Residents return three months after fire damaged homes at Monica Wills House

More than sixty elderly residents evacuated after fire hit the brand new St Monica Trust retirement accommodation in Bedminster days before Christmas are returning home this week (20th March 2007).

Residents forced to leave their new homes - for many, just weeks after moving in - are being reunited after a major rebuild and refurbishment of the facility that it’s estimated will cost more than £6 million.

For most, the past three months have been spent in other accommodation provided by the St Monica Trust, the Bristol charity specialising in providing high quality care and accommodation for elderly people. Others have been living with friends and family and some were housed in temporary homes erected by the Trust at its Cote Lane site in a move to keep the community together. All are very keen to be reunited with friends and back in their own homes in a facility which had first opened to residents last October.

Marina Wingrove who spent the last three months in a St Monica Trust Care Home, Garden House in Cote Lane, is very happy to be back. She explains, “We’ve all been really well looked after and everyone has done so much for us, but I am really pleased to get back inside my own four walls. We all want to pick up our new lives independently, in our new homes, just like were planning before Christmas.”

Up to 180 technicians and builders have been working seven days a week since early January to repair damage at Monica Wills House. The kitchens, dining room, pool, gymnasium, roof garden and staff areas have all been refurbished and 80 one and two bedroom homes checked and cleaned ready for returning residents. A further 41 apartments are still under reconstruction and on schedule for completion in July. A major rebuild, the whole process of getting residents home promptly has been a significant achievement.

Confirms Gerald Lee, Director of St Monica Trust, “We are very grateful for the enormous support both we and our residents have received over the last few months, from family and friends who have helped in looking after their relatives, from the local authority and other care agencies, from the reconstruction teams who have worked extremely hard and also from our neighbours living close to Monica Wills House who have been extremely understanding during what has been a very intensive rebuild and repair process.”

Monica Wills House in Cromwell Street, Bedminster is a specialist £15 million facility providing care and accommodation for elderly people. The brand new development by Bristol charity St Monica Trust opened its door to first residents last autumn and the Trust plans to reopen sales facilities on the site next week. The St Monica Trust has been providing accommodation, care and support for older and disabled people in Bristol and surrounding counties for more than 80 years and now specialises in pioneering accommodation solutions that enable residents to enjoy and maintain their independence. With its two sites in Westbury-on-Trym and the third at Monica Wills House, Bedminster the Trust has the facility to accommodate more than 550 local elderly people.

Anyone interested in finding more information about living at Monica Wills House can contact or visit the sales office, due to reopen on site from Monday 26 March 2007. Telephone 0117 949 4004 for more information.