Day care stays open six days a week

Former manager of a Thatcham day centre got a grant to keep services running for elderly

A DAY centre in Thatcham will continue to run six days a week after a former member of staff stepped in to keep it open.

The former manager of the Walnut Day Centre, Brownsfield Road, which recently had its services cut to three days a week, offered to run the centre for a further three days a week.

Last November, it was announced that five day centres for elderly and vulnerable people in the area would be affected by cost-cutting measures at West Berkshire Council.

Despite taking voluntary redundancy last month when the service was reduced, the former manager of Walnut, Gloria Bund, from Compton, reopened the centre on Monday, with the

help of a grant from the council, five full-time staff and some volunteers.

She said that when she learnt of the impending cuts, and that her role would be to manage two centres instead of one, she took redundancy, but wanted to find a way to stop users losing their

Monday-to-Saturday service because it was important to their well being.

“We have one lady and when we do her make up she thinks she's the Queen – her face lights up. These people would have been at home on their own.”

Mrs Bund, whose husband died in January, said: “I didn't feel I was strong enough to [run two centres], so I came up with this idea.

“I was almost talking myself into doing it by saying, ‘You've been doing this for 27 years'. But it has given me a focus since January.”

Mrs Bund, who managed Walnut for six years, offered to run the centre, under the new name, Carnation Day Centre, from Monday to Wednesday.

She applied for a grant from West Berkshire Council's Community Solution Fund and was awarded £12,000.

She said that she received full support from West Berkshire Council for taking on the project and added that the training she received was second to none.

“I know that the people I have got are fully-trained and that gives me the confidence to embark on something like this,” she added.

Mrs Bund said that the centre catered for all people, including those with conditions such as Alzheimer's, but that out of the 24 places available there were now only eight vacancies left.