SeniorLiving

People

Housing

Money

Thinking woman

Difficult decisions

Property magnets

Joan Bakewell on Botox, ageism in broadcasting and why she’s made a living will Page 5

How will you know when it’s time to move into a care home? Page 11

The people cashing in on the rental boom Page 15

August 2011

Distributed within the Sunday Telegraph, produced and published by Lyonsdown which takes sole responsibility for the contents

Don’t be a summer slouch. Make the most of the season’s events whether it’s music, sport, reliving history - even growing garlic

First up, best dressed

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Senior Living 路 August 2011

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Senior Living · August 2011

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Senior living – in this issue

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How Doris ‘met’ my mother

By Julie Nightingale

M

y mother has recently been reading Team of Rivals, the biography of Abraham Lincoln written by US author Doris Kearns Goodwin. The heavyweight tome was an acclaimed bestseller and followed an earlier biography of Franklin D and Eleanor Roosevelt which won Kearns Goodwin the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 and which my mother has also read.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful,” Ma said, “if Doris came here to give a lecture? I’d love to hear her talk in person.” And then she laughed at the absurd notion of a presidential historian and Harvard PhD turning up in a small corner of the Midlands where award-winning, internationally celebrated writers are few and far between, despite the frequency of the bus service.

But five minutes later, after a swift search on the internet, we had the next best thing.

There was Kearns Goodwin in our kitchen or rather on YouTube delivering a 20-minute

lecture in 2008 to a gathering of intellectuals in California about what the world can learn from American presidents past.

She spoke with great insight and authority, as you’d expect, but also humour and warmth about Abraham Lincoln, how he revived a faltering political career to win an againstthe-odds election victory and how his love of English literature shaped both his thinking and his oratory.

It was a vivid example of how the internet can instantly expand one’s horizons and my mother was delighted by the experience, all the more so because, like a sizeable portion of her generation, she is not an internet user; as many as 6m Britons over 65 find the internet a mystery.

The Kearns Goodwin YouTube performance has given her a taste of the possibilities now but I’ll also be pointing her in the direction of our feature on p17 about Race Online, the national campaign to encourage more people – of all ages – to use the internet with help from their peers.

It includes one 105-year-old who has recently

Publisher Bradley Scheffer brad@lyonsdown.co.uk

Project Manager Ben Loftus ben@lyonsdown.co.uk

Managing Editor Lucie Carrington lucie@lyonsdown.co.uk

For more information on any of our supplements please contact us:

Editor Julie Nightingale

Telephone 020 8349 4363

discovered how, from tracing old friends to rediscovering favourite bands of the past, the internet can enrich your life in any number of ways.

Talking of rich lives, Joan Bakewell’s has been as exciting as it has been fulfilling, so far.

One of the generation of women journalists who broke through into a male-dominated world in the 1960s, she has maintained a highprofile media career into her eighth decade, despite the industry’s obsession with youth.

Yet even Dame Joan has bumped up against ageism professionally, as she tells interviewer Maureen Paton on p5: “The only people over 70 on TV now are David Dimbleby, Bruce Forsyth and David Attenborough.”

Meanwhile, if you’re one of the millions staycationing this summer – or just looking for a day out – take a look at our centre pages where you’ll find a wealth of ideas.

They include the annual Isle of Wight Garlic Festival where among the attractions there’s a garlic beer.

That’s one thing the internet has yet to crack, of course: smell . . .

Journal Assistant Natalie Luketic production@lyonsdown.co.uk

Online www.lyonsdown.co.uk

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An interview with Joan Bakewell

Not so lazy days

8

Keeping busy this summer

Moving into care

11

How to make that difficult decision

In perfect harmony

13

You’re never too old to make music

Stashing your cash

15

Buy-to-let is making a come back

Web masters

17

Making the most of the net

Contributors Julie Nightingale Julie Nightingale specialises in information communications technology and education. She writes mainly for The Guardian, education press and for the magazines and web publications of several education bodies.

Email info@lyonsdown.co.uk Creative Director Martin Nolan studio@lyonsdown.co.uk

Senior thinker

Liz Lightfoot Liz Lightfoot is a journalist who has been covering education for daily and Sunday newspapers for 30 years.

Cover photograph: Mike Caldwell

Graham Norwood Graham Norwood has been a property journalist for 10 years, writing for national newspapers and industry magazines. He has written four books on housing.

Maureen Paton Maureen Paton is a feature writer and interviewer for mid-market and quality national newspapers and magazines.

She specialises in arts, show business and women’s issues.

John Holt John Holt writes on museums and heritage for specialist magazines and national press.

Dorothy Lepkowska Dorothy Lepkowska has been a journalist for almost 25 years and has worked on the Daily Mirror, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph.

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Senior Living · August 2011

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Living the dream in later life Richmond Villages opens its doors to reveal a luxurious environment which has all the ingredients for a happy retirement

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ward-winning Richmond Villages has five centres throughout the country, and the retirement village operator invited Senior Living along to its very latest creation, Richmond Letcombe Regis in Oxfordshire, for a tour with the village manager Elisabeth Parker.

On arrival we were struck by the stunning surroundings. The term ‘village’ is wholly appropriate, since this truly is a community, where the luxuriously appointed homes are set in and around the village centre.

The village centre is a tranquil but vibrant environment boasting a waterside restaurant, bar, library and wellness spa with gym, sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and pool.

The bowling green is so perfectly maintained we barely dared breathe near it! There are treatment rooms for sessions with therapists or practitioners, and a well-equipped hairdressing and beauty salon. Weekly programmes schedule an extensive range of activities from book clubs and music Parker: increased assistance with minimum upheaval

appreciation to wine tasting and country walks.

Elisabeth explained how the village was designed so retired people could continue the same independent lifestyle they always did, with access to gardens, countryside and a wide range of social and leisure activities without the day-to-day responsibilities and chores. “Since we can take care of any service, you can choose to do as much or as little, according to your needs or choice. Should you or your partner need increased assistance later on, this can be accommodated within the village, with minimum upheaval.”

Next we viewed the apartments, which offer the ultimate in comfort, style and modern functionality, with fully equipped kitchens and en suite bathrooms, all fitted to top standards and specifications. Allocated parking spaces are available, but with a transport service for shopping trips and outings, car ownership is optional.

Last stop was Richmond’s convenient and charming village shop and café. As we eyed up the diet-forsaking homemade cakes, they seemed to ooze the same sumptuous qualities of the village itself: quality ingredients combined with care and skill to produce the optimum in taste and indulgence.

Richmond is anyone’s dream of a retirement home. You can enjoy luxurious living, an active social life, lots of leisure, and the one thing we all wish for at any age – peace of mind. www.richmond-villages.com

Distributed with The Sunday Telegraph 27 November

The campaign queen Esther Rantzen discusses food, hospices, downsizing and, of course, Childline

Deck the halls OMG! Christmas is coming

Stashing the cash Growing the pound in your pocket

Wakey, wakey How much sleep to you really need?

Senior Living · August 2011

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Profile

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There is nothing like a dame . . . . . . and there’s no one like Joan Bakewell. From ’60s chick to campaigner for the elderly, she’s still making news after five decades in the spotlight

By Maureen Paton

I

t’s a measure of just how busy Joan Bakewell continues to be that it took me three attempts to schedule this interview.

Not that the 78-year-old broadcaster and writer has added inaccessible divadom to the damehood she acquired in 2008, as Bakewell remains as friendly and approachable as ever since she became a Labour peer last year. But she’s slotting me into a hectic Sunday spent reading the final proofs of her second novel, She’s Leaving Home. And when asked about her typical working day, she laughs wryly and says: “There’s no such thing.”

That’s the way she prefers it, describing herself as “a bit of a magpie because I like a little of lots of different things”. Alongside her most regular gigs – thrice-weekly sittings in the House of Lords and twice-weekly Pilates classes – she continues to relish “all

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel like at my age. I live life to the full as much as I can” the random stuff that turns up” in the life of a freelance. As one of our best-known TV presenters, she finds the offers still keep coming in – apart from in one area, of which more later.

Bakewell made her name back in the ’60s as a menthol-cool, mini-skirted interviewer on BBC2’s ground-breaking topical talk show Late Night Line-Up, earning herself the nickname of “the thinking man’s crumpet” from the humorist Frank Muir. She has been an arts and current-affairs queen ever since, moving on from Newsnight to such influential TV documentary series as Heart of the Matter, which ran for 12 years, and Taboo, which investigated the sexual life of the nation.

