Aged club to open early

Press, 1 March 1982, Page 13

Aged club to open early

The Fairhaven Residential Club for the aged will be formerly opened by the Gov-ernor-General (Sir David Beattie) on March 13, a month before work is finished. Administered by the Methodist Central Mission, the club represents a new approach to caring for the elderly designed to meet the need for independence within the benefits of a close community. The club, which is next door to the Fairhaven Community for the Ageing, in Harewood Rd, is part of an over-all project catering for

different levels of care, from independent flats, to accommodation within the home, to nursing care in the Fairhaven Geriatric Hospital. The community’s superintendent, the Rev. W. E. Falkingham, said that it represented a significant development in aged care and was one of the most important projects that the Central Methodist Mission had undertaken in the field. • The complex comprises 50 self-contained flatlets with access to a separate community hall for social activities. With 16 of the flatlets completed and the community building nearing completion, the complex will be finished in April. Mr Falkingham said that it might be to the mission’s advantage that the club

would not be completed by opening day. “It could help our appeal, he said. “It is harder to raise money on finished buildings.” The project, which cost $1,300,000. attracted a Goverment subsidy of $BOO,OOO and the church provided $200,000 from funds. The balance was to be raised through a public appeal. However the response to the appeal which was launched in the middle of last year, was sluggish. By the end of the year only $60,000 had been raised. The appeal organiser, Mr ’John Stewart, has stepped up the campaign to meet the target before the residents move in at the end of April. “If we don’t reach the target, the mission will have to find the balance from general funds at the expense of other work,” he said.