News

So many of our residents have had an extraordinary life, and some of them seem to have fit several lives into one! That’s the case of one of the most sociable residents at Warkworth Oaks, Graham: he worked as a general manager for the Cook Islands branch at Air New Zealand, a real estate agent for Barfoot and Thompson, he owned a Bed and Breakfast and he ended his career driving tour buses around Auckland.

At Real Living we’re very proud to have some very talented artists among our residents. One of them is Dorothy Tomlinson, an accomplished opera singer with soprano roles in La Traviata or La Boheme. Being 90 years old, Dorothy has been retired for a long time, but that doesn’t mean that she has stopped sharing her expertise: now she’s in charge of the Talent Group at Epsom Village.

At Real Living, Christmas is one of the busiest and happiest times of the year. At the villages the residents get together to enjoy the annual Christmas gatherings, with Pakuranga Park’s "world-renowned" Quiz as one of the highlights of the social calendar. The residents look forward to the special activities of December which this year included the surprise visit of a naughty "Elf on the Shelf".

At Real Living one minute you're at the village at the next one...you're in Hollywood! Epsom Village organised a very glamorous Christmas party last week where all the residents and staff pretended to be attending the Oscars. The event ticked all the boxes: delicious food, great friends, lots of laughs and a proper awards ceremony, delivered by Mrs Claus and... the Grinch!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, at Real Living! At Pakuranga Park the residents have created a gorgeous Christmas tree made of 400 peggy squares… being 2.7 metres high, the tree touches the ceiling of the Lounge! We love this time of the year, when staff and residents come together as a big family to celebrate the magic season.

“We’re 100% happy.” “We love it to bits.” “We’re a lot more relaxed.” These comments are just a sample of the overwhelmingly positive feedback we are getting from the new residents at the Ruru apartments in Pakuranga Park. Our brand new two-bedroom luxury apartments are filling up fast, so if you want to see it for yourself, call Kate on 095765990 or 021855735.

With Halloween fast approaching and Christmas around the corner, there’s no doubt that the sweet season has started. John is one of our most charming residents and he also works part-time at Kea cookies, a New Zealand company established in 1988. Alongside his daughter and son-in-law, John bought the factory a few years ago and since then he’s became an expert in golden syrup, icing cookies and new flavours such as lemon coconut.

It’s time to celebrate! At Epsom Village they were so happy with the ending of the Traffic Light System that they decided to throw a big party. The residents invited their family and friends, the village opened the pool, they had a sausage sizzle and a Happy Hour with Live Music. At the end of the evening most of the villagers were up on their feet showing off their dance moves!

Moving to a Real Living Group village means that you can leave the hard work to us and concentrate on enjoying the things you like most. This is the case of Dawn, a Pakuranga Park resident who now can devote all the time she wants to her passion of cross stitching. Retirement brought new chances to her life, such as the opportunity to fulfil the life dream of visiting Graceland.