Anne

When Anne moved to The Sidings in January 2023, she looked forward to new friendships and the support of a community whilst remaining independent.

“Many of the worries are taken off your shoulders. You no longer have to worry about the structure of your property, about the wellbeing of your building, about looking after the garden. All of those things are taken care of. You still have all your own independence and your own privacy. You have your own front door – your post comes through your own letterbox. It’s the best of both worlds – you have your own home, but you’ve got an added sense of security and you’re not alone. I think that’s the biggest thing really.”

Family life

Anne was born and brought up in Manchester and so was her husband, Joe.

“We met when we were five years old at primary school. We were sweethearts, on and off, as teenagers and eventually we got married when I was 23 and he was 24. We were married for 62 years.

“We bought a very nice three-bedroom, semi-detached house in Alkrington, Middleton and lived there for 15 years. By this time, we’d got three little boys and needed a bit more space. We didn’t want to move away from the area because we were settled, and I was teaching in the local primary school, so we bought a house literally around the corner. It was an Edwardian house that was quite large with five bedrooms. We stayed there for another 15 years.

“We had a fourth son 16 years after the other three. They were 20, 18 and 16 when he came along. They made such a fuss of him and cared so much for him. We were very blessed that our family was so close.”

Having been a headteacher for 20 years in the Manchester area, Anne took the opportunity to take early retirement.

During her first year in retirement she reluctantly agreed to train to become an inspector for Ofsted, a newly formed government office for standards in education.

“I wanted to support the schools and encourage good practice rather than criticise and demean them.”

Moving to Lytham

“My first inspection in the September 1994 was here in Lytham St. Anne’s. I was 57 and still living in Manchester at the time.

“We knew the area because we’d had a caravan in Great Eccleston and used to come over at the weekends with the children when they were little. I used to say to Joe ‘when we retire, I’d like to come and live on the coast’.

“At this point, I was traveling all over the country and Joe was self-employed, so we could have moved anywhere. Our older boys had moved out and Richard was 13 so it all depended on whether we could get Richard into school in Lytham and sell our house in Manchester and our holiday home in North Wales.”

Anne believes the move to Lytham must have been ‘meant to be’ as within days of making that decision, they had sold both of their properties without even putting them on the market and had found a place for Richard at the local school in Lytham.

“We moved to a bungalow in Ansdell, in between Lytham and St Anne’s. We lived there for almost 30 years, until I moved to The Sidings here in January 2023.”

A difficult time

“I lost my son and my husband within 18 months which was hard. Anthony, my eldest son, died three years ago very suddenly when he was 58 and then my husband, Joe, died of cancer in July 2021.

“It was all very quick. We got the diagnosis in June and he died in July. We decided to enjoy the summer, sitting in our garden and having friends round, which we did right up to about a week before he died. We had most of June enjoying spending time together like that and he died at home with me, so it was good from that point of view.

“After that I was left in a big four-bedroom bungalow rattling around on my own with a big garden. It felt empty. Particularly as it had always been the house where everybody gathered.

“I had lots of friends around me, but I felt very lonely. I think you feel especially lonely when it comes to big decision-making and that sort of thing. When you’ve had somebody all your life and there’s nobody to talk to about it.

Although Anne’s sons had all come home to support her, none of them live nearby.

“Richard lives in Chester now, my second son, Damian, lives in Australia and my third son, Martin, lives in America, having worked all over the world.

“With the boys being so far away, the last thing I wanted was for them to worry about me. I wanted to give them peace of mind that they didn’t need to be worrying about me and that I’m going to be all right.

“And then a booklet came through the door about The Sidings. Joe and I had thought about moving to an apartment before he was ill. We’d looked around at a few, but we’d always come home and say ‘but it’s nice here isn’t it’. This time, I thought maybe it would be good for me to move.

Deciding to move to The Sidings

“When I read about The Sidings I thought maybe that’s something I could consider so I sent the details over to my sons and they came back with one voice saying ‘Mum, that’s fantastic!’. They said they would never, ever have suggested it but because it had come from me, they were 100% behind it.

“Richard thought it was wonderful and suggested we look around at some other places too, so we did that together. When we came to The Sidings, it was only just being built so they invited us to visit another Adlington Retirement Living community – The Sailings in Southport. We spent the day and had lunch there to see what it felt like, and I liked it. Martin came over from America and he had a look as well and we decided yes.”

