Community spirit at Riverside Centre’s Christmas Fayre

The Riverside Centre’s Christmas Fayre was a huge success, thanks to the joint effort of service users, staff, carers and volunteers.

The event, which took place on Friday 3rd December from 10am to 2pm, was held outside in the centre’s grounds, with items being sold from the windows of the building. To maximise safety amid Covd-19 concerns, staff organised 1 hour slots throughout, for 10 visitors at a time.

You may have read in our last issue about the couple who kindly donated £13,500 to the Riverside Centre to help them purchase a log cabin for service users. Work on the cabin’s construction is due to start in March, and everyone decided that all profits from the Christmas Fayre would go towards its furnishings.

Day services manager, Eileen McBlain, was delighted at the turnout and said the fayre would not have been possible without the time, energy and generosity of everyone who helped out and attended:

"Everyone at Riverside - service users, staff, parents/carers and our amazing volunteers - all worked together to make this happen. We would like to thank Blain Mitchell and Janet Wilson for all the lovely baking, Alex Rattray who helped make the Christmas decorations, and Bob Bruce who volunteered his time to help outside. We would particularly like to say a big ‘thank you’ to our members of staff, Emma and Yvonne, who made the Christmas ornaments, which were selling as quickly as they could make them, and all staff who helped make this day happen.

We would like to thank all the people who came along on the day to support us and also everyone who gave donations. Our parents/carers, and member of the local community never fail to amaze us with their generosity and support for the Riverside Day Service and it’s very much appreciated. We raised £1716.20, which will go towards our new log cabin.”

The centre also donated unsold items from the fayre to Cumnock Foodbank to provide treats for those most in need:

“Our community is very good to us and we feel thankful that we are able to support them too.”