About Us

The West of England Friends Housing Society Limited is an Industrial and Provident Society, legally defined as an ‘exempt’ charity. The Society is overseen by a Board of volunteers, many of whom are Quakers.  We are a Registered Social Landlord, a member of the National Housing Federation and are entirely non-profit making. Avenue House is registered with the Care Quality Commission who are responsible for regulating and inspecting care homes. We are registered to provide accommodation and personal care (but not nursing care), for up to 30 men and women over 65 years of age. Our latest Inspection Report can be viewed here. Your family and friends are always welcome to visit, and if they wish to stay overnight, there is a twin-bedded guest room in Kirwin House which can be booked for a small charge. Our care team is led by the Manager and Assistant Manager who are highly skilled, experienced and committed professionals. They take a personal interest in each one of our residents and their families.

Ethos

Everybody who comes to live at Friends Housing Bristol can be sure that they will be valued as a unique person. We will do everything we can to respect your wishes, dignity, privacy and independence. We understand that living in a community sometimes means a degree of compromise, and we combine friendly informality with high standards of personal care and consideration. We want to make it clear that our Quaker foundation does not mean that only Quakers can apply. We are open to all, to people who have no religious conviction as well as those of a definite faith. Friends Housing Bristol believes in equal opportunities for everyone, staff and residents.

Our management team aims to run Friends Housing Bristol efficiently, to provide very good facilities, to keep our fees moderate and to value our staff.

You can find the Society Rules here.

The Terms of Reference for Members of the Board can be found here.

Our Statement of Purpose can be downloaded here.

Values

We ask all our staff, our Board members and our tenants to work towards establishing and maintaining a warm and welcoming atmosphere based on Quaker values in Avenue House, Kirwin House and Lansdowne House. For Quakers all people are equal and we try to recognise the good within each other. We respect each person regardless of age, religion, race, gender, sexual orientation or disability. We value truth and honesty and we have peaceful, non-violent ways of dealing with each other to resolve our differences and disagreements. Everyone deserves to be treated equally and with loving kindness, and we believe that human dignity is paramount in making our integrated community at West of England Friends Housing Society a place of safety in which to live and work. We respect the privacy and confidentiality of our care home residents and our tenants. By upholding these values, everyone contributes to the creation of a loving, caring community.