Gloria and Guy Nash admit they are not normally the type of people to make impulsive decisions when it comes to big life changes.
But when the real estate agent selling their home suggested a viewing of a townhouse at Ryman’s Edmund Hillary Village, everything changed.
Says Gloria: “As soon as we walked in here we thought…”
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“This is it!” finishes Guy with a grin.
“It was quite spontaneous in terms of retirement villages because we hadn’t really explored that in depth,” he continues. “Although we have got lots of friends in villages and a number of them are Ryman villages so we were fairly familiar with the whole network.”
“And my parents were very happy at Shona McFarlane Village for many years,” adds Gloria, a retired legal executive.
The couple had been mulling a few different living options after Guy decided it was time to move out of the house he’d lived in since the early 60s.
“I thought I was going to be carried out of that house in a box,” he says. “But at Christmas I said to Gloria I can’t continue maintaining the property. The house was ageing, the garden was getting beyond me, so I said I think we have to look at shifting.”
Both Gloria and Guy were widowed when they met more than 22 years ago, through mutual friends in tennis circles, and since Gloria joined Guy in his Mt Albert home, she instinctively knew it was up to Guy to make that call.
“I was very grateful that Guy made that decision himself because he’d been in that house since 1963. It wasn’t up to me.”
Having decided to move closer to family over in St Heliers, they started looking at different living options, but they were soon ruled out for having too steep sections, too many levels or just not being quite the right size.
Gloria and Guy outside their townhouse at Edmund Hillary Village.
Then came their ‘love at first sight moment’ at Edmund Hillary Village. And it wasn’t just the townhouse either.
“You drive in here…,” starts Gloria. “And it’s just like a park!” finishes Guy, adding: “The space is quite impressive. This village has space, comfort, openness…. It’s a very welcoming place.”
Gloria says one of the grandchildren remarked on how the village felt ‘really homely’. “For a teenager to say that, that was really something,” she says.
The couple loved how approachable Sales Advisor Becky was and found her refreshingly down to earth and informative. And they’ve found the same with all the other staff in various roles that they’ve encountered.
It was also reassuring to hear how low the turnover of staff is at the village, with over a third working there for more than five years, 15% have worked there more than 10 years and a couple of team members have worked there since the village opened in 2002.
“It shows that people want to work here,” says Guy, who worked as a careers adviser at the University of Auckland for 30 years.
He is quick to add that the residents have all been just as welcoming.
Now, Gloria and Guy are busy exploring all the cool activities on offer and of course making new friends in the village.
Since they made the move in May, they have met new people at Fine Dining, aqua aerobics and the village’s Triple A exercise classes.
“Some people knocked on the door and invited us to Happy Hour and then another lady did as well. She just wanted to make sure we were going!” says Guy.
Tennis has played a big part in both Gloria and Guy’s lives, with Guy serving on the committee of Tennis Auckland for many years, umpiring at international level and coordinating tennis volunteers at international tournaments, which included coaching the ball boys and girls. For these services, Guy was made a life member of Tennis Auckland.
Gloria’s late brother, Claude England, a former NZ junior tennis champion, was also a friend of Guy’s and it was thanks to tennis that the couple met, possibly even before their mutual friends introduced them, on opposing sides of the net.
“I think we must have played inter club against each other at some stage,” muses Guy.
Guy’s community interests also extend to Scouting, which he has been involved with since 1949, through leading a Scout Troop to leader training. He has coached tennis and soccer at junior level and has followed a commitment to conservation through planting and advocacy roles.
Likewise, Gloria volunteered for eight years as secretary for the organisation set up to support the Hauraki Gulf conservation island Tiritiri Matangi, and she still helps with archival work today.
And while tennis is taking a back seat these days, they’re keen to try new things and recently signed up for croquet lessons in the village.
“We’ve never played before!” laughs Guy.
“We have quite a busy life, and we’re very comfortable here.
“It’s a very, very natural, comfortable feeling here and the people are great!”