Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Care home closure threat
FAMILIES are in shock following news that the future of a 100-yearold Broughty Ferry care home is in doubt.
Ferry House Residential Home trustees called a meeting of residents’ relatives in October and told them the facility may close within the next two years.
The 16-bed home is run by a non-profit-making trust and has been a cornerstone of the Ferry community since it opened in 1921.
And one family member said the news came “completely out of the blue”, leaving everyone at the meeting “in shock”.
“We were told it is not now viable to keep the home open,” he said.
“We were never approached before the meeting to ask if anyone had any suggestions as to how to keep the home up and running.
“And we were never given the chance of trying to source an alternative or vote on any decision, which does not seem right.”
Dundee-based care company Hillcrest Futures is in talks with trustees about the possibility of taking over the building. If successful, it hopes to run it as accommodation for adults with additional needs.
The family member added: “When we asked what would be done with the proceeds of the sale of the home, we were informed that the home could not be sold as it was gifted to the trust.
“Therefore, the trust cannot sell it but can gift it to Hillcrest.”
Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership would work with the home to find alternative accommodation for the ladies who live there.
He added that the home would be “very sorely missed” by the Broughty Ferry community.
He said: “It has been part of Broughty Ferry for 100 years now.
“It is a very popular place. “Many, many people and children stop and wave to the ladies, often hand in sweets and treats.
“It will be very sorely missed not by just the residents but by so many others.
“The care provided by the staff is second to none, the whole place is like one big family.
“It is an old building but feels more like the residents’ own homes because of this.
“All of them are so happy and it is very, very sad that this is to end.”
Broughty Ferry Lib Dem councillor Craig Duncan agreed.
He said: “It’s sad news for the Ferry – the care home has been there for such a long time and I’ve never heard a bad word spoken about it.
“When you walk past it’s always nice to see the ladies sitting in the sun room.
“It’s such a pleasant place and it will be a shame to lose it.”
Ferry House held a party to celebrate its centenary in September.
It was originally opened in nearby King Street by local women to support the servants of well-to-do families.
At that time, it had just six residents and relied entirely on charitable donations.
It moved to its current location in Gray Street in 1938.
Ferry House was contacted but declined to comment on the issue.
If you or your relatives have been affected, please get in touch at emma.oneill@ dctmedia.co.uk
MPS and musicians have voiced their support for a new bill which aims to ensure artists are “fairly paid” for streams of their music.
PETER Buck, whose $1,000 (£750) investment in a family friend’s Connecticut sandwich shop in 1965 provided the genesis for what is now the world’s largest restaurant chain – Subway – has died. He was 90.
Buck, a nuclear physicist who was born in Portland, Maine, in 1930, died at a hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, on November 18, Subway said in a statement.