Employer details: Abbeyfield Hoylake & West Kirby Society

About Abbeyfield Hoylake & West Kirby Society

History of The Abbeyfield Society

Abbeyfield began in 1956 when Richard Carr-Gomm became concerned at the number of sad elderly faces staring fixedly from windows, during a visit to Bermondsey, that he resigned his commission with the Coldstream Guards, moved from Chelsea Barracks to a bed-sit in Abbeyfield Road and became a home-help. During his visits as a home-help he found that loneliness was the problem and so he spent his army gratuity on a house in Eugenia Road and invited four lonely people to join him. By Christmas 1956 he had become the very first Abbeyfield housekeeper.
A group of interested people (one of whom became Mrs Carr-Gomm) had been meeting at a house in Abbeyfield Road, hence the title was given to the Society. In the space of two years six houses were opened in Bermondsey, housing 26 older people.
By the end of 1960, Abbeyfield societies had been formed in 8 London boroughs and in 15 localities outside London. An essential feature of the idea was - and still is - help by voluntary workers for older people in their own communities. The parent society was incorporated as The Abbeyfield Society, and is a nucleus for the whole movement.

The Abbeyfield Society today

The Abbeyfield Society has now grown to include around 300 member societies throughout the United Kingdom with over 700 houses providing accommodation for over 7500 residents, involving over 5,000 volunteers, and serviced by a small staff at its support office in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
Abbeyfield is divided into 11 administrative regions. Each has its own regional council composed of volunteers from societies in the region. The regional officers have regular meetings with each other, so that they can represent the views of their region through national committees. Member societies are initiated (and for the most part managed) by volunteers who come from all walks of life. Every society has its own elected executive comprising the Chair, the Treasurer and the Secretary. Members of the executive committee assume legal responsibilities.