Home suite home as Abbeyfield reopens

They say you should never try to recapture the past, but Bev Froggatt says phooey to that.
The 72-year-old has been thrilled to be able to regain her dream way of living when it seemed to have been lost forever.
Last September she had to leave her suite in Abbeyfield House at 28 Mill Rd in Whangarei where she had lived happily for seven years.
The unique accommodation development had failed financially and residents gradually left as they found somewhere else to live and were paid out for their suites (room, ensuite and small kitchen bench) and the complex was put up for sale.
Abbeyfield, part of a worldwide movement providing shared living in small clusters of accommodation for fit older people, seemed to be lost to Whangarei - but sale to a South Island charitable trust for the elderly has literally wound the clock back.
Following the sale, Abbeyfield has reopened as a rental rather than the previous "own your own" (licence to occupy) arrangement, but still as previously with a housekeeper who prepares the shared lunches and dinners.
An extra two suites have been created from what was visitor accommodation, bringing the total of suites to 11.
Bev Froggatt was in like a shot when Abbeyfield rose from the ashes. She had the pick of the suites at that stage, but there was only one she wanted - the suite she called home.
Four more new residents have also moved in. Other applications are being processed.
Ms Froggatt said she had always liked the concept of shared independent living, long before hearing about the Abbeyfield movement.
"I always thought I could live in a kibbutz," she said.
Being back was bliss for her. The first thing she unpacked was her computer and she hasn't missed a beat in her social life, which includes line dancing with the Country Music Club.
Abbeyfield New Zealand general secretary Chris Armstrong, who has managed the sad dissolution and happy rebirth of the facility, says many organisations had backed Abbeyfield's efforts to build a new community of support in Whangarei.
The annual meeting will be held at the house on Saturday, when the new volunteer management committee will be elected from the group co-opted to date.