We were thrilled to offer our 2026 semi-finalists the brilliant opportunity to pitch their innovations to two key audiences at NCF’s members, St Monica Trust’s Chocolate Quarter retirement village in Keynsham recently.  St Monica Trust are striving to be a centre for excellence for healthy ageing and care innovation so spending time in the iconic Chocolate Quarter no doubt made the opportunity all the sweeter for our semi-finalists!

Sian, Lizzie and Ibomobo  had the chance to pitch to the ‘resident innovators’, a group of residents who take a very keen interest in innovative ideas that they, and others, might well use in their future care. This session really brought forward lots of valuable insights to help our semi-finalists further shape their products to the needs of older people.

It was then on to the B2B ‘Dragon’s Den’ type pitch with St Monica’s senior leadership team members CEO David Williams, Director of Technology, Change and Innovation Max Gilbert and Director of Nursing Homes and Domiciliary Care Sara Naylor-Wild which allowed semi-finalists to consider the commercial viability and implementation potential of their innovations in the eyes of possible future care provider buyers.

Huge thanks to our mentors Isaac Samuels OBE, Amy Lewis, Molly Baldini and Nathan Evans for attending and continuing to provide hugely valuable insights and mentorship to our semi-finalists. Thanks also to Sean Davey for facilitating such an exciting day in a truly inspiring setting and to the staff and residents at the Chocolate Quarter for welcoming us into their home and workplace. Onwards and upwards now to the Care Show on 7th and 8th October for our innovators who will be taking to stand D40 to pitch to show delegates in a bid to be named Challenge Champions 2026!