Only old people live here
Village of the Elderly vs. Nursing home
Natalia Golitsyna, Radio LibertyThe British media and the public are furiously discussing life in one of the Scottish villages, where children are forbidden to live, and residents are forbidden to keep many pets.
The situation in the village was immediately dubbed "social discrimination". However, now the village is becoming a role model.
The village of Firhall is located in the center of Scotland on the banks of the picturesque river Nairn, not far from the town of the same name. There are 93 houses in which elderly people live. Their life is subject to the charter drawn up by the "Fairhall Foundation". The Charter categorically prohibits long-term residence of children in the village. True, the children and grandchildren of its residents can come to them, but only for a very limited period. Residents are not allowed to keep ducks, chickens, rabbits, pigeons and bees. Only one dog is allowed in each house. People who have reached the age of 45 can buy a house in the village.
When the British media found out about the existence of the village of Fairhall and its charter, the villagers were immediately dubbed "child-hating cannibals", and the situation in the village was called nothing less than "social discrimination" and even "segregation in the Scottish ghetto". Journalists from several leading newspapers went to Fairhall to personally verify the existence of a settlement in the United Kingdom where human rights are grossly violated and there is a child-hating community of "inhumans".
As a result, several reports on village life appeared in print at once. The first thing that caught the eye of the zealots of civil liberties was the satisfaction of the villagers with their lives that surprised them. Says 75-year-old Fairhall resident Edwina Ellis:
– It's very quiet and peaceful here. I like this place, I like the environment and the whole situation. It's very nice to live here. There are many songbirds and wild animals. Every day I see squirrels. It's a great place to live.
Another Fairhall resident, Jimmy Greig, a retired former engineer at British Telecom, agrees with Edwina Ellis. It's not the lack of children that attracts him to Fairhall:
– My wife and I are attracted to the house, the price of the house, the place itself, the opportunity to play golf, bowling, and play sports.
The life of the population of Fairhall can hardly be called lonely and isolated. There is a kind of local club in the center of the village, where its residents gather in the evenings. Over a mug of beer or a glass of wine (and in the afternoon – over a cup of tea) they discuss village and world news. In addition to a large living room, the club has a good library, a room with a huge plasma TV, a hall for anniversary celebrations and other collective events. The villagers catch trout in the nearby ecologically clean river Nairn. Children, indeed, do not live in the village, there are no playgrounds there. However, residents claim that they do not feel any isolation from their loved ones – children and grandchildren – who are allowed to visit them two or three times a year.
Fairhall was built for living under a special charter in 2003. This was the first experience in Britain of creating a residential complex for the elderly in nature. After the rehabilitation of the residents of Fairhall and their village in the press, the Scottish government is considering a plan to build a whole network of villages of this type in the Lake District, where elderly people could calmly and comfortably, without depending on relatives and friends, live a full life in nature. It is assumed that all amenities and even medical care will be provided in such villages. Experts are sure that a healthy stay in the bosom of beautiful nature increases the life expectancy of elderly people by ten years. The motto for this project has already been created: "From a nursing home to a village for the elderly."
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru23.08.2010