Stairlifts Falmouth - Cornwall Stairlifts

 

Click here to find new and reconditioned stairlifts around Falmouth
 

If you are looking for the Castle Comfort Stairlifts legendary website

Castle Comfort Stairlifts offers top brand stairlifts, keen prices and fast installs for all those seeking stairlifts in cornwall and devon And all work comes with our no-quibble guarantees and famous customer service satisfaction.
Give us a call today on 01395 349198. If however, you are looking for fascinating facts about the area then feel free to read on.

Stairlifts Falmouth - Falmouth in the South of Cornwall

Heading further south still in the county of Cornwall, we come to Falmouth just 25 miles from our last destination of St Austell.  It is the third deepest natural harbour combined with Carrick Roads in the world so you won't be surprised to learn that it is also famous as the start or finish port for round the world voyages including those of Sir Francis Chichester and Dame Ellen MacArthur.

But we're jumping the gun – i.e. starting the race before the starting gun goes off!  Castle Comfort Stairlifts brings you a short tour guide of Falmouth so that you know your way around this Cornish town and harbour.

Castle Comfort Stairlifts like to make getting around especially in your own homes as easy and painless as possible especially for those less mobile than they once were whether through injury or deterioration.  We can advise you on any kind of stairlift, just call our local office on 01395 349198.

Of course we can also help commercial enterprises, like hotels, guest houses and B and B's look for passenger or wheelchair lifts which are DDA compliant for their premises.

After this short but important interruption of the tour let's get back to Falmouth whose name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Abefal meaning 'mouth of the River Fal'.  Tudor King Henry VIII built Pendennis Castle(pictured top) and St Mawes Castle (pictured here) to defend Carrick Road from invasions by the French and Spanish.

A few hundred years later HMS Beagle docked here after its five year round the world survey voyage with Charles Darwin on board and after which he wrote and published Origin of the Species.

Now Falmouth Harbour still has a commercial operation and is also home to the Falmouth Lifeboat Station and the National Cornish Maritime Museum which has a number of famous boats on show.

Fictional life and characters of Falmouth

Falmouth seems to be a popular place for fiction and fictional characters.  Here are just a few you may know: Arthur Ransome's Walkers John, Susan, Titty and Roger from Swallows and Amazons lived in Falmouth where they learned to sail.

The Falmouth Falcons are one of 13 Quidditch teams in the fictional world of Harry Potter.

It was also the 'birthplace' of Wind in the Willows characters, Toad, Mole and Rat (Kenneth Grahame)

Real characters with Falmouth connections

The Fox family of Falmouth – an influential local family many of whom were Quakers set up the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in the 19^th Century.  They also had considerable business interests in the area in shipbroking, pilchard fishing, iron founding, metal mining, coal mining, the timber trade and Consul Ships.

Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Building

W J Burley the author of the Wycliffe books
was born here; Polish born author Joseph Conrad wrote a short story, Youth whilst staying in Falmouth; novelist Howard Spring lived here after the Second World War; script writer Miles Tredinnick spent time here; author and historian Craig Weatherhill grew up in Falmouth; Sam Toy also grew up here later becoming chair of Ford Motor Company UK in the 1980's; TV presenter Hugh Scully lives in the area; Paul Martin, Flog it! TV Presenter studied at Falmouth College.

Feeling a bit antique yourself?  Or just want to restore your mobility to its former glory, well look no further, Castle Comfort Stairlifts can help!

We can show you a full range of brand new stairlifts from all manufacturers as we are  national agents for all the main manufacturers.  Or we can offer reconditioned models and we can also take your old stairlift in part-exchange for a newer model.  If any of these options sound tempting, have a look at our site and speak to your local office.

If you need some assistance funding your stairlift then take a look at our comments on grants and how to go about getting one.  If you can't wait for the processing and need to purchase a stairlift more quickly then have look at the 0% finance option with payments from £25 per week.

Whichever way you go, Castle Comfort Stairlifts are here to help you.  We're even offering a £50 off voucher (above) which you can use towards payment.  Just think on a finance package, that's your first two payments taken care of!

Give us a call on 01395 349198 to discuss in more detail.

Stairlifts Plymouth - Devon Stairlifts for all Janners!

