How you can help work start on home for heroes
A RALLYING cry for support has been issued ahead of work to start building a unique new care home for veterans. The Manchester Evening News campaign for Broughton House in Salford has sparked an overwhelming response from the public. Donations have flooded in and the total is now nearing £15,000 – almost halfway towards our second fundraising milestone of £30,000. Broughton House has looked after those who have risked their lives to keep us safe for 101 years. Plans were unveiled in November last year to transform Broughton House into a £14m care village for veterans of all conflicts, to tend to physical as well as mental wounds. The care village will include a registered nursing and dementia home with communal lounges, dining areas and a library. There will be 64 nursing home bedrooms and 34 independent living apartments. Crucially, a military support hub will offer key support for soldiers leaving service and their families, smoothing and supporting transitions from military to civilian life by tackling keys issues surrounding alcohol and drug misuse, mental health, homelessness, education and employment. Bosses at Broughton House, which first opened in 1916, have now revealed details of a final push for funding. Contractors are expected to start work as early as May 18 and an official tendering process is ongoing. The M.E.N.’s Million Pound Salute campaign – run through a JustGiving page – aims to raise as much money as possible to help the project and help the care home continue its vital work for generations to come. Ty Platten, Broughton House chief executive, said the care home has been taken aback with the level of support so far and issued a final push for £250,000 ahead of work starting in May. The house will be demolished and rebuilt on the same site in phases.
“We try to write back to everyone who has donated,” said Mr Platten. “You can tell by some of the letters coming in that our veterans are not being forgotten. We want to thank everyone for their efforts.
“We are trying to build the most iconic veterans centre in the country so we are here for the next 100 years. This is about a real and significant capital investment. “May is the day but we cannot do it without the continuing support from the public.
“We want to thank everyone who has donated so far. Your support means so much to us and to the veterans of Greater Manchester.” Broughton House meanwhile has been chosen by public-private partnership Urban Vision in Salford as its charity of the
year for 2018. Ty Platten