A BRIGHTER future has dawned for the Stricklandgate House Trust, which runs a centre housing some of South Lakeland's most important charity organisations, reports Justin Hawkins.

Two large, anonymous donations have helped turn things around for the trust, which provides subsidised accommodation and facilities at Stricklandgate House in Kendal for around 20 bodies, including Age Concern, the Alzheimer's Disease Association and the Volunteer Centre.

"We had been struggling but the top and bottom of it is that we have come through a very difficult time," explained trust chairman Colin Reynolds.

Things went awry after the trust decided to invest in new conference and IT facilities at Stricklandgate House and to provide two new offices for charities by developing the 18th century coach house attached. When new National Lottery funding was turned down, money ran short and the coach house project had to be shelved.

Help, however, arrived in the form of two large donations, one from a local, and one from a national source. Work on the coach house has resumed and will make room for two new charities at Stricklandgate House when it opens in July. The conference suite is making some profit for the trust and IT courses are running in conjunction with Kendal College.

Now, though, the trust plans to make more use of the conference suite with its state-of-the-art facilities, including video conferencing. County and district councils and several businesses have been using the facility, and the trust wants to attract new users to generate more cash to be ploughed back into its work with tenant charities.

The many charities sharing the trust's Stricklandgate House base benefit not only from the trust's subsidised accommodations and shared facilities, but also from the ability to share expertise and collaborate to provide the best help for their clients. Indeed, the set-up at Stricklandgate House has often been held up on the national stage as an example of how such an umbrella organisation should work.

Mr Reynolds said that thanks to the skill and dedication of the trustees and to the trust's anonymous donors, the centre was emerging from a difficult period in good shape. "I have no illusions about the importance of the task that face us but I'm confident about the future," he said.

l Anyone interested in hiring conference facilities at Stricklandgate House should call centre manager John Gallagher on 01539-742600.

June 5, 2003 14:00