Page 36 - Essex Mason Issue 85

Online Supplement

Hamilton Court

Firstly may I start by saying that once
again we have made contact with several
Essex Masons who had “never heard”
of Hamilton Court. For your information
please read this article or ask your Almoner,
PGM, APGM or APGP
Philip Lovelock Bob Mathew
President Chairman

n 1974 the government of the time passed the Housing Act with the` object of giving financial grants to registered housing
Iassociations, to provide sheltered housing for the elderly.

In 1985 to take advantage of this new law the Masonic Housing Association (M.H.A.) was formed. A committee was appointed by
the Grand Master to set it up and there are now schemes in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire; Kettering in Northamptonshire; Rugeley
in Staffordshire; Stratford on Avon in Warwickshire; and by no means least Hamilton Court in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex. These
schemes are now managed by the M.H.A. Board of Directors.
A loan was arranged and Hamilton Court was built in conjunction with the local authority, and was officially opened on 22nd
November 1983, by the then P.G.M.W.Bro Frederick Leistikow and the Rt. Hon. Lord Burnham, at that time the Chairman of the
M.H.A. Incidentally Sir Neil Thorne was Chairman of the M.H.A. when he became our P.G.M.

There is one other thing that you must understand and be quite clear about when you talk to members of your Lodges. The M.H.A.
is not connected in any way to the R.M.B.I. (now the MCF) and the 18 retirement homes it runs, one of which of course is Stisted Hall.
The M.H.A. is an entirely separate organisation with completely different objectives. There was a plan at one time to amalgamate
with the R.M.B.I. but this fell through due to problems with the Charity Commission.
Hamilton Court is a block of 43 self contained flats designed for people of retirement age,
over 55 years old, who wish to live independently, but with the provision of a resident
Scheme Manager, and the benefit of stable housing costs. It is a three storied building
with a lift. Each flat is self contained and is unfurnished, enabling tenants to have furnishing
of their own choice. We provide a freshly decorated flat, a cooker, fridge and freezer for
incoming tenants.

There are 31 single person flats and 12 doubles. Each flat has a living room, one bedroom,
kitchen and bathroom with heated towel rail etc. There is ample cupboard space in each
flat. As flats become vacant we are currently replacing existing kitchens with eye level
cookers, to better accommodate our ageing tenants.

Hamilton Court has a large conservatory and communal lounge on the ground floor with a
T.V. video, wii, dart board. The adjoining small kitchen has facilities for making tea, coffee
Nigel Jackson etc, and preparing food for social occasions such as bingo, entertainment evenings, quiz
Dep. Chairman nights etc.

There is also an en suite twin bedded guest room for the use of the tenants’ visitors who
may need to stay overnight. A nominal charge of £20 per night is made to cover laundry
and cleaning costs, but donations are always gratefully received.

Sarah Skinner is the Scheme manager. She lives on the premises and is responsible
to the House Committee for the general running of the building and to respond to
any emergency that may arise – which may be anything from a toaster turned too high
setting the fire alarms off – to someone hurting themselves and needing an ambulance.
To cover Sarah’s off duty time there is an emergency care call system which is linked to
Newham which will respond, assess the situation, and take appropriate action. Sarah’s
first duty each morning is to contact every tenant to make sure all is well, and establish
that the tenant needs no help. She does a fantastic job.
We have no nursing facilities so tenants are required to be in reasonably good health
and able to look after themselves, do their own shopping etc, and lead an independent
life. Brethren we do have tenants living well into their 90s. There is good provision of Chris Gunn
care by local doctors, district nurses and Social Services and meals on wheels, in line with
Government Care in the Community Policy. Secretary

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