‘I found shelter here’ – the special Nottingham homes offering the elderly a lifeline
George Palmer-Soady who writes for Nottinghamshire Live kindly has kindly given us permission to republish his article on The John & Eliza Jelley almshouses and how happy the residents are too be living there:
When thinking about Derby Road – one of Nottingham’s busiest streets – you might not picture a peaceful and calm haven.
The city centre street is synonymous with landlocked traffic, disruptive roadworks, and being the home of the Queen’s Medical Centre hospital.
Yet hidden just off the main road, away from the inner-city hustle and bustle, sits The John & Eliza Jelley almshouses. Built almost 100 years ago, the 26 properties were set up to provide safe, secure and affordable housing for older Nottingham residents.
After a prosperous building career, John Jelley died in 1914, leaving left behind £30,000 – roughly around £3.5m today. Before his death, he asked that money to be used “for the building and endowment for the building of almshouses for people in reduced circumstances”.
Almost 100 years later, the homes serve that same purpose today. Residents pay weekly maintenance contributions of between £93 and £109 a week and many are unable to work due to age or ill health.
“I was living in Beeston and the landlord decided he had to sell, so I got evicted and found shelter here,” says Graham Taylor. Previously a music journalist for magazines like NME, Graham moved to Nottingham to do a PhD and became an academic.
One of the newer residents at the homes, the 77-year-old moved in last year and says he’s felt “so much more secure” since. “You know the landlords aren’t out for profit so they’re not going to throw you out and put the rent up,” he continued.
Graham lives in one of the 20 one-bedroom flats at the homes. There are also six two-bedroom homes designed for couples, and a shared laundry room that doubles up as the indoor meeting space.
Jenny and Ray Davies moved to the almshouses in 2008 -Credit:Nottingham Post/George Palmer-Soady
Down a few doors from Graham is Phil Featherstone. He came to the almshouses in 2016 after his wife passed away. “The house was far too big for me and I don’t think I would have managed,” the 73-year-old said. After joining the military as a young man, Philip returned to Nottinghamshire and worked down the mines for 20 years.
“I worked down the pits at Cotgrave, but I got made redundant when they closed it down”. Beating Phil by eight years, Jenny and Ray Davies moved to the almshouses in 2008.
After the couple had their four children, Jenny worked part-time at the Raleigh factory around Ray’s shifts at Royal Mail, where he worked as a postie for 35 years. “We’re very lucky – it’s like a little village here,” Jenny said.
“They are good landlords – if you need anything doing, it gets done. We’re all pensioners and we’re on a fixed income so that goes a long way and very few people have left over the years.
“They look after you,” Ray added. “And you’ve got any worries about paying rent – that gets rid of a lot of the stress”. Tucked away only a stones throw from the main entrance of Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC), the homes were built years before any mention of the hospital.
Back then, the land in Lenton was just empty fields – no tramlines and no hospital. But today the views from the gardens at the John and Eliza Jelley homes are very different. The back of the huge brown-bricked building creeps behind bushes and trees from residents’ back gardens, where the rest of Nottingham city feels miles away.
“I always tell people ‘if I was to get thrown over my fence, I’d be in A&E’,” Phil quips. “If you ring for an ambulance and they say it will take three hours – you’ve got time to crawl down there,” added Graham.
The back of QMC creeps behind bushes and trees from residents’ back gardens -Credit:Nottingham Post/George Palmer-Soady
Perhaps its the overdominance of QMC, or the fast-paced nature of the street, but if you blink while walking down Derby Road, you really would miss the John and Eliza Jelley homes.
Behind the brick fence and bushes, the properties sit in a semicircle around greenery, benches and flowerpots. Residents sit together in the square with a cups of tea, chatting in the sun.
“It’s like a nature reserve – sometimes we get deers and badgers from Wollaton Park,” Phil says. “It’s like a little haven behind the trees and bushes”. The oldest resident at the homes is 92 and the youngest in their late 50s.
As the centenary of the John and Eliza Lilley homes takes place this June, those who maintain and run the properties have a lot to be proud of. The homes are administrated by a group of local trustees, including Anna Chandler, who got involved in 2008 and has been working as the site’s Scheme Manager since.
“I cant believe I get paid to do this job – I love settling people in and I have so much pride when we’re moving people into the homes,” she said. “You watch the residents move in and before you know it, they’ve been here 16 years and it’s their forever home.
“I’m very proud of what we’ve got here – we’re not rogue landlords and we’re not going to sell these properties or throw people out and get new people in at a higher rent. Working here just makes my heart sing”.
Anna’s dad, Tony, who became a clerk three years ago, added: “I tell friends that I work here and I’m proud of it”.