Model maker creates a home from home

Model maker Ron Peach has created a detailed reproduction of The Villa nursing home from bits of plastic and tubing.

It includes a number of fiddly items including an unusual meandering drainpipe that drops down the front of the building.

It took a month of painstaking crafting, working from more than 150 photos, before the model was finished.

Ron, 72, was offered the chance to build the replica of the nursing home in Madeley after a chance encounter with Colin Lye, the activity co-ordinator at the home.

Colin, 32, started the project to build the model railway at the nursing home to give the residents something to keep their brains active.

And he happened to spot Ron working on his models in a workshop in his garage while he walked past with his daughter on the way to school.

The pair got talking and Colin asked Ron for help to make the model railway layout extra special.

Ron said: "Colin came in and offered to buy my model of the Bird in Hand in Ironbridge.

"I didn't really want to let it go so he came up with the idea of making a model of The Villa.

"I went down there and took about 150 photos to work from.

"It took me about a month to make. I'm retired so whenever I have a bit of spare time I just go and do a couple of hours' work on the model.

"I do models and take them to exhibitions, and in the summer I usually work in my garage which faces on to the road so I get the odd person coming in and having a look."

The model, which is at a scale of 4mm to a foot, is made from plastic sheets and tubes.

Ron added: "The process of making the house is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle where you make your own pieces.

"I started off by making a box and then cut everything else to size and shape. Then you have to paint the colours on but you can buy special paint or plastic for things like the bricks."

The pillars and drainpipes at the front the house are made from shaped tubing.

Ron, who lives with his wife Maureen in Woodside, said: "The only things I haven't made on there are the figures and the vehicles."

Ron, a retired HGV driver, used to do woodwork as a hobby.

But after suffering from an aneurysm 12 years ago, which led to him having six heart attacks, he is no longer able to enjoy his skill.

While he was in hospital, a fellow patient invited him to come along to his model railway club.

Ron says that although he was not interested in building the railways, he decided to have a go at making the model buildings.

He found he had a talent for the craft, so a new hobby was born.

The real-life nursing home is 180 years old and has 36 bedrooms.

It was a doctor's surgery before the nursing home moved in 29 years ago.

Colin came up with the idea of the model railway as a way to keep the home's residents busy.

He said: "Many of them suffer from dementia and the model railway is a way to keep them occupied as well as being used to stimulate memories.

He said: "I thought it would be good idea to get them to build it and have something in the middle of the railway that they are familiar with. It was just a little project that I thought they could get involved in.

"I saw Ron working away in his garage as I was walking my daughter to school and went over to see if I could buy one of them to put in the middle.

"But in the end he said he could do a model of The Villa so we did that instead."

Ron said he was originally going to ask Colin for the cost of his materials to make the replica nursing home, but changed his mind after visiting The Villa.

He said: "I went up to the home with a couple of the buildings and when I saw the reaction from the residents I thought I would just donate it to them.

"They were really happy to see the model and it made me realise just how much pleasure it gave them."