Funding gives vital support to local day care centre
Three awards have been made by the RWE Rosehall Wind Farm Community Fund Panel to support an expansion project at a local day care centre in Bonar Bridge. This will positively impact the 56 registered service-users, the five staff, and the wider community for many years to come.
The Bradbury Centre is a day care centre for the elderly in Bonar Bridge which was built in 1998 after years of planning and fundraising by a local group that later became constituted as the Creich, Croick and Kincardine District Day Care Association. Over the years, the Centre has evolved to become a health and well-being hub which now is also open to those with special needs living within the catchment area of East Sutherland and Easter Ross.
An extension to the building in 2019 saw the Centre expand from being capped at 18 people per day to 28 per day, as well as creating a new dining area and consultation room, increasing the office space, improving the toilet facilities and making a more flexible space for activities such as chair-based exercises, bingo and handicrafts. The total project cost was almost £200,000. The Board had carefully considered all options with assistance from a local Architect and a Quantity Surveyor to ensure the best value, including a new build option. The expansion option was preferred as it offered the most value for money solution whilst improving a valuable existing community asset. The RWE Rosehall Wind Farm Fund contributed towards the expansion with an award of £10,000 along with a number of other funders. The project went according to plan, and the Centre has been finished and decorated to a high standard.
"The extension allows us to have the children down at the Centre where there is lots of room for them to join in with activities. We are very fortunate to have the RWE Community Fund where we can apply for funds to help us provide aspects our service. We first used the fund when we bought our bus, funding enabled us to employ a driver until the bus became sustainable. Over the years we have been helped on a variety of projects such as the new extension, allowing us to provide our service to more people in our community.”
Lorraine Askew, Centre Manager
During the building works, provision for the service-users was set up in nearby Invershin Hall, and a container was purchased to store equipment from within the Centre which could not easily be moved to the Hall. An award of £6,000 from the RWE Rosehall Wind Farm Community Fund enabled the daily hall hire fee to be paid, which would have been difficult for the group to self-fund at this time and enabled the purchase of a container. On completion, it was agreed to continue to use the container to continue to store the deep freeze and the bus seats. Both of these items had previously been held in an indoor storage space which could now house additional activity equipment, allowing staff to expand on activities available for service users. Additionally, there are plans to set up a Men’s Shed which would operate from the new container.
Before the expansion, the client numbers had been less, and the premises had been small enough that daily cleaning was undertaken by the Centre Manager, the Deputy Centre Manager and the two General Assistants. However, after the Centre re-opened, it quickly became apparent to the management that a dedicated cleaner was now essential for the Centre to continue to run smoothly. High standards of cleanliness and hygiene are essential in premises supporting elderly and often vulnerable people. The group applied again to the RWE Wind Farm Community Fund for a two-year award to fully fund a new job at a cost of £9,817.08. The post was openly advertised with a person joining the team in January 2020.
"The domestic has been a great asset to the Centre, staff no longer have to worry about finding time to clean. This year has not been as we expected due to the Covid19 pandemic, during this unprecedented time it was a great relief to have the domestic as our staff numbers dropped by two due to the pandemic, she was able to continue keeping the Centre very clean and safe for the other staff who were still working. We also used her in the kitchen when we were cooking up to 178 meals per week for those isolating, she was able to help the cook with as kitchen porter using any unused cleaning hours.”