We’re delighted our builders are now fit and healthy after their bout of COVID, and we’re starting to see the much loved Rock & Fountain be transformed into the ‘New Ark’.
It’s great to see the alterations to the upper floors nearly complete – very importantly, the new set of stairs and fire doors have now gone in!
The upper floors will primarily be for staff and volunteers. In the present location, our staff are tripping over each other in one tiny room, so it will be great for them to be able to spread out and have more space to do the necessary admin, and make phone calls, and for our manager Wendy to have her own room.
Our team of 40 plus volunteers are also looking forward to having a bit of space they can call their own too, and of course we’ll have more storage space.
We are very fortunate with the skill set and talents of our volunteers; one of our longest standing volunteers Adrian, is helping plan our perfect kitchen. Adrian is a hugely experienced commercial chef and for the last 10 years, has spent his days off cooking in our tiny kitchen. It’s so exciting to be able to give him, and all our volunteers the kitchen they need and deserve in order to cater for our clients.
The new therapy and medical clinic rooms on the ground floor are also taking shape. Dr Nicola Roberts was on site recently to ensure the medical room is set up correctly, and adheres to the latest OHS guidelines for clinical rooms; she also showed off some impressive drawing skills in her rendering of the plans!
These rooms are really important for our clients, as many desperately need support for their physical and mental health, and accessing these services through usual channels can be difficult and daunting for some. Read about how Dr Nicola supports our clients in her blog here.
We were also delighted when Shropshire Magazine called in - keep an eye out for the October edition for a peek at the renovations. The feature includes pictures of our current premises, so you’ll see why we’re really excited to be moving house.
In August, on average 19 people used our services each day, but things did get more busy than usual when 31 people accessed our services one day! Earlier this month, the team supported five people into temporary accommodation – a great result as we head into the winter months.
As ever there’s always going to be set-backs and nothing is simple, particularly when it comes to the electrics; anyone who has a knowledge of these things knows we need to be sure we can heat the showers and have enough power for the kitchen! This has thrown up some additional hurdles and associated costs, but we are grateful as always for the support from the community as we work
towards our fundraising goal.
Thank you to all the individuals and businesses who’ve supported us far; we’re thrilled to have raised over £5000 so far via our GoFundMe page, but we do have a bit to go and more work to do.
So please do share to share and support our work, via our gofundme page