Abbeyfield Home Chadlington - threat of closure; help!

Wed 31 May 2023, 20:37

Hi, if you contact me via mail box. 

Wed 31 May 2023, 18:47 (last edited on Wed 31 May 2023, 18:52)

In mid-may staff, residents of The Old Bakehouse, and their relatives, attended a short- notice meeting called by the Abbeyfield Society. The news delivered was devastating. The home, along with more than thirty others in the Abbeyfield group is threatened with closure. After a 45 day consultation period a final decision will be made and residents will be told if they have to leave and find new accommodation. The reasons given for the potential closure of the house are the costs of improving facilities and meeting 2030 EPC standards, however basic reseach shows that the Society has some financial and governance issues and a more cynical viewpoint points to the value of an eleven bedroom house in the Cotswolds. The house was gifted to the Society by then owner Tom Pitt, in the 1980s as a home for elderly residents of Chadlington and the surrounding area - not to benefit the wider Abbeyfield Society. 

 As the daughter of one resident I can attest to the bewilderment and heartache this news has caused. Many of the residents have lived at the home for several years, enjoying the mix of security and independence that this style of living provides; they will all, through frailty and age find it terribly hard to find similar accommodation, and to adjust to moving to new surroundings.

Residents relatives have set up an action group to formulate responses to the Society, and to attempt to challenge the proposal, we have a petition running, a modest crowd funding appeal, and are asking supporters to contact the local MP and County / District Councillors to raise the profile of this issue. Message me via the forum for more details - thank you! Helen