Carluke’s vital service for disabled faces closure

A VITAL service to disabled people in Carluke and other parts of Clydesdale could be forced to close its doors due to a lack of funding.
By Ross Thomson
Published 26th Nov 2014, 12:35 BST
Under threat...Volunteers Ray Green, Sandy McDonald and John Davis at Carluke's Disability Resource Centre. (Pic by Sarah Peters)Under threat...Volunteers Ray Green, Sandy McDonald and John Davis at Carluke's Disability Resource Centre. (Pic by Sarah Peters)
Under threat...Volunteers Ray Green, Sandy McDonald and John Davis at Carluke's Disability Resource Centre. (Pic by Sarah Peters)

The Disability Resource Centre Clydesdale, based in Hamilton Street, has been a fixture in the town for more than two decades and has helped hundreds of people thanks to its wide range of services including wheelchair loans and its volunteer driver service.

However, with ever-increasing running costs becoming a problem, volunteers fear that unless more help is given over the next few months the centre could be forced to close.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Ray Green has been a volunteer at the centre since it first opened its doors back in 1996. He explained the precarious position the centre finds itself in.

He said: “We receive core funding from the council and along with donations from local people and groups that’s the only money we have coming in.

“The running costs have been going up and up.

The building that we are in is still classed as a shop which means we are paying £4,000 per year in rent.

“In a couple of years time we will be celebrating our 20th anniversary and it would be a real shame if we had to close in the run-up to that. I think it would be a big blow to the people who use the centre.”

For more on this, pick up a copy of this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette.