RESIDENTS at a sheltered housing complex in Okehampton staged a party on Friday to mark the completion of their shiny new kitchen which they hope will also benefit the whole community.

The kitchen within the hall at The Glen has been converted from small to spacious by owners housing association Devon and Cornwall Housing.

And to mark getting the new facility – complete with dishwasher – the residents invited along DCH boss Doug Stein, who helped get the ball rolling on the project.

Resident Shirley Heathman, chair of the tenants’ association, said: ‘The hall we have here is very nice, but you could only get two people in the kitchen at a time and as a committee we wanted to do more events in the hall. We’ve had meals and fish and chip lunches here, but it has been difficult to prepare because the kitchen is so small. We had to have residents prepare food in their own kitchens and bring it over.

‘We contacted Devon and Cornwall Housing, who own the property, and Doug Stein, the boss there, said we should push for a new kitchen, which we did.

‘We were prepared to fundraise towards it but then we had a lovely letter from DCH to say that they would do it themselves which was great news.

‘Now we have a kitchen, and it’s beautiful. It is a lovely big size and we can cook in it and make real use of it. We have parties here in the hall, and it is something that the whole community in Okehampton could make use of too, now there is a decent-sized kitchen.’

The kitchen has been cleverly designed by an architect to make better use of the existing space, with old cabinets being removed to free up more room for appliances.

The people who live at The Glen are aged from 65 upwards, with the oldest resident being 94. The complex has a communal garden and living room, and the hall where they hold get-togethers.

‘We haven’t been able to use the hall since December while building was in progress, but now it is complete it is marvellous,’ said Shirley. ‘It really is lovely and we want other people to come and use it too.’