15/12/10…..Thame Day Centre ‘must stand on its own two feet’
THIS was the message to the Thame and District Day Centre at its annual Christmas party held this afternoon at The Oxfordshire, near Thame.
After thanking the staff and the volunteers for all their work througout the year, Brenda Prosser, Chair of Centre’s Trustees, also thanked those who had made donations which pay for activities to make a visit to the centre a special day.
WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?
Turning to the sustainability of the Day Centre, which has seemed very precarious over the last few months, Brenda went on: “Things are changing,” she said: ?and we will now have to stand on our own two feet, and we will survive!
?Our contract and grant has been through Social Services who have been very supportive. But things are changing,? she said. ?This time last year we didn?t know whether we would still have our accommodation nor indeed whether the hospital would still be there. Now we have been assured that we are part of the plans for the hospital but we still do not know what is happening with Oxfordshire and funding. We won?t have the same level of grant, and so need to think about where we will get funding from. We are going to apply to the Lottery Fund but so are a lot of other charities who need money. No longer can we rely on the ?Lady Bountifuls? of the past but we do have to say to ?The Big Society? that we need some money!”
A STRESSFUL TIME AHEAD
?It is going to be a very stressful time, and Thame has always been generous,” she continued. “But we will only get through it if we have the support of the community. The Day Centre has been here for 25 years and I am sure it will endure.?
SERIOUS STUFF OVER, LET’S CELEBRATE!
The Christmas lunch and the speeches over, Day Centre members, staff, volunteers and guests were entertained by The Gang Busters, who stirred the singing and dancing spirit of young and old alike to join in enthusiastically to numbers from the fifties and sixties, including ?Rocking around the Christmas Tree,? ‘Apache,’ Beatles? songs and ?It?s a Wonderful World.?
?Daisy, Daisy? and war-time songs it seems, are not what gets this generation of Thame?s senior citizens animated. As was clear from an almost unanimous chorus of ?Oggie, Oggie, Oggie!? getting out of your home and socialising with others at great places like the Thame and District Day Centre, is what keeps our older folks from deteriorating and improves the quality of their lives beyond measurement by accountants.
On one front, the Day Centre has received good news. Its rent to the Buckinghamshire Hospitals Trust, will be just over
