New Year, New You: Rangeford Villages’ Wellness Activities to Help Combat Loneliness

With the New Year welcoming in opportunities for resolutions and tackling new health goals, Rangeford Villages, the award-winning UK retirement developer, has set out activities and events for residents in all its villages – from Wadswick Green in Wiltshire to Siddington Park in Cirencester - to achieve their goals.

Recent studies have found that physical and mental well-being is closely related to individual and community health, flourishing, and prosperity, as 2023 Government studies have found that community activities promote social interaction and enable people to connect meaningfully with others.

In addition to this, a 2023 study conducted for retirement village specialist Rangeford Villages by Censuswide of UK retirees aged between 65 to 80 shows that there are specific factors to their health and wellbeing that this age group value the most. When asked if the benefits of ageing have enhanced their ability to focus on personal health and wellness, those in the South West (38.12%) ranked the highest. Participants aged 65 – 80 living in Plymouth (34.85%) ranked second while those in Bristol ranked third, at 35.48%.

Meanwhile, when rating their current happiness, participants in Brighton value wisdom and life experience more (at 63.33%) more than 65 – 80-year-olds in Birmingham (at 45.60%).

Following on from the results of the findings, Rangeford Villages across the country have reviewed the activities and events they host for their residents at their respective Pavillions, which acts as the main social hub, aimed at combatting loneliness and helping them achieve their New Year goals. A number of Rangeford’s villages have a tranquil indoor swimming pool, where, for example, Siddington Park houses the wellbeing spa with a hydro pool, targeted towards achieving therapeutic and health benefits. Other amenities of the Pavilion in each village include a spa, hair and beauty salon, as well as a restaurant.

This comes as GoCompare reveals the top 10 New Year resolutions for 2024, with ‘getting fit and doing more exercise’ ranking in the top three.

In the Siddington Park retirement village in Cirencester, the village's dedication to its residents' mental and physical health is underscored by a range of weekly wellness programs that residents can enjoy throughout the year. Throughout January and onwards, wellness wise, the village are running a variety of classes including Balance, resistance band training, chair fitness, chair yoga, conditioning, walking group and ballroom basics. They also have a foot health practitioner visit the site for appointments in residents’ homes. Further to this, they have also had a nutritionist conduct a talk on ‘Nutrition for healthy aging’ and are planning a ‘benefits of cold pressed juices’ talk and sample towards the end of January.

Meanwhile, at Wadswick Green in Wiltshire, residents can partake in a range of fitness classes at the Pavilion including low impact aerobics, seated Pilates, water aerobics, group walking and yoga, as well as programmes to boost their creativity such as watercolour classes, knitting groups, photography classes and reading groups.

While at Mickle Hill in Yorkshire, some of the activities the village have planned for the residents related to wellness are choir practices and fortnightly exercises classes with an external mentor.

Mickle Hill resident John Telford has spoken out about how these events have aided and boosted his mental health and wellbeing, as he reveals he attends the exercise classes fortnightly.

He says: “I enjoy going because I am a double amputee, so it helps me with returning back to some form of normality. The exercises that Wendy does are very good and helpful, and a lot of residents attend. We take part in a number of activities including rubber ball stretching and using the stability ball as well.

“I’ve been going to the exercise classes for about two years, since we moved here. At first, we were a bit nervous to go when we started, but after a while the classes became so much easier and we really enjoy attending them.

“We’ve also made friends with all residents who go to the classes, as well as those who don’t go. Overall, keeping fit and exercising has helped my mental health and wellbeing, it’s really helped me a lot.”

In adding what his New Year’s resolution is, John said that for this year, his goal is to “become more active and partake in more of the wellness activities on offer at the village”.

Commenting on why these activities are important for the residents, Head of Marketing at Rangeford Villages, Amanda Valentine-Bunce said: “With the New Year in full swing at Rangeford Villages, health and wellbeing take centre stage. It is often the case that each year resolutions revolve around self-improvement, and so across all the villages we welcome an active and engaged lifestyle. We encourage our residents to take advantage of the various amenities and activities available, whether it's joining a fitness class, participating in group outings, or exploring a new hobby.

“Health is such a crucial aspect of independence, and so by working together with our residents to aid their New Year's resolutions presents an opportunity for growth and improvement of the village as a whole.

“Over the years, we have developed wellness and fitness programmes across all our Pavilion’s to suit the needs of our residents, and they have been specifically designed to enhance physical and mental well-being. They also reflect Rangeford Villages’ mission to create aspirational retirement communities and enable our residents to live their lives independently and with purpose and fulfilment.”