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tel: 0845 521 1857
We have always said our residents are our best ambassadors. That’s why we’ve dedicated these pages to the residents of Moat House to fill with news, views and events, in the hope it will give you a genuine insight in village living Retirement Villages’ style.
We are very proud to have the UK’s sixth oldest person living at The Moat House.
George Assinder moved here in 2009, immediately becoming Retirement Villages’ oldest resident.
And he’s notched up another year, having celebrated his 107th birthday with a party for family, friends and neighbours at the Moat House.
George was married to a Norwegian, Astrid and they had one son Ivor. There were an impressive 27 family members at this birthday party.
He’s an Essex man, he lived for much of his life in Little Hallingby near Bishops Stortford. He was a trained opera singer though he worked in banking, having won a scholarship with Barclays Bank.
His favourite memory dates back to just after World War One when he travelled to Germany to help restore the currency. He was one of the people to dish out 10 marks to every member of the German population.
Incredibly, he was running until he was 99, finally hanging up his trainers on his 100th birthday!
He loves Siamese cats, was a beekeeper, a great historian and loved a pint of beer with his mates – a fact we marked by decorating his chocolate birthday cake with cans of light beer!
(contribution from Leah Dayes, activities organiser)
These are members of the Dunmow Woodwind Band which visited us here at The Moat House earlier this month.
The music was absolutely wonderful. There’sWoodwind band something very uplifting about listening to a band. We all agreed there is nothing like the thrill of a live performance.
The Sound of Music played on the array of woodwind instruments was just heavenly.
We love our craft sessions here at The Moat House. They’re not only good for bringing out our artistic side we always find plenty of time to chat as we work.
The Royal Wedding on Friday has given us plenty of excuse to get out the fabric, scissors, glue and sewing kits.
We’ve made some very patriotic red, white and blue decorations to string up around the lounge here at The Moat House. Leah is our activities organiser and she’s arranged a cream tea for Friday morning so we can all tuck into scones and jam while watching the ceremony together on television.
A spot of investigation work has led us to the discovery this week that, here at The Moat House, we have Retirement Villages’ oldest resident. And George Assinder is set to become one year older still next week!
Mr Assinder is going to be celebrating his 106th birthday with a party here. We have organised for a gramophone and some vinyl records – remember those! - to provide the musical entertainment. His family are coming along and all his friends here – residents and staff – are planning to join in the celebrations.
A thought: When Mr Assinder was born in 1905: our Queen’s great grandfather was on the throne. The Wright Brothers’ inaugural aeroplane flight had happened just two years before. And the Crimean War was in living memory.
We were delighted to welcome our MP Sir Alan Haselhurst to the Moat House. We’re having a new 60 bed care home built in the grounds and Sir Alan was invited to unveil the foundation stone.
He’s something of a regular visitor here – he has been known to pop in for coffee and cake, especially around Christmas time.
He was absolutely charming and spent a lot of his time here chatting to residents and staff.
He unveiled the foundation stone and said a few words about how exciting it is to have such a lovely facility being built in his constituency.
The stone, a hefty thing beautifully engraved, will be placed in the wall of the new care home, which is coming along well. The contractors work hard ensuring there’s always something new for us to peek at! It’s due to be finished next summer and, once it is, we’ll all be moving in there. We’re hoping Sir Alan will be among our first visitors!
Contact us now on
0845 521 1857
