Evening meeting with Speaker Jan Kerr from Homelands Trust

On Thursday 28th September President Lindsay Roy welcomed 15 Club Rotarians, and 3 guests, Andrew Roger, husband of Rotarian Wilna, Lesley Macdonald, Kay Johnson, wives of Rotarians Ewan and Brian to this evening meeting which was held at the Gilvenbank Hotel, Glenrothes. 

Will Wishart and Brian Johnson who said grace were on reception

SVP Anne Sampson advised that a visit to view the facility in Glenrothes and a cheque presentation will be made , being proceeds of our Desert Islands Discs evening to Pippa Johnson of Aberlour Trust on 4^thOctober at 4,30pm.

Iain Haywood mentioned that he was requiring additional people to support the bag packing at Morrison’s next Friday evening 6^thOctober 2017.

Brian Johnson also spoke about the forthcoming Past Presidents dinner and also Mock interviews in the schools.

Our speaker for the evening was Jan Kerr from the Homelands Trust which is an independent, Fife-based charity working to improve the quality of life of individuals affected by disability through the provision of luxury holiday accommodation. Jan is a trustee and secretary of the local Scottish charity. The Trust owns 4 luxury, accessible, self-catering holiday lodges and a drop-in centre in the seaside village of Lundin Links, Fife. Jan started teaching PE and then moved on to be a classroom teacher in a special school for children with profound learning disabilities for 15 years. She is also a primary carer for her best friend. She’s a power chair user who has MS. Jan’s father was an amputee and used a wheelchair for 4 years before he passed away. She was one of the founding members and Chair of Forth & Tay Disabled Ramblers, a scooter and powerchair rambling group, for several years and also been involved with a number of other disability-related charities over the years. 

Homelands Fife charity came about because of a very generous legacy. Local lady, Miss Isabel Paxton left her estate, including her house called Homelands, to charity. Her wish was that it be used to enable ‘people with MS, and other disabling and incurable conditions’ to have some respite from living daily with their condition. Sadly, the old house was unsuitable for conversion and was eventually knocked down a few years ago. The Paxton family had moved back to Scotland from Texas, where they had made their fortune as sheep farmers. Miss Paxton’s father, Robert, had a men’s hut built for the working men of the village. He was a church elder and heavily involved in village life. One of Isabel’s sisters had a nursery built in Methil, which still bears the Paxton name to this day. Another sister set up Aithernie Children’s Home in what is now the Old Manor Hotel. The family was well-known in the area for their philanthropy. 

All four lodges have level entry access and doors and corridors are wider to allow easy movement. Each of the lodges have ceiling hoists and a profiling bed in the designated accessible bedroom, and two of the lodges have alternative pressure, airflow mattresses for pressure relief. All four lodges have a wet room with a ceiling track hoist, two of the lodges have a Clos-o-Mat toilet and there are shower trolleys and shower chairs available on request. There are also mobile hoists, a standing hoist, mobility scooters, toilet raises and toilet commodes available if needed. For those with a hearing impairment, they have TV listening equipment, smoke and fire detection and visual doorbells. They provide any of this equipment free of charge to guests staying and are also fortunate to be able to offer some services on site as well. Grant funding has enabled them to provide free complementary therapies to disabled people and their carers. An NHS Fife grant has allowed them to provide 20 carers with a short break, either with or without the person they care for and have gifted several short breaks to the Fife ‘Respitality’ scheme, which gives carers registered with Fife Carers Centre a respite break. ‘Respitality’ can be a short break, a meal for two, a complementary therapy or a range of other forms of respite. As part of our corporate social responsibility and in line with our charitable aspect they have also given 5 free breaks to carers/ families in crisis. 

Firstly, they aimed to make Homelands luxury self-catering accommodation that made it a special experience – one to remember. Disabled people deserve to have the same opportunities and choices as able-bodied people about where they can go on holiday.

As a carer, Jan has found it difficult over the years to find suitable accommodation to meet the needs of her friend. Their choice is limited in comparison with the mainstream market

Our local MP, Steven Gethins, and MSP, Jenny Gilruth were delighted with the project when they visited recently and a glowing article later appeared in the local press. They also held a recent surgery for constituents in the Paxton Centre.

The Rotary vote of thanks was given by Wilna Roger.

This week’s meeting on Thursday 4th October 2017 will revert to a lunch time meeting to be held at the Gilvenbank Hotel. please meet 12.45pm for starting at 12.55pm on reception, will be Tracy Thomson and Peter May. Our speakers will be the daughters of Pharmacist and owner of Cadham Pharmacy Health Centre, Bernadette Brown talking about the Pharmacy and the newly installed medicines dispensing robot

If you were interested in supporting the community and international projects get in touch by Private message on The Rotary Club of Glenrothes Facebook page. You will be made most welcome