But she never forgot to have a life outside work. Now a grandmother of six, she has been married twice – to TV producer Michael Bakewell and to theatre director Jack Emery.

Her private life even made headlines when her seven-year affair with the playwright Harold Pinter was later immortalised in his play Betrayal. Currently she’s single.

“Am I having an affair now?” says Bakewell (her bold choice of words, not mine). “No, but I go out with a wide variety of friends of both sexes.”

The post-war youthquake of high achievers from relatively lowly backgrounds like hers could be called the first truly liberated generation. Bakewell puts that down to the fact that “our wartime childhoods had been quite austere, so we came out roaring with enthusiasm, wanting to make the world a better place”.

That same seventy-something generation

is now at the centre of an elderquake revolution, refusing to be defined by their years. As Bakewell puts it: “I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel like at my age. I live life to the full as much as I can, and my children take my busy life for granted – I think they’re relieved I’m not a burden.”

Appointed the voice for older people by Gordon Brown’s government in 2008, she stepped down as age tsar just before the 2010 election because, she explains: “I didn’t want to tie the subsequent incumbent with having me on their books – and also because I found the job overwhelming, since it was voluntary and therefore part-time.”

Now she lobbies for England and Scotland to appoint a full-time paid commissioner instead, as in Wales and Northern Ireland, because she believes “there’s a need for a much bigger response to the old”.

She continues to campaign on other issues, too. Having criticised the way sex is commodified, she now says: “I think we will probably go through quite a puritanical phase to redress the sleazy values till we get the balance right.”

The only thing that temporarily put a stop to her gallop earlier this year has been a broken foot due to a stress fracture.

“Although I’m better now, I can’t go round in high heels any more,” she says ruefully.

“But I don’t do glamour any more. Sometimes I think I ought to find out about Botox, since people keep talking about it, but I don’t have the time or the need…”

She remains much in demand on radio, presenting Radio 4’s Inside the Ethics Committee and the Radio 3 series Belief.

And in September she will be on TV interviewing Sir David Frost about his historic interrogation of US president Richard Nixon in a Watergate/Nixon night on BBC2.

Yet aside from being the occasional talking head on ageing issues or the ’60s, she admits: “I don’t have a TV career at all.

I think the reason is because of age – the only people over 70 on TV now are David Dimbleby, Bruce Forsyth and David Attenborough. Your professional life does thin out as you get older.

“But I’ve found other avenues. I’m having to learn quite late in the day how to write novels (her first, All the Nice Girls, was published in 2009) and I’m beginning to get

stuck into law-making issues in the Lords.

That’s all about current affairs, so there is a parallel with my TV career.”

These days she makes her mark on television behind the scenes, it seems. In a recent New Statesman interview with Mark Thompson, she got the BBC’s directorgeneral to take on board her arguments for more older women on screen, following Bakewell’s championing of deposed Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly (who took the BBC to an employment tribunal for ageism and won).

“Things are getting better for women in broadcasting, but I also think many women have less single-minded, driving ambition than men. Their lives are full of other satisfactions, which makes women more balanced human beings.

“I wanted my life to encompass as many different things as possible, and that’s what I’ve done. I don’t really have any more ambitions workwise – I’d like it to be a little bit quieter really,” she adds.

“I have signed a living will, but I feel so fit that I haven’t made any arrangements for my future care,” she concludes, telling me that she’s very keen on “this new architecture, this plan for houses to be built for life so that people don’t ever have to move out”.

A pioneer to the last.

Joan Bakewell’s interview with Sir David Frost will be on BBC2 in September. She’s Leaving Home will be published by Virago in November.

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Senior Living · August 2011

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Industry view

Draw on our experience Rates are at a record low so investors beware – buying an annuity could seriously damage your wealth, says the Pension Drawdown Company

W

hen financing your retirement, an annuity can seem like a good option.

Annuity rates loosely follow the Bank of England base rate (see chart).

With the base rate being held at a record low for the past 28 months, the Pension Drawdown Company managing director Jonathan Walker says: “Surely there is only one way left to go, and that’s up!

“The close correlation between the Bank of England base rate and the Government Actuarial Department (GAD) rate – which is what annuity rates are based upon – means that when this happens, annuity rates should start to rise and each hard-earned pound of your pension saving will buy you more income in your retirement.”

The minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting in July state: “Expectations implied by market prices of the point at which bank rate would begin to rise had been pushed back further during the month.” The minutes also suggest that

With the recent changes in pension legislation, the income drawdown option has now become even more flexible “financial market participants expected bank rate to have increased by 25 basis points by around the middle of 2012.”

But there are other options. Walker vents his frustration with the poor annuity rates currently available: “With most annuities, once purchased, that is it. Your capital is gone and your income is set for the rest of your life.

If you secure this income now while annuity rates are at an extreme low, when the rise in rates does happen how annoyed will you be that your hard-earned cash could have bought you more income?”

In these circumstances, he foresees many 9% 8% 7%

people being upset at the fact that they are forced into buying annuities because they need the income and cannot afford to delay their retirement in the hope that rates might improve.

There are alternatives. The Pension Drawdown Company specialises in providing advice to clients regarding their retirement options, including alternatives to buying annuities.

This includes using your pension capital to provide you with an income in retirement while keeping the main pension fund invested. In this scenario clients maintain ownership and control of their fund; if and when someone is ready, they can use the capital to purchase an annuity when rates have improved.

According to Walker: “We find the majority of our clients favour the pension drawdown route because of the flexibility it offers, and even when annuity rates have improved they will choose to stay in drawdown.” Pension drawdown is not

BOE Rate % GAD Rate %

6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 1%

Feb 96 Aug 96 Feb 97 Aug 97 Feb 98 Aug 98 Feb 99 Aug 99 Feb 00 Aug 00 Feb 01 Aug 01 Feb 02 Aug 02 Feb 03 Aug 03 Feb 04 Aug 04 Feb 05 Aug 05 Feb 06 Aug 06 Feb 07 Aug 07 Feb 08 Aug 08 Feb 09 Aug 09 Feb 10 Aug 10 Feb 11 Aug 11

0%

the right solution for everyone, though, and the unsecured nature of the income means that the arrangement does have an element of risk. However, the benefits of a drawdown plan could far outweigh those of an annuity.

Income is flexible in that if you have enough income from other sources, you can turn it off, whereas if there is a time when you have too little, you can increase your income up to the maximum allowed.

Death benefits are another strong advantage of a drawdown plan. Upon death, all of your plan value can transfer to your spouse, leaving them to choose the best option, Walker says. This could be either drawdown or annuity.

If there is no spouse then the fund can be left to another nominated beneficiary as a lump sum (subject to a tax). Although only a portion of the fund can pass on to beneficiaries other than spouses, this is still 45 per cent better than with an annuity.

Alternatively your fund can be left in its entirety, free of any tax, to a charity of your choice.

Indeed, in a recent survey of the Pension Drawdown Company’s clients, 100 per cent of them agreed that either of these options was preferable to their money being passed onto a life assurance company.

With the recent changes in pension legislation, the income drawdown option has become even more flexible. There are two main choices for drawdown – capped or flexible.

With a capped drawdown you can receive income up to the maximum allowed under the current GAD rate and this can now continue beyond the age of 75 (previously the government had insisted that you find a new home for your pension at 75).

Alternatively, if you receive at least £20,000 of secured income from other sources (including company pension, pension

annuities and state pension), you also have the option of flexible drawdown. This allows you to draw as much income as you need or require for any use, subject to your marginal rate of tax.

The strength of the Pension Drawdown Company’s approach, according to Walker, is: “Our proactive management style, which is based on the simple ethos of buying when markets are low and selling as they increase.”

Using a wide range of recognised and award-winning funds in many different sectors ranging from Schroder’s Income Maximiser fund (featured opposite) to JP Morgan’s Natural Resources fund, the Pension Drawdown Company advises its clients to switch funds regularly, where appropriate, for example to take advantage of the best buying opportunities, or to reflect the client’s changing attitude to risk.

“Our many years of knowledge and expertise are reflected in our excellent success rate of growing funds and in our clients’ testimonials, all adding to our belief that choosing a pension drawdown is the right choice to maximise flexibility in retirement,” Walker adds.

