The Jenner Centre – DD9 Connections Issue No 16

Well, we’re on the move at last! We’ve been at 24 St David’s Street for 4 years and so much has happened in that time. Firstly and most importantly we’re very grateful to Andy Edgar our landlord who has been so helpful from the very beginning. He understood our aims of supporting the health and wellbeing of the local community and indeed that’s what we were able to do all through lockdown and the aftermath of Covid 19.

In the planning stages of moving into St David’s Street over four years ago we saw it as a supportive drop-in facility especially for those, including family and carers, affected by long-term conditions such as Parkinson’s, MS and other neurological conditions and also chest and heart disease. By the time we were ready to open however, Covid had put a stop to drop-ins and all visits had to be by appointment.

Since then we’ve had many and varied agencies using our premises and in the past year we’ve had over 1000 people coming to use our services or simply to ask a question. In the eight plus years of BHG’s existence we’ve had to adapt our plans a few times. Memories of the efforts we made to purchase the Infirmary site and the support we had from the community linger in our minds. Our ambitious yet achievable plans have had to be modified as we have had to cut our coat according to our cloth.

So it is time to move on to premises which offer more space so that we can develop our work. The premises at 24-26 Clerk Street will allow us to do just that. We’ll still be close to the centre of town but with easier drop-off and parking facilities. ( and that problem spiral stair to the toilet will just be a memory!)

With new premises we can revisit those earlier plans. Times and needs may change and we may have adapted our vision and dreams but our overall aim remains the same; we may not be able to change the world for everyone but if we can change one person’s world for the better then we will have succeeded.

Footcare and Hearing Aid services will continue as before and we will continue to offer a friendly and comfortable space. Once we’re settled in we will be holding some open days and will look forward to hearing what you would like to see there. As a starter, having already held successful sessions in Airlie Gardens and St Drostan’s Court remembering Brechin’s recent and not so recent past, we’d like to continue that and build your own history of Brechin and Edzell..

So in the next couple of weeks we’ll be moving. If you’re passing and see the door open, do drop in to see us. The kettle will always be on if I’ve got anything to do with it!

Moira Robertson
Trustee, BHG