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A WOMAN who was one of the first residents on a new Islington estate in the 1960s has been shown around her brand-new council home as she prepares to move into a block just a few doors away.

Helen Edwards, who is in her late 70s, along with Susan Bennett, 58, Jennifer Histon, 64, and her sister Linda, 69 – who between them have spent 160 years living on the Bemerton estate – shared jokes with each other as they toured a flat in the new block in Lyon Street, off Caledonian Road.

They are among a group of senior residents on the estate who have been offered first dibs on the 20 flats in the new block.

For Ms Edwards, who has lived on the estate for 55 years, it is the second time she has moved into a brand-new home on the Bemerton. She recalled being one of the first residents to move to the estate when it was built in the early 1960s.

“We were living in an old tenement block in Bemerton Street,” she said. “The toilet was out in the back garden. I still have my old rent book – the rent was three pounds and 10 shillings. We lived there and watched the new estate being built.”

Ms Edwards is moving in with Leslie, her husband of 60 years, next week. “It’s lovely to be moving in here,” she added. “We all know each other. My kids will help me move in, they keep ringing me and asking me if I have the keys yet.”

Ms Bennett, who has lived on the estate for 28 years and has difficulty walking, was thrilled to be moving into her new ground-floor flat with son Teejay, 22.

“It’s going to improve my life a lot,” she said. “I’ll have a walk-in shower and we’ll be able to get around easier. I had been trying to get a new flat for ages.”

Built on the site of an old housing office, the new block contains 18 two-bedroom and two one-bedroom flats. The homes have been offered to residents from the Bemerton estate first through the council’s local lettings policy.

They have been allocated to families where the tenant is aged 55 or over. The majority are downsizing from larger council homes, which will be freed up for those on the waiting list.

All of the homes are let at social rent and can be adapted to support residents’ changing needs.

The block, built by developer Mulalley, was officially opened last Friday with a celebration for residents and councillors. Islington South MP Emily Thornberry also attended.

The Town Hall’s housing chief, Councillor James Murray, said: “People in Islington, and across London, desperately need more genuinely affordable housing. We’re helping to make that possible by building a new generation of council homes.”

Islington has a target of building 2,000 new affordable homes between 2015 and 2019, including 500 new council homes.