0800 0304 008 www.pension-drawdown.co.uk Reader offer The Pension Drawdown Company will review Senior Living readers’ current plans for free. Any work recommended and carried out will be offered at a reduced tiered rate of 3 per cent of the fund value for transferred fund values above £75,000, 2 per cent for over £200,000, 1.5 per cent for over £300,000 and only 1 per cent for transferred fund values over £500,000. Contact 0800 0304 008 and let the company’s experts help you to protect your wealth.

Senior Living · August 2011

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Industry view

7

Widow’s pique put to rest Mr B retired in 2008 with a personal pension valued at £600,000 after taking tax-free cash.

He had worked hard all his life to build up this retirement pot and he approached the Pension Drawdown Company to discuss his options and then used the money to go in to a pension drawdown fund.

Unfortunately not long after his retirement Mr B died. However, his widow was relieved to discover that the pension pot could be transferred into her name and she could continue to benefit from the entire fund value.

Had Mr B opted for an annuity when he retired, he would have had to sacrifice almost a quarter of his annual income to purchase 100 per cent death benefit for Mrs B. This is because of the cost of building in this benefit to the annuity itself.

She now lives comfortably with a pension income equal to the amount her late husband drew and she is very happy knowing that when she dies the pension pot will be left to her three children.

Going for growth

Maximising your money’s potential Interest rates may be in the doldrums but the Schroder Income Maximiser fund shows that expectations for returns on your investments don’t have to be low

A

chieving a high income when interest rates are persistently low isn’t easy as they erode yields on financial assets across the board.

However, there are still products available which aim for better returns – such as the Schroder Income Maximiser, which targets a yield of 7 per cent per annum.

The fund works in two ways – it invests in an actively managed portfolio of UK large and mid-cap stocks while boosting income levels through the sale of covered call options.

In the first step, Nick Kirrage and Kevin Murphy, co-managers of the underlying Schroder Income Fund, create a portfolio of stocks that they feel have low share prices relative to the companies’ long-term earnings potential and the amount of cash they will be able to generate.

These stocks will also tend to be high yielding, offering a generous dividend payment as well as the ability to grow that dividend over time.

The structured fund management team then looks to generate additional income by selling options on these holdings on a three-month rolling basis. This income stream is produced because Schroders exchanges some of the potential capital upside on selected holdings (above a certain level) in return for an upfront cash payment (premium) over this period.

This strategy gives investors exposure

to equity markets, but with the provision of a regular income (although the actual amount will vary) and lower volatility than a similar fund without the option strategy.

The trade-off is that the performance or capital value of the fund may be eroded. If the market rises strongly, for example, the exchange of capital for income means the

The fund has maintained its ability to generate the target yield against a background of a range of economic scenarios fund is likely to underperform. This could happen over consecutive three-month periods, eroding capital value by capping the gains and taking the falls.

But of course the fund also has the potential to outperform when the market falls, with the yield acting as a cushion for returns.

The yield is the sum of the four quarterly distributions that comprise the fund year, each calculated by dividing the quarterly distribution amount by the unit price at the start of that quarter. Investors must be aware that the 7 per cent target yield is not guaranteed and could change according to market conditions, but Schroders has consistently shown its ability to hit this

target, delivering 7 per cent every year since the fund was launched more than five years ago.

The fund has maintained its ability to generate the target yield against a backdrop of a range of economic scenarios, and there is little to suggest that demand for call options will weaken in the foreseeable future.

Whatever UK policymakers decide to do about inflation and interest rates, Schroders expects to see continued option demand – and the team is confident it can continue to generate an attractive level of income. However, past performance is not a guide to future performance and may not be repeated. Also, the value of investments and the income from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount originally invested.

Schroder Income Maximiser is unsuitable for investors who are looking for short-term returns, require a fixed quarterly amount of income, require capital security or are uncomfortable with the level of risk that comes with investing in equities.

However, it could be suitable for investors with a long-term investment horizon who are looking for some long-term growth potential.

Thomas See is head of structured fund management at Schroders www.schroders.co.uk/investor

Mr D approached the Pension Drawdown Company in November 2002 when he was retiring aged 60. In February 2003 his pension fund was used to provide 25 per cent as tax-free cash (£11,305), with the remainder placed in an income drawdown plan with a fund value of £33,916.

Since then Mr D has enjoyed an income of £25,464 as well as the tax-free cash sum.

A plan which was worth £45,221 to start has paid out a total of £36,759 so far and with proactive management is still worth £41,655.

The important thing to Mr D at the time was that his wife would receive the full value of the plan should anything happen to him.

Now both are pleased that the fund has grown and there is also the hope they will be able to leave part of this in their wills to their children (subject to the 55 per cent government recovery tax charge of course).

In their opinion, this is better than the fund dying with them.

With thanks I would like to thank the Pension Drawdown Company for the ongoing management of my plans.

I worked hard in the financial services industry for over 30 years and in my experience the Pension Drawdown Company’s continual hands on approach is very rare.

I have encountered many advisers who can construct a portfolio commensurate with a client’s attitude to risk and investment objectives.

However, very few then fine tune this during the year to maximise opportunities and reduce downside risk during market fluctuations to the same extent as Jonathan has. Very happy with performance to date.

Retired manager, Legal & General

8

Senior Living · August 2011

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Days out

Summer’s not over yet Relive 1066, feast on garlic beer, enjoy the sublime tones of Elgar or let the Red Arrows send a tingle down the spine. John Holt looks at what’s on around the UK

What’s great outdoors? ● There’s a different kind of horse power celebrated at the Goodwood Revival (Goodwood, near Chichester, 16-18 September). The revival is the only event of its kind to be staged entirely in the nostalgic time capsule of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s that relives the glory days of Goodwood Motor Circuit. Join motor sport luminaries including Sir Stirling Moss, Richard Attwood, John Surtees and Derek Bell in an unabashed celebration of flat-out wheel-to-wheel racing around a classic racetrack. Visit www.goodwood.co.uk/revival

● Those attuned to a more sedate way of seeing the world should flock to the UK Motorhome and Caravan Autumn Fair (3-4 September) at Newark Showground, Nottinghamshire. Go to www. ukautumnfair.co.uk/home.html ● If feats of strength on dry land float your boat, look no further than the Braemar Gathering and Highland Games (left) on 3 September usually attended by the Queen, who stays at nearby Balmoral during the summer.

Visit www. braemargathering.org

● It’s a landmark year for the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (above at Burghley House, Lincolnshire, 1-4 September).

Not only is the event celebrating its 50th anniversary but also competition should be particularly fierce as Burghley is a qualifying show for the 2012 London Olympics.

See www.burghley-horse.co.uk ● There’s a full calendar for those who enjoy watching others messing about on the river, creek and gully. At the Fowey Royal Regatta in Cornwall (seven days from 14 August, www.foweyroyalregatta. co.uk) attractions include the Red Arrows, a colourful procession around the town and, of course, the sailing races. Torbay Week (19-24 August, www.torbayweek.co.uk) features racing for a wide variety of sailing vessels, along with tons of after-sail fun at Torbay’s sailing and yachting clubs.

Glorious, glorious food ● If you’re looking for a summer event with a unique atmosphere, then the Isle of Wight Garlic Festival should be to your taste.

Held over the weekend of 20-21 August at the evocativelynamed Fighting Cocks Crossroads site near Sandown, the festival is, according to Colin Boswell who runs the island’s Garlic Farm, “a nice blend of 1960s and ’70s pop festival with the feel of a country fair and little bit of leading edge foodie experience”.

Around 25,000 people are expected through the gates to enjoy the tastings, sideshows, displays and demonstrations.

“We do the usual things like garlic ice cream and garlic beer,” says Boswell.

“For the beer, you crush garlic in a glass and pour ice cold lager on it so you drink through

a skin of garlic. It reaches the parts other beers cannot reach.

The Isle of Wight’s garlic history goes back to the war when a Free French brigade was stationed on the island and became disenchanted with the bland food they were offered. A local farmer managed to import some garlic from the Auvergne. The islanders found it grew really well and it kept the French happy for a while. And is the Garlic

Garlic days on the Isle of Wight

Festival the event you can experience before you reach the site? “In August when we have 100 tons of garlic on the floor and we’re busy cleaning, drying and doing things with it, then I’m sure there’s a sweet aroma in the air, not a harsh one,” says Boswell. For festival details see www.garlic-festival.co.uk ● York Food and Drink Festival (16-25 September) takes place in and around many of the city’s greatest historic buildings.

Parliament Street features markets, demonstration area and beer tent and a giant marquee covers the fountain area to produce an evening event area with a difference.

Go to www.yorkfoodfestival.com ● If you’re looking to be more hands-on, try the cyder making course at Assington Mill Craft Centre in Sudbury, Suffolk on 10 September. Make sure you have your terms right, though: ‘cyder’ is the term for the first pressing of apples and cider is made by adding up to ten times water to the volume of apple pomage. See www.assingtonmill.com

Paul Askew and Claire Lara with Wirral Festival organiser Andrew Pimbley

● The Wirral Food and Drink Festival (28-29 August) features an appearance by Claire Lara, the first female winner of TV’s Masterchef: The Professionals who grew up in the area. “My life is just cooking. It’s a brilliant, brilliant job,” she says. “I teach youngsters, we give them a trade, give them an opportunity, give them options.

I get a lot of satisfaction from passing on knowledge, I just really enjoy it.”

Visit www.visitwirral.com

Senior Living · August 2011

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Days out

9

Tales of the centuries

Brian Wadie

It’s not merely music fans who spend summer weekends in wet and windy festival fields being bombarded by noise and enduring often indifferent living conditions.

Thousands of history re-enactors get away from it all by donning the costumes, eating the food and wielding the weapons of centuries gone by during staged events at many of the country’s castles and stately homes.

Those not brave enough to slip into something a little less comfortable such as sackcloth or suits of armour can go along to see historical characters brought back to life, turning points of our past re-visited and traditional crafts re-interpreted by an army of enthusiasts.

Jasmine and Mike Richards (below) have been re-enacting for 40 years and this summer’s battle plans

include the Eve of the Battle event at the National Museum of Wales in St Fagan’s, near Cardiff, on August 13 and 14. The museum site is close to one of the Civil War’s bloodiest encounters. “We’ll be part on an extended family based in a house in the woods, cooking, carrying out crafts and coming to terms with our daily lives having been taken away by the invading Army,” says 72-yearold Jasmine.

Former teacher Jasmine was bitten by the history bug when her 11-year-old son – now a computer programmer in his late 40s with his own Civil War re-enacting group – asked for some Napoleonic costumes for a history project. It was a short cavalry ride from there to the brigades of folk re-enacting the Civil War. When they retired in 1994, the Richards were ready for full-time duty.

She remembers watching her 67-year-old husband getting caught in the thick of the action during one campaign, hiding in a ditch with his camera with horses leaping over him.

“On re-enactment weekends, you lose all sense of time; you have jobs you know need doing but there’s really only daylight and night-time with the odd church bell now and again.” ● If bows and arrows appeal more than muskets and drums, you can re-live the atmosphere and tension of medieval battle in the annual re-enactment of the 1066 Battle of Hastings on the very field where it took place over the weekend of October 15-16.

There are also medieval encampments, cavalry and falconry displays and a chance to make your own chain mail.

See www.english-heritage.org.uk/ daysout/properties/1066-battle-ofhastings-abbey-and-battlefield

● The Vikings come back to life at Lindisfarne Priory, Northumberland on 2021 August. Don’t forget, however, that the site is an island at high tide; get your timings wrong and you could be stranded overnight with some of the most fearsome hordes in history (above).

Visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/ properties/lindisfarne-priory ● Delving back further through history, Verulamium Museum in St Albans is invaded every second weekend in the month by Roman soldiers who demonstrate the tactics and equipment of the Imperial Army.

Tel 01727 751 810. ● The Cannock Chase Military History weekend on August 20-21 celebrates Staffordshire’s military connections from the Civil War to the present day with static and arena demonstrations from both historians and service veterans. Tel 01543 876741.

● Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire steps back in time to the 1940s over the weekend of 24-25 September with song and dance, military and civilian living history, cooking demonstrations, entertainments such as Mr Punch taking on Adolf Hitler and classic cars and bikes.

Go to www.wimpole.org ● If staying indoors is more your thing, the State Rooms and Buckingham Palace are open to the beginning of October.

Besides the treasures of the royal collection, there’s a chance to enjoy a slice of very contemporary history in the form of the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding dress.

Visit www.royalcollection.org.uk ● And during the summer recess, there are 75-minute guided tours of the Houses of Parliament.

See www.parliament.uk/visiting

Music, words and numbers ● English music is at the heart of the Three Choirs Festival which this year takes place in Worcester Cathedral (below) until 13 August. Featured works include Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius and Vaughan Williams’ An Oxford Elegy. The tenth anniversary of 9/11 is marked with a performance of John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls, commissioned in 2002 and recalling the fall of the World Trade Center in New York.

See www.3choirs.org

● This year’s Glyndebourne Festival culminates (11-28 August) with its renowned production of Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw in which two orphaned children and their governess are spooked out of their wits in a remote country house.

Go to www.glyndebourne.com ● And don’t forget the Proms run until 10 September at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Visit www.bbc.co.uk/proms ● On the literary front, the Edinburgh International Book Festival rounds off the city’s cultural extravaganza (13-29 August) and features Man Booker longlisted authors Sebastian Barry and Alan Hollinghurst.

Visit www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival ● The Scottish International Storytelling Festival (21-30 October) unites the Scottish Isles with the shores and islands of the Mediterranean in an exchange of cultures and traditions, tracing the story of travel through the voyager Odysseus. Meanwhile, old routes are reconnected in the Year of Scotland’s Islands with Island Nights evenings offering up the best of live entertainment.

See www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk

● This year’s Canterbury Festival (15-29 October, www.canterburyfestival.co.uk) is branching out from its traditional line-up of music, theatre and arts to dip a toe in scientific waters.

Events this year include Lord Robert Winston examining the relationship between science, society and religion, stand-up mathematician Matt Parker’s “Your days are numbered” and rock physicist Dr Mark Lewney who provides a guided guitar tour through the science of music The magnificent cathedral hosts an opening day concert by the Soweto Gospel Choir (above) while Shirley Hall hosts prog rock legends Caravan (above right).

Find out more at www.canterburyfestival.co.uk

10

Senior Living 路 August 2011

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Senior Living · August 2011

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Housing

11

On the move?

Leaving the family home is never easy for an elderly relative but sometimes there’s no choice.

Here, three families share their tips on how to ease the transition from old life to new

By Stephanie Sparrow

A

fter the death of her father, Alison Hammond helped her mother, Mary Brown, 86, to downsize from the family home in Stockport, where she had lived for 45 years, into a sheltered apartment in Wantage, Oxfordshire – nearer to her daughter.

Families need to give elderly parents or relatives plenty of time to think through such an important decision, says Hammond. “I wanted to make sure that I was doing what my mother wanted and making the decisions that she wanted me to make,” she says.

Mother and daughter did not discuss any house moves until two years after their bereavement and then Hammond

“I wanted to make sure that I was doing what my mother wanted and making the decisions that she wanted me to make” – Alison Hammond conducted the initial research. “I found this particular apartment and talked to her about it. My mother came down to see it and loved it.”

Having selected the apartment to buy on a Pegasus development, Hammond made separate lists with her mother of what she wanted to take or leave, then drew up secondary lists about what would happen to the items she left behind.

“The whole process made me realise that it is important to think and plan ahead,” says Hammond.

“When my time comes, I don’t want to downsize in one go”. I’ll move from our four-bed detached into a three-bed semi, and then into an apartment.”

Mary Brown had felt isolated in Stockport, not just

because she was 175 miles away from her daughter but because the nearest amenities were a mile away. “My mother had to rely on neighbours to drive her everywhere. But now she can walk to the shops, she is more independent and much fitter – the change has been dramatic,” says Hammond.

Access to local shops and facilities was one of the deciding factors in their choice of location. “We had looked at several others in similar complexes but they were in out-of-town communities. Here my mother has a lot more human contact, and the local shops have got to know her.”

And while it is important to choose accommodation which suits the person’s needs now, you need to look ahead too.

So at the Pegasus development, meals can be delivered and the bathroom features low-level furniture. “We thought it was important to think about what mum’s mobility might be like in five years,” adds Hammond.

