A Hampshire retirement housebuilder celebrated its 21st birthday with all the fun of the fair.

More than 400 employees and their families gathered for the carnival-themed event held by Churchill Retirement Living’s owners Clinton and Spencer McCarthy at Spencer’s New Forest home.

Partygoers enjoyed fairground rides including dodgems, waltzers, a bouncy castle, Punch and Judy Show, a stiltwalking clown and facepainting.

The Vernon Sisters singers sang for the revellers who enjoyed the Pimms Tent, locally-brewed ale, hog roast, burgers, ice cream, candyfloss and birthday cake.

Churchill Retirement Living was founded by Clinton and Spencer McCarthy, originally as Emlor Homes, in a converted office above Clinton’s garage in New Milton.

In 2001 the brothers changed direction to focus exclusively on building retirement apartments, and Churchill is now the fastest growing firm in this sector, with turnover of £131million this year.

Churchill now employs close to 450 people, with plans to employ a further 120 over the next 12 months as it aims to double sales to over 1,000 retirement apartments by 2019, with turnover at £280million.

Spencer McCarthy, Churchill’s chairman, said: “At Churchill Retirement Living we really believe our people are crucial to our success. Twenty-one years of business is a milestone for us, and we wanted to celebrate with colleagues and say a huge thank you to the people who help make our business the success it is.

“As a company we’ve weathered tough times, survived the recession, and come out stronger and more successful than ever. We look forward to the next 21years of Churchill, as we work to achieve our mission to be the most successful housebuilder in the UK.”