The Beginning

Johnny Butterfield was the person who thought of the idea of houses for the elderly. One night an old man who lived on his own in a big house tripped over a rug and fell into a fire and he was rushed to hospital and from there he was transferred to another hospital but sadly on the way he died from his burns. Johnny also said that at that time the government were making health cuts. And so with the help of others he set up the Mid Offaly Housing Association.
We examined the minutes of the first meetings in May 1990 and we learned a lot about how everything started.
Johnny Butterfield proposed the idea of housing for the elderly to the Offaly Enterprise Group. And they carried out a survey in the area and found out that there was a need for houses in Mountbolus for the elderly.
They hoped to possibly build ten houses in the village. The Co. Council provided them with a site. They wanted to get local groups interested and involved. If John Butterfield did not find this then the project would be dropped. J. Butterfield outlined some of the financial aid available to Voluntary Housing Association. The grant could be upwards on £20000 per unit or 80% of the total cost. They tried to build ten single houses and one common building. They hoped that the grant would cover all the costs.
The group of people were worried about many things. One was the budget; cost for maintenance, staff and the insurance were others. Others included the rent. The prices ranged from three pounds to fifty pounds.
Fr. Willie Cleary who was the former parish priest suggested that they get two retired nuns to maintain the place. But they thought that thirteen people wouldn’t be enough to make a decision. However after much discussion they decided to go ahead in principle.
Their final decision was to build ten houses, maintained by two nuns. They continued their work and still do today.