When Adrian Baker, aged 81, became a resident at Down Hall Residential Care Home in July last year, he was not expecting to be greeted by a familiar face! His former colleague, Alan Stilborn, aged 98, had moved into the care home the month before.
Down Hall is a 36-bed care home situated close to the north eastern corner of the Dengie peninsula in the district of Maldon.
Adrian has always lived in Bradwell-on-Sea and was born in the King’s Head Pub at the heart of the village. He and wife Norma were married for 57 years and had two sons, a daughter, and three grandchildren.
He said: “Alan and I recognised each other straight away, even though it had been many years since we last met.
“It instantly made me happy to know that someone I knew was living here too.
“Alan and I both started work at the power station in late 1961. I worked in maintenance for two years, before moving over to operations where Alan – known then as Bruvvy – worked.
“We sit and chat about old times and like to take part in some of the activities that the home organise. There’s a ‘gentleman’s club’ where we play cards or sample a few different whiskeys, and both Alan and I enjoy taking part in that!”
Since moving into the care home, the two have also had visits from other former power station colleagues.
Activities organiser Louise Simon decided to get the four men together and organised a small reunion for Adrian, Alan and old work mates Ian Drinkwater and Bert Foss.
Louise said: “I organised the reunion so that Alan and Adrian could get together with their other old work friends and chat about old times.
“Ian, who worked at the power station from 1976, has lots of memorabilia which he brought with him, including a dummy fuel element which would have been used in a reactor.
“The old photos and newspaper clippings really sparked everyone’s memories, and it was lovely to hear Alan and Adrian swapping stories and laughs with Ian and Bert.”
Alan was born in Yorkshire and met his wife Gladys when he was visiting his brother in Maldon. The two married in 1952 and moved to Southminster, where they lived together for 71 years and had one daughter, Beverly.
Alan said: “It was marvellous to chat about old times, and I enjoyed looking at the old pictures. There was even one of me playing my glockenspiel at a work’s social event.”
Karen Johnson, manager at Down Hall, added: “Reminiscence is so valuable to our residents, so the reunion was the perfect chance for all four men to chat about old times and look through all of Ian’s photos.
“Alan and Adrian were work colleagues but have forged a friendship at the home over the past seven months.
“We recently invited Bert to join Alan and Adrian for our Burns Night celebrations on January 25. It’s always a great event and it was lovely to welcome him for a visit. Our two gents enjoyed spending time with him.
“At Down Hall we want our residents to have every opportunity to enjoy new experiences and to make new memories. That’s equally as important!”
The power station generated its first electricity on July 1, 1962, and was decommissioned in March 2002. It was one of the UK’s earliest nuclear power stations and in 2018 was the first in the country to enter care and maintenance status.