The RFBI Glen Innes Masonic Village - better known locally as Glenwood Gardens - was open on Thursday for visitors to see the retirement village and aged care home.
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"It was a day to showcase what we can do," acting general manager Leah McCarney said. "We wanted to invite members of the public - people looking at potentially moving into an age-care facility - to look at our village, and get a feel for how we live here."
The Royal Freemasons' Benevolent Institution has 22 facilities across NSW and the ACT, Ms McCarney said. Each facility has an an annual open day - but the Glen Innes one was more significant.
"It was a way to showcase the final results of our recent $7 million extension and upgrade," Ms McCarney said.
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Eleven new rooms have been added, and existing rooms extensively renovated. The facility has a new reception area, a spa room, and a new activities centre. Work started in April 2018, and finished in July.
Around 60 people came, Ms McCarney estimates. Some have already requested private interviews. Others are interested at moving into the independent living units attached to the facility.
While there is no age limit, residents need an aged care assessment (conducted by a team in Armidale) and an income and assets assessment test (through Centrelink). Once these are done, people can move in.
The village has 51 residents. "Most people here are pensioners; they tend to be over a certain age, but they don't have to be," Ms McCarney said.
A lot of visitors, she said, hadn't realised that the facility cooked all its food fresh on-site; many assumed that, like in public hospitals, meals came from a centralised kitchen. Glenwood also has a coffee shop, open to the general public.
"This really is a home, and everything here is done locally," Ms McCarney said. "We take very good care of our residents."
The RFBI Glen Innes Masonic Village (Glenwood Gardens) is at 175 Lambeth Street, Glen Innes. For more information, visit https://rfbi.com.au/retirement-villages/glen-innes/, or call 5733 1000.
Nicholas Fuller
The exciting thing about journalism is the variety; one can explore the world, meet interesting people and write about it. I've sat in the caravan of an African circus ringmaster; I've squatted on my haunches in a plastic-sorting factory in the Mumbai slums, talking to the workers and drinking hot chai in plastic cups the size of thimbles; and I've interviewed Chinese cultural attachés, Danish football stars and Japanese drummers. Now I’ve come to the Northern Tablelands as a group journalist working across six of Fairfax’s mastheads. Living in New England is a return to country. My father’s side of the family lived here since the 19th century. My great-great-grandparents are buried in Ben Lomond. My great-grandmother and grandmother spent most of their lives in and around Glencoe and Glen Innes, and are both buried in Tamworth. My grandfather isn’t; his ashes are in a cupboard until we throw them in the Macdonald, near Bendemeer, where he used to fish. And my father cut his teeth as a cadet journalist on the Northern Daily Leader, before moving to Canberra, and studied history at UNE. Moving here is following in the family footsteps. Armidale seems charming: up here, in Australia’s highest city, one feels close to the sky. And the mixture of 1830s historic buildings; green, rain-washed hills, crowned with conifers; and one of the country’s leading universities give it a unique appeal. I completed my journalism qualifications last year, while freelancing for newspapers and magazines, and holding down a full-time job. I spent the end of last year in Sri Lanka, where I reported on visiting Buddhist dignitaries (from exotic Perth), UN development programs, Italian food weeks, and hotels in former war-zones. Previously, I worked as a writer and editor for the Australian Government in Canberra for a decade. In my day job, I briefed members of parliament about international relations, and wrote about agricultural aid programs to developing countries. Journalism, though, is where my heart lies. I want to experience life, rather than sit behind a desk. And, having grown up in Belgium, I want to be Tintin. I hope to get to know and love the region where my ancestors lived, while reporting on issues important to the Tablelands.
The exciting thing about journalism is the variety; one can explore the world, meet interesting people and write about it. I've sat in the caravan of an African circus ringmaster; I've squatted on my haunches in a plastic-sorting factory in the Mumbai slums, talking to the workers and drinking hot chai in plastic cups the size of thimbles; and I've interviewed Chinese cultural attachés, Danish football stars and Japanese drummers. Now I’ve come to the Northern Tablelands as a group journalist working across six of Fairfax’s mastheads. Living in New England is a return to country. My father’s side of the family lived here since the 19th century. My great-great-grandparents are buried in Ben Lomond. My great-grandmother and grandmother spent most of their lives in and around Glencoe and Glen Innes, and are both buried in Tamworth. My grandfather isn’t; his ashes are in a cupboard until we throw them in the Macdonald, near Bendemeer, where he used to fish. And my father cut his teeth as a cadet journalist on the Northern Daily Leader, before moving to Canberra, and studied history at UNE. Moving here is following in the family footsteps. Armidale seems charming: up here, in Australia’s highest city, one feels close to the sky. And the mixture of 1830s historic buildings; green, rain-washed hills, crowned with conifers; and one of the country’s leading universities give it a unique appeal. I completed my journalism qualifications last year, while freelancing for newspapers and magazines, and holding down a full-time job. I spent the end of last year in Sri Lanka, where I reported on visiting Buddhist dignitaries (from exotic Perth), UN development programs, Italian food weeks, and hotels in former war-zones. Previously, I worked as a writer and editor for the Australian Government in Canberra for a decade. In my day job, I briefed members of parliament about international relations, and wrote about agricultural aid programs to developing countries. Journalism, though, is where my heart lies. I want to experience life, rather than sit behind a desk. And, having grown up in Belgium, I want to be Tintin. I hope to get to know and love the region where my ancestors lived, while reporting on issues important to the Tablelands.
