Visit to the Chiltern Centre

On the 17^th October 2011 matron and I went to the Chiltern Centre for disabled children which is our chosen house charity. We went to see the unveiling of the new extension. This was done to provide additional space so that more children can be accommodated both, on a daily basis and for overnight care, this would cost the Centre £350,000 to construct. A number of people including Orchard House in Shiplake, have been actively fund-raising in support of this project. Two key people that were attending were Mr Darren Garner who is the CEO/Group Finance Director of The Social Enterprise Investment Fund which donated £269,000 towards the project. Philip Schofield, who is a major supporter of the charity, cut the ribbon declaring the building open. Mr Garner unveiled the plaque.

The Chiltern Centre is a charity funded by the South Oxfordshire District Council. However, the centre receives a constant flow of donations including Orchard House’s large contributions annually. The centre’s single largest donation, given by The Social Enterprise Investment Fund, came with a condition; it had to be spent within three months. The chairman of The Chiltern Centre described this donation in his speech as “winning the lottery” when the donation was made.

The main aim that the Centre was working towards was more space. This would greatly increase the number of children visiting daily and staying overnight. The extension has increased the space from managing six day-care children to eight. The building also increased the number of rooms. The new building increased the number of bedrooms from three to five (some of which bed two children). Many new offices and a state-of-the-art disabled bathroom which consist of the newest technology available.

We were very surprised to see how much technology was added to the Centre. They had flat-screen televisions, interactive white boards, projectors and a large outdoor play area. The outdoor play area consisted of a large climbing frame and a large trampoline.

Overall, the Chiltern Centre for Disabled Children’s new extension was down to the community giving donations to the fund and was helped by volunteering to aid the construction and interior decoration of the building. It was good to see that the money raised by Orchard House is going to such a worthy cause.      

By Harry Chapples, Yr 10