At 68 years young, some of Wayne and Dianne Fawcett’s friends were surprised when they announced they were moving into RAAFA’s Merriwa Estate.

“We lived in Butler for 11 years and so were keen to remain somewhere local so that we could stay in touch with old friends,” explains Dianne, who emigrated from England with her husband back in 2007.

“We wanted to downsize from our 4 x 2 home because it was too big for us and we really didn’t use half of it as our grandchildren were getting older and didn’t stay over as often anymore.”

As a result Dianne and Wayne, who had friends living at Merriwa, went along to the estate to have a look and were shown a 2 x 1 home which they loved.

“Our first impressions when we came to see the estate were, well, we could certainly live here,” explains Dianne. “And we were shown a home with two bedrooms, a bathroom, laundry, kitchen and a lounge room which was actually all we were using in our previous house, so it was just a perfect size for us.

“After that everything happened pretty quickly and we moved in at the end of last year, it was all meant to be.”

Since moving in, the couple attended an open day at the estate where they heard about volunteering opportunities.

“We put our hand up for both the Meals on Wheels service and also helping out with the golf cart to ferry people around, which we’re happy to do,” adds Dianne.

“Everyone is so friendly and welcoming, we are still keen to maintain our lives outside of the estate as we have so many friends and we’re also keen Bocce players, but we’ve been to a couple of bistro nights and happy hours, and also a quiz night and we’ve met lots of really wonderful people.

“We’re really happy to be here, and for us it made sense to come in while we’re younger and can enjoy everything on offer and really get to know people.”