Ed Pearson – Plas yr Ywen
“Loneliness is a terrible thing but this place is a great help. You’ve got friends here.”
After losing his wife Ed Pearson’s search for a safe and secure future started a journey which led to a new life in extra care.
90-year-old Ed was enjoying an idyllic retirement in Greenfield Valley, Flintshire, with wife Claire when her health started to deteriorate.
Claire sadly passed away and Ed was living alone when he made his first visit to Plas yr Ywen extra care scheme in Holywell.
“My daughter brought me here and we had a good look around – and it was everything we wanted,” said Ed.
“As you get older you get a real fear of being on your own, and it’s a palpable fear. Loneliness is a terrible thing and this solves the problem.
“This place is a great help. It fits the bill, you’ve got friends here, people you can speak to any time you want.”
Ed’s best friend, though, he says, is his beloved German Shepherd Enya, who moved to Plas yr Ywen with him.
She keeps Ed company and active, making the most of the scheme’s woodland walk where she receives four walks a day.
Being allowed to live with a pet was top of the list of priorities when Ed moved to Plas yr Ywen as he has kept German Shepherds all his life.
He said: “When I joined the RAF after I left school, they asked me what I wanted to do and I told them I wanted to be a dog handler. A posting came up for a dog handler and I was made up. It was mostly evening work, but I loved it.
“I got married to Claire when I came out of the forces and we had a good life – a really good life,” added Ed, who enjoyed a career in sales after leaving the Forces to raise his son and daughter with Claire.
“Our last house together backed on to the lake in Greenfield Valley which is one beautiful piece of nature. We lived there with our two German Shepherds. It was heaven.
“So, when I started to think about moving here, I said love me, love my dog. If I don’t bring the dog I don’t come, and that was it. Whatever other friends I have here, Enya is my best friend. Without her I would be totally devastated.”