CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. THEME FOUR PREMISES "Not only do community buildings have a role to play in strengthening local communities, but this role is becoming even more important because of the changes that are taking place in our society.... the vast array of activities taking place within them, the sheer volume of people making use of them, the amount of personal development which involvement in them enables and their amazing cost-effectiveness, all demand that the achievements and potential of community buildings are more widely recognised. Paul Marriott - Forgotten Resources - the role of community buildings in strengthening local communities Paul Marriott's conclusions in this study for Community Matters illuminate the significance of CARESCO in many ways. He defines "Community Buildings" as those which are :- - managed by a voluntary management committee - run for public benefit - host to a range of activities for a range of users. The changes in society he refers to, have not only seen the increase in the numbers of elderly people in the population, but have weakened the capacity of Community Schools, even in Cambridgeshire, to allow part of their premises to be made available to their surrounding communities. In addition, heightened "safety consciousness" has led to insistence on "professional" management of sports buildings like swimming pools, with the consequent decrease in opportunities for "personal development through involvement" which was experienced by voluntary committees which ran them in the past. Marriott distinguishes two different skills which are needed to achieve "cost effectiveness" in the use of a community building:- (a) caring for the fabric itself; and (b) "marketing" its resources through some form of imaginative "needs appraisal" which will encourage the local community to become involved in exploiting the resource. He suggests that the reason many community buildings are not used for the delivery of welfare services, is partly that agencies such as Social Services do not think of using them, but also because many of the committees who run these buildings "do not feel competent to take on the delivery of these welfare services, and do not believe they have the capacity to deliver them." Previous chapters have examined the way in which CARESCO's members have developed skills and confidence as they adapted the buildings they found around them for new ways of serving those in need. The following pages will show in more detail how CARESCO has led the way in using community buildings for welfare services, what problems have been faced, and how changing circumstances have led to a reassessment of CARESCO's relationship with the main agent for support in the use of those buildings - the Sawtry Community College. - 1 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. PREMISES AT THE VILLAGE COLLEGE Henry Morris had very clear beliefs on how his Village College premises should be used in Cambridgeshire, and would have agreed with Marriott that vision and imagination are necessary. "...the Voluntary Association will lay their requests (to use premises)before the Governing Body (of the Village College) on which the Voluntary Associations will be directly represented; such educational facilities as are available will be granted....The Village College will thus associate the Voluntary Associations of the countryside with the administration of Statutory services, so that these benefits may be fully appropriated by the community, and supply more effectively adjusted to demand. Where there is no public vision, the Statutory Authority perisheth; and this contact between the Statutory Authority with its many powers and the impulse and enthusiasm of Voluntary Associations will have many beneficent results. More important still, the village college will provide a theatre for the free and unfettered activities of the Voluntary Associations. The village college will be the surest guarantee of their welfare and vigour. At the same time, without doing violence to freedom, some unity in the life of the rural community will be attained." Morris - "The Village College - being a Memorandum on the Provision of Educational and Social Facilities for the Countryside, with Special Reference to Cambridgeshire." As put to the County Council in 1924. Many voluntary groups search desperately for premises which they can afford. The groups which CARESCO took over had their own bases already, the Day Centre at the Village College and the Lunch Club at the Agricultural Centre, and these bases shaped the development not only of the Day Centre and the Lunch Club, but of other projects which grew round these. The volunteers who ran CARESCO were given confidence to devise imaginative means to meet other needs on the same premises. The Adult Common Room at Sawtry Village College was in an ideal position for a Day Centre which aimed to bring housebound people into the heart of a busy community. From windows on two sides Day Centre members could see anyone who came into the school, and, of course, many Day Centre members had grandchildren attending the school. A short trundle from the front door brought a wheel-chair through the main Assembly Hall. The Hall was sometimes used for visiting drama groups, and the