Val Pugh, Pip Christie, Betty Cantrill, Ted and Jan Stevenson, Pat Cannard, Bud and Elaine Pirie and Evelyn O’Mara have been part of the same community for a quarter of a century and are friends and neighbours.
Planning for the Inverpine retirement village in Moreton Bay began in 1996 with the first group of residents moving in at the end of 1999.
Residents Pat Cannard and Evelyn O’Mara have been neighbours since that first day.
“My late husband Billy and I were looking for somewhere to downsize but also wanted to be in an area where we had a community around us,” Evelyn said.
“We gave ourselves two years to look around for a retirement village and this was by far the best and it even provides a free bus to take us shopping three days a week.
“We never regretted our decision moving in here,” she said.
For Pat and her late husband Ernie their connection to the RSL (Bolton Clarke is an amalgamation of RSL Care Queensland and the Royal District Nursing Service Victoria) was a driving force to find a retirement village to support their lifestyle in the late 90s.
“The security and the social life has always been really good and I’ve got great neighbours,” Pat said.
“We were living in Geebung at the time but we needed to find somewhere more suitable as my husband was suffering from illnesses that prevented him doing the work he needed to do.
“We have seen it change from having the residential aged care and independent units in one area to now being more separate but still co-located,” she said.