When Donisthorpe chief executive Carol Whitehead took charge at the Leeds care home 12 years ago, it had a bad reputation.

Care provision was hospital-style and 60 per cent of beds were unoccupied. As activities co-ordinator Candice Grant pointed out: "Mothers used to say to their children, 'don't put me in Donisthorpe'."

But thanks to a gradual transformation, Donisthorpe has become an essential element of Leeds Jewry with modernised premises, en suite accommodation and a diversity of social and leisure facilities. It is "99 per cent full" with 60 people on the list for future vacancies.

Almost all the 189 bedrooms in the home have been refurbished in recent years and improvements to two of the nursing units are planned for next year.

Although not all residents are Jewish, Donisthorpe is run on Orthodox lines with supervised food and Shabbat services at its synagogue. Other facilities include a cinema and hair salon and a computer class teaches residents to use Skype and webcams - important tools for maintaining contact with children and grandchildren who have moved away from the area. Regular shopping trips and live music are also organised.

Last year, Donisthorpe opened The Woodlands, a residential dementia unit featuring memory aids such as different coloured bedroom doors and a sensory garden.

"We have improved our service and the support we get immeasurably," Ms Whitehead said. "We have just under 100 wonderful volunteers and 257 staff. It's a real community."

Ms Grant said huge effort had been invested in making "Donisthorpe a place that people in the community care about. Now it's not a place people go to die, it's a place to enjoy yourself." New arrivals "find people who they went to school with".

Anita Zermansky, 72, from Alwoodley, regularly visits her 98-year-old mother Margaret Levison at the home. "We have never had a single worry or complaint," she said. "Mummy gets the best loving care from the staff. My mother-in-law was in the home 10 years ago and there was always a little niggle or complaint. But now it is a five-star establishment."

Private residents account for one third of occupancy. The remainder are council-funded, but local authority cutbacks will mean no increase in funding for the foreseeable future. There was a £400,000 deficit last year on expenditure of £6.6 million.

Known locally as "Mrs Donisthorpe", volunteer fundraiser Regina Waldman, 83, has dedicated 46 years to improving the home's fortunes. She thinks big when it comes to donations, noting: "I must have raised millions in my time. I have a lot of very generous supporters - most of the Jewish people in Alwoodley."

Her ambition to open a £100,000 hydrotherapy pool has been set aside on cost and practicality grounds and she is now trying to bring in £20,000 for a new lift. "I work alone," she said. "The home asks me for money and I get it.

"I write letters to everyone. I didn't have a good education, but I write from the heart."

‘I WOULD BE DEAD IF I HADN’T COME TO DONISTHORPE’

Wolfe Levi, 89, has been in Donisthorpe for 16 months. A former factory manager, Mr Wolfe lived in Alwoodley and was a member of United Hebrew Congregation in Shadwell Lane. His daughter lives in Leeds and his son spends some of his time in Manchester

“I would be dead if I hadn’t come to Donisthorpe, I know it. It’s the most wonderful place,” he says. “I was fine two years ago. But I became very unwell and my son arranged for me to come here.

“You can ask the people here to do anything and all they want is a thank you. If I don’t fancy a big meal someone will make me a poached egg, or pickled herring with bread and butter. I am still able to get the bus into town so I go out for a coffee and I chat to friends. When I’m here I can play bingo, listen to music, you name it.

“The lad I sit next to here, I grew up with him, and I meet people here all the time who I know — girls I used to dance with at the old Jubilee Hall 60 or 70 years ago. The shul here is different, there’s no long sermon, but I’m used to it now. Donisthorpe is fantastic — even if they do charge enough for it.”