Library, which served both school and community, was next door, so that any member who wished could call in to change a book, (many of them in large print.) Part of the room was equipped as a Bar for evening functions and served as a convenient tea-bar and servery. The panelling installed by the Young Farmers' Club took away any suggestion of education in the traditional sense. Comfortable high chairs with arms were provided by the Community Association. During term-time meals were fetched from the School Kitchen beside the Hall. Cupboards were found to house the craft materials, and the items which had been made for sale. The Disabled Persons' Toilet. The story of how this came to be provided in the school building (even before CARESCO took over the Day Centre,) provides an example of some of - 2 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. the difficulties which beset co-operative schemes. In this case a Community School wished to make facilities available to adult residents in its catchment area and members of the community were willing to contribute to make this possible. Because of the bureaucratic requirements of statutory authorities, however, the obvious solution was blocked, and everyone lost out. The need arose as a result of a highly successful Day Centre set up by the Social Services Department for home-bound part-disabled people who lived in the area. They used the College's Adult Common Room every Wednesday... One facility lacking was a disabled persons' toilet. It was suggested that this be provided in a phase of school expansion about to take place. Such expansions usually take account of the overall school needs and involve not only new wings, but modifications elsewhere to upgrade the facilities for the expanded school. A legal requirement of the expansion was a disabled persons' toilet and it was suggested that the best way to provide this would be by modifying the heart of the existing school building (near the Adult Common Room,) instead of providing it in the distant, isolated new classroom block. But since this was purely a "school" building programme and the request was for a "community" need, it was not possible to make this provision. The "school" disabled toilet had to go in the distant classroom block, even though that block itself was unlikely to be used by disabled persons! The matter was discussed at a meeting of the Community Association Executive. The estimated cost of the centrally-sited toilet was #220, and in order to provide it, the Community Association offered to pay this in full. A builder was found who was willing to do the job at this price. It was a specially low price because, knowing that funds were limited, he was willing to see this job in part as his way of contributing to local welfare. Meanwhile, the Social Services Department said that they might be able to come up with part or all of the cost, but would not be certain for some weeks. The Community Association, unwilling to spend their own money unnecessarily, waited for a reply. Meanwhile the County Architect's Department, at the request of the College, surveyed and approved the scheme - though, of course, they had no money for it. Financial stringencies meant that Social Services were considerably longer in coming up with any money; the project hung fire for almost a year before they finally said they could pay only part of the cost. As a 'county body' were now involved, the project was now an 'official' scheme, so the county authorities had to draw up new specifications and call for tenders. The lowest quote for the toilet was now #739. The Community Association agreed to contribute the #220 they had first offered; Social Services put in some more. The rest was raised from various other County departments. M. W. Dybeck - 'The Village College Way'. ....One example where community involvement was not allowed to be cost-effective! THE OLD HOMECRAFT CENTRE This was technically an "Adult Education" building, but the Village College Warden assumed responsibility for it and empowered CARESCO to manage it. It was a portable classroom - not as homely as the Adult Common Room, but it had very useful facilities. There were - 3 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. several workstations, sinks and stoves, so that all the members of the Do-it-yourself Lunch Club could contribute to the preparation of the meal which they had planned the previous week. (see p ) (We used to say that you had to be a former Headmaster to be allowed to lay the tables! This task was assigned to Mr. Hall and Mr. Yarrow, who had run the schools at Sawtry and Stilton, respectively.) The other half of the building was used by a Manpower Services Commission Print Workshop, sponsored by Sawtry Village College and the Cambridgeshire Rural Community Council to teach unemployed young people Office Skills and some Design and Printing Techniques. Some problems emerged when "they" misused "our" sinks and "borrowed" our heaters, but there were compensations when some of the young men and women came to help prepare the meals and get to know the club members. Before CARESCO started, a Tuesday morning Drop-In - called Sawtry Link- had been run at the Homecraft Centre with the help of a group of volunteers. This continued under CARESCO, but there was always a feeling