Relax at Redbourn
A takeover this April by the Pilgrims’ Friend Society (PFS) has helped provide more holiday lets for elderly or retired missionaries.
Since Gordon and Elaine Hoskings founded it in the late 1960s, the Redbourn Missionary Trust (RMT) has held a special place in the hearts of missionaries who have stayed in its holiday homes in Hertfordshire.
The trust consists of five holiday let houses for missionaries and five flats for more elderly or retired missionaries. Built in a cul-de-sac, it was summed up by a missionary couple on leave from Kyrgyzstan, who said, ‘It has just the atmosphere we needed.
‘It’s been a good, peaceful time when we needed a rest. We appreciated being left alone until we were ready to join in with the rest of the neighbours at the prayer meeting. It’s so relaxed’.
Now the trust has found a place under the wing of the PFS. It was a natural transition because of the organisations’ shared Christian ethos and principles.
The Redbourn Trust becomes part of the PFS along with the Ernest Luff Homes and Pilgrim Homes. Overall the move has released more holiday accommodation for missionaries throughout the UK.
Most PFS schemes have sheltered housing in the form of bungalows or apartments, and where there is a vacancy these can be rented at reasonable cost by missionaries.
An unusual bonus is where an older parent needs respite care. A missionary family renting a holiday apartment in a PFS home was able to arrange respite care for their father in the residential care home on the site, so that their mother could enjoy a rest and holiday with them in the apartment at the same time.
The RMT houses are fully equipped. Whether the holiday is arranged at RMT or one of the PFS schemes, missionaries benefit from the Christian ethos and shared values.
Louise Morse
