Fears over cuts at Arbroath Town Mission centre

ARBROATH Town Mission has warned that cuts in the grants they received from Angus Council will seriously curtail the services they offer for the elderly in the town.

At a packed public meeting on Wednesday evening, Mission members asked that the funding be reinstated and vowed to fight to restore the level of financial aid.

Angus Council has reduced its grant aid to the Mission by £61,000 as part of an overall trimming of budgets.

However, the leader of the administration on Angus Council, Councillor Bob Myles, and representatives of the social work department stressed to the meeting that core services, such as day care and lunch club meals, were not affected.

They explained that the reduction was being trimmed from the budget set aside for social elements such as outings and social clubs.

It was added that the Town Mission has enjoyed a unique arrangement with the council which had not been extended to other daycare facilities in the county. This meant that the Mission received council funding for social elements when other day care and elderly services did not.

They stated that with council budgets being cut they faced tough choices and to continue with additional funding would be unfair on other communities.

The general consensus at the meeting was that the work of the Mission could not be broken down into distinct areas. Cuts to the social element could have dire consequences for the future of services as a whole.

The Mission’s general manager, Wilma Swankie, accused councillors and council officers of approving budget cuts without knowing enough about the work of the centre and its volunteers.

She said that none of them ever visited the facility and stressed that what the Mission provided for elderly people, apart from day care, was an essential service.

The meeting was chaired by the Rev. David Searle who stated that volunteers already raised some £250,000 a year to supplement the Mission income, but they were stretched to the absolute limit.

He stated that the Mission’s work would be seriously curtailed by the cuts and could not continue as it does now.

The council was accused by members of the audience of undermining the Mission’s work.

Some warned that they would be left housebound and alone by cuts in the service. Others denounced what they called “demeaning” means testing of the Mission’s work and called for more respect for the elderly and the role the Mission plays in the community.

Mr Searle said that people were devastated by the cut of £61,000 and if he were to initiate a petition, he would have no difficulty in getting 8,000 to 10,000 signatures.

He said that Mission was aware of the problems faced by Angus Council and hoped that, in turn, they appreciated the problems face by Arbroath Town Mission.

He vowed that this was not the end of the matter, but just the beginning and said that the Mission would go forward fighting.