Whitchurch day centre boosted under new owners

Mandy Silvester and Maggie Allen have taken charge of the Bradbury Day Centre in Whitchurch – and have already doubled the amount of days it is open each week for elderly people.

The pair have agreed a new lease which will secure the centre's future for another 25 years.

It comes after Shropshire Council, which had previously run the centre in Claypit Centre, announced its intention to close the centre once its lease expired on November 14.

Services at the £1.5 million centre were scaled back four years ago and over the past two years officials at Shirehall had rejected speculation that the centre could close.

Ms Silvester said: "The council was going to let the centre close.

"We have been running it for the council since August so decided to take it over. It has been open since 1993 and is a great place for people to come for a break and get out of their house.

"We couldn't let it close and instead have put all our effort in to keeping the centre open. We have made some changes and kept five members of staff.

"It used to be open three days a week but now we can open for six days a week including a Sunday which is run by the senior citizens forum. We are only closed on a Saturday."

The Bradbury Day Centre offers a variety of facilities including laundry, bathing and hydrotherapy.

Ms Silvester said the venue was well used with about 25 people visiting it every day.

She said: "We can take up to 30 and provide a two course lunch and they can go home with sandwiches and cakes.

"We now rely on donations as we are a charity and do not have an income.

"We are going from strength to strength and so glad we could keep the centre running.

"If it closed it would have been detrimental for the users.

"We have people coming from all over north Shropshire and travelling as far as Nantwich.

"We have the lease for 25 years and hope to keep going a lot longer. The atmosphere is so much better now and it is a very happy place."