If any celebrity least personifies the concept of an elderly, fragile, pensioner it is Dame Joanna Lumley.
She certainly defied her 77 years this week when she swept into Riverstone Kensington’s launch party in a trendy cornflower-blue trouser suit and fashionable white trainers.
Armed with her customary wit and humour, the iconic actress had her audience in stitches (not literally thankfully) telling them how sorry she felt for all those under the age of 65 – because they would not qualify to live at Riverstone Kensington – a brand new retirement community of 160 apartments down the road from where she grew up near High Street Kensington in London.
Joanna was a brilliant choice to open the luxury-lateral-living enclave of contemporary homes with restaurant, gardens, cinema, indoor pool and spa.
She extolled the virtues of ageing instead of focussing on the negatives. “I feel so sorry for those of you who aren’t yet 65, I think it’s pretty tragic. but keep going,” she told her audience on Tuesday while the champagne flowed and glamorous prospective buyers gathered to have a tour of the homes and facilities and mingle in the stunning garden.
“Those of us who are baby boomers have a completely different outlook,” she explained.
“It’s that we have been climbing a large hill for a long time and are getting to the top. And it’s absolutely thrilling because up here you can see everything. And life seems as sweet as can be.
“There’s something about that rebel spirit of freedom that as we get a little bit further toward the top of the mountain,” she said with a twinkle.
“Our children are madly anxious – those under 65 year olds – to see that we’re safe. They need to know we’re actually fine and we don’t care what we do.
“They’ve thought of everything here,” she enthused. “Everything we long for – to be together if we want and to be alone if want.
“You will never be ejected from these flats in a box. You will never leave. We are going to live so long because you are going to adore it here. I have never fallen in love with a place so fast as I did when I came through those doors.
“This is what we hope life will look like in the future. I have never been happier heading fast towards 80 as I am today.”
In the spirit of her Bollinger-swigging character in Absolutely Fabulous, Patsy, she treated her audience to a tasting of her new electric-blue cocktail, the Lumley, and demonstrated how to make at at the bar.
“You put a dollop of lemon sorbet in the bottom of a glass, and onto that some blue Curaçao. Then, darlings, you want to add some vodka. Fill it to the brim and after two of these you won’t remember your name. You are going to adore it.”
Riverstone Kensington is now open.
For further information or to book a viewing, please visit riverstoneliving.com. Or visit retiremove.co.uk
