Diane Bird, a member of Quorn Church, invited interested people to an exploratory meeting in February 1983 to discuss the possibility of setting up an Abbeyfield House in Quorn. About 15 attended and seven or eight agreed to form a group. These people were the nucleus of the first Abbeyfield Committee. Only one of that group, Kate Hutchinson, still remains active within the society.

The aim at that time was to buy a house in the village and convert it to accommodate five elderly lonely villagers plus a resident housekeeper. We expected the project to cost around £120,000. Eventually in January 1996 we opened a purpose-built house for twelve residents and a resident housekeeper and it cost £750,000!

The building plot and the house taking shape

Quorn Football Club gifted the land, and volunteers raised more than one third of the total cost, including £100,000 raised from within the village. Open Gardens, begun in 1985 and organised by Kate for the next ten years, raised £35,000 alone. Dudley Holloway, a resident of the village, was our greatest benefactor when he left us a legacy of £40,000 in 1987/8. His sister Mary Holloway left us another considerable sum of money when she sadly died in September 2001 having been a 'Friend' ever since the house opened.

Open Gardens raised £35,000 for Abbeyfield Quorn

Charities and generous local people also contributed, some sponsoring a room within the house, including Quorn parish Council.

Other events by villagers and the committee included coffee mornings, jumble sales, raffles, auctions, bridge and whist drives, a sponsored silence by Humphrey Perkins School pupils etc. There was enormous goodwill and the whole of Quorn deserves great credit.

Charnwood Borough Council matched the sum raised by the volunteers, and a Housing Corporation grant and a mortgage completed the picture and so building commenced in May 1995.

The first resident moved in in January 1996. After a few months the house was filled and there is sometimes a waiting list.

Setting the Holloway House sign, and Miss Holloway unveiling the plaque

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