Can Thame run its threatened children’s centre and day centre locally?
IT has become clear that if Oxfordshire County Council agrees to a recommendation for massive budget cuts, Thame’s day centre facility for the elderly, as well as the Red Kite Children’s Centre, will be in grave danger of closure.
Sewing flowers at Thame & District Day Centre
Like the children’s centre (and others across the county), Thame and District Day Centre is mostly funded by Oxfordshire Social Services but in the proposed budget cuts of £70 million, support for day centres and most children’s centres will be slashed.
Efforts to find a way forward for Thame
It was reported at a meeting of Thame Town Council’s Community, Leisure and Recreation (CLR) Committee this week that the Management Committees of both endangered organisations, together with Sharing Life Trust and the Thame Alliance Group (group made up of service providers in the town to identify gaps in service provision and find solutions) are working together to formulate a plan to try and keep the Red Kite Centre and Thame and District Day Centre open. Much will depend, regarding the children’s centre, on whether OCC, which owns the building that houses it (the old Thame library building in Southern Road), will want to sell it off the building or allow Thame to keep it.
A voice against the cuts
Thame Town Cllr Mary Stiles, who is a Trustee of the The Red Kite Children’s Centre, and who made the case against cutting children’s centres to the county council’s Cabinet on January 27, (see LINK ) intends to speak against the proposed cuts at OCC’s full council meeting next Tuesday, February 16, and will be taking part in the march against the proposed cuts to services in Oxford, this weekend.
Serving ‘the frail and isolated’
Thame’s day centre relies on a grant from Oxfordshire Social Services to finance its core services, but also relies on charitable donations from the public for activities, entertainment, outings and a Christmas lunch for the elderly members who may be frail or otherwise isolated.
Leader says ‘sorry’
OCC’s Leader, Ian Hudspeth, has said that he is ‘desperately sorry’ about the cuts, but that they were needed because planned reductions in government funding were ‘much worse’ than had been feared, after the government announced in December an additional cut in its grant funding of a further £20 million, on top of the previously announced £50 million.
Oxfordshire County Council will decide whether to go with its Cabinet’s recommendation at its meeting next Tuesday, February, 16, at 10 am. (AGENDA DETAILS)
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I recall, as a former member of the management committee and volunteer driver, that the funding the Day Centre receives from the council is vital to it. But it could not have kept going for 20 years and more without the devoted input of volunteer helpers on meeting days, the volunteer drivers who collect members from their homes and take them home, and the generosity and support of individuals and many organisations in this very united and warm-hearted town. The devotion, support and efforts of all these people should receive true recognition from the council through a simple, firmly committed continuance of what I recall is a useful and not excessive grant, maybe not much different in a year from what a Premier League football star received for a day’s work. It is these supporters’ due and is owed to the people the Centre is there to serve.