that it was intended for "people with problems" and not many would admit to qualifying! Much more successful was the Nearly New Clothing Shop (on Wednesday morning and Tuesday evening,) although its intrepid organisers had to struggle hard to establish it. The idea had been around for a long time, but had foundered for lack of storage space. They scrounged portable clothes rails from a shop in the village, and first had to take them home between sessions! Later they dragged the rails down the steps and across the yard, (rain or shine,) into another portable classroom, where the clothes could be locked up until they were dragged back for the next week's session. Hours had to be spent sorting and pricing the garments which were brought in, and an elaborate system of book-keeping and tags was devised by a wizard at accounts from the nearby American Air Force base, to keep track of who owed what and to whom. A proportion of the price paid went to CARESCO's funds. All the workers in Nearly New are volunteers, many of them quite new to voluntary work. Several of CARESCO's most active workers heard of us first when they shopped at the Nearly New. On several occasions there have been splendid Fashion Shows, at the College or in the Old School Hall. At one time coffee and a creche were offered, which enabled some mothers to volunteer to help, and others to chat, without worrying about their little ones before they had to go home to chores in an empty house! People seem to like DOING something rather than just chatting, and the changing stock on the Nearly New rails now draws in many regulars who look, and talk, and go away without feeling pressured to buy. When the Print Shop was taken over (see below,) the storage problem was eased. All the rails fitted into the former Office, to be brought out for display on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. A long mirror then turned the store into a useful changing room. - 4 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. THE COMMUNITY PRINT SHOP. In 1986 CARESCO had the opportunity of taking over the whole of the Old Homecraft Centre, developing an entirely new project and gaining an office base. The following account is taken from that year's Annual Report. "Development of the Print Shop came about as a result of the closure of the Manpower Services Print Workshop which had run successfully in the "other half" of the Old Homecraft Centre for the past three years. CARESCO had a good relationship with the Printshop as both organisations were closely linked to the Sawtry Village College Community Association and the Cambridgeshire Community Council. We all found the end products of the Printshop - low-cost community printing - most useful, enabling us to communicate with others more effectively. Our Annual Report is just one example of their work. So, in December 1985, CARESCO took the bold step of offering to take over the printshop premises and resources. They were encouraged in this by the fact that the MSC Printshop staff had very generously offered to give their services to get us started. Cambridgeshire Community Council also helped us on our way with some equipment and advice on grants. Our aims in continuing the Printshop were three-fold:- 1. To continue to provide a community printing service. 2. To provide an useful creative activity for unemployed people in the area. 3. To secure the base out of which many of the CARESCO activities could operate. So in January 1986 without any break in operation, we reopened as CARESCO Printshop. The first task was to adapt the place for its new role. Although we planned to continue to do the same volume of printing, we reckoned that with fewer trainees we could condense the actual printing area, and thus free space for general use such as stapling, collating and preparation of artwork.It also left room for an information bay and a pleasant carpeted tea room and meeting place, to serve all CARESCO activities in the building. An MSC Community Programme group (COMPASS) from Huntingdon, (headed incidentally by a former pupil of Sawtry Village College, who had worked with Voluntary Service Overseas building schools in the Sudan,) carried out the conversion job at minimum cost and did an excellent job. John Wilson, former head of the MSC Printshop, agreed to come in at least once a week, (usually on Saturdays,) to see through the printing work and to train up volunteers. His former assistant also stayed with us, coming in several days a week until March, when she left to start up her own shop in Devon. Regular staff and voluntary helpers run the Office, which is not only the "shopfront " for the printshop but a focus for many CARESCO activities. One helper is confined to a wheelchair, but is able to assist such jobs as the collation and stapling of magazines. It provides a most valuable purposeful activitiy for her and goes some way towards compensating for the difficulty of transporting her to a proper disabled persons' workshop, the nearest of which is ten miles away. To help her (and others similarly placed,) we plan to put a ramp to the rear entrance, though this project has taken many months to get through Shire Hall. - 5 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. As for the work itself, the Printshop is now the regular producer