For Margaret Murray, 81, an assisted housing scheme with 24-hour onsite care has offered peace of mind to her and her family. Murray moved from her Carlisle home of 54 years to a one-bedroom flat in Burnside Court near the city, run by retirement housing specialists Anchor.

“Moving here is the best thing I have ever done”, says Murray, who enjoys the reassurance of having help with washing and dressing, and emergency help on hand. Domestic tasks, such as cleaning and laundry, are also catered for.

Residents eat together in a dining room and socialise in the lounge, which runs a daily activities programme and a film club. “I’ve never been so busy in my life. We have lovely little parties and get-togethers,” says Murray. “I’ve bumped into a lot of old faces from the bowling circuit.”

After a long stay in hospital following a fall and serious illness, 77-year-old Brian Suddaby’s dementia had worsened. His family, social worker and hospital staff all agreed that returning home was not an option and that finding him a place in residential care was the best way forward.

The family chose the modern, purpose-built Richmond Care Home in Sprotbrough, South Yorkshire, part of the Ladhar Group.

“The big difference between this and others was that the

The Dilnot Review The independent Commission on Funding of Care and Support, chaired

by Andrew Dilnot, published its recommendations for government on the reform of adult social care in July. A White Paper is expected in 2012.

The commission is calling for: • a lifetime cap of between £25,000 and £50,000 on an individual’s contributions to social care costs • the means-tested threshold above which people have to pay their full care costs to rise from £23,250 to £100,000.

• a single threshold, across all local councils, for entitlement to care • continuation of disability benefits • people living in care homes to be responsible for paying their general living costs • improved services for carers, with new legal rights to services • the establishment of a national source of advice Source: Age UK

staff showed an interest in who he was as a person before his accident and before the dementia set in,” says his daughter Claire Suddaby, 46.

Design considerations such as en suite facilities, wide windows and plenty of handrails played their part but the family were most reassured by a sense that they could still be close to their father, she says.

“My mother can share meal times, either in dad’s room or the dining room. My parents have been married for 53 years and so there has been a big change for my mum as well. We are pleased that families are seen as important and we do not feel that he is isolated there.”

The family also appreciate the home’s emphasis on being part of the community. Residents use local amenities such as the library, coffee shop and pub and visit the community centre and museum.

“We chose a home which offers nursing care, even though he doesn’t need it at the moment. It is registered for EMI, which means that if his condition deteriorates we know that we do not have to move him,” adds Suddaby.

Hans Neleman/Getty Images

12

Senior Living 路 August 2011

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Senior Living · August 2011

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Music

13

They’re playing our song Enjoying music can be instrumental in increasing your quality of life, as growing numbers of older people have found

By Liz Lightfoot

I

f music be the food of love, then play on – and lower your cholesterol, release pleasurable hormone dopamine and improve hearing ability in the process.

That’s what scientists say, backed by an increasing portfolio of research into the effects of music on the brain.

Not only does learning a musical instrument improve the reading ability and grasp of new languages in children, it also improves memory and hearing in later life, according to Dr Nina Kraus.

Studies by Kraus, the director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Illinois in the US, found 45- to 65-year-old musicians had significantly better memory for sounds and were more able to hear speech in noisy environments than those who did not play an instrument.

“Older people commonly complain that they have difficulty hearing speech in noisy places and it can lead to social isolation and depression,” she says. “Playing music

“Playing in a band where no one takes themselves too seriously gives you the chance to just be yourself” – Ann Mundy, sax player involves identifying and picking out relevant patterns, such as their own instrument, harmonies and rhythms. This musical training fine tunes the nervous system and bolsters the elements that combat age-related communication problems.”

But for the thousands of older people who take up instruments, singing and even conducting as adults, the motivation is far from medical. Freed from the duties of bringing up children or employment,

they have the time to practise either an instrument they learnt as a child or master a completely new one.

Music appreciation, bands and ensembles are popular activities with members of the University of the Third Age (U3A). In Bedford, for example, the poetry and folk group called the Willing Warblers has been going strong for nearly five and performs regularly in public.

Keith Richards is a founder member of a U3A group in north London. Taking up the cello has proved to be one of the most challenging experiences of his life.

“Starting to learn the cello is for people of seven, not 70. To really master it you need to start young,” he says.

But start to master it he did, with the help of regular lessons, and he has gone on to join a music ensemble of like-minded people that meets every week. Now 79, the retired English literature teacher and lecturer says the joy of playing music with other people has less to do with age than the freedom to learn away from the regime of tests, exams and targets.

His experience reflects Kraus’s US research. “I have become increasingly deaf when it comes to hearing people speak, but I don’t have a problem listening to music or picking out musical instruments. Playing has made me a better listener,” he says.

Hobby musicians of all ages and abilities attend courses, seminars and concerts at Benslow Music Trust, a charitable trust in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, and while players in their teens and 20s join the busy programme of day and residential courses, most students are beyond retirement age.

Funded by its 1,500 members, legacies and donations, Benslow Music attracts many prominent musicians, composers and conductors such as Sir Peter Maxwell

Another string to their bow: making music at Benslow

Bedford’s Willing Warblers – still going strong

Davies, Master of the Queen’s Music, to lead its events. The residential aspect of activities is also very important, providing a sense of solidarity and mutual adventure, according to Stephen Pettitt, Benslow’s director of music.

“We have people of great spirit and huge enthusiasm who end the day utterly exhausted but exhilarated by what they have achieved,” he says. “Music isn’t just sound but sound plus different qualities of silence. It’s sensing those gradations, if you like, which make the process of listening and playing so deeply engaging.

“The real art of listening – either as audience member, player or singer – involves bringing all your intelligent and sensory resources actively into the process so your brain can assimilate sounds and silences and make sense of them.”

Those musicians who go on to form amateur bands and musical ensembles find themselves much in demand – and age is no bar. Both the clarinet and trumpet players for Stoke-on-Trent’s Sweet Melody Dreamboat Band are in their mid-80s.

Meanwhile, saxophone player Ann Mundy, 56, took up the instrument years ago Benjamin Ealovega

after buying it for her children who rejected it as too heavy.

“They were having clarinet lessons and I asked the teacher if he would teach me the saxophone. I got to grade six and then I stopped in my mid-40s because I didn’t want to carry on taking lessons and doing exams,” she says.

When she was about to take early retirement last year from her high-powered job as a quality manager for a brewing company, Mundy heard about how the band was being formed by U3A members so she went along one afternoon to play with them.

“We meet every week and it is something I really look forward to,” she says.

“At work I had to put on a corporate image, which did not leave much room for self-expression. Playing in a band where no one takes themselves too seriously gives you the chance to just be yourself,” she says.

For band leader Chris Latham, 72, who plays the sax and arranges the music, he is following a family tradition which he rejected as a child. His grandfather set up one of the first dance halls in Stoke and persuaded all his children to play instruments and form a band.

“My father played the violin and he was out playing three or four nights a week. I admired him greatly, but I didn’t take up an instrument,” he says. “However, later in my 30s, I taught myself the flute and played in a wind band and then took up the violin when I was 65, followed by the saxophone.”

Just before he retired from his job as the managing director of a UK branch of a multinational gold refining company, he added the harmonica to his repertoire.

He started a U3A harmonica group for beginners and, to his amazement, 25 people turned up.

Before long he was putting out feelers for musicians to form a band. Five years on, Sweet Melody Dreamboat is in great demand, playing a broad range of dance, swing and modern music.

“I’m never going to be a brilliant player, but I’m having fun and there is a huge social element to it,” he adds. “It’s good to take up new things at any age, it keeps the brain cells working and the thing about retirement is that it gives you the time to do it.”

To find out more about Benslow Music go to www.benslow.org, and for the U3A visit www.u3a.org.uk.

14

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Industry view

Gallic charm brings Planning for the future a pension bonus Embarking on a new life after finishing work can be daunting unless you get the right help, says retirement planning charity Life Academy

Forget a year in Provence, with UK pensions in a mess now could be the time to invest longer term in French property

S

tuck in the quagmire of the current UK pension landscape, now could be the time for millions of Britons in search of reliable income in retirement to look across the channel to France.

