Abbeyfield Amersham & Chesham Society
Limited (1966-2004)
The Abbeyfield Amersham Society Limited was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee on 24th March 1966. The Society is also a Registered Charity and a Social Registered Landlord.
Over the next 10 years the Society established three houses in Chesham Bois, namely, Ardwell House (7 residents), Orchard House (8 residents) and The Leys (8 residents), and three further houses Pratt House (10 residents), Brailsford House (6 residents) and Mansil House (12 residents) in Amersham. Pratt House was opened in July 1967 and the land on which the original part stands was donated under the terms of Mrs.Pratt's will. Mansil House was built on land donated by a Mr. Manning and the finance partially provided by a bequest from a Miss Silcox (both local residents), hence the name Mansil House. Pratt House and Mansil House were custom built, whereas the other houses were conversions of existing properties.
The Abbeyfield Chesham Society Limited was incorporated in 1970 as both a Registered Charity and a Social Landlord. It owned two detached houses in Bois Moor Road in Chesham, but still within the ecclesiastical parish of Chesham Bois.
All these houses were what are now termed “Supported Sheltered Housing”, and the Society gradually improved these houses over the years, including the provision of separate accommodation for the House Managers.
By 1981 the then Executive Committee recognised that as the residents became older and more frail the traditional Abbeyfield House could not provide the level of care that was needed. It was decided that Pratt House should become an “Extra Care House” and accordingly Pratt House was registered as a residential care home with Buckinghamshire County Council on 19th May 1981.
Towards the end of the 1990s the average age of prospective residents was approaching 85 and they no longer wished to move into Supported Sheltered Housing without a lift or stair lift. Extra residents' rooms were added to Mansil House in 1997 and a passenger lift and an “assisted bath” were also installed. On completion of this work residents' laundry and room cleaning were taken over by the Society and a member of staff is now present in the house 24 hours per day. Improvements have also been made at Chesham over the years; the two Chesham houses are now joined together, a lift has been installed and en-suite facilities have been added to the 9 residents' rooms. Unfortunately it was apparent for a number of reasons that it was not possible to introduce a similar upgrading to Ardwell House, Orchard House and Brailsford House, which were closed in August 1997, April 1999 and March 2001 respectively. On each occasion the remaining residents of those houses were accommodated in the Society's other houses at the time of their closure.
Pratt House
Since
its original registration as a residential care home in 1981 two small
extensions were added, increasing the capacity to 19 residents. Then in
December 1994 the Society was able to purchase the adjacent plot of land, which
at the time had outline planning permission for the erection of two detached
4-bedroomed houses. In 1997 a project was started with a view to extending
Pratt House. At the outset it was decided that the opportunity must be taken to
refurbish the existing house at the same time. In order to do this it was
necessary to reduce the number of residents temporarily from 19 down to
13.
Many difficulties had to be overcome during the project, in particular with regard to the planning, financing and the construction itself. Eventually planning permission was granted to extend the property to provide a total of 29 en-suite residents' rooms, 2 passenger lifts, additional communal accommodation, a basement laundry, a training/meeting room and a small Society office. The work was finally completed in 2002.
Two societies merge
The Amersham and Chesham Societies worked well together over a number of years
and in 2001 it was decided to merge the two Societies, which was completed on
1st October 2001 under the name of The Abbeyfield Amersham & Chesham
Society Limited.
In recent years many new government controls and regulations have been introduced, imposing new burdens on all care institutions throughout the UK, which, along with the increasing difficulty of finding new volunteers, have created serious problems for many local Abbeyfield societies. For this reason in 2003 the national Abbeyfield Society set up a new unit with nationwide scope under the title of Abbeyfield UK, which, like the local Abbeyfield societies, is a charity controlled by a board of volunteers. However it is managed by professional staff, and is available to take over the running of local Abbeyfield houses, where requested to do so by the relevant local societies. In March 2004 the executive committee and members of the Abbeyfield Amersham & Chesham Society decided that such a transfer of responsibility would be in the best interests of the present and future Abbeyfield residents of Amersham and Chesham.
On 1st July 2004 responsibility for the activities previously undertaken by the Abbeyfield Amersham & Chesham Society was transferred, along with its assets and liabilities, to Abbeyfield UK. Abbeyfield UK now manages the three Supported Sheltered Houses, and one registered Residential Care Home, which together provide homes for a total of 62 residents.
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