of village magazines for quite a few villages in Cambridgeshire. We print small posters, notices of meetings, community membership lists.... and Annual Reports. The local staff are steadily developing their technical skills and it is clear that we are providing a useful service." CARESCO Annual Report 1985/6 The hopes with which the Printshop started have been more than fulfilled over the years. John Wilson and Ruth Harding provided the backbone of the project, as Printer and Assistant, until 1992. They both worked long hours humouring a succession of machines, in all weathers. (Paper dislikes extremes of both wet and heat!) Under a succession of Managers the number of volunteers (aged 8 to 85) has mounted steadily from 16 in 1987 to 30 in 1997. An electric stapler speeded the work, and in 1991 we were able to purchase the Village College's Risograph Fast Copier which was being replaced. By 1997 two retired men, Arthur Golder and Herbert Moss, were working as Printers and had substantially re-designed the Dark Room. It was with mixed feelings that we invested in a new laser copier, whose advanced technology made these two volunteers "redundant." The following summary of the Printshop's work was written in 1997:- THERAPY PRINT SHOP The Print Shop was set up to provide low-cost printing for community groups who were unable to afford commercial rates. A group of volunteer workers collates village newsletters, which provides them with a useful volunteering opportunity. Younger unemployed people are able to increase their confidence before applying for jobs and returning to work. People who have been bereaved or are unable to work because of home ties are able to get out on a casual basis and fulfil a useful role for their community. The Print Shop has the flexibility to provide young disabled people with a chance to take part in an active work environment; they are both encouraged and spoilt by our retired folk! The Print Shop prints booklets and newsletters for 24 community organisations:- USERS:- Monthly All Saints Church; SCAN (Stilton); Brockley Central School; Spectrum. Bi- monthly:- Sawtry Eye. Quarterly:- Hunts Coalition for Disabled People; Folklore (Folksworth.) Half-yearly:- Albram Patients' Participation Group; Buckd4en Patients' Participation Group; Civil Service Retirement Fellowship. Yearly:- CARESCO Annual Report; W.I. Glatton; W.I. Alconbury; Sawtry & Stilton Players; Peterborough Riding Club; Sawtry Parish Council Annual Report; Sawtry Sports & Leisure Association; Sawtry Colts Junior Football Teams; Buckden Over 60s; Royal British Legion; Great Stukeley Flower Show; Sawtry Bowling Club; Sawtry Wine Makers; Boots & Buckles Folk Group. Casual:- Playscheme; Playgroups; Teddy Bear Club; Toddlers. PRINTSHOP HELPERS:- 15 widows, 1 widower, 8 retired, 1 carer, 1 ex-carer, 4 women with school-age children (including single parents,) 1 other helper slightly disabled, 1 young unemployed age 20, 1 young disabled age 22; during school holidays school children also help. CARESCO Business Plan, 1997 A recent large job has been the editing (by CARESCO staff) and production of the "Sawtry Eye", - a 24 page A4 magazine which is distributed to every house in the village, (over 2,000 copies.) "Sawtry Eye" was started by the Parish Clerk. When CARESCO took over, their - 6 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. task was eased by the Desktop publishing skills of a volunteer. Encouraged by this volunteer, the Printshop has recently produced and marketed a short History of the village of Sawtry, to encourage pride in the community, and perhaps raise a little money! CARESCO's third AIM in taking over the running of the Print Shop was to secure its own Office base. Print Shop workers would be there every morning, so messages could be left for the Day Centre, Lunch Club and the Car Share service. There was a desk for the voluntary Organiser, and filing cabinets for the growing paper-work as we applied for grants to help in our work. This helped focus CARESCO's increasingly varied functions, and gave the stability of a physical centre, where all the workers in the various projects were welcome to drop in. Information Centre. In time we began to use the walls for useful DHSS leaflets. The Parish Council gave us a grant to purchase a double folder of information from the Citizens' Advice Bureau; regular updates to this were carefully added by one of our volunteers, and another, who was a qualified Librarian at the nearby American Air base, came on her days off to supervise the leaflets and a collection of books on Care in the Community and volunteering. The Welcome Information Pack was also distributed from the Office. There seems to be a rapid turnover of population in Sawtry, and newcomers are surprised and delighted to be made welcome in a practical way by this and the Nearly New. "For some years there has been in Sawtry a team of 'good neighbours' who call on anyone moving into a house near them, bringing a package of useful information based on the Parish Council Directory, and offering to help the newcomers settle in. Now that CARESCO has its own office, the packs are made up and stored there." CARESCO Annual Report - 1985/6 NON-EDUCATIONAL PREMISES. When CARESCO sought premises for Day Centres in the villages of Alconbury and