The French government supports personal investment in property leaseback schemes by refunding the VAT, effectively resulting in a near 20 per cent discount on the price of the property. The French have been using leasebacks as an alternative pension vehicle for more than two decades because they offer

Leaseback schemes are fairly simple to understand. An investor buys a freehold property that is simultaneously leased back to a reputable management company. This company pays a guaranteed rental income and looks after all aspects of marketing and managing the property.

The property market in France is considered one of the most stable in the world with average capital appreciation of approximately 5 per cent per annum.

However, location is key. For example, a leaseback investment in high tourism areas such as Paris, the Alps or Cote d’Azur could see annual price capital appreciation over 10 per cent per annum.

Another interesting pension alternative are the new-style, active senior retirement villages where investors can purchase a property in an authentic French community

W

hen our forebears retired, they waved goodbye to their careers. Slippers, rocking chair, doting grandchildren and a few years of dignified decline were all they aspired to.

For today’s retirees, however, it is a further stage in their life’s career rather than a final break. “Retirement is becoming much more complex,” says Stuart Royston, chief executive of Life Academy, the UK’s only national charity for life and retirement planning.

“People may enjoy 20 or 30 years of retirement, and to maintain their motivation and sense of purpose – not to mention their standard of living – they’ll need to plan and manage it.”

According to the charity’s head of marketing and communications, Diana Bignell: “The abolition of the default

Although retirement is a lifechanging event, most people receive no formal education in financial or retirement planning a reliable income stream from guaranteed, index-linked rental income.

But there’s more than the income to attract investors. Most schemes allow personal use of the property – which could be in a glamorous location like Nice, Paris, Val d’Isere or Biarritz – for up to 20 weeks a year.

Furthermore, there are no capital gains tax considerations after 15 years of ownership and the underlying asset itself passes from one generation to the next, unlike the traditional pension.

and benefit from an insured rent before taking up residence much later on. This allows investors to build up a pension pot to enjoy in retirement and, again, there’s the underlying asset, which can be passed on to future generations. Better than a traditional pension? Definitely – and with a bit of joie de vivre thrown in.

For information contact Pierre & Vacances in London. Tel: 020 7471 4500 uk@pierre-vacances.fr

retirement age brings new choices such as taking a phased approach rather than the oldstyle ‘walk out the door and stop working’.

“Choices could be working part-time or flexitime, stepping down a grade or doing consultancy work. ‘How and when’ is something the employer and employee need to work out together,” she adds.

Money will be a major factor, so people must make well-informed – and irreversible – decisions about when and how to take their pension. And with decades of active life to look forward to, other aspects will also need thought.

Retirement: more time to improve your fitness

“To maximise the feel-good factor you need to plan how you’re going to use your time,” says Royston. “Physical wellbeing, emotional health and relationships are all important factors.”

With more time for exercise and an end to workplace stress, retirement presents opportunities to improve physical and mental health. But some things may need to be replaced – the invigorating walk to the station, the companionship of colleagues or the status attached to having a job, perhaps.

Yet although retirement is a life-changing event, most people receive no formal education in financial or retirement planning.

To tackle that, Life Academy has launched Holistic Retirement Solutions, a range of services enabling employers to engage employees in planning for their future through courses, and care and advice lines.

Individuals can also subscribe to the charity’s online e-tutor. www.life-academy.co.uk

Senior Living · August 2011

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Investing

15

Putting your money where the house is With interest rates down in the doldrums, buy-to-let investments are once again an attractive option for savvy savers looking to boost their retirement income

By Graham Norwood

F

or the investor approaching or enjoying retirement, deposit accounts with their paltry rates of return offer little interest (literally), while stock market volatility can make shares an equally unattractive bet for the cautious. Yet one investment has a long-term performance record outstripping most others: residential property, especially in the buy-to-let sector.

Despite the downturn since 2007, capital values are much higher than ten years ago. The Halifax says that in early 2001 an average UK home cost £83,976; by early this year, the average had risen in value to £162,379, a return for an investor of over 95 per cent.

Older investors seeking a regular No one can promise bricks and income as well as a one-off profit when mortar will produce guaranteed they sell are now well placed to take advantage of one of the strongest rental profits, but the buy-to-let markets in recent years.

Government figures show that in sector’s track record is robust England alone the number of private renters rose from 2.15m in 2004 to 3.35m last year; the continuing shortage of mortgages for first-time buyers is forcing this figure up further month by month. Data from LSL Property Services, owner of Your Move, Reeds Rains and several other high street estate agencies, found that rents have been on the increase over the past five months, with some parts of the UK seeing a 7 per cent increase.

The result is that buy-to-let is once again a profitable investment choice and perfect for a typical over-50-year-old who has equity from a home or pension pot to invest.

There are two direct forms of buy-to-let. One is buying a home for long-term letting – a flat to rent to professionals moving into an area, or a house to be rented by sharing students, for example. The second is a holiday let – a cottage in a tourist location, typically rented to holidaymakers each week and perhaps used by the owner’s family, too.

Retiree David Wright, 61, recently bought his first buy-to-let, a one-bedroom coach house at a Barratt Homes development in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, for £67,500. “The interest I’d get in a savings account doesn’t compare to the 7 per cent yield I’m getting as a landlord.

Barratt handed the keys over at 12.15pm, the letting agent had booked two viewings for that afternoon and by close of play that day, I had secured a tenant,” he says.

“I honestly believe that you can’t beat investing in bricks and mortar. As long as you’ve got the finances, do it. I’m considering investing in more properties.”

Wright’s case is not unusual, and many older investors have already built up a portfolio; they treat buy-to-let as a full-time business, rather than simply a way of augmenting a pension.

Clare and Richard Harvey, who are in their 50s, have several homes which number of private they let out across the renters in 2004 West Midlands, but are still buying – they have just snapped up a two-bedroom, twobathroom apartment at

2.15m

3.35m number of private renters in 2010

St Paul’s City Lofts, Sheffield

St Paul’s City Lofts in central Sheffield.

The first tenant will be their son Jonathan, 21, who is starting his final year studies at Sheffield Hallam University.

The couple plan to keep the home for five to ten years to let out to future generations of students. “The central location gives me confidence that this property will continue to generate a positive income through our retirement,” explains Clare, a former teacher.

A key consideration for any buy-to-let investor is, of course, getting the right, and most cost-effective, mortgage. “As long as rent from the property covers the mortgage, plus a margin for maintenance and running costs, the lender will assume the borrower won’t draw on retirement income to pay the mortgage,” says Melanie Bien, director of broker Private Finance.

“Criteria differ between lenders. BM Solutions will allow a maximum age of 75 by the time the mortgage matures, while for Paragon it is 80 and for the Mortgage Works it is 90. You may need to opt for a shorter mortgage term than the usual 25 years, depending on your age when you take out the mortgage.”

Mortgages for holiday lets, rather than longerterm buy-to-lets, are less common so an independent mortgage broker may be the best place to start.

Bien also warns that on all investment property mortgages lenders may want hefty deposits – perhaps as much as 40 per cent of the purchase price.

If a buy-to-let apartment or holiday cottage is not for you, and an indirect investment appeals, there are several residential funds. These are financial products: you buy into a fund, which in turn purchases property and generates income through renting it out.

Two recently announced measures – a reduction in stamp duty payable for apartments and houses purchased by a fund, and a promise of lower capital gains tax on profits from one type of fund called a real estate investment trust – make this route even more attractive. An independent financial adviser will give impartial information on how to invest.

No one can promise bricks and mortar will produce guaranteed profits, but the sector’s track record is robust.

What is more, flats and houses are more affordable to investors than for many years, and demographics point to a long-term growth in the rental market.

It all looks a lot more tempting than many rival forms of investment – or, for that matter, many pensions.

Property hotspots

1 Kent – Ebbsfleet is just 17 minutes to London St Pancras and new fast services will soon go to hitherto hard-to-reach Folkestone and Ramsgate, where an investor could buy a family house for 2 £200,000.

2 Lake District – one of the UK’s busiest tourist 4 destinations as visitors do year1 round walking tours, 5 3 expanding the holiday letting season to 40 weeks. A pretty stone cottage, able to sleep five, will set you back £240,000.

3 Exeter – Devon’s business capital is on the M5, expanding its university and soon to get a new John Lewis store. A prime location, one-bedroom apartment costs about £130,000, while a two-bed is approximately £175,000.

