Bid to raise £20k for care home revamp

A care home in Crawley Down is almost half way towards raising £20,000 to turn an outhouse into a day centre for its residents.

Little Smugglers in Snow Hill is home to five people with learning disabilities and they have so far raised £8,500 towards the work to turn a disused classroom into an activities area.

Deputy manager and support worker Hayley Wilkins said: “It’s a building at the moment and that’s pretty much it.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The plan is to turn it into a fully functioning day centre with a full sensory room.

“There’ll be an arts and craft station and cinema room with a project and bean bags and a sensory room.

“It’s got to have a washroom, kitchen and be wheelchair accessible. The £20,000 is just to cover the building works.”

The area will give residents somewhere quiet to go away from the main house and Hayley hopes it may be somewhere community groups can also use.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She sad: “It will make a massive difference. I think it used to be accepted every residential home had a day centre. Not anymore.

“All our guys will benefit from it. Some of our residents may not be able to go to the cinema because they shout out, for example. They can come here.

“It means they will be able to mix with residents from other homes.

“And the sensory room itself - that’s a massive deal. There’s Outreach3Way in Crawley, but there’s not a lot around.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The home has been fundraising for about two and a half years running various events including a sky dive by Hayley and resident Graham Carter.

Last weekend they held a fancy dress Mad Hatter’s Tea Party which raised £186.

Hayley is now organising a learning disability club night with Crawley’s Moka nightclub and in August Little Smugglers is hosting a festival with a hippy theme.

Hayley said: “We are still waiting for the line up, but we are going to have wrist bands, lanyards and everything.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“There’s going to be a Volkswagen Beetle selfie station a coconut shy and more.”

To make a donation to their renovation work go to www.gofund.me/q5aa9dw

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

1) Make our website your homepage at www.crawleyobserver.co.uk

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/crawleyobserver

3) Follow us on Twitter @Crawley_Obby

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Crawley Observer - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.

Related topics: