Makeover for Coventry children's respite centre
A children’s respite centre in Coventry had their old dining room transformed into a bright and modern activity room thanks to the fantastic efforts of staff from Coventry Building Society.
The Birches, which is run by Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, was chosen by the Coventry’s Business Change team as their Community Partner. The respite centre provides short breaks to children with a learning disability and additional complex physical health needs.
The hardworking building society staff spent a full day painting the room in bright colours and fitting it out with furniture and equipment to provide the children with a welcoming and cheerful environment. The activity room can now be adapted for a range of activities suited to the specific needs of the children staying at the centre.
Nicola Cleaver, Home Manager of The Birches, said: “The dining room was chosen for the project as we now have very few children who eat orally; the room was dated and was not used that much. We are working to improve the experience of children when they attend respite and making over this space into more of an activity room has made it more useable and adaptable.
“We cannot thank the staff from Coventry Building Society enough for the amazing work they did in transforming the room. The children will gain so much from the new activities and interactions.”
Jenny Brown, one of the Business Change team members from the Coventry, said: “We chose The Birches as our Community Partner 18 months ago because they do fantastic work in our local community. We’d done lots of fundraising for the project beforehand – including a sponsored ‘Monopoly Walk’ around London.
“Everyone really enjoyed the project – it was lovely to spend a day helping a centre that does brilliant work for children. We hope that the transformation of the room will help to enhance the quality of care provided at The Birches. We’d like to thank anyone who helped us to fundraise or sponsored us – all of the money raised helped us to make this project a success.”