A GROUNDBREAKING not-for-profit retirement community has opened in the city.

Tory parliamentary candidate Robin Walker and other dignitaries attended the launch event for Whiston Court on Friday, May 5.

A local branch of the Abbeyfield charity runs the £7m assisted-living complex, in White Ladies Close, off Upper Tything, Worcester, and claims it is the first project of its kind in Worcester.

Gerald Harris, chairman of the Abbeyfield Worcester Society, said: “Our aim as a charity is to relieve the isolation and loneliness that can unfortunately be so prevalent among older generations today.

“With this ethos at its heart, Whiston Court has been designed to give people the independence and privacy of their own apartment.

“But within a caring community that comes together to eat once a day and offers plenty of opportunities to interact and socialise – with all the benefits that this brings.”

Some 37 apartments are available at Whiston Court.

Prior to the new site the charity offered accommodation at its ‘modest’ premises in Greenhill, off London Road, Worcester, since it launched in 1971.

The chairman added that it was a momentous occasion to move from their former Greenhill premises to the new site.

“We at Abbeyfield Worcester realised that we needed to change the way that we think of accommodation for older people,” the chairman said.

“A room within an old, adapted building is no longer what people want – and that is when the idea of building something designed around the needs and modern expectations of people in older life came to us - so Whiston Court was born.”

For more details and tours of the development, contact the sales office on 01905 729699.