Sue

Sue moved to The Woodlands in June 2022 to be closer to her family.

“My decision to move here was a combination of wanting to be near my family, which was the most important thing, and then the second thing, which has proved almost as useful to me, is the community of friends I’ve made here. I didn’t expect that to make such a positive difference.”

The early years 

Sue was born in Taunton and lived in Plymouth until she was 18.  

“I met my first husband at college, and we moved up to Scunthorpe. I had my son, Nick, in 1983. He works for the BBC at Salford Quays and lives in Chorlton now, which is only 25 minutes away from The Woodlands. 

 “After a break from work I went back to work in administration, and after my husband and I split up, I moved to Sweden for just over a year.  

“When I moved back to the UK, I worked for an engineering firm in Haywards Heath in Sussex, which is where I met Neil. He was already working there as an engineer when I joined as an administrator. We actually met at a darts match and that was it – love at first sight. We were very happily married and celebrated our silver wedding anniversary a few years ago.”  

Sue and Neil moved to Gloucester when Neil got a job there working for the railway network. 

“We bought a three-bedroom house with a big garden and a pond. We loved walking and nature. We went to all sorts of places, New Zealand, Africa, and we just loved wildlife. We used to walk so far. Now I can’t really walk much of a distance without my stroller. I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s about 11 years ago.  

“Neil used to tinker with his cars. He loved planes too. Flying was something that he’d always wanted to do so he did it as a hobby for several years. He was very good at it and got his pilot’s license. We were in a choir as well. He had a beautiful voice.”  

Deciding to move closer to family 

Sadly, Neil was diagnosed with cancer in 2019 and died two years later. 

“I lived in that house for almost a year after Neil died. I had friends around there. My son Nick was saying I ought to think about moving up here to be closer to him and his family, but I wasn’t ready at that stage. 

“There’s such a lot to do when somebody dies. Some people say that all the work you have to do, all the paperwork, actually helps. I did find having to do it helpful in some way. My son was excellent and helped a lot too. He came down sometimes to stay with me.” 

The following year, Sue started to think about moving. 

“I didn’t know I needed people as much as I did. When you lose somebody, people are very good at the outset in looking after you and being there for you, but then after a while they think you’re over it. I was starting to get a bit upset and lonely. People were there, but they weren’t there really. I could feel the walls coming in a bit. So, this all came at the right time.  

“My daughter-in-law found an advert for Adlington Retirement Living and Nick got on to me and said Mum you’ve got to look at this. Anyway, he came and had a look around here at The Woodlands and sent me a little video. As soon as I saw it, I thought ‘Yes! What’s not to like?’  

“I came up a couple of weeks later and looked at a few different apartments and we kept coming back to this one. I have a lovely view over the gardens, and we could see the first signs of Spring coming when we visited. It only took 12 weeks from the day I made the decision, to the day I moved in.” 

Help to move 

Adlington Retirement Living introduced Sue to the Senior Move Partnership. 

“That helped me immensely. We had a big house, and we had a lot of stuff. We went through boxes, and the lady from the Senior Move Partnership would take some of it to the charity shop and throw some of it away for me.  

“I was grieving and having her help just made the process more practical. I don’t know what it would have been like if I’d had to do all of that on my own. The garage alone was absolutely stuffed full. 

“When I moved in, one of her colleagues was very clever in helping to plan the layout of where everything would go in my new apartment. Their willingness to help was fantastic.  

“I had help from the handymen at The Woodlands too. I had about eight hours from them, and they were fantastic. They put my curtains up and did a good job, they put the bookcases together and everything.” 

Settling in at The Woodlands 

Once Sue had made the move, she was surprised by how quickly she felt at home in her new apartment at The Woodlands. 

“Within two days I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. We all get on so well and have really interesting conversations. They’re all such nice people. I think we’re quite lucky here. 

“When I moved in there were only about 16 of us and now there’s 60 or 70. It’s so good because if I’m feeling down, I’ll go downstairs and play a game or do a jigsaw or something and it cheers me up. 

“When Neil died, I didn’t see myself coping. I didn’t know how I was going to function, but you have to, and you keep going. I’ve found that all the things I’ve been through make me try things that perhaps I wouldn’t have done before. Now, I just go for it. I think it’s changed me. I feel that I know myself better and I’m living life to the full now. 

“I’ve realised that you can just sit about and moan to yourself or you can get out there and do something, which is what I’ve done since I moved here.” 

The support of new friends and the sense of community spirit at The Woodlands have made a real difference too. 

“We’re so lucky to have such interesting people and we look after each other too. In fact, one lady who lives just down the corridor from me said right at the start that we all look after each other and that’s true. I have never regretted moving here, not for an instant. 