 

Click here to find new and reconditioned stairlifts around Plymouth
 




If you are looking for the
Castle Comfort Stairlifts legendary website

Castle Comfort Stairlifts offers top brand stairlifts, keen prices and fast installs for all those seeking stairlifts in Plymouth And all work comes with our no-quibble guarantees and famous customer service satisfaction.
Give us a call today on 01752 648138. If however, you are looking for fascinating facts about the area then feel free to read on.

Stairlifts Plymouth - Heading south west to Plymouth in Devon

Castle Comfort Stairlifts are heading to the West Country to Devon home of those famous cream teas – scones, jam and clotted cream so rich and thick you can bite into it.  Unusually Devon is bordered north and south by the sea; the Bristol Channel and the Celtic Sea to the north and the English Channel to the south.

As Devon has a large, transient tourist population you'll be interested to know that Castle Comfort Stairlifts are agents for personal stairlifts and passenger lifts including wheelchair platform lifts.  So we are the people to contact if you are looking to make your premises more accessible for visitors or if you need help to get from the bottom to the top of your stairs at home.

Listen to our founder Keith telling you all about Castle Comfort and the services we offer.  As we have a wealth of experience of assessing and supplying just what you need in terms of lifts, we are well placed to advise you , so please don't hesitate to call our local office on 01752 648138.

On to our first stop in Devon, Plymouth right down in the south west corner of the county which is incidentally the 4^th largest in the UK.  Plymouth which has a population of around a quarter of a million makes up almost a quarter of the whole county's population!

Plymouth has been a port for hundreds of years.  As far back as the Bronze and Iron Ages, Plymouth was a trading port; early on the site of the port was at nearby Plympton – latterly known as a trading port for locally mined tin - which is further up the River Plym but after silting up in the 11^th century, seamen and traders were forced towards the river mouth to an area now part of Plymouth called the Barbican in the old harbour.

By the 16^th Century Plymouth traded locally produced wool; Plymouth was the home port of two famous mariners: Sir John Hawkins who was one of the first to engage in trafficking slaves to the New World and Sir Francis Drake famously sailed from Plymouth to take on the Spanish Amada; later the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from here for the New World of the Americas.

Plymouth continued to take a small part in the Atlantic Slave Trade but by the 18^th Century was no longer an eminent trading port.   In fact by the 17^th Century its first naval dockyard – HMNB Devonport - opened on the banks of the other Plymouth converging river the Tamar.  From this time Plymouth's population began to grow – at the beginning of that time the population increased by 89% in 21 years to 3,000.

Plymouth played an important part in both WWI and WWII.  With the onslaught of WWI, troops from around the British Empire entered via the port of Plymouth; at this time Plymouth also developed as a production facility for the much needed munitions.

Devonport remained an important base for escort vessels and repairs as well as flying boats which operated from here.

By the time of the Second World War, Devonport played an even bigger part, first as headquarters for Western Approached Command, as operating base for the Sunderland Flying Boats and the embarkation port for D-Day US troops.

Plymouth suffered heavy bombing during this war, known as the Plymouth Blitz due to a series of 59 German raids.  The raids concentrated on the dockyards but the city didn't escape, a total of 3,700 houses were completely destroyed and life losses reached one thousand.

After the War, HMNB Devonport was active refitting aircraft carriers such as the Ark Royal.  It is now home to the 42 Commando of the Royal Marines.

Happy to be in Devon

Devon is a popular retirement destination in the UK.  A survey carried out a couple of years ago for Saga found that 1 in 10 of those asked (a sample of 14,000) would like to retire to Devon.  If you're one of the lucky 20% of retired people in Devon keep Castle Comfort Stairlifts in mind if you are in need of mobility aid in your own home.  Call our local office for information on 01752 648138.

Famous 'Janners'

'Janners' means people from Devon or more specifically in naval terms anyone from Plymouth!  So here are a few famous Janners: seaman Sir Francis Drake was second in command of the naval fleet that went after the Spanish Amada; the King of Spain offered a reward of 20,000 Ducats for his capture – that's about £4 million modern money!  Drake carried out the second circumnavigation of the world and was knighted by Elizabeth 1.

Another seaman, Sir John Hawkins was a ship builder and a naval administrator.  He designed some of the faster ships which withstood the Spanish Amada.  He was thought to be one of the first English men to be involved in the Slave Trade from which he made a considerable amount of money!

