Mary Cornelius-Reid | A PASSION EXTRAORDINAIRE
A PASSION EXTRAORDINAIRE
Mary Cornelius-Reid , A . M ., M . B . E ., is a remarkable woman . She has a drive and passion that has remained with her since she was a young woman , sustaining her for 40 years as she confronted and overcame a host of seemingly un-surmountable problems to develop a highly successful nursing home and retirement village business in the UK and Portugal .
Mary started her career as a nurse in Winchester Hospital , but 40 years ago - in 1972 - having moved up the nursing ladder to the post of Night Sister , she left the NHS as she had become disgruntled with the way it was being run and decided to try her luck in the private sector . “ I was aware of the dire shortage of nursing homes in the UK and so started to look for a suitable property ” she says . Never one to sit around for long , she went to the bank and borrowed the £ 46,000 to buy Winton House , a 19th century property built in Elizabethan style and set in 20 acres of formal gardens and parkland in Nether Wallop . She moved in with her husband , John and two young children in June and within a day of opening in November of the same year , two residents moved in with another nine more moving in only a few weeks later . “ We lived in the top floor at first and gradually extended the nursing home , which was registered for 50 people ” she says . As the nursing home filled up , the family had to move to the adjacent Coach House to make more room .
In 1981 , Mary decided she wanted to start a second nursing home and began looking for another suitable building .
“ I heard that Amesbury Abbey , which was owned by Sir Philip Antrobus , was for sale . The house was on the market for £ 200,000 , a good price as so many developers had turned it down because many of the flats were occupied by tenants , but I still didn ’ t think I could afford it . Still , I went ahead , borrowed the money and bought it anyway !” she says .
The Abbey , a Grade I listed mansion set in 35 acres of gardens and grounds in Amesbury , had originally been gifted to Jane Seymour by Henry VIII , but when Mary met Sir Philip , he was living in just a small part of the residence , as the rest of the building had been turned into 15 flats . When they took possession , there was a leak in the roof and only one bathroom between 10 flats on the top floor . She put in a few more bathrooms , moved some of the tenants from one floor to another and started by using just the ground and middle floors of the house as a nursing home . As the original occupants gradually left , she was able to utilise more of the building and now it is one of the most elegant nursing homes in the U . K .
“ I expanded and expanded and then I started to build sheltered housing , which is my real passion and the reason I was awarded my MBE . I was one of first people to put housing in the grounds of a nursing home , with a guarantee that residents could move into the nursing home when they needed ” she says . The Retirement Village at Amesbury is made up of 36 apartments and houses in the grounds and another six apartments within Amesbury Abbey itself .
By Mary Wilson
10 | Summer 2012 | www . portugal-life . net |
Amesbury Abbey