Stilton, the primary schools, although willing to help, had neither space nor staff to encourage community use. The buildings we found there fit clearly Paul Marriott's definition of "community", each managed by a voluntary Committee:- ALCONBURY SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB is a modern, well-equipped sports pavilion, situated between the villages of Alconbury and Alconbury Weston, and quite near the airfield which was for many years the base of the United States Air Force and its "spy planes". The Pavilion has a lovely view across the fields with the village church in the - 7 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. background - the sort of scene many people would imagine as typical of rural England. The Sports Club had provided plenty of parking and their Club Committee welcomed the prospect of a regular income from weekly bookings. The Day Centre are now valued partners. They use two large rooms which are most suitable:- one acts as a sitting room, where the members are also able to take part in gentle exercise; the other room is used as a Dining Room and is useful for dominoes and cards. Initially the Kitchen presented problems. The Day Centre were the only group to use the Kitchen facilities regularly, so when they asked for improvements, the Sports Club were unwilling to divert Sports Club funds which they needed for other projects. Realising the potential use for the whole community, the Day Centre Committee decided that they must raise funds themselves. CARESCO helped them in this, and they bought a redundant kitchen range from the local school, got a local builder to fit new cupboards and flooring, and so persuaded the Sports Club to update the boiler room. Careful negotiation has resulted in everyone being a winner! The STILTON MEMORIAL HALL, being older, presented more intractable problems. There was little room for expansion to meet new fire regulations, and the considerable work needed to provide toilets for the less mobile would have disrupted the availablity for other users of the Hall, and taken up space needed for storage. The Management Committee did their best to encourage and support the Day Centre, providing cutlery and crockery, and coopting the Organiser onto the Committee. Difficulty of recruiting volunteer drivers, however, added to the difficulties and as numbers dropped, the Day Centre decided to move to the Church Rooms and finally had to close. (see p ) PROBLEMS:- Storage is always a problem in multi-use buildings, and Stilton Day Centre was not alone in competing for space to keep their equipment. Sawtry Day Centres had bulky craft materials, so the Warden gave them a sideboard for their exclusive use and they managed to stuff everything away between sessions. The Homecraft Centre presented a multiplicity of challenges! The Nearly New clothes rails found a home in the former Office at one end. Somewhere had to be found to store the equipment which CARESCO bought for the Special Play Scheme (see p ,) There was no space in the Homecraft Centre, so we begged a lockable cupboard in one of the adjoining temporary classrooms, - but the mice found the paper there! Paper for the Print Shop lived in the Homecraft Centre itself, but extremes of temperature in both summer and snowy winter constantly held up the printing. Blackout curtains helped a bit, but the flat roof did not. The Homecraft Centre was a County building so responsibility for it could be transferred from "Adult Education" to Sawtry Village College. We had invaluable help from the school Caretakers when anything went wrong with the boiler, or the roof let in the snow. We were - 8 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. also helped to make some important modifications to the building. With advice from the Social Services, we moved some partitions and enlarged the toilet so that wheelchairs could get into it. Finalizing the plans took over two years! There was an even longer wait for permission to put a ramp up to the entrance. (It is not easy to lift a wheelchair or a push-chair up three steps!) For some reason the application for planning permission had been sent up to the Department of Education in London! In 1988 when the ramp was eventually built, we threw a party. The Brownies entertained us, and the ribbon was ceremonially cut by a wheelchair user who regularly helped at the Print Shop. PREMISES in the FUTURE At the time of writing (1997) CARESCO is at a turning point with regard to premises. The Homecraft Centre - a portable classroom installed second-hand in 1969 - is in a very poor state of repair. The Agricultural Centre to which it was originally linked, was closed in the early 1990s and part of its land sold for housing. No clear plans have been made for the surrounding land, and dilapidation invites vandalism and break-ins. Meanwhile, the Community College, which is now Grant Maintained, is catering for rapidly growing pupil numbers. It needs the Adult Common Room, where the Wednesday and Thursday Clubs meet, and also the club for young disabled people, for extra classroom space. The Day Centres have been asked to find other accommodation and have had to move across the busy A1 trunk road to the Parish Council's Sports Pavilion, looking east over flat windy fields below sea level. It appears