About Abbeyfield
- What is Abbeyfield
- Supported sheltered housing - the facilities and features of Abbeyfield very sheltered houses.
- Abbeyfield residents - who are the residents and why do they choose Abbeyfield accommodation?
- Registered care - the facilities of Abbeyfield care homes.
- Abbeyfield past and present - History of The Abbeyfield Society, and the society today.
- Values and beliefs
- The Abbeyfield Society today
Any further questions about life in an Abbeyfield house, including financial or practical issues? Click here for Frequently asked questions
What is Abbeyfield
The Abbeyfield Society exists to make older people's lives easier and more fulfilling. Since 1956 Abbeyfield volunteers have worked tirelessly to provide housing, support and companionship to older people in their local communities.
Abbeyfield residents enjoy life all the more because they know that the people who run their societies are dedicated volunteers who are doing this demanding work because they want to.
Abbeyfield provides:
- Supported sheltered housing in over 700 houses around the UK. Here, residents find the privacy and security they seek when managing alone in their own home has become a burden. They come and go as they please, receive visitors and enjoy two cooked meals a day. They are free from the worries of maintaining a house and garden, paying bills and dealing with loneliness. At the centre of these homely houses are Abbeyfield house managers, who are employed to ensure that the house is comfortable and safe, and that meals are nutritious and enjoyable. Click here for more information about very sheltered housing
- Around 80 care homes provide 24-hour personal care for residents who are too frail to live in supported sheltered housing. Staff care for residents under the supervision of a professional manager. Always dedicated to providing the highest quality services, staff and volunteers are working to ensure they exceed the standards set by government in the document "Care Homes for Older People".
Click here to read more about registered residential care
- Services for people with dementia are being developed by some Abbeyfield societies to meet an urgent need in the local community.
- Day care services. Abbeyfield belongs at the heart of local communities, so it is fitting that several societies have worked hard over the last few years to extend their work beyond the houses themselves. This outreach work benefits older people in practical ways, and increases local awareness of Abbeyfield's work.
Interested in volunteering for Abbeyfield? Click here to see how you can get involved
Supported sheltered housing
Abbeyfield mainly provides rented accommodation in supported sheltered houses which are either purpose built or adapted from existing buildings with added facilities.
A typical house offers:
- a paid house manager
- call alarm systems
- specialist facilities e.g. assisted baths, lifts etc
- nutritious meals available each day
- network of support from local volunteers
Residents who need some help can arrange visiting services such as a home help, chiropodist or care assistant. Many societies have installed aids and adaptations to make life easier for frailer residents.
Residents are usually over 75 years old and, whilst reasonably fit, no longer wish to live alone. In Abbeyfield, residents live together in houses which normally accommodate between 8-12 older people. Each resident has his or her own room which can be furnished with treasured furniture and other possessions. Every house has well-equipped bathrooms, some with special adaptations for disabled residents. Most societies are able to offer rooms with en suite facilities.
The Abbeyfield way of life provides a balance of privacy and caring support which can be ideal for many older people who no longer feel happy living alone or sharing their children's home. The support is provided by a paid full time housekeeper and local volunteers.
"When I open the front door I have it all. Good friends to share a meal with, a room to call my own and the wonderful feeling that this, at last, is home."
"When I came here I found real care and concern - it's like having a family again."
Abbeyfield is firmly rooted in the local community from which residents are normally drawn. It is Abbeyfield policy to give preference to local people or to those with local connections. Residents in an Abbeyfield house are very much part of their local community and enjoy the friendly contact and neighbourliness this brings. Many will attend nearby clubs and join in other activities locally - volunteers often provide transport. Opportunities are often made for residents, families and friends to participate in joint activities.
Many local societies are supported by a group of 'Friends' who raise funds to improve house comforts, visit and befriend residents, arrange trips and generally spread the word about Abbeyfield.
Abbeyfield UK, the housing association run by The Abbeyfield Society, offers housing and support to anyone over the age of 55. To find out more about applying for accommodation in an Abbeyfield UK house, click here to be taken to the Abbeyfield UK website.
Care homes
Abbeyfield has around 80 care homes offering high quality care in specially designed and staffed houses. Officers in charge or deputies, together with care assistants, are on duty 24 hours a day. Qualified staff dispense medicines under the direction of GPs and district nursing staff and ensure effective care. Nursing care is not provided (except in houses registered as nursing homes) but residents with high dependency are accommodated and full use is made of community nursing services. All residents in care homes have a specific care plan and GP involvement in developing and monitoring each plan is encouraged.Abbeyfield care homes provide for residents with higher dependency, including some who experience dementia. Domiciliary, extra personal and nursing care services support many residents and enable them to remain 'at home' in Abbeyfield whilst receiving high levels of care.
Abbeyfield past and present
History of The Abbeyfield Society: Abbeyfield began in 1956 when Richard Carr-Gomm became concerned at the number of sad elderly faces staring fixedly from windows, during a visit to Bermondsey, that he resigned his commission with the Coldstream Guards, moved from Chelsea Barracks to a bed-sit in Abbeyfield Road and became a home-help. During his visits as a home-help he found that loneliness was the problem and so he spent his army gratuity on a house in Eugenia Road and invited four lonely people to join him. By Christmas 1956 he had become the very first Abbeyfield housekeeper.
Richard
Carr-Gomm
A group of interested people (one of whom became Mrs Carr-Gomm) had been meeting at a house in Abbeyfield Road, hence the title was given to the Society. In the space of two years six houses were opened in Bermondsey, housing 26 older people.
By the end of 1960, Abbeyfield societies had been formed in 8 London boroughs and in 15 localities outside London. An essential feature of the idea was - and still is - help by voluntary workers for older people in their own communities. The parent society was incorporated as The Abbeyfield Society, and is a nucleus for the whole movement.
Abbeyfield's shared values and beliefs
Abbeyfield's answer to the problems of loneliness and isolation in older age has been to develop houses where groups of older people can live together with care and companionship.The Abbeyfield way of life provides a balance of privacy and caring support which can be ideal for many older people who no longer feel happy living alone or sharing with other people. In Abbeyfield, older people can remain independent and active knowing that
hey have the support of a resident house manager and a network of local volunteers.
Abbeyfield societies are guided by the shared beliefs of the movement:
- Older people have an important role to play amongst their families, friends and in their community
- Overcoming loneliness and insecurity can make all the difference to an older person's wellbeing and quality of life
- Local people have an essential part to play in helping older people in their community.
Top of the page
The Abbeyfield Society today
The Abbeyfield Society has now grown to include around 300 member societies throughout the United Kingdom with over 700 houses providing accommodation for over 7500 residents, involving over 5,000 volunteers, and serviced by a small staff at its support office in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
Abbeyfield is divided into 11 administrative regions. Each has its own regional council composed of volunteers from societies in the region. The regional officers have regular meetings with each other, so that they can represent the views of their region through national committees. Member societies are initiated (and for the most part managed) by volunteers who come from all walks of life. Every society has its own elected executive comprising the Chair, the Treasurer and the Secretary. Members of the executive committee assume legal responsibilities and details of the current members can be accessed by clicking here
Any further questions about life in an Abbeyfield house, including financial or practical issues? Click here for Frequently asked questions
