Female residents at Richmond Villages Witney share their life experiences with 13, 14, and 15-year-olds from the local Wood Green School, offering them wisdom and advice
Retirement communities are full of people who have led fascinating lives.
Many are continuing to lead rich, fulfilled lives and want to share their experiences and offer advice and wisdom to the next generation.
An event at Richmond Villages Witney community in Oxfordshire brought women homeowners together with youngsters from Wood Green School.
The photo above features Richmond Villages Witney residents (left-right) Dr Elizabeth King, Denise Bright, Sibylle Kreutzberger and Sue Ramsden, with students from Wood Green School.
Richmond’s Brand Ambassador, Sharon Morrison, discussed a number of topics with the residents including their professional careers, proudest achievements, biggest inspirations, and what success meant to them.
Sue Ramsden, 74, shared the advice she would give to young women starting out in their careers; “Make sure you are doing a job you enjoy, there is nothing more soul destroying than doing something that is a pain every day.
“Make sure you make the most of today, you will never get it back again.”
When asked what success means to her, Michelle Foot, 73, said: “Success is not necessarily about achieving, success is about being yourself and real.
“I also always try to make sure that I am walking empathetically with other people. There is something about the care of relationships with my fellow human beings that is very significant to me.”
Dr Elizabth King, 81, a homeowner at Richmond Villages Witney for six years, is a Doctor in Psychology specialising in suicide prevention. When asked about her biggest achievement in life, Elizabeth said: “I conducted a research project in the New Forest, as my research had identified that people were coming from all over the country to kill themselves in the forest car parks.
“For a 10-year period, there were 10 to 12 suicides there a year, and I identified that out of the 140 car parks, 24 of them accounted for 50 per cent of the deaths. To combat this, we decided to put A3 signs in the entrances to the 24 identified car parks, to tell people the telephone number of the Samaritans.
“For the next 10 years, the number dropped to two or three suicides a year and in the following 10 years, there wasn’t a single local death in the car parks, and those that did travel to the area, there wasn’t a single death in a signed car park.
Joanne Cambrey, Head of Activities at Richmond Villages Witney, said, “We have some truly inspirational women living here and it has been wonderful to give them the opportunity to share their experiences with the younger generation.”
Richmond Villages offers independent living apartments, assisted living apartments, and a care home, providing tailored care to individual needs. Staff work hard to ensure their residents lead active, fulfilling lives, providing a packed schedule of events, full access to their wellness spa, and regular social clubs.
To find out more about Richmond Villages Witney, visit https://www.richmond-villages.com/retirement-villages/witney.