that provision for the welfare needs of the community, in 1997, now has to compete in the market-place with the needs of the school pupils. However, the tradition of CARESCO has been to turn crises like this to the benefit of the community. Dinners on Wednesdays and Thursdays must be brought over one mile "on wheels" from the kitchen at the Old Homecraft Centre, prepared by the cook who runs the Lunch Club there on Mondays and Tuesdays. The elderly members like the food, but miss the bustle of young people, and think apprehensively of the heating problems in winter. COMMUNITY SCHOOLS in the '90s Maurice Dybeck, first Warden of Sawtry Village College, outlines the background to these tensions:- THE SCHOOL'S PERSPECTIVE For a community to work within its local school is not always easy, and success will depend as much upon your school's attitudes as upon whether or not spare premises are available. - 9 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. In Sawtry, the situation favoured community involvement on both the above counts since (a) it was a Village College committed by its foundation to wider use, and (b) it had some additional rooms provided by the Local Authority for Adult, Youth and Community use. Specifically, these were an Adult Common Room, a Lecture Room and a Youth Centre. Full use of these facilities was made by the community, through youth activities, adult evening classes and up to 50 community groups, in the evenings and at weekends, but also in the daytime and in the school holidays. CARESCO's use of premises fell within this pattern in respect of the Wednesday/Thursday Clubs' use of the Adult Common Room, its use of the (community-built) swimming pool for Swimming Therapy, and the use of the Youth Centre for the Special Summer Playscheme. Additionally, the College Community Tutor and his staff supported many of the developments. For instance, the original MSC Printshop scheme (fore-runner of CARESCO Printshop) was started by the College Community Association and the Cambridgeshire Community Council. Against all this involvement it is worth looking at the point of view of the (Secondary) school itself since its agenda may, of necessity, not always be congruent with that of the community. The school within Sawtry Village College began life in 1963 as a two-form entry Secondary Modern School with 220 pupils. It was well provided-for and, within its terms of reference, it rapidly established a successful reputation in many aspects of the curriculum. Despite its rurality, being set in a farming area with 21 villages and hamlets scattered over some 90 square miles, there was rapid growth of Sawtry itself and Stilton and Alconbury through commuter housing and this led to a steady growth in the size of the school and an expansion of its educational facilities. The transition to Comprehensive education came relatively early, in 1970, but this was not without its problems. In the old county of Huntingdon, Sawtry was the only secondary school not based in or near a town. All but Sawtry were designated 11-18 Comprehensives, with the much-to-be-desired Sixth Form facility. Sawtry, because of its small size (though by then three-form entry,) was not allowed a Sixth Form and so pupils at 16 who wished to proceed to A level had to go elsewhere. With an openly-encouraged "parental choice" (with free transport) for Sawtry area children at age 11 to go to an 11-18 school (the old Grammar School) the effect was to deprive an already-small school of what might have been some of its brightest pupils. However, thanks to County support, standards were so high that Sawtry pupils, when completing their education in Sixth Forms elsewhere, did at least as well, and in many cases much better than those who had eschewed the 11-16 school at age 11. As a school, Sawtry's success has continued and in recent years it has moved to Grant- Maintained status and has now got its Sixth Form. Numbers are up to over 800 (five- - 10 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. form entry,) and it is an active participant in a whole range of government initiatives which benefit both the school and the adult learning community. But the pressures on any school to do well by its pupils are now greater than ever before. Financial stringencies mean that there is no longer, in any institution, the kind of slack that can be taken up by the local community. Even the village college foundation (now renamed Community College) does not protect it from the now over- riding demands of the education of school pupils. In a national climate where schools are so openly called to account, difficult decisions have to be taken by those in charge. Sadly, community use may come to be seen as "desirable but no longer affordable", rather than as a national extension of what education, in it widest sense, is all about. A CARE CENTRE ON THE SCHOOL COMPLEX Since 1996 the Community Education and Training has been managed by a company named Sawtry MultiTask. The Community College complex, (Centre of Lifetime Learning,) consists of an 11-18 Community Technology College, Adult Education, Youth Centre, Sports and Leisure Centre, Public Library, Day Nursery/Creche, Homecraft Centre ( CARESCO,) Duke of Edinburgh Award Open Unit and a Conference/Business Centre. Sawtry Community