Olive Coppin, Portland House resident

86 year old Olive has lived in Portland House for six years – by her own admission she has been a resident for a comparatively short time.

Olive has lived in Merstham for many years. She retired from work in 1984 and although she lived alone she spent many happy years surrounded by friends and neighbours who all lived close by. But as time went on the many people she knew either moved away or in some cases sadly died. Olive grew increasingly lonely and isolated. She found herself living among new, younger neighbours who she didn’t know and who caused problems. This was a situation that she put up with for some ten years, with much of that time spent unhappy and nervous. It was only when her doctor became concerned for both her health and her safety that she knew she had to move. She was delighted to get a flat in Portland House, which she had visited frequently since her retirement doing odd jobs and helping the elderly people who lived there – many of whom were in fact younger than her.

Being around good friends and spending time with people is what Olive loves. Being a resident of Portland House gives Olive the contact and companionship she needs. She is an incredibly active resident who organises activities and takes part in as many as she can fit in. She has many friends and holds weekly coffee mornings for fellow residents. She also takes ‘chair exercise’ classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings and spends an hour most evenings in the summer watering the garden.

Since January Olive has played an integral part in the Route 4 project which has been set up to help pupils from The Warwick School in Redhill on the verge of exclusion. All these pupils are experiencing problems at school of one sort or another. Olive spends time every week with a number of girls, sometimes teaching them to knit, sometimes chatting and sometimes just listening. As time has gone on the girls have grown to see Olive as a friend and confidante. Olive also does regular talks to the boys of Oakley School about the war and what it was like to live through it.

Olive is an incredibly positive person and clearly loves what she calls her ‘penthouse’ in Portland House. Her only frustration is that she wishes more residents would take part in things and used the facilities more.