Time to dream another dream
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There’s no arguing that money talks. And when the money doing the talking has six fat zeros on the end... everybody sits up and listens.
So you can safely bet that at some point last year, when CLIC Sargent had Prestwick’s Malcolm Sargent House valued - their board of directors were all ears.
At the time, the cancer charity said they were facing a “challenging fundraising environment”.
But instead of facing the challenge head on... CLIC Sargent decided to head out.
And last week, we learned they may have pocketed around £ 1.5 million in the process.
They didn’t just sell a property, the sold out the dozens of full time carers and hundreds of part- time volunteers who made dreams come true for thousands of young people.
It has been a cruel and underhand betrayal.
And the fall- out is that the CLIC Sargent name will be tarnished – in South Ayrshire anyway – for at least a generation to come.
While CLIC Sargent hurriedly exit stage left in a public relations disaster - new owners McCarthy and Stone now enter stage right... trying to avoid one!
Their board of directors would also have been all ears – listening to advice on how to handle their purchase of the area’s most emotionally charged property.
To be fair, their spin doctors did not a bad job.
Acknowledging that MSH had a “special place in the hearts of local people”, McCarthy and Stone trotted out the usual sound bites like “first of its kind in Ayrshire”, “continue to provide care” and “benefit the community.”
They speak of “sensitivity” – but just how sensitive can a bulldozer be?
The bottom line is that the MSH site is a big chunk of seaside property and perfect for the “assisted retirement living” that McCarthy and Stone specialise in.
If they wanted real public relations, they could have bought a smaller house in Prestwick, adapted it to specialist needs and handed it to Ayrshire Holiday Dreams Foundation, the charity bravely trying to fill the CLIC Sargent gap.
But perhaps their budget – they made £ 88.4 million in profits in 2015 – didn’t quite stretch that far?
If Russ Stewart, McCarthy and Stone’s development director, is reading this – it’s still not too late to send a fat cheque to the Holiday Dreams Foundation.
And if he wants to check out Ayr Station Hotel for future development while he’s here – even better!
But as the dust settles on the sad passing of the old Malcolm Sargent House, it’s hopefully a timely wake- up call for many other Ayrshire based charities who own properties.
A quarter of a century of care for children battling cancer was wiped out in the shuffling of some finance committee papers at a meeting in London’s Fulham Road.
The Ayrshire branches of other national charities must ask themselves how “safe” they are... and how to make themselves even safer.
Last year, I prompted CLIC Sargent to come up with a figure that would secure MSH – and said Ayrshire would rise to the fundraising challenge.
The next day – I had a BUYMSH collection box in my pub... and it’s still there.
Matching McCarthy and Stone’s chequebook - in such a short time – may have been a bridge too far.
It’s time to let MSH go... and help build Ayrshire Holiday Dreams Foundation from the ashes.
Charities come and go and buildings rise and fall... but one constant remains.
Children are being diagnosed with cancer every day.
Let’s continue to help them and their families.
The 28 happy years of Malcolm Sargent House at least proved we’re quite good at it!