Published : 6 years ago, on 20/07/2018

Inspired Villages Hold Inaugural Music Festival In Visionary Retirement Village

Inspired Villages Group (IVG), with partners Legal & General, will welcome hundreds of guests to Great Alne Park for its inaugural music and entertainment festival, Parkfest.

Set on the site of its latest later living development, within 90 acres of parkland in Warwickshire, Great Alne Park will provide 160 homes to residents looking for a community with flexible care and facilities that support their physical, mental and social activation.

ParkFest is the first ever festival to be held in a UK retirement community and has been oversubscribed by over 100pc. The event will run from 2pm to 9pm, with performances from the renowned Amadeus Symphony Orchestra and 4 Poofs and a Piano, the famous house-band from BBC chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

ParkFest is exemplary of IVG’s commitment to overhaul misperceptions around later living and the philosophy that learning, good health and happiness do not stop in retirement. Its communities are designed for an aspirational older generation who are living life to the full and expect the very best from their facilities and services.

As with all IVG villages, Great Alne Park is more than just bricks and mortar, offering impressive facilities and a focus on wider community integration with social, physical and mental activation for residents. Alongside providing top quality housing and amenities, it will offer a menu of wellbeing services with bike rides, personal trainers and fitness classes such as Zumba and pilates available. Research by the Extra Care Charitable Trust in partnership with Aston Research Centre for Healthy Ageing has shown the huge socioeconomic benefits of appropriate later living housing, such as a 50% reduction in GP visits and 40% reduction in NHS spend.

Following the festival launch, residents will be able to enjoy the new high-spec clubhouse which comes equipped with a range of leisure facilities, including a plunge pool, fitness centre, craft room, lounge, cinema, bar and library. The restaurant, shop and leisure facilities will also be open to the wider community, creating a vibrant extension to the existing community.

Jamie Bunce, CEO of Inspired Villages Group, says: “Great Alne Park is the perfect setting for an outdoor festival. Parkfest promises to be a day of music, laughter, glorious food and fun. It will mark the opening of our impressive clubhouse, a facility for both our residents and the wider community.  Great Alne Park will cater for residents who want to live independently with community integration and activation, but with the reassurance that support is available should they need it.

Phil Bayliss, Head of Later Living at Legal & General comments: “The later living sector has been in desperate need of innovation and has been tragically underserved in terms of the provision of housing. Only 7,000 units are currently being delivered each year.  We, together with IVG, are seeking to change this. With Legal & General’s long term patient capital we can bring the necessary scale of supply, whilst pioneering a new type of retirement community that matches the aspirations of today’s older generation. ParkFest is a real celebration of this.