4 Central Birmingham – if the HS2 high speed train link really does make Britain’s second city less than an hour from London, this will be a good long-term punt.

For £300,000 you’ll get a well-located family house.

5 Basingstoke – glamorous? No. But you are close to London and this is where many private firms have their bases, so you may avoid the worst effects of public spending cuts. You can get a two-bedroom apartment near the station for £100,000

Golden rules • Research locations – avoid city centres which are over-supplied with flats and anywhere with big public sector workforces; try areas short of student accommodation, enjoying year-round tourism or expanding private firms.

• Organise funding – interest-only mortgages are most cost-efficient but a broker can advise on latest products.

• Don’t be cheap – most long-term lets are unfurnished, holiday lets require furniture, but all require good-quality fixtures and fittings.

• Consider using a lettings agent – tax laws, health and safety regulations and tenancy rules change frequently, while renters can be demanding. Use an agent from trade body the Association of Residential Letting Agents. www.arla.co.uk

16

Senior Living · August 2011

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Industry view

Retiring to somewhere that continues to care Sheltered housing might give you independence. A care home will look after your health needs. But a fast-growing cadre of retirement communities is offering the best of both

S

ome 460,000 people in Britain live in care homes.

Rather more (550,000) are in sheltered housing.

A far smaller, but fast growing, number are choosing to rent or buy accommodation that seeks to combine the independence of one with the support structure of the other.

The Department of Health describes Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRCs) as “an all-embracing, comprehensive alternative… providing for a whole range of needs and individual circumstances’”. In other words, a community of people at different stages of health and mobility where you have your own apartment with your own front door, and the ability to buy in the care and domiciliary services you need.

The appeal is obvious. The leap between the two more standard forms of accommodation is huge. Care homes are not only expensive, and currently under some scrutiny, but they can also accelerate a loss of independence. CCRCs allow, indeed encourage, you to retain independence as long as possible, but with the security blanket of a full range of services on hand. People can go through the gears without ever moving out.

Chantry Court illustrates the many advantages of CCRCs. Situated in the pleasant Wiltshire market town of Westbury, it ticks all the boxes for older people and their anxious families looking for an option that is secure, designed with reduced mobility in mind, worry-free when it comes to maintenance and offers a built-in community just outside your door. The 68 apartments are divided between independent living – with the option of tailored domiciliary packages – and 26 assisted living apartments, all situated in the main complex building where care staff are close to hand. There are also a lodge house and a barn conversion for sale.

Chantry Court also has all the social and leisure facilities that make these communities sustainable – restaurant, bar, lounge, bridge room, library, hair salon, therapy room, doctor’s surgery, even a cinema that doubles up as an exercise room. And there’s a spacious guest suite.

Moving from a family home doesn’t have to mean losing precious living space: the four penthouse units are 1,200 square feet each, the two bedroom apartments around 800 square feet and the one bed slightly smaller again. Chantry Court offers the feel of a well-appointed country hotel.

One resident, a highly decorated war veteran well into his 90s, moved here after his wife had been involved in a serious accident “I came here in a very bad way,” he says. “The support and care they have given me has been wonderful. I had 13 brushes with death in my flying days.

The state I was in when I arrived at Chantry Court was number 14 – and thanks to the care staff I’ve survived it.”

Independent living apartments at Chantry Court cost from £187,500 to buy or can be rented from £270/week.

Assisted living apartments, including package of care cost from £400/week.

For more information, or to view, call 0800 0147 552 or email sales@chantrycourt.com

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Internet

17

John Wildgoose/Getty Images

Senior sites Wired up and ready to go. Here are some cool sites to rev up your silver surfing Park your cash Got a spare parking space outside your front door, or possibly in your garage? Why not rent it out. According to Park at my House, punters may pay you up to £200 a month for the privilege of parking in your drive. You can list it on www.parkatmyhouse.com for free on the site but expect to pay commission when you successfully rent it out.

Music maestro, please Forget expensive music downloads, you can listen to almost all your favourite music for free via www.spotify.com. Users get access to 13m tracks and albums; they can create playlists and share them with friends. The downside is the occasional advertisements in between tracks. However, you can avoid the ads by paying to become an unlimited member (£4.99 a month) or a premium member (£9.99 a month). Premium members can also stream Spotify to their mobile phones.

Logging on for life You’re never too old to learn new skills – and when it comes to the internet, it can open up a new world of opportunity

By Dorothy Lepkowska

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t the Mecca Bingo club in Drumchapel, Glasgow, “eyes down” has a different meaning these days for pensioners like Margaret Melvin. Rather than scanning a bingo card for winning numbers, she is on Facebook keeping in touch with her sons Mark and Scott in Canada or viewing clips of Billy Cotton and her other favourite big bands on YouTube, or studying her family tree.

The internet is opening up a whole new world for the 105-year-old and reviving happy times. “It’s great fun looking back at the past and for places I used to go on holiday, like Broughty Ferry. It brings back lovely memories,” she says.

Melvin, who lives in a care home, has been using the computers in a scheme hosted by the bingo hall under Race Online, a national campaign to encourage more people to access the internet founded by the government’s digital champion Martha Lane Fox. The internet remains a mystery to almost 6m Britons over 65, according to government

Explorer scouts helping older people online

figures. Many believe they have managed thus far and so, why bother? For others, using a computer can be a daunting prospect.

To help people overcome their reservations, Race Online has created a network of digital champions – people who are proficient in using the internet and willing to pass on their knowledge to others.

Malcolm Patman, 62, a digital champion in Nottinghamshire, says older people have misconceptions about computers and the

Many older people believe they have managed thus far and so, why bother with the internet?

For others, using a computer can be a daunting prospect internet. “Often they are afraid that they will break something but they want to learn because otherwise it seems that the world is passing them by,” says Patman.

Patman runs courses for up to six people at a time in community locations including church halls, libraries and residential housing complexes, and his students have varied in age from mid-50s to 90s. It’s not important to learn how to use a computer, he says, but to understand its potential uses.

Many people don’t realise, for example, that they can pay for their tax disc online without queuing at the post office or that they can pursue new interests, for example, by tracing their ancestors on genealogy websites.

Frances Beatty, 64, from Salt in Staffordshire, is a digital ambassador with Age UK. Beatty runs courses mainly aimed at farmers and people living in rural areas. “The rural community is one where computer use is not widespread among older people,” she says. “These are people who have never been in an office.

“Yet being able to use the internet is crucial to farmers who, for government purposes, have to record everything they do and keep records online. A family not able to do this for itself would need to pay about £500 a year employing an agent.” Beatty runs her courses in local halls and even farmhouses. “They are about giving people confidence,” she says.

The move to increase the nation’s internet skills is also bringing the generations together. Explorer scouts have been helping elderly residents at De Clare Court retirement home in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, to stay connected through a social networking site called FinerDay. With its larger fonts, it allows users to sort information into easily accessible files. All ages can sign up allowing family members to share emails, news, photographs and even receive reminders of upcoming birthdays.

Margaret Baron, aged 64, one of the residents, says: “I have sisters in Germany and Australia, a cousin in the USA, and other family members are scattered from Edinburgh to Cornwall.

“Many residents have benefited from the scouts’ help, including people who have medical problems and are less mobile. Being able to access the internet has transformed their lives.”

Thanks for the memory It’s only natural that we should want to pass on our significant memories to our children and grandchildren, and a host of websites have sprung up to help us tell our stories – and have them published. These include www.biograph.co.uk and www.bookofmylife. co.uk. But it’s not cheap. Commissioning a biography from one of these sites costs a minimum of £1,750. If you want to write your own life story, tips are available at www.writemymemoirs.com

Senior discounts Feeling the pension pinch? You can access a host of discounts available only to people aged 50-plus by becoming a member of the online community www.seniordiscounts. co.uk. It’s free to join and advertising is free too, so long as advertisers are willing to offer a discount to members.

Top tips for newbies • Decide what you want to learn and achieve.

• Walk before you can run – take it slowly and familiarise yourself with the basics such as a mouse first.

• Only learn what you need to know – ignore the rest.

• Try things out – you won’t break anything by pressing the wrong button.

• Ask for help if you need it, especially from younger family members. Grandchildren may be the best people to explain computer and internet use.

• Find a course in your area. Many are free and there will be people on hand to help get you started.

