Shambellie House is coming to life with the opening of the Cloverglen Centre at the Lodge.
The house closed as part of the Scottish Costume Museum in 2013 and sat empty until it was officially handed over to local Trustees