East Auckland turned on a stunning and warm autumn day as dozens of people gathered at The Stevenson Village in Howick to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The village is owned by HBH Senior Living, which provided plenty of food and cups of tea as well as a large cake for everyone to enjoy as part of the occasion.
Tenancy and village co-ordinator Maree Chisnall says it was officially opened on May 3, 1975.
“It’s a low-income village so half of it is social housing for people aged 65 and over.
“The other half is just low income, so they have to be over 65 with limited assets and then they’d qualify to come in here.
“We’ve got 36 units and we’re currently in the middle of building 10 new ones, which will all be social housing for over 65s.
“It’s for people who aren’t in a position to be able to move into a retirement village, so they’re renters here.
“It means they still feel like they’re in a retirement village community, but without having to pay for a unit.
“We supply the community centre here for them, there’s a little library, and they also organise their own activities with help from us.”
Among the people on hand to help the village’s residents mark the milestone were Howick Local Board deputy chairperson Bo Burns, board members Adele White and John Spiller, and HBH Group chairman and director Charles Miller.
There were speeches and plenty of jokes and laughter, and prizes were given away to the village’s residents.
Pam Woods, who’s aged in her early 80s, has lived in the village for 25 years, which is longer than anyone else.
She loves it and says it’s “one of the most wonderful communities in New Zealand”.
“It’s a very nice place to live and everybody gets on.
“Being in a community of people who get on well together, and I know people, especially older people, can sometimes get a little niggly.
“I’ve worked in rest homes, so I know that as people get older sometimes things don’t go well in their life, but apart from that, everybody here, we get on like a house on fire.”
The chatty Pam describes herself as a “happy-go-lucky” person and she’s eager to emphasise how nice it is to live at the village as she reminisces about her younger years.
“I was an old farm girl,” she says. “Pigs were my favourite characters.
“We lived up north near Whangarei and further down near Hamilton. I did a lot of farming.
“I used to get up at 3am and go get the cows in to milk them. They had to be out before 7am because the tanker come to pick up the milk.
“It was a hard life but it was a good life. Everybody gets on very well here.
“It’s been a wonderful community and with me being here 25 years, I’ve seen a lot and met a lot of people.”
- Disclosure: Howick Local Board deputy chairperson Bo Burns is the owner of the Eastern Times.
