About Company

The Abbeyfield (Maidenhead) Society was founded in 1956 to provide sheltered homes for those who are both elderly & lonely. It is run by volunteers. At present it is one of about 600 autonomous Abbeyfield Societies across the country, which run about 2000 supported homes devoted to looking after the elderly. To maintain a family environment, each home has only between 6 & 9 residents each with their own room, which they furnish themselves & are looked after by a housekeeper, who provides all meals. The residents are free to come & go as they please &, except for meals, are expected to be able to look after themselves. These homes are known as "supported homes". This distinguishes them from "extra care homes", which usually have between 25 & 30 residents, staffed by qualified personnel on a 24hour schedule. This means that when a resident in a supported home can no longer look after themselves, they are able to move into a care home enabling them to stay under the protective Abbeyfield umbrella of care for the rest of their lives. Our records show that this happens in 95% of cases. In 1978 the Clewer Trust invited the Maidenhead Society to take over the running of St Andrews Lodge, a residential home for 8 elderly people. The Society was happy to take on this task as the home fitted exactly its supported house philosophy. Also the Clewer Trust would support with income from their capital investments the administration of the lodge. The Society were granted a 99 year lease at a peppercorn rent thus giving it two supported homes, one in Maidenhead & one in Windsor. The large garden of St Andrews Lodge gave the Society the opportunity of fulfilling its ambition to build an "extra care unit". After a great deal of work by volunteers, raising the necessary funds & obtaining the necessary permissions, the extra care home", named Winton House was opened by the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, Councillor Arthur Jacobs in 1983. Winton House made homes for 17 residents, but this was soon found to be too small to meet the ever growing demand for extra care accommodation & to be economic to run so it was decided to provide a new wing, which entailed 5 years of work to raise the funds & the necessary permissions. The building work involved the demolition of St Andrews Lodge as it was found to be uneconomic to convert it & the residents successfully rehoused before work commenced. The Architect of the scheme was Salmon Speed, Quantity surveyor, Nigel Ross & Partners, Structural Engineers, Robert Walpole & Partners & the building contractors were Owen Builders & Civil Engineers Ltd.