New garden celebrates 50 years of housing the elderly

A new garden was officially opened at Pearce Court in Windmill Road, Thame, yesteday (Wednesday, August 6), to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Thame & District Housing Association.

Cynthia Haynes and Trevor Cook concentrate hard and take their marks before cutting the ribbon to launch the new garden at TDHA Windmill Road – Photo: Nick White Photography

Two very special, senior Thame people, Mrs Cynthia Haynes, a founder member of the association, and Mr Trevor Cook, a member since 1964, cut the ribbon between them before a buffet lunch and cream teas were served to all the members and friends of the association and invited guests.

Among the dignitories at the garden party to help celebrate the TDHA’s contribution to the elderly people of Thame, was Mrs Ann Midwinter, the current Chairman of South Oxfordshire District Council, who Cynthia Haynes recalled mentoring as a young councillor many years before.

Cynthia, whose family kept Haynes Garage where Barclays Bank is now, initiated the housing trust 50 years ago. She recalled how she approached the local councils in the early 1960s about forming a housing association to provide accommodation for the elderly where they could still keep their independance. With a small group of other business people in the town that each contributed something to the Association, Cynthia provided the typewriter and a filing cabinet to get the Association going and to search for funding.

The Thame and District Housing Association was finally born in 1964 and the first flats were built, those on the corner of Croft Road, known as Croft Court. The man who helped Cynthia cut the ribbon at the 50th celebrations, Trevor Cook, was involved in the original surveying work and the demolition of the old cinema that stood on the site of Croft Court. The architect was James Adamson of Dinton. Trevor has been a member ever since as well as being a long-time Chairman of the now disbanded Thame Conservation Advisory Committee, set up to advise the town and district councils on planning applications within the Thame Conservation area.

Cynthia actually left Thame with her family, including three sons, for a period and moved to Devon. But she returned six years ago to live out her latter years at Summersby Court, the lease-hold flats in Windmill Road, the latest addition to Thame & District Housing Association’s sheltered and serviced properties. She recalled how Thame’s population was 3,000 when she left, and almost 12,000 when she returned 16 years later, but although there had been changes, she said, Thame ‘had not been ruined and had still retained the same charm.’

Trevor meanwhile had stayed in Thame and worked as a local government officer for Oxfordshire County Council before moving to South Oxfordshire District Council in 1970, where he worked in the Technical Services Department until it was dissolved, and he retired.

Asked if he was surprised that 50 years later there were still people who needed help with accommodation, Trevor replied that he was not. “Unfortunately, whatever the economic situation, the poor are always with us who need aid and assistance,” he replied.