“I live in Bentham House, an independent living scheme in Woolwich, South-East London. It’s a modern seven storey block, which opened 10 years ago. It’s made up of165 apartments and around 200 residents live here.
I give thanks to God every day for my beautiful apartment, which is very modern, spacious, light and airy. The building itself is well maintained, clean and maybe most important in this age, very secure with a 24/7 concierge.
Back in 2017, a group of residents decided to officially set up a Residents Association with two purposes – one to help create a vibrant community spirit to alleviate social isolation and two, to support residents with any issues regarding their housing, language or other matters. There are currently eight of us on the Committee.
I’ve been the secretary of the Association since the start, which was very soon after I moved in. We’ve been very fortunate to access nearly £20,000 of funding since our inception from several sources – Southern Housing, Greenwich Council, National Lottery and Co-op store. Several of our local businesses and shops have also supported our events. We have our own website www.benthamhousera.co.uk (which we need to maintain and develop more!)
Over the years we’ve subsidised many coach trips, mainly to the seaside, and hosted garden parties and cultural festivals, cake competitions, craft club and sporting activities. We were able to buy a full-sized snooker table, table tennis tables, sewing machines and a PA karaoke system. We’re blessed with many facilities and activity areas in Bentham House, which we can use, and we’ve a good relationship with Southern Housing.
During the Covid years, we couldn’t do much, but we’ve developed a good community spirit, although it’s not always easy to encourage residents to venture out of their cosy apartments. We’re also blessed with a strong contingent of Nepalese Gurkha families, who, despite being limited by language, are incredibly supportive.”
