Centre’s refurb is forging ahead
Care home cruises the Med
NEW groups have started to use the restored Poynton Youth and Community Centre.
The public building is undergoing a restoration to bring it back to its former glory.
Last year a project was launched to save the centre which dates back to 1838 and is the town’s oldest public building.
Since then, volunteers have secured tens of thousands in funding to repair the halls on Park Lane inside and out.
Now in its second restoration phase, recent work has included repairs to the kitchen roof, refurbishment of the ‘north’ room and decoration of the main hall.
It has meant that the Mother and Baby group and a new branch of Slimming World, which meets every Tuesday, have been able to start using it.
Geoff King, chairman of the trustees, said: “We did RESIDENTS at a care home in Poynton explored the delights of the Mediterranean on a ‘virtual cruise’.
The ‘cruise’, organised by staff at Parklands which is run by CLS, transported residents to Greece, Spain and Italy with a week of special events.
They sampled history, food and culture of southern Europe.
Residents learnt more about each country through decorations at the home and a variety of themed activities. get a little behind in August with the planned work.
“This was mostly due to weather restricting working time on the three gable ends and roof section repairs.
“Our contractor is now working hard to make up some of the lost time.
“He has salvaged some of the old stone sills and these have been fitted over the last few days to take a new window in one of the rear gable ends.
“We are all anxious to re-use as much of the original materials in the building as possible.
“The kitchen roof has now been repaired, new timbers and insulation material fitted.
“Much extra work was needed on the valleys between the roofs which were the source of water ingress.
“Internally the North room has been refurbished. It is now fully insulated and has 13 new energy efficient LED
When the cruise ‘departed’ from each country, residents enjoyed ‘days at sea’, which included a number of cruise-themed games such as bingo and boules ‘on deck’, as well as singing and dancing to ‘on-board’ entertainment.
Meals at the home were also changed to represent each stop on the cruise, and included moussaka, Spanish chicken and spaghetti bolognese.
Catherine Brown, manager, said residents highlighted themed lights.
“Decoration of the main hall is complete and we expect to welcome back users.” cooking classes, including one where they made pizza, as one of their favourite activities of the week.
She said: “It’s important to offer a varied range of activities for our residents, and the virtual cruise was a great example of this.
“Our residents really enjoyed the opportunity to experience something new and everyone’s already looking forward to next year’s cruise.”
Parklands is based on Park Lane and caters for up to 40 residents in single rooms.