Robert Falcon Scott was a naval officer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic in the late 19^th / early 20^th century.  His team was beaten to the South Pole on his second expedition; they all perished there.

 Four artists from Plymouth made names for themselves: 18^th Century portrait painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, comical caricature painter Beryl Cook, Robert Lenkiewicz who painted marginalised communities i.e. vagrants, the mentally handicapped and George Passmore one half of Gilbert & George known for their colourful, graphic style photos.

Painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds

 

Painting by Gilbert and George

 Painting by Robert Lenkiewicz

 Painting by Beryl Cook

Comedienne Dawn French one half of French and Saunders grew up in Plymouth.

Journalist and TV presenter Angela Rippon was born here. 

Dancer Wayne Sleep was born here.

Olympic Diver Tom Daley is from here too.

 We hope you've enjoyed this short tour of Plymouth harbour and docks.  Of course there is much more to Plymouth but this is all we have time for today.

Just remember Castle Comfort Stairlifts are here to help you.  If you think a stairlift would help you get around your house and improve your wellbeing generally, then please get in contact on 01752 648138.

We also offer a part-exchange service if you want to trade in your old lift and remember that there may be grants available from your local authority to assist your payment for a stairlift.  Castle Comfort Stairlifts can also offer you a 0% purchase option if you need your stairlift now.  You can use the £50 voucher above for this deal which could wipe out your first two payments.

Shock for Durham Stairlifts Users

Click here to find new and reconditioned stairlifts in Durham
  If you are looking for the Castle Comfort Stairlifts legendary website 

 
Castle Comfort Stairlifts offers top brand stairlifts, keen prices and fast installs for all those seeking stairlifts in Durham. And all work comes with our no-quibble guarantees and famous customer service satisfaction. Give us a call today on 0191 644 0366 for Stairlifts throughout the North East.

Shock for Durham stairlifts users

Another local authority is being forced to consider asking 1,700 people with stairlifts fitted via their funding system to pay ten pounds per week for maintenance. Durham County Council blames government spending cuts for needing to slash over 123m pounds from its spending over the next four years. Most chairlift installations currently have a warranty of between one and five years depending on what was negotiated with the supplier, and Durham council is looking at passing ownership of the stairlift to the user when the warranties, which include 24 hour emergency call out cover, run out.

 

Alan Hardwick, of Stockton on Tees, who suffers from spinal problems, has had a council stairlift for the past 15 years. The 69-year-old is angry at what he feels is another erosion of his income.

He said: "The council has sent out a letter saying it is reviewing the funding and the maintenance for stairlifts. "The council says we will have to pay for the stairlifts and I'm not happy about that at all. "If this is approved it will mean the council is chipping away at my pension, but it says it's a question of funding. "I can't see how they are going to save that much from this as they only come out for 20 minutes each year to check them if nothing goes wrong with them."

Keith Simpson, Managing Director of mobility products group Castle Comfort who install many stairlifts in the North East for private, self-funding customers who need a chairlift fitting quickly,  said, “Mr Hardwick is correct. "Many local authorities allow grossly expensive ongoing maintenance contracts to be imposed by the supplier for modern products that require little more than cleaning on an annual basis. “If the user of a stairlift more than five years´old is faced with spending five hundred pounds per year, it may prove more sensible and economical, as absurd as it sounds, to have it removed and buy a new one.”

Stairlifts Chelmsford - Essex Stairlifts

 

Click here to find new and reconditioned stairlifts around Chelmsford
 

If you are looking for the Castle Comfort Stairlifts legendary website

Castle Comfort Stairlifts offers top brand stairlifts, keen prices and fast installs for all those seeking stairlifts in Essex And all work comes with our no-quibble guarantees and famous customer service satisfaction. Give us a call today on 01376 396015. If however, you are looking for fascinating facts about the area then feel free to read on.

Stairlifts Chelmsford - All about Chelmsford in Essex

Do we have any Chelmsfordians in the house? Are you an Essex county resident and are you searching for a chairlift? If you are, then  Castle Comfort Stairlifts are the people to call! Our professional team has a wealth of knowledge about stairlifts from the make, the type to their suitability. We are the UK agents for all manufacturers so are in a perfect position to offer advice.

Take a look at our founder Keith’s video and then give Castle Comfort Stairlift’s office a call on 01376 396015 for more information.

