Audrey Davey wanted a fresh start in a new apartment with a friendly community.
Originally from Norfolk, Audrey moved to the area in the 1960s, with her husband and young daughter, Karen, to be closer to her mother.
“My first husband, Clive, was 43 when he died. That was quite a shock. I’d actually known my second husband, Eric, since Karen was four years old. When we moved from Norwich to Manchester we were neighbours. Karen’s now 61, so we knew each other for all that time and were married for 35 years.”
Audrey and Eric had lived in their three bedroom home in Bredbury for the whole of their married lives. Audrey worked as a carer in Stockport for 29 years and Eric worked as a foreman for GEC and often travelled abroad before they both retired.
“I used to look after old people. I loved it! Eric had a good job working with turbine generators. We had a very happy marriage.
“Once my husband died in January I just couldn’t stay there, it was too hard. 35 years of marriage is a long time and all of a sudden he’s not here. I didn’t see anybody in the house and it just got me down.
“I said to my daughter ‘let’s go and have a look at those apartments in Romiley’. I wanted a fresh start. We came and had a look and we both really liked it here so I made the decision in January and moved in here in June.”
“The best thing I did was move. I love it here.”
It had been particularly difficult for Audrey to stay in her house on her own during the recent UK lockdown.
“I couldn’t get out. I had to rely on people to do my shopping. Fortunately, I don’t eat a lot and I had plenty of food in so I was ok.
“Since I’ve moved up here, I can look out on the garden or go out in it and its beautiful. My daughter has arranged for somebody to come and do my shopping for me. All the girls here have told me if I need anything at all, I’ve only got to say. In fact, we’ve been having freshly cooked meals delivered to our front doors over the past few weeks.”
The team at Adlington Retirement Living also arranged help for Audrey to move.
“The lady who helped me to move was very, very good. I did the packing and she came on the day I moved and made sure everything was in the removal van. When I arrived, I relaxed in a different room whilst she put everything away for me in my new apartment. It was so helpful. I wouldn’t have been able to move furniture around, which she did, and I didn’t have to tell her where to put everything. She made a really lovely job of it. She was lovely, really lovely.”
“I’ve felt a lot better in myself since I’ve been here. My apartment’s gorgeous. I have a one bedroom apartment and it’s lovely. It’s all on one floor so I’ve no stairs to climb or anything. It’s beautiful. It’s the best thing I’ve done because I can talk to people, I can get out, I can go for a walk around the garden if I want to.
“If I was going to give anybody thinking about moving to an Adlington community some advice, I’d say do it!”
Now Audrey’s looking forward to spending time in the Homeowners’ Lounge and Coffee Lounge, getting involved in some activities and celebrating her birthday next month.
“There’s a lady here who goes to the same club as me in Romiley – the Civic Club. We talk, play games, do jigsaws and things like that. I’ve seen there’s a jigsaw table in the Homeowners’ lounge. There’s quite a bit to do here. They’re asking us what we like to do. I like knitting, sewing, flower arranging and we’re going to get some of those activities going now. They’re on the ball here, they’re a very nice lot.
“I’m 84 next month and we’re going to have a little celebration. My daughter lives in North Yorkshire now so she’s going to come and stay in the guest suite here and we’re going out for a meal.”
