The months since our April Newsletter have been marked by considerable progress with the building programme and steady rather than great strides in fundraising towards our target of £6M. Looking at the building by Phases we can report as follows.
Phase 1. Motherwell. On 16 May Lord Selkirk of Douglas, the President of the Association, assisted by Mrs Mary Sweeney, Secretary of our North Lanarkshire District Committee, formally opened Hamilton Court, the four flats built at Motherwell to a very high standard by Ross & Laidlaw and Sons Ltd of Rutherglen as Phase 1 of the Appeal.
The successful completion of this phase was only made possible by the support of, and major donations from, Scottish War Blinded, The MacRobert Trust, Poppyscotland and the three Service Charities, Seafarers UK, The Army Benevolent Fund and The Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund as well as donations raised locally. All four flats are now occupied by seriously disabled Veterans, rather younger than our average age, who have already formed a very happy and cohesive unit.
Phase 2. Scone. On 5 May, as shown in the photograph below left, the ground was broken for the start of Phase 2 of the Appeal, the build of Poppy Court the ten new flats built on Association-owned land at New Scone just to the North East of Perth. The name Poppy Court has been agreed by Perth and Kinross Council to recognise the massive support to the Appeal, and to this phase in particular, from Poppyscotland. Other major donors to this phase, and to whom we are enormously grateful, are The Robertson Trust, The Gannochy Trust, The Percy Bilton Trust and an anonymous donation of £25,000. The flats are being built by A & J Stephen (Builders) Ltd of Perth as part of an affordable housing scheme. Progress, as shown in the photograph below right taken at the end of August, has been excellent in spite of some dreadful weather with the structural work now underway. The build remains on course for completion in April 2010.
Phase 3. Penicuik. Tender documents for the build of the four bungalows at Penicuik, two detached and a pair of semi-detached, went out to six contractors at the end of August for return by 23 September. After the bids have been reviewed, and the selected contractor appointed, the build programme should start in late October with a planned completion date of June 2010. In the meantime, with the help of a very much appreciated grant from the Charity ‘Help for Heroes’, we have fully refurbished one of our existing bungalows at Penicuik. This has been let to the Army at a Charity rental level to provide short-term accommodation for the families of those attending the first of the new Army Recovery Centres which opened in Edinburgh on 17 August. This puts us in the front-line of Charities directly supporting the casualties from current operations. The offer of use of two of the new bungalows to replace the refurbished one remains on the table for the Army if their experience over the next six months shows the need for them.
Phase 4. Airdrie. On 21 May a Tender Board met to open the tenders received for Phase 4a, the full refurbishment and alteration to wheelchair standard of two 1950s bungalows owned by the Association in Airdrie. The contract for the refurbishment was awarded to Ross & Laidlaw and Sons Ltd who had built the flats at Motherwell. Work started in July and progress, as shown in the external photograph below taken at the end of August, has again been very good with completion expected at the end of this month. Funding for the work has come from an additional grant from Scottish War Blinded, the local District Committee and a number of donors to the Appeal.
We are still in discussion with North Lanarkshire Council over planning permission for Phase 4b, the build of two new bungalows in the extensive gardens to the rear. The Council continue to indicate that they do not foresee any problems.
Phase 5. Highlands. Discussions continue with the Defence Estates organisation over the availability of a site for 3-5 houses on the south side of RAF Kinloss, near Forres, some 25 miles East of Inverness. We are beginning to put funding in place for this Phase as it becomes available.
Phases 6 – 9. Dundee, Stirling and Glasgow. Progress on the balance of the 38 planned houses has been on hold over the last few months, other than continuing to look out for potential sites. The first of these further houses, presently planned for the summer of 2010, is likely to be the adaptation for wheelchair use of four of our existing bungalows at Broughty Ferry, East of Dundee, within our ongoing major refurbishment programme on the 36 houses there.
The Appeal
As at 1 September 2009, we had received or been pledged a total of £2,679,550 or 44.7% towards the target of £6M we have set ourselves. To this must be added £115,000 of Association funds taking the grand total to £2,794,550 or 46.5%. There remain a number of very encouraging replies from Trusts across the Country which, providing their funding allows, should take us past the £3M mark by the end of this year. Our expenditure on the Appeal, paid from Association not Appeal funds, remains at only 0.3% of the money actually raised.
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