A home at last for Swings & Smiles

Swings & Smiles has been raising funds to build, equip and run a recreational facility for families with special needs children since 2007, and recently received the news that the Phoenix Resource Centre, Newtown Road, Newbury, would become its temporary home while the charity searched for land for a permanent facility.
The charity will occupy a number of rooms at the centre and will provide evening, weekend and holiday sessions designed to enable children with disabilities to play with siblings and other family members.
It will have access to existing facilities, including a sensory room, garden area and an optimusic suite with sound beam.
The centre will also act as the base for the Swings & Smiles sibling support service. The charity’s founder and chairwoman, Sian Cook, described the news as “momentous progress”.
“The Phoenix Resource Centre has excellent facilities and equipment but has spare capacity out of its normal hours of operation,” she said. “This will dovetail well with what we have in mind for Swings & Smiles and enable us to meet the urgent needs of many local families with disabled children whose recreational requirements are currently neglected.
“Some of our development funds will be allocated to the Phoenix operation and its management but we will not lose momentum for our longer-term plans.”
Mrs Cook said she expected to be at the Phoenix Centre for two years, during which time the team would continue with their quest to find a site on which to build a permanent centre, adding she was currently in talks with a number of site owners.
Last year, the charity’s application to build on land at Greenham Common was refused, and previously considered sites at Prior’s Court, Hermitage, Newbury College and Coley Farm, Newbury, also proved unsuccessful.
So far, the charity has raised more than £420,000, however Mrs Cook said the centre will cost at least £250,000 a year to run once built. “It’s phenomenal to raise that money through the recession but also what staggered me is that this is being raised against something that’s an idea,” said Mrs Cook. “We have been raising it for our vision, and people have been so generous.”
The news marks the latest milestone at the end of a busy year for Swings & Smiles, which last month teamed up with family run Newbury bakery Hetherton’s for the launch of Amy’s Loaf, with Amy’s Cupcake also due to be launched in early 2014, with a share of each sale going to the charity.
It has also been the benefactor of fundraising by a number of companies, including Hilton Hotels, the English Provender Company and the Carpenters Arms, Burghclere.