On four mornings every week, John Miles heads out of his two bedroom apartment overlooking the gardens in Oatley House, returning at around midday after a four hour stint in the Orthopaedic Unit at Bristol's Southmead hospital. He's a regular volunteer at the unit, helping patients and visitors, many of whom are unsure about where to go and what to do, often having travelled some considerable way to be there. It's a role he's undertaken for almost four years, even though, at 83, he's a little past retirement.

According to his wife Sonya, who waves him off each morning, it's just what makes him tick. “It's just part of his life,” she laughs. “He's a community person, Probus, Rotary, Savages, he's still busy with everything.”

John and Sonya moved from their family home in Bristol to take a two bedroom apartment in Oatley House, the St Monica Trust development for older people in Cote Lane, just a stone's throw away.

“John wasn't keen at first,” admits Sonya. “I think it's sometimes harder for men to make that move, but we both loved the accommodation. The best thing is we still carry on our lives just as we always have, with all the same friends but with far fewer worries.”

Despite suffering a series of broken bones as a result of osteoporosis, Sonya still enjoys a round of golf at Henbury Golf Course, and is determined to keep playing for as long as possible. At 76 and following another fracture, she's had to give up tennis, but still maintains a regular presence in the exercise class at her health club. Back home at Cote Lane she volunteers in the library and this year she's trying her hand at something new, testing the colour of her fingers by taking up gardening.

“I had never done much gardening before I came here but I'm really taken with it,” says Sonya. “There are lots of people here with more experience than me, but everyone is extremely generous, sharing their tips and advice.”

This year's crop of spinach, beans and runner beans has gone straight onto Sonya's table, cooked up along with a traditional roast for her daughter and family when they all arrived for Sunday lunch.

“We do both love it here,” confirms Sonya. “John's a complete convert telling everyone how wonderful it is. It's great to see him so happy. For me, I'm just glad we made the move when it was easy for us to do it, and still under our own influence, when we could manage to sort through the years of accumulated baggage stored in cellars, lofts and sheds all over the house. We've been able to make our own decisions and this is where we have chosen to be. We are both pleased to have been in control and really very happy at how this important change in our life has worked out.”