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Interview with Richard Carr-Gomm
Richard Carr-Gomm, Founder of the Abbeyfield Society, talks to Malcom Fisk, co-author of New Vistas for Abbeyfield: Housing and services for older people, which was published in 2001.
The thing that stands out when talking with Richard Carr-Gomm is the strength of his faith in “good,” and a cheery optimism about the future. As we listen to the latest news, we might find such optimism hard to share. But in his 80 years Richard has seen the best and the worst in people.
Pioneering spirit
His autobiography, Push on the Door, is testimony to the spirit that led Richard to establish the first Abbeyfield House and, soon after, the Society. Now, nearly 50 years later, I was interested to learn whether he thought that the Guiding Principles set out in those early days were still valid. He did. And today, having been embraced again within the Abbeyfield movement, (after a rift in the 1960s) Richard is, in his words, “thrilled” to see the way that The Abbeyfield Society has developed and is delighted to be associated with it.
Richard has seen for himself the work of today’s Abbeyfielders in societies as far apart as Nelson, NZ, and Cumbria, UK. He found the staff and volunteers shared the same wholehearted commitment and demonstrated the “love and affection” that he had known in those early years. Volunteers, he averred, were as “important as ever.”
Part of the community
If there was one thing that he thought Abbeyfield societies should give greater attention to, it was in doing justice to the notion of “ordinary houses in ordinary streets” and fostering, among residents, greater intergration and activity within the wider community. Significantly, Richard suggested, 50 per cent of the housekeeper’s time had to be safeguarded for befriending, counseling and “bringing out the slumbering talents” of residents and others in the neighbourhood. The relief of loneliness had to remain at the core. And to help overcome loneliness there had to be, in his view, opportunities for social contact within and outside Abbeyfield Houses.
New Vistas
Was the direction set out in New Vistas the right one? Broadly speaking, “yes” was his response, though Richard thought the report didn’t give enough consideration to spiritual matters. Nevertheless, he saw the report as an important stimulus that needed to be seen alongside other Abbeyfield initiatives that were all helping to make Abbeyfielders sit up and think about different ways of fulfilling the Society’s objectives.
A man for all seasons
For him there should be nothing sacrosanct about the particular pattern of housing and care that had come to typify Abbeyfield provision. Richard was all for innovation and change and was aware of several Abbeyfield societies that were demonstrating the courage and enterprise needed for new initiatives.
Future plans
Without the question even being asked, Richard reaffirmed the statement in his autobiography that, if lonely, he would know where to go. It was clear, however, that he would need a bit more space than he would have had in 50 Eugenia Road, Bermondsey, the first Abbeyfield house. His list of essential items includes shelves for his books, an ensuite bathroom, an extra room for people to come and stay, a microwave oven to do a little cooking (though he confesses to being a poor cook), a television and telephone.
In addition, Richard would want space for his computer since this is now playing a more central part in his life. He puts it to regular use writing and sending and receiving emails. Indeed, at the time of my visit, the Age Concern guide How to be a Silver Surfer was on his desk, fighting for attention among the scattered papers of a busy and active man. He’d certainly want a social life in which reading, debating, singing and worship all played a part.
When staying as a visitor in an Abbeyfield House, he suggests the designation of a “museum room.” Perhaps his desire for this was expressed a little tongue-in-cheek, but no one who has met him or read his autobiography can doubt the remarkable range of artifacts that would be found there.
—The Abbeyfielder
