23rd September, 2011

It's definitely getting colder now and some of the trees are beginning to turn, although scientists say it's a false autumn and the real one has yet to come... The Centre is cosy though, with the wood pellet boiler proving its worth as the temperature drops. We've just had our electricity and gas meters read, so it will be interesting to compare costs with last year when they come in. The other energy saving measure we have planned for this year is to get our single glazing double glazed. Plans are well underway and hopefully it will be done by the end of October. We recently introduced recycling bins in our public areas and they are proving a success, so the process of making the Centre a greener place is well underway.

For the past 2 weeks we've had Graham & Aggie staying with us. Aggie is in a wheelchair so for a 2 week holiday Iain has given them 2 rooms in the chalet (one to sleep and one for a living room) and a fridge, so it can serve as more of an apartment for them. We have a self-catering apartment upstairs, but Aggie can't manage the stairs and now needs disabled washing facilities, so upstairs is no longer suitable for them. This flexibility means that not only can we cater for Aggie's needs, but also effectively we have had 2 apartments being used throughout the 2 weeks as well as residential groups in at both weekends. During the week community groups continue to meet regularly with the new computer training classes already started. It's really good to see the place so well used.

I went to a funding clinic this week to think about how we can raise the money for all the alterations we are planning. While we wait for the results from a funding search they're doing for us, we are having a visit from disability access specialists to make sure we include as many features as we can to make the rennovations as accessible as possible by today's standards. It will be really good when the chalet is properly converted to a disabled self-catering apartment, but at least we're flexible enough at present to be able to offer a half-way measure while we wait.