Lochgilphead’s Dochas Centre celebrates 21 years
Twenty-one years ago, on February 28, dinner ladies from Lochgilphead High School and their manager Margaret Purdie hosted a coffee morning in Lochgilphead Parish Church Hall to launch the Dochas Fund.
The event included the sale of cards reproduced from paintings by John R Paterson, who used his art to raise funds to support families living with Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) or Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and research into cures for these pernicious conditions.
Cards featuring work done mostly from the time after the conditions had taken hold of John were sold. Twenty five per cent of the money raised was used for support and help for families and 75 per cent for research.
The event was a huge success, raising £1,000 despite snow and freezing winds. Friends and family travelled from Glasgow and Aviemore to support the Paterson family. They, like John, wanted to help in the effort to zap GBS and MND and support those whose lives were changed by the conditions.
The fund plans to hold a number of events during this anniversary year. Kicking things off are staff from Lochgilphead Co-op who are aiming to take one million steps to raise money to furnish and equip a new Dochas Centre extension, which will be formally opened later this year.
One thing the fund has never lacked has been the support of communities in Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the islands. Each area has been wonderfully generous towards its work to support families living with long-term or terminal conditions or bereavement which includes listening and counselling services. Catherine Paterson, co-founder of the Dochas Fund with her husband John, said: ‘Every day, more and more people of all ages are becoming carers and there is a growing dependence on these family and friend carers by NHS, local authorities and governments in Westminster and Holyrood. The Scottish Government passed a law last April to provide unpaid carers with rights to receive support and information from various sources, with the most cost-effective being carers centres.
‘We were shocked to discover 51 per cent of carers in Argyll and Bute did not know about this law and continue to carry on without the range of support on offer.
‘Dochas will be working during the next 12 months to raise awareness for carers, statutory agency staff and communities across Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the islands about the rights carers are entitled to.
‘Thank you to the staff of our local Co-op and to the community for supporting the Dochas Fund in many ways.
‘You all help make your community a place where people can find information and support to keep caring for those they love.’