“When I first moved in, I would go to the homeowners’ lounge or the coffee lounge, I got friendly with a few people and then I just started to join things. 

“I started to explore the local area. We would go down to the river and into town and to the theatre. I’ve got some really nice friends here now and the staff are so good too. It almost feels as though they’re not working. They’re all really kind people and they like us too. 

“This is definitely the way forward. I feel very lucky. You’re not on your own here. 

“Also, I was talking to somebody yesterday whose husband is quite ill, and here you have the facility if somebody becomes more unwell, that you can have extra care organised. That’s something that I thought about to some extent.” 

Living life to the full 

Sue has been enjoying getting involved in a whole host of activities and events since her move to The Woodlands. 

“We have a games night here. There’s something called Rummykub, which I’ve never come across before. It’s a tile game. It’s great. We also have quiz nights, poetry nights and a book club. I take part in most of these. We do a keep fit class on a Wednesday and we do things like boules. We’ve had an Italian evening and parties for New Year’s Eve and Christmas. When I tell people, they think I’m having a very wild social life. I have a busier social life now than I’ve ever had before. 

“We did a bit of art the other day. There’s a little activity room downstairs. There’s a jigsaw table in the homeowners’ lounge and that’s very popular. 

 “All of these things helped me to meet people when I first moved in. I just tried things to see what I would like. I went to Didsbury and had a chat with the U3A too, but I haven’t actually done anything with them yet because I have so much to do here. 

“I enjoy creative writing. You can disappear into it and time fashions the experiences you have into something different. I write short stories, mostly horror! 

“I sometimes take part in a drama group here too. It started with something in the summer and then we did a pantomime in December. It was ‘Babes in the Wood’ and I was Sleeping Beauty. It was quite fun. I have a feeling some more might be coming up. About 15 of us did that and we raised a bit of money for charity. 

“We go to the theatre in Manchester a lot. We went to see Jesus Christ Superstar, 42nd Street, The King and I, and we’re going to see the Book of Mormon. The other night a few of us went to the cinema to see Wicked Little Letters with Olivia Coleman, which was hilarious. We laughed so much.” 

Enjoying beautiful gardens 

As a nature-lover, Sue particularly enjoys the gardens at The Woodlands. 

“The grounds here are lovely, they’re so well kept. Having the gardeners is a huge benefit to me. I’ve got sciatica, among other things, and I can’t dig and do all the things that I used to. The fact that somebody else is doing it for me is brilliant.  

“We enjoy sitting out in the garden or sitting on my balcony with a gin and tonic when the weather’s good.  

“I enjoy looking out over the gardens and I like to see what birds have arrived. The other day, I saw a couple of bullfinches, which were beautiful, and I see greenfinches, and ring-necked parakeets. We get them a lot around here; they make a little chuckling noise and I think they nest down by the river.  

“When the trees are in bloom it’s lovely. I look out and I think I could be in the treetops. When we came to look round the first time, there was a crow in the tree, and I said I’m going to call this the Crow’s Nest. 

“I love to trundle around and go down to the river. I’ve walked around to the Cheadle Bridge, and we saw dippers. Down by the river you get sand martins, they nest in the bank there and there are goosanders too. I take my bird book and my binoculars and a drink of water. People are really nice and talk to you when you’re going along the river. 

 “The location is good too. it’s easy to get to places, into town or into Didsbury. I really like this area and it’s good for amenities too.” 

 Practical benefits of a retirement community 

There are a number of practical benefits to retirement living that Sue now appreciates too. 

“When you find yourself on your own for the first time in a long time, safety and security can become more of a concern. The old house wasn’t adequately burglar-proof and I did feel a bit scared but here I feel really safe. 

“The apartment is fantastic. I really enjoyed decorating and making it my own. 

One of the things I love is that I have five windows, letting light into my living room and I love my office-cum-guestroom. 

“In the winter you don’t need much heating. I hardly use any electricity. And in the Summer you can have all of the windows open and not worry about security. 

“I use the Coffee Lounge and the Homeowners’ Lounge a lot. People congregate there from about 11.30 before lunch and are there for an hour or two and usually it’s busy again from 5pm to 6pm. It’s a real social hub. 

“If I was giving anybody advice about moving to a retirement living community, I would say just go for it!  

“My son said, the thing is you’ve got to not wait too long before you decide to move. If you think you’re going to need this at some point, do it now because if you go past that point, it’s going to be more difficult to establish yourself. 

“I think living somewhere like this gives you the opportunity to be yourself in a safe environment and to stay independent. You’ve got the scope to do whatever you want to.”