The Anonymous Widower

Live Longer in Bury St. Edmunds

Or in fact one particular area, Moreton Hall.  This is according to statistics from the Care Quality Commission, published in the Daily Mail. That’s twenty-six years more than in a deprived area of Middlesborough.

Now, I don’t live in Moreton Hall, but I do live in St. Edmundsbury, which is the local authority including the town.  Strangely Bury is not a city, despite having a cathedral, which was part of one of the largest abbeys in England.

So why is the health better round here?

The hospital in the town is not particularly eminent, but most people don’t have too many complaints about it.  My GP service is very good and I’ve not heard many complaints of others either.  I can remember years ago, that it was a common topic, when we lived in North London, but it’s seldom heard here.

But that is only about the service you get when things go wrong.

Bury is an affluent town and that obviously helps, but it is also a town which has had virtually full employment for many years.  I can remember an article in the 1980s, where it had the highest employment levels in the country, despite all the problems elsewhere.

It is also a town, where you tend to walk around the compact mediaeval centre, as parking is difficult.  But everything you need is there and it is a thriving centre, with lots of shops, a market and interestingly many new houses and flats crammed into every old yard and space.  I know of few towns of 50,000 people, which are so busy with such a good atmosphere. Perhaps it all helps.

You also tend not to see as many obese people in Bury, as you do in other places.  As obesity is linked so closely to cancer and heart disease, this must have an affect on life expectancy.

And then there is the weather.  We have one of the mildest, calmest and driest climates in the UK, in West Suffolk.  Rarely do we get snow and we get a lot of fine days in the winter, where in a nice walk or a bit of gardening, you can get your daily dose of sunlight and it’s life-enhancing vitamin D.  You don’t get too many cold, depressing days.

But Suffolk as well, is unique amongst English counties in that, it is the home of real ale, with two of the major brewers, Greene King and Adnams, within its borders.  Greene King is one of the largest employers in Bury. So whereas most of the UK has been seduced by gassy, over-advertised, chemical lagers, in Suffolk, the long drink of choice of many is a proper pint of real beer.  It used to taste good, when I could drink it!

So is this a factor?  Note sure.  But there is nothing better than winding down with a good pint and perhaps that is very good for you.

But why is Moreton Hall at the top of the list?

It is an unusual estate in that most of the two thousand or so houses there are quite large.  So there must be a high proportion of the affluent and we know that there is a relation between lack of wealth and lack of health. I would also suspect that if you surveyed Moreton Hall, you’d find very few smokers and heavy drinkers.  It’s just that sort of place.

But it also has a unique factor that may or may not affect health.

It lies to the east of the sugar beet factory and for a large part of the year, you know of the factory’s presence by its not-unpleasant smell.  So does it bathe the area with a health-giving elixir?

Probably not!

September 19, 2009 - Posted by AnonW | Health, News | Cathedral, St. Edmundsbury