Church to make way for homes for the elderly in Gorey?

Tuesday 06 September 2016

A local multimillionaire who's been helping out local pensioners at Christmas for a decade is hoping to help a few more live comfortably all year round.

Sir David Kirch has put in plans to knock down the old Catholic Church in Gorey and build two two-bedroom retirement homes.

He said: “The plan is to build two houses for elderly people, lifetime homes, we wouldn’t be selling them.

“I’ve been dedicating my life to looking after the elderly; the houses are very popular, there’s a good waiting list for them, they are in walking distance of the shops, the buses, the beach, they’ve got all these things nearby.

“I am looking for other places. I’d love to be able to build more.”

The church was built in 1864 for the Bible Christian Methodists but closed in 1916 to become a cinema. In 1953 it was acquired and dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption. It closed in 2014, partly because of the deterioration of the building.

Sir David said Dandara would do the work and would demolish the old Church at the same time as developing the hotel next door so there would be minimum disruption for the neighbours.

He said he hopes the two new homes will be ready for people to move in next year.

Sir David has built other homes for the elderly in the parish including Margaret Terrace and Leonard Terrace.

Every Christmas since he turned 70, Sir David, who turned 80 in July, has given out food vouchers to anyone over 70 living in the Island who’s wanted to claim them.

In 2012 he announced he would be leaving all of his £100m fortune to charity and in 2013 appeared at the top of The Sunday Times Giving List. Later that year he was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for “services as a philanthropist to senior citizens of Jersey."

Mr Kirch moved to the island in 1973 after a successful career in property.