Riverside ECHG - TV’s Royle Family ‘nanna’ supports ECHG’s Gold and Silver at sheltered housing awards!

5 February 2010

ECHG sheltered housing services have won both Gold and Silver at the national Housing for Older People Awards, attended by TV’s Royle Family ‘nanna’, actress Liz Smith (February 2010). The Awards, which took place at Lords Cricket Ground in London, have been pioneered by the Elderly Accommodation Council and are the first national awards ever to be nominated directly by sheltered housing tenants, attracting nominations from over 2,000 tenants across 500 schemes.
“We are overwhelmed and delighted by the fact that our tenants have singled out our services as ones they are proud of,” said Judith Crowther, ECHG’s Director of Older People’s Services. She continued: “In line with the ethos of the Awards, which is to empower and listen to older people, staff were not allowed to play any role in the nominations process. So our tenants had to give up their own time to complete questionnaires and give the reasons why they thought ECHG’s sheltered services deserved to be recognized.” The Awards Ceremony was also attended by Royle Family actress Liz Smith who gave a lively and personal case for the need for sheltered housing and her experiences of it. Liz, who had previously suffered a stroke, is herself now in sheltered accommodation and talked about the positive impact that sheltered housing has had on her life.
ECHG’s winning schemes were Ivy Court (Gold Award) - who also won £250 for receiving Gold - and Willowdene Court (Silver Award) both based in Merseyside. June Bottell, Scheme Manager from Ivy Court, said: “Twelve tenants accompanied us to the Awards and it was fitting that they were able to pick up the awards themselves. It was a tremendously long day – and the M6 made sure we had an eventful journey down – but each one of our tenants said they enjoyed the day and would do it again at the drop of a hat.” The Awards are also supported by the Government’s Communities and Local Government department, whose Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lord McKenzie of Luton also attended the event. Additionally, they form one of the four projects which are being supported as part of the Ministerial Working Group on Sheltered Housing.