Bert Sutcliffe Retirement Village
Care is not an ‘add on’ at a Ryman village, it is built into the fabric of our villages from the very beginning. It’s comforting for couples and friends to know they can still be near each other even if their health needs are different.
Bert Sutcliffe care centre offers a range of care options including resthome, hospital and specialist dementia care. Like all aspects of our villages, we constantly look for ways to improve both the care we provide and the innovation behind it. Care is customised using our myRyman Care app and residents love the food in our seasonal Delicious menu, which is prepared fresh on site by village chefs.
Bert Sutcliffe is one of over 90% of established Ryman villages that have been awarded 4-year certification by the Ministry of Health. It’s recognised as the ‘gold standard’ in care.
Each Ryman village is named in honour of a Kiwi or Aussie trailblazer: Anthony Wilding, Lady Diana Isaac, Evelyn Page. They pushed further and set the bar high for others to aspire to. In creating communities that challenge the expectations of ageing, Ryman villages are also setting the bar high. They’re demonstrating that a retirement lifestyle brimming with new experiences, connections and fulfilment is something we should aspire to. Our Kiwi and Aussie namesakes represent the measure of inspiration, while Ryman villages represent the measure of retirement living.
Bert Sutcliffe (1923-2001)
One of the greatest cricket batsmen produced by New Zealand, Bert Sutcliffe, will forever be remembered for orchestrating one of the bravest innings of all time.
Boxing Day, South Africa, 1953. A mid-test ball struck Bert behind the left ear with a crack heard around the stadium. Initially unconscious, Bert was rushed to hospital while remaining batsmen continued to be injured by Neil Adcock’s fiery bouncers. Cleared of any fracture and with a bleeding but bandaged head Bert returned and resumed batting. He put 50 runs on the board averting a follow-on that would have proven disastrous for the embattled New Zealand team. Just as the innings appeared to be over, Bob Blair who was mourning his fiancée’s recent passing appeared in the tunnel. Bert remembers “you could have heard a pin drop”. The duo heroically added 33 runs for the final wicket.
While none of his 42 tests resulted in a New Zealand victory, Bert was resolute in the face of adversity. Bert received an MBE for his services to sport and was named New Zealand champion sportsperson of the decade for the 1940s. New Zealand Cricket awards the Bert Sutcliffe Medal annually for outstanding service to cricket in New Zealand over a lifetime.
Bert’s memoir Between Overs: Memoirs of a Cricketing Kiwi was published in 1963, two years shy of his retirement from test cricket. His biography The Last Everyday Hero: The Bert Sutcliffe Story by Richard Boock and published in 2010.