College Brochure - 1997 It remains to be seen what effect the new Government designation of some Local Authority- funded Schools as COMMUNITY SCHOOLS will have on the involvement of residents in the Sawtry Patch in the running of this complex. (Under the new designation, Sawtry, as a Grant Maintained School, could well lose its COMMUNITY label altogether.) The College Governors have always been supportive of CARESCO and have agreed to make land available on the campus for a purpose-built Care Centre, which would house all CARESCO's Sawtry-based projects. The management of this is envisaged as on the lines of the Day Nursery/Creche which leases a portable classroom in a corner of the campus. In 1996 an unsuccessful application was made by CARESCO to the National Lottery Charities Board for funds to erect a purpose-built building... "as a base for our varied activities...to cater for the needs of the frail elderly and disabled - disabled access and toilet facilites, loop system, care room, walk-in shower, meeting room for carers, volunteers' room, information area, storage, kitchen facilities for the disabled and self- help Lunch Club, office space. With such a building we would be able to serve our community well into the 21st century. A new building would be used daily - Monday and Tuesday for the Lunch Club, Wednesday and Thursday for the Day Centre, and each day for the Therapy Printshop, Drop-In Centre and Information Point. Once a week the Nearly New Thrift Shop would be able to provide a service - 11 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. for the Day Centre and Lunch Club clients, in addition to a service for the general public. The building would be a focal point for the Carers' activities....Our present good relations with our General Practitioners would continue to help us to identify hidden carers. .... In rural areas people tend to be very independent, which makes an open Care Centre a very valuable resource. We should like to be able to develop more facilities for younger disabled people and also be able to provide space for the physiotherapy group which used to meet in the Community College. In the past we have been asked by the Social Services to suggest venues for services to elderly mentally infirm people who live in our area, so that they may avoid travelling 12 miles to the next nearest centre." CARESCO Business Plan - 1996 CARESCO began because its founders planned imaginatively to make good a loss, and there are clear signs that crisis is once again galvanising the community of Sawtry and its neighbours to build up from the grass-roots a framework that will enrich their quality of life. Loss of the room at the Community College has led to partnership with the Sawtry Sports Association; a member of the Parish Council, (a former corporate banker,) has given valuable help in preparing a second application for Lottery Funds, based on a Business Plan which says:- In many ways it is the "core values" that have determined our course to date. These are adequately summarized within our Mission Statement which remains firm:- "Care and Support with Dignity in the Community." The erection of a new building will not in itself achieve anything - we do not seek a monument. It is the spirit of people, past, present and future who continue to drive forward the ideals that have been established and nurtured. We are not wholly philanthropic; we want people to contribute in any way possible, helping themselves wherever it is appropriate.The maintenance of pride, self-esteem and a place in the community are key in preserving the core values. CARESCO Business Plan- 1997. This second application stresses the importance of CARESCO's role in encouraging the formation of new community self-help groups and then supporting them once they are esatablished. Writing this case study, I have come to realise that what CARESCO has been doing for 15 years is now called "Capacity Building"! This is defined as:- Development work that strengthens the ability of community organisations and groups to build their structures, systems, people and skills so that they are better able to define and achieve their objectives and engage in consultation and planning, manage community projects and take part in partnerships and community enterprises. It includes aspects of training, organisational and personal development and resource-building, organised in a planned and self-conscious manner, reflecting the principles of empowerment and equality. Skinner - Building Community Strengths p2. Our work seems also closely in line with the aims of the international initiative which followed the Rio Summit Meeting in 1992. LOCAL AGENDA 21 is focussed on local level community action to:- - 12 - CARESCO History - Theme Four - Premises. - build on the good things your community is doing. - identify what is not being done and start to plug the gaps. - have a stronger voice in decisions affecting people in the local community. - pull things together to keep up the momentum. Both these Lottery Applications for grants to invest in new BUILDINGS demonstrate how far CARESCO takes for granted the '90s buzz word PARTNERSHIP. The next Theme demonstrates how many years we have been practising these partnerships with our statutory colleagues, and with what success. - 13 -