Betty Whitten’s 94 years aren’t slowing her down. Having an active life at Tarragal Manor keeps Betty happy and her family says she looks better than she’s ever done.
Moving to Tarragal Glen Retirement Village on the NSW Central Coast almost 30 years ago, was one of the most unexpected and best decisions of Betty’s life. Betty and her husband John had spent many happy visits to her older sister who lived in the village years before taking the plunge themselves.
“We used to come up and visit my sister, we’d stay for the weekend and go to any of the things that were on at the Country Club, a sausage sizzle and that kind of thing. We got to know some of the neighbours,” says Betty. “Then one day we came up to visit my sister and as we were leaving my husband said: ‘Maybe we should think of something like this’. I’d always said I wasn’t going into a retirement village, especially on the Central Coast as I was in Sydney. Anyway we went home and thought it over, and thought it’s a lovely village and we decided if we were going to go anywhere that was going to be it. And that’s what happened.”
Betty and her husband moved to the village and had 14 happy years together before he sadly passed away.
“My husband’s been gone quite a few years now, but we loved it when we were living independently over in the village. We had a nice villa with a nice outlook over the parkland with lovely neighbours and everything. It was a very happy time there,” says Betty.
Time for a change
After her husband passed away, Betty continued to live in the village on her own for another 13 happy years, enjoying life in the community surrounded by good friends and neighbours. One Christmas, while her daughter was visiting from Tasmania, Betty announced that it might be time to move somewhere where she could get some extra help.
“My daughter had put my name down at a place in Tasmania, in case I ever wanted to go down there to live. But I said I wanted to go to The Manor, there’s people I know there and I’m still in touch with the village,” Betty explains. “My daughter was surprised, but I said if I go anywhere I want to go to The Manor where I still feel connected to the village. So I moved in here March 2020. It was one of the best moves I’ve ever made.”
The Manor, which forms part of Tarragal Glen Retirement Village, offers serviced apartments to cater for seniors who need extra household assistance, but still want to live independently.
“My family were very pleased when they knew I was coming into somewhere like this, where I was going to be looked after and a lot of the chores taken off my shoulders,” says Betty.
Life at The Manor
At the Manor, life hasn’t slowed down for Betty. While she likes to take it easier in the morning, her afternoons are spent catching up with friends and taking part in the many activities on offer, including Bingo, Trivia and Wordsearch.
“Over at the village, they’ve looked at our diary that’s printed in the Tarragal Times and quite a few of my friends over there have said ‘You do more over there in The Manor than we do!’” says Betty.
The fortnightly Happy Hour is another favourite time for Betty. “Ian, our pianist comes and plays,” says Betty.
“They serve wine and we usually just have two glasses of wine. I have mine topped up with orange juice so they don’t have to carry me upstairs,” Betty says laughing. “It’s just $4! Where do you go for an hour of beautiful music and two glasses of champagne for $4?!
“The pianist plays all the lovely tunes that we had during the war and we’ve grown up with since. And there’s a lot of foot-tapping going on, I can tell you that!”
With a cheeky sparkle in her voice, Betty seems much younger than her 94 years. She says that life at The Manor keeps her youthful.
“My grandson came out from England and I hadn’t seen him for four years. He said: “Grandma looks better now than she did four years ago!” So, it must suit me!” says Betty.
Next year will be Betty’s 30th year at Tarragal Glen and while she may not be the village’s longest resident (she knows of a neighbour who moved it a few months before she did), she is one of the happiest.
“I’m very happy here, that’s the bottom line. I’m enjoying it,” says Betty.
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