Anne thought the idea of retirement living sounded perfect for her.

“I liked the idea of there being somebody on hand. There’s a duty manager here 24/7. I mean thank goodness I haven’t needed to call on them, but I might do at some point. It’s futureproofing.

“Another thing that I liked about the concept of retirement living was the fact that I would still be independent, still have my own front door, as it were, and at The Sidings’s I would still be close to where all my activities are. I play bridge in a bridge club, and I sing in the local community choir and my friends live nearby, I’m used to the area. I thought it sounds a bit like the best of both worlds.

“I really liked the fact that I wouldn’t have that weight of responsibility for a property on my shoulders and I wouldn’t have that to worry about. I wouldn’t need to worry about the leylandii hedges that need to be cut down twice a year or about decorating. That could all be lifted off my shoulders.”

Moving in

Having put down a deposit and chosen an apartment, Anne went to Australia for Christmas with Damian and his family.

“I moved to The Sidings in January 2023, the day after I flew back. Martin and Anna, my daughter-in-law, flew over from America to help me move in.

“I chose a two-bedroom apartment with an open-plan kitchen and a balcony overlooking the garden. My bungalow was open plan and I like the layout here. I use the second bedroom as a dressing room come office. It’s well set up and it makes for easy living. I’ve got quite a large storage room too. I’m really happy with it.

“When I moved in, almost immediately I thought ‘yes, I’ve done the right thing’. I feel so lucky to be here. It’s just wonderful for me. It all worked so well. We’ve got a lovely community here.

“I made some good friends very quickly. The day I was moving in, I met my friend Jane. We got chatting then somebody else came along and then one of the duty managers came and introduced themselves. Jane said that her and a few other homeowners who had already moved in had lunch in the restaurant most days and invited me to join them.

“So that was my introduction, which was wonderful. Jane and I and some of the others, we’re very conscious that when somebody moves in, we want to make them feel welcome. I think that’s how such a very good community has grown here. It really has turned into an excellent community. It’s lovely.”

A thriving community

“We’ve got a gardening group, which is very active, and we have a group that plays boules. We play chess and dominoes, and cribbage and board games. We have the cinema and we’ve got a group that organises take-away meals.

“There’s an exercise class that Dot runs. I go to that once a week. It’s chair-based rhythmic exercises but those who want to also do a bit standing up. It’s good. There’s such a lot going on really.”

The management team and the homeowners at The Sidings regularly work together to plan special events and celebrations.

“We all watched the Coronation together in the coffee lounge and had drinks and nibbles. The chef here made cakes and Pimms. We had a lovely party. Then, when Wimbledon was on, we watched the tennis and had strawberries and cream – one of the duty managers organised that. We had an impromptu party a couple of weeks ago for another one of the duty managers when he turned 50. One day last week, we brought fish and chips in.

“The chef puts on regular speciality nights too. We’ve got a Turkish night this week. We’re going to have a belly-dancer. We’ve had a Greek theme, a French night, an Italian night, we had a party with an Oscars theme, we’ve had them all. When we have these speciality evenings, we all try to get dressed up in the colours of the country and the restaurant gets dressed up in those colours as well. It’s wonderful.”

Anne enjoys making the most of the on-site facilities too.

“We’ve got the hairdresser who comes into the salon and treatments in the therapy suite. I’m going to have reflexology this afternoon. Some people have their hair done every week. I saw one of my friends this morning on her way back from having her hair done and a facial. She’s going to her grandson’s 16^th birthday party.”

“Moving to a retirement community like this is the best thing you could possibly do. It’s the best thing I have done because you can carry on just as you always have done if that’s what you want, but if there’s also another aspect to it, if you want it. You’ve got the possibility of friendship groups, of support, while still maintaining your independence and if you want to remain private, you can go in and close your front door and be as private as you want to be.

“I’m glad I came here. I’m happy here. I enjoy the support that we all get from each other as well as from the management team. I enjoy the friendship. I’ve got my social circle here and my social group outside of The Sidings as well. It’s nice to have that sense of there always being somebody there if you need anything. It’s always good to have that feeling of support.”