing St Petrocs in Bodmin when Stonehaven bought the home in November 2003. She stayed with the home under the new management until 2017, when she was promoted to Care Standards Manager for the group. Her role is to assist in the delivery of the very highest standards of care in each of Stonehaven’s homes, through ensuring that we are the experts in up to the minute care innovations and ensuring best practice is rolled out across the group. Based at the Support Office, she travels daily between the homes.
Fiona lives in Cornwall. She enjoys travelling (by motorbike or canal boat), fine wines and is a Champion Euchre player!
Emily Winslow – PR/Marketing And Service Development Manager
Emily has a Business Degree from the University of Westminster and a background in Marketing and PR for Research International, Hobsons Publishing, Marketing Means and RC2. Working closely with the Directors and external agencies, she looks after the branding, media buying and, ongoing PR and ad-hoc events for Stonehaven, and is also responsible for keeping our website current. She also works closely with Nathan on ensuring that the quality of the service we offer, is of the very highest standard.
She has been with Stonehaven since 2007 and loves the variety that her role within the company offers. Emily lives with her husband and two children, and when not working loves photography, films and extreme watersports.
Wendy Thomas – Payroll, HR And Customer Accounts Manager
Wendy brings 24 years of experience in HR and Payroll to Stonehaven. She is responsible for the processing and administration of Payroll for all employees, new starters and leavers. She keeps all files up to date (both hard-copy and electronic), and deals with BACS, paying HMRC, CSA and Court Orders. On the Customer Accounts side of things, Wendy looks after the administration associated with all of our residents.
She works closely with the Managers from all of our homes to ensure all files are current and up-to-date. She invoices customers, and deals with government bodies for payment when relevant. She is probably the most organised person in the office, is very friendly and can often be heard singing along to the radio! Wendy is a Devon lass, lives with her husband and three children, enjoys eating out and socialising.
Carole Hatcher – Payroll And General Administration
Carole is the most glamorous member of the team. She previously worked in the Accounts Department of the Palace Hotel, Torquay for 13 years. She now assists Wendy with the Payroll and general administration. Carole is also responsible for keeping the extensive training records for each staff member up to date.
Carole has two grown up sons and she enjoys holidays, especially cruises, reading and walking the dogs.
Eva Gombos-Boda – Purchasing Administrator
Eva was born in Budapest and moved to the UK in 2012 with her husband and two French Bulldogs. It was a real challenge making the move and leaving behind her parents and sister. Eva speaks Polish, Hungarian and English, and although she has a teaching degree, she has never worked as a teacher, focusing instead on a career in administration. Over the past 15 years Eva has had many roles from Receptionist to Office Manager and has huge experience in Customer Service. She loves to be helpful and to resolve issues, which keeps her daily workload colourful and not monotonous!
Eva and her husband love exploring historical villages and National Trust properties. They also enjoy walks with their dogs on Dartmoor or the beach. She enjoys dining out in nice restaurants or going to theatre to see musicals or ballet. For fitness Eva likes sport activities like body pump, spinning or yoga.
Jodie Gould – Payroll and Finance Assistant
Jodie has owned and run a small cleaning business for the last 4 years. This enabled her to be a very hands on mum to her three children. For the last 2 years she has been studying AAT at South Devon College alongside whilst she continued to work. She has successfully completed her Level 2 and is nearing completion of her Level 3. Jodie has always had an interest in Finance so is well placed to deal with all aspects of Payroll and Finance at Stonehaven.
Jodie lives with her three children, two boys and a girl, and their two female Jack Russell’s Angel and Lola. Outside of work she sees her mum as much as possible and her close friends where she loves nothing more than a nice meal and a catch up! She also enjoys reading if she gets a chance.
Stephen Stone – Chairman And Managing Director
Stephen has a natural connection with the older generations – he was raised by his Grandparents. He left school in 1966 and spent the following years supporting his relationship with Dawn and later their family, through a few employed positions, starting as a buyer (10yrs) with a food multi-national, later a house-builder and much later having been one of the first 25 people at Dyson Appliances Ltd, again as a buyer. In 1994, with his children through University and ‘flown the nest’, Stephen (and Dawn – his wife of 30-years) was able to really think about what they wanted from their lives, and subsequently, from their work… and it was to continue caring for people in some way.
In 1996 Stephen and Dawn purchased a small Residential Care Home in Dartmouth, Devon. They both took naturally to this caring role, applying their caring desires with their lifetime developed professional skills, and neither has looked back since. Stephen now frequently reminds us all just how much he loves his work.
