Steel and Hawthorndale Care Village Announce Charity Partnership

• Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel partners with Hawthorndale Care Village for community wellbeing.
• The village, inspired by De Hogeweyk, will open in Invercargill in June 2025.
• Partnership aims to raise awareness and support for dementia care initiatives.

The Ascot Park Hotel Southern Steel has teamed up with the Hawthorndale Care Village, an innovative dementia care facility, to promote community wellbeing. Set to open in Invercargill in June 2025, the village draws inspiration from the world-renowned Dutch dementia village De Hogeweyk. This unique model prioritises a social approach, allowing residents to live as normal a life as possible and make daily choices.

Hawthorndale Care Village Charitable Trust board chair Frank O’Boyle expressed his excitement about the collaboration. “We are deeply grateful for the invaluable partnership between the Southern Steel and Hawthorndale Care Village,” he said. “Partnering with such a prominent Southland brand enables us to raise awareness of the village and share initiatives, particularly those focused on dementia awareness and the new care model. Steel’s commitment to the local community ensures that this partnership will significantly benefit the village. We thank them for their dedication, generosity, and belief in the power of collaboration to create lasting change.”

Currently, the project is progressing well, with two-thirds completed. All buildings are roofed and closed in, while landscaping and roading have begun. Additionally, the first ten independent retirement villas are available for sign-up.

Steel chief executive Sonya Fleming shared the franchise’s enthusiasm for the partnership. “The village will have such a positive impact on the lives of those living with dementia and their families and we are incredibly proud to support them as our chosen charity,” she said. “A group of our players had a site tour recently and were in awe of what is being achieved. It is going to be absolutely amazing for Southland and it’s fantastic to see we are leading the way yet again to make assets like this a reality in our city.”

The Hawthorndale Care Village was also the official game-day partner for Steel’s home game on 22 June, providing a platform to promote the project and collect donations. Fleming emphasised the broader potential of the partnership, saying, “We’re excited about the potential of this partnership and are acutely aware of the responsibility we have as high-performance athletes to use our profile and sporting platform to positively support our community in a variety of ways.”