Dr Anne Hunter OBE, 92, was a member of the steering committee that officially established The Alzheimer’s Disease Society, as it was then known, and was a founder member of the society’s Haslemere branch in 1994.
Shocked by the announcement in January the society was closing its day centre at Marjorie Gray Hall, Grayswood Road, which supports clients and carers from Liphook to Farnham and West Sussex, the town rallied to preserve the vital facility.
Health secretary and Haslemere MP Jeremy Hunt, who is a Dementia Champion for South West Surrey, described the closure as “a step back” at a time the government has made tackling dementia a key priority.
Strong concern was also voiced by consultant psychiatrists and health professionals specialising in mental health services for the elderly, who depend on day-care services offered by the Alzheimer’s Society.
Objectors to the closure criticised the society, which raised £90 million in donations in its most recent published report in 2015, of “losing touch” with the needs of its grass roots
supporters, as it closes branches to plough more money into into research.
After “urgent talks” between Mr Hunt and the society’s chief executive, Jeremy Hughes, a stay of execution was granted to enable supporters to come up with a way to save the service.
Thanks to a successful fundraising campaign, together with support from NHS Property Services, The Hunter Centre was officially opened on Monday. The society’s former support manager, Elaine Clement, will be its operations director, working with three experienced members of her original Alzheimer’s Society team.
The day centre will open initially from 10am-4pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. But, given the pressing demand for dementia care, the aim to expand its service to five days a week to support clients and their carers from South West Surrey, Hampshire and West Sussex.
Haslemere Town Council is the guarantor of the lease with NHS Property Services for the first 10 years, and the centre has been granted as a rolling two-year agreement. An anonymous Haslemere donor has funded the first year’s lease.
Cutting the ribbon, Dr Hunter said: “I can hardly believe it, I feel so overwhelmed. The branch had so much help and support over the years. I couldn’t imagine it could actually go through this period and be brought back again.
“I was very disturbed to hear of the possibility of closure. The staff have been absolutely wonderful the way they coped.
“It’s lovely to have our very early supporters here today.”
Dr Hunter added that her late husband Brian, a solicitor who was a fellow member of the 1979 steering committee that helped launch Alzheimer’s Society, would have been very proud of what has been achieved.
Donations at the opening event of £10,000, from former Cowdray ladies golf club chairman Tessa Stackwell, and £5,300, from Care in Haslemere, will help secure the future of the new service but an appeal for more was made at the party.
“We have raised 75 per cent of our target, which is excellent,” trustees chairman Anne Downing said. “We have got the charity up and running and we want to serve the whole area from Liphook and Farnham, to Midhurst and Godalming.”
Carer representative trustee Maggie Barlow recalled: “When the carers were told the society’s facilities were to close, I was the naive person who said we can’t let this happen.
“In my first letter to
fellow carers, I said together we will find a solution. But good intentions need to be followed by decisive action, and I can’t stress enough how important the decisive actions taken by the people of Haslemere were in bringing us here today.
“Together we have found a solution. This is The Hunter Centre – well done to you all and thank you so much.”
• Further donations are welcomed and payments to the charity can be made
directly to Metrobank account 24344819 – sort code 23:05:80 – or by cheque made out to The Hunter Centre and sent to Marjorie Gray Hall, Grayswood Road GU27 2BW.
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