Now pull up a seat and see what Chelmsford has to offer. First of all welcome to this County Town of Essex where its residents are known as Chelmsfordians!

Chelmsford is firmly in what is known as the London Commuter Belt, essentially any easily commutable areas surrounding London; as Chelmsford is a mere 32 miles from Charing Cross it is little wonder that it falls into this category or that many residents  commute into the city for work.

Colchester is another Essex town that is also 32 miles from Chelmsford in a north-easterly direction and just 17 miles south we find Southend-on-Sea. You could say that Chelmsford is right in the heart of Essex!

Chelmsford Shire Hall

A little bit of history 

There is evidence that Chelmsford has been here since the Neolithic and late Bronze Age eras; it was certainly a part of Roman Britain as was much of Essex as it was virtually the first county that foreign invaders came across.

Interesting archaeological sites have been discovered below parts of Chelmsford.  For instance there are the remains of a Roman mansion beneath the suburb of Moulsham; this is a combination of a post office, civic centre and a hotel.  And beneath the Odeon roundabout , there are the ruins of an octagonal temple.
Broomfield to the north of Chelmsford hides another gem - an Anglo-Saxon burial ground discovered in the 19th century and with all 'finds' now housed in the British Museum; many victims of the 'Witchfinder General' aka Matthew Hopkins spent their last days in Chelmsford before their fate of trial and hanging.

Royal connections

The Palace of Beaulieu                                                                                    Henry VIII

Richard II came to Chelmsford after quelling the Peasants Revolt; and another King - Henry VIII bought the Boleyn Estate and built Beaulieu Palace there – which is now New Hall School.  Beaulieu Palace was the home of his second wife Ann Boleyn and later of his daughter Mary 1, daughter of his first wife Katharine of Aragon.


Interestingly historian David Starkey recently reported that Henry VIII is probably the inventor of the stairlift.  As we all know this famous royal became very obese – not surprising if you consider the thirty course meals he indulged in.  His 52 inch waist probably had something to do with immobility.  His servants created a huge chair which they used to haul him around using a form of block and tackle.
The invention took several servants to move with the 30 stone Henry enthroned on it. If you want to see a modern stairlift for an obese person and rated up to 30 stone take a look at the video.  Fit for a king, or queen.

Thank goodness things have moved on!  Now all the stairlifts that Castle Comfort supplies are electrically motorised so that all you have to do is get on board to be transported up and down those stairs.  If you’d like to know more please take a look at our website and contact us.  The number of your local office is 01376 396015.

A Scottish King, Robert of Scotland aka Robert the Bruce is known to have had close ties with the nearby village of Writtle.

Famous sons and daughters
Chelmsford has a number of famous people with connections to the town.  This little list will barely capture the tip of their mountain:

Topically Harry Judd of pop band McFly hails from Chelmsford; he is currently a contestant in this season’s Strictly Come Dancing and doing very well!

Other musicians from the area include Sarah Cracknell the vocalist with St Etienne; another female vocalist Hazel Dean; Ceephax Acid Crew aka Andy Jenkinson and his brother Squarepusher aka Tom Jenkinson are
from Chelmsford as is  Guthrie Govan a notable jazz, rock and blues guitarist.

You can’t mention Chelmsford without remembering it is the birthplace of the somewhat quirky ceramicist Grayson Perry known for his cross dressing as much as his art.

Chelmsford seems to be rife with footballers too.  Professional footballers Liam Chilvers who’s played for Arsenal, Colchester United, Preston North End and Notts County, Greg Halford who plays for Portsmouth, Geoff Hurst of the 1966 England squad who also played for West Ham, Stoke City –and West Bromwich Albion  in his time; James Harper currently with Hull City; Peter Collins who played for Chelmsford City and Tottenham Hotspurs and Nigel Spink who played for England and started his football career with Chelmsford City.   



                                                                               Sarah Cracknell of St Etienne

Guthrie Govan

Grayson Perry

Liam Chilvers

Greg Halford

Geoff Hurst

James Harper 

Peter Collins 

We hope you’ve enjoyed your armchair round-up of all things Chelmsford! You don’t have to be a famous musician or as active as a footballer, if you need mobility help, Castle Comfort Stairlifts are the people to contact. Give us a call on 

01376 396015

Don’t forget you can use the £50 voucher too.