Stephen, in his role as Chairman & Managing Director, is the figurehead for the Stonehaven Care Group. He is the gatekeeper of the standards to which all in the company aspire. His position is greatly facilitated by the quality of the team of people working with him, all of whom share a simple yet tremendously important (and sometimes too easily forsaken in the World) commodity – they care for, and about, people.
Nick Connors – Managing Director
Originally from the South East of England, Nick ventured to Devon in 1998 for University and has not left the wonderful South West since, now firmly settled with his wife and three children in Exeter.
An 18 year career in Corporate Banking, working with businesses across all sectors and sizes, has provided Nick with a strong understanding of the economy, the evolution of businesses through their life cycle, forecasting, funding and more….. Ten of these years were spent working with clients in the Healthcare sector, predominantly with care homes, and Nick rapidly developed a strong affinity to the sector, seeing the positive impact upon residents of the care provided, and how the sector contributed more widely to society.
Three years working for a Swedish bank in the UK, focussing on the property sector broadened his experience further but put into focus how much he enjoyed working with the care sector and thus the opportunity to join Stonehaven was perfect.
As Managing Director it is Nick’s role to oversee and pull together the various aspects of the company, to ensure it is operating effectively to provide the best level of care possible, whilst also focussing upon the strategic growth of the company.
Outside of work, Nick enjoys spending time with the family, football, running and listening to music (live and recorded).
Dawn Stone – Director Of Care
Dawn has been married to Stephen since she was 21-years old, with whom she began our family in 1974. Before that she had been in a ‘one girl amongst three brothers’ family… which took care and effort.
Dawn had before been mostly in the catering industry, but when she and Stephen purchased the first Residential Care Home in 1996 Dawn naturally assumed the role of ‘Care Home Manager’. Much akin to Stephen’s experience, Dawn took to this, like a duck to water. The position was a natural vent for her outgoing, caring nature (whilst bringing her into daily contact with care team members, residents and their families) with whom she was able to have occasional good old gossips!
As Stonehaven has developed, thus has Dawn’s role. Dawn regularly visits each Care Home to provide support and guidance where needed and to ensure that our rigorous standards are constantly met within each home, and to promote our team-training programmes.
Dawn’s role brings her into regular contact with CQC (Regulatory body for the Care Industry) with whom she and Stonehaven have a very healthy and productive working relationship. As a company, Stonehaven Care Group welcomes input from the regulatory and inspection support bodies, as we know the service is improved and strengthened that way.
Ralphe Stone – Operations Director
Ralphe’s Business Degree pre-disposed him perfectly to assume the Operations Director role in our fast-growing service.
He is strategically responsible for; procurement (including bought ledger), property, fixed and floating equipment assets, utilities, insurance and maintenance as well as being responsible for implementation of all of the Boards strategies across fifty percent of the groups care homes.
In the early days of Stonehaven, Ralphe’s involvement included actual personal care activity during which he proved to be a great asset to the home as he is instinctively compassionate and caring. That experience of working in a care home is of great value to the company in ensuring that all decisions made at every level in the business are fundamental to one simple quality value, “will this improve the lifestyle experience of our residents?”
Ralphe sees his challenges as keeping up-to-date with new technologies and implementing those, where beneficial; also seeking innovation and ideas that can offer quality improvements and add to the customer ‘Value for Money’ experience.
Nathan Stone – Director Of Services Development & Human Resources
Nathan is Stephen and Dawn’s eldest son. Having completed a Psychology degree at Leeds University Nathan then choose to pursue a career in retail through what was, at the time, a new and fairly small company, The Carphone Warehouse. Within a period of three and a half years Nathan had progressed to roles of Retail Operations Manager and then Area Sales Manager – responsible for the Oxford Street Stores in London.
The people-management skills, larger organisation efficiencies and customer-lead mind set that Nathan had developed with The Carphone Warehouse, and not least his closely relevant degree, increasingly had real relevance to the needs of Stonehaven as our company continued to shows signs of results and recommendation rapid growth. Having joined Stonehaven Care Group in May 2004, Nathan is involved in any aspect of the business that has an impact upon the quality of service experienced by; our residents, care-team members, social services, inspection and ‘the outside World’
Nathan’s role is clear – it is to apply his skills to help ensure that any Stonehaven care home is the best home for elderly people in need of Residential Care. Also to ensure that these people feel that Stonehaven Care Group is the best care provider for them to be with and for all to have easy access to information about our company and the service that we provide.
Nathan is delighted to now be using his earlier developed skills in a company with so vital a role in people’s lives. The focus in our company is clear in itself – and is clearly valued by every team member – it is ‘to enable our residents to achieve the best from their lives’.
Naomi Cronk – Financial Controller, PA To Chairman & Company Secretary
Naomi joined the company in 2015 as Financial Controller. Her role also extends to PA to Stephen and Company Secretary. She was previously at Old Mill Accountants in Exeter so brings with her a wealth of financial knowledge and experience.
Naomi lives in Exeter with her husband and two children, and enjoys running, elaborate cake decorating and horseplay.
Fiona Searle – Care Standards Manager
Fiona, a trained RGN, was managing St Petrocs in Bodmin when Stonehaven bought the home in November 2003. She stayed with the home under the new management until 2017, when she was promoted to Care Standards Manager for the group. Her role is to assist in the delivery of the very highest standards of care in each of Stonehaven’s homes, through ensuring that we are the experts in up to the minute care innovations and ensuring best practice is rolled out across the group. Based at the Support Office, she travels daily between the homes.
Fiona lives in Cornwall. She enjoys travelling (by motorbike or canal boat), fine wines and is a Champion Euchre player!
Emily Winslow – PR/Marketing And Service Development Manager
Emily has a Business Degree from the University of Westminster and a background in Marketing and PR for Research International, Hobsons Publishing, Marketing Means and RC2. Working closely with the Directors and external agencies, she looks after the branding, media buying and, ongoing PR and ad-hoc events for Stonehaven, and is also responsible for keeping our website current. She also works closely with Nathan on ensuring that the quality of the service we offer, is of the very highest standard.
She has been with Stonehaven since 2007 and loves the variety that her role within the company offers. Emily lives with her husband and two children, and when not working loves photography, films and cooking.
Wendy Thomas – Payroll, HR And Customer Accounts Manager
Wendy brings 24 years of experience in HR and Payroll to Stonehaven. She is responsible for the processing and administration of Payroll for all employees, new starters and leavers. She keeps all files up to date (both hard-copy and electronic), and deals with BACS, paying HMRC, CSA and Court Orders. On the Customer Accounts side of things, Wendy looks after the administration associated with all of our residents.
She works closely with the Managers from all of our homes to ensure all files are current and up-to-date. She invoices customers, and deals with government bodies for payment when relevant. She is probably the most organised person in the office, is very friendly and can often be heard singing along to the radio! Wendy is a Devon lass, lives with her husband and three children, enjoys eating out and socialising.
Carole Hatcher – Payroll And General Administration
Carole is the most glamorous member of the team. She previously worked in the Accounts Department of the Palace Hotel, Torquay for 13 years. She now assists Wendy with the Payroll and general administration. Carole is also responsible for keeping the extensive training records for each staff member up to date.
Carole has two grown up sons and she enjoys holidays, especially cruises, reading and walking the dogs.
Eva Gombos-Boda – Purchasing Administrator
Eva was born in Budapest and moved to the UK in 2012 with her husband and two French Bulldogs. It was a real challenge making the move and leaving behind her parents and sister. Eva speaks Polish, Hungarian and English, and although she has a teaching degree, she has never worked as a teacher, focusing instead on a career in administration. Over the past 15 years Eva has had many roles from Receptionist to Office Manager and has huge experience in Customer Service. She loves to be helpful and to resolve issues, which keeps her daily workload colourful and not monotonous!
Eva and her husband love exploring historical villages and National Trust properties. They also enjoy walks with their dogs on Dartmoor or the beach. She enjoys dining out in nice restaurants or going to theatre to see musicals or ballet. For fitness Eva likes sport activities like body pump, spinning or yoga.
Jodie Gould – Payroll and Finance Assistant
Jodie has owned and run a small cleaning business for the last 4 years. This enabled her to be a very hands on mum to her three children. For the last 2 years she has been studying AAT at South Devon College alongside whilst she continued to work. She has successfully completed her Level 2 and is nearing completion of her Level 3. Jodie has always had an interest in Finance so is well placed to deal with all aspects of Payroll and Finance at Stonehaven.
Jodie lives with her three children, two boys and a girl, and their two female Jack Russell’s Angel and Lola. Outside of work she sees her mum as much as possible and her close friends where she loves nothing more than a nice meal and a catch up! She also enjoys reading if she gets a chance.
