I attended a celebration event to mark the installation of new boilers in Belper’s Matthew Smith Almshouses. These historic houses are run by a longstanding charity which has restored and maintained several homes in Belper, make a valuable contribution to local housing.
The boilers were donated by Vaillant, and the installation costs funded from a donation from the Ryklow Charitable Trust. Representatives from both organisations were present.
It’s really positive to see examples like this of organisations working together to support the community.
Almshouses are an often-overlooked type of social housing which benefits from not being subject to the right-to-buy requirements that have made it so difficult over the years for local authorities to retain stocks of council housing.