18

Modern Life · August 2011

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Industry view

Finding friends at Christmas Older people don’t have to be lonely over the festive season with housing and care national charity Abbeyfield’s Companionship at Christmas campaign

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owards the end of summer, families up and down the country start the countdown to Christmas which, for most people, is a time of good cheer and a chance to see family and friends. But a growing number of older people will spend the festive season alone.

An estimated 850,000 Britons are

chronically lonely and, while this isolation is a daily issue, Christmas heightens concern for older people living alone. Statistics indicate that over-65’s are likely to spend the festive period on their own due to distance from family, tighter financial conditions or practical circumstances like weather problems.

Free overnight stays and delicious meals will be on offer during the campaign

To help combat this increasing trend, charity Abbeyfield is once again running the Companionship at Christmas nationwide campaign – a home-from-home alternative for older people wishing to spend the festive period with others.

The organisation is inviting members of local communities with elderly neighbours living alone, family members in need of respite support and those who plan to spend the Christmas period alone to get in touch.

As part of the campaign, Abbeyfield will be offering overnight stays and delicious Christmas lunches throughout the festive season (from Christmas Eve to 4 January) across many of its houses nationwide – totally free of charge. Participation can be over the whole period or just for one day – the choice is up to individuals. Abbeyfield wants to hear from people who are: • over 55 • alone over Christmas • currently living independently in their own home.

Established in 1956 by Major Richard Carr-Gomm, Abbeyfield was founded with the aim of alleviating loneliness and enhancing the quality of life for older people. Today the charity has more than 700 houses across the UK, 80 care homes

Companionship – more important at Christmas

and two nursing homes looking after 7,000 residents. Abbeyfield has over 7,000 staff and over 10,000 people volunteer with the organisation.

For more information on the Companionship at Christmas campaign, visit www.abbeyfield.com, call 01727 734107 or email s.alleyne@abbeyfield. com, quoting The Sunday Telegraph.

Smiling all the way to the dentist Keeping your pearly whites in good order gets harder – and more expensive – as you age.

Which is why more of us are successfully seeking cheaper treatment abroad

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aul Willmott couldn’t quite believe it.

After losing a number of back teeth to gum disease and finding dentures didn’t work for him, the 58-year-old from Essex had been referred to a dental consultant who recommended implants – essentially artificial roots with crowns on top.

The procedure sounded pretty grim, but what really took Willmott’s breath away was the price: an estimated £20,000. A

“They confirmed what the consultant in the UK had said, so I knew they weren’t going to rip me off by recommending more work than I needed” - Willmott second opinion from a dentist in Cambridge produced an even higher estimate of £25,000.

Paying a king’s ransom for crowns was an unappealing prospect, but so was living on soup for the rest of his days. Fortunately Willmott remembered reading about a third option, having dental work done more cheaply abroad, so he went on the internet to find out more.

One company particularly attracted him – DentistAbroad. The head implant dentist, Dr Attila Toth has successfully installed more than 15,000 implants with a higher than 99 per cent success rate. The company was the first of its type to open a practice in the UK, when it opened in London’s Harley Street in 2007. However, much of the dentistry also takes place in Hungary.

“One of my concerns was what would happen if there were any problems after the treatment,” says Willmott. “It would be a real pain to have to travel to Hungary each time, so a company with a UK practice was a big advantage.”

DentistAbroad’s London office supplied references, and offered Willmott a free consultation, which he decided to have in Hungary to check out the company and its facilities.

“My initial impression was that all the dentists and support staff were welcoming and very professional,” says Willmott.

“The consulting room was clean and well equipped, and they more or less confirmed what the consultant in the UK had said, so I knew they weren’t going to rip me off by recommending more work than I needed.”

The first stage in Willmott’s treatment was to lift his sinuses. It’s a major operation and he chose to have it done at Harley Street

rather than having to convalesce in Hungary.

Then over the course of about six months he made a couple of trips to Budapest for the implants, plus a more extended visit a few months later to have all the crowns fitted.

Every time the treatment and service were both first-class, says Willmott. “They were really friendly and looked after me well.

I chose to arrange my own travel and hotel but they’ll do it all for you if you wish. They meet you at the airport with a car and take you wherever you want to go, and they never let me down once.”

As a bonus, Budapest is a beautiful city and Willmott was able to enjoy some sightseeing on his longer stays.

Despite his initial concerns there were no problems with the treatment. “Given how much they did I was pleasantly surprised that everything healed so quickly,” he says.

At £9,300 including flights and hotels, the overall bill was less than half what Willmott would have paid in the UK. Even treatment at the organisation’s Harley Street practice is significantly cheaper than using a UK dentist, because Hungarian practitioners simply don’t charge so much.

“I’d become very disappointed with my UK dentist who didn’t seem interested in me as a patient: she couldn’t even get my name right,” says Willmott. “So now I go to

Willmott – received first class treatment

DentistAbroad in Harley Street for all my dental treatment, and I think the quality is better than my UK dentist.”

Indeed, Willmott is now undergoing a second treatment which will be carried out in London next month. It is a single tooth replacement that costs usually costs £2,000£2,500 in the UK. But at DentistAbroad’s Harley Street clinic it will cost only £995 – a saving of more than 50 per cent.

“I’d certainly recommend Dr Attila Toth, Dr Gabrialla Sarok and all other dentists from the organisation to my friends, and if anyone needs a serious amount of work done then I think they’d be foolish not to consider the foreign treatment option.

“I can’t fault DentistAbroad and I have no regrets. It’s been absolutely brilliant.”

More information at www.dentistabroad.co.uk

Senior Living · August 2011

AN INDEPENDENT REPORT FROM LYONSDOWN, DISTRIBUTED WITH THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

Industry view

19

Downsizing without the misery Bramshott Place Village offers not only the ideal retirement destination, being easily accessible to SW London via the new A3 Hindhead tunnel, but also a stress-free package to get you there

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s people age, moving home can be especially stressful – practically and emotionally. Downsizing from a large family home when you have lived there for years can entail a great deal of work, and the emotional wrench of leaving a familiar community can be very difficult.

To help alleviate these worries, Urban Renaissance Villages has introduced a complimentary moving package, available to all those buying at Bramshott Place Village, which includes a move manager and de-cluttering facility along with a packing and moving service.

However, possibly the most reassuring aspect of Bramshott Place Village, and what makes this development so attractive, is that it really is a village, with a lively community already in place and a host of social activities to enjoy. There’s a handy local store, a domestic cleaning service and laundry service, plus there’s a medical centre in the clubhouse. And of course there’s the fitness centre, library, games room, bar and restaurant, which are all available exclusively to residents.

How does the moving package work? On the day of reservation, every buyer receives

a personal move manager who is on hand right up to moving day to deal with any questions, queries or emergencies. Move managers also help residents adjust to their new surroundings. Many of our residents are moving out of the family home and away from familiar neighbourhoods where they’ve been going to the same doctor, shop or pub for years, even decades.

As part of the moving package we also provide a personal de-clutterer, who gives advice on everything from downsizing to organising paperwork. Sorting through possessions collected over many years can feel daunting, so in the weeks prior to the move our de-clutterer spends time with our buyers, carefully going through their possessions and helping them decide what items they’ll take to their new home and what can be donated, sold or auctioned. The de-cluttering package incudes 12 hours of her time, at least two of which are spent on the day of the move.

In addition, the moving package includes a specialist removal company with experience and expertise in moving downsizers. On moving day they help pack possessions, carefully move everything to the resident’s new home at Bramshott Place Village and

then unpack. They also provide soft pack bags, cartons and carpet protectors.

Our moving package is completely free of charge in the majority of cases for all mainland locations within a 150-mile radius of Liphook, Hampshire. Those moving from further afield can also enjoy the benefits of the moving package although a fee will be charged. At Bramshott Place Village, our aim is to make moving home stress-free and to ensure our new residents feel at home as quickly as possible.

Set in acres of parkland with beautifully maintained gardens, the luxury cottages and

apartments are ideal for the older person who is keen to remain active and independent and have the added security of an on-site manager around the clock.

Urban Renaissance Villages is also building in Faygate, near Horsham, West Sussex, and Exeter, Devon. For more on Bramshott Place Village, Liphook, please contact the marketing suite on 01428 722800 or visit www.bramshottplace.co.uk Bill Gair is chief executive of Urban Renaissance Villages www.urv.uk.com