Meeting votes for Charitable Trust

Last night's public meeting in the Methodist church hall to discuss the way forward for Day Care in the Audlem area saw a resounding endorsement for the establishment of a Community Trust to take over the service when Age Concern pulls out at the end of March 2011.

There has been concern about the future of the Day Care facility since Age Concern announced six months ago it was moving to a very different provision for elderly residents. Audlem Parish Council formed a committee of councillors and residents to examine the way forward which led to last night's public meeting.

The meeting, which was chaired by Mike Hill, was attended by Mike Crawshaw of Cheshire East borough council who currently fund Age Concern. He congratulated the Audlem team on their business plan and explained the issues revolving around an aging population and the current programme of spending cuts.

He endorsed the way Audlem have tackled the issue and said he looked forward to a constructive working relationship with a future Audlem Community Trust. He hoped there would be firm news before Christmas about budgets and recommended that charitable status and a limited liability status be established, with a constitution, and that he would provide help in achieving this.

The key issue was, said Mike Crawshaw, that this would be a service by the community for the community and would, he thought, provide a springboard for the provision of other related services.

Roger Millns, who has extensive experience in social care, was elected chair of the committee to take the proposed Trust forward. He said that the approach Audlem was taking would be helpful to both Cheshire East and Age Concern as the latter had announced the changes to Day Care provision without the proper consultation.

Questions came in from the audience on how the Trust would operate. These were answered fully and Mike Crawford added that the community must have the confidence to run its affairs, something he has seen achieved very well elsewhere.

The meeting concluded with a request that trustees and committee members volunteer from amongst the Day Care users, families of users, the volunteers who do so much to make the service work, the Parish Council, Medical Practice, churches and other interested parties.

The new committee would meet on Thursday 9th December to take the plans for a Charitable Trust forward.

More on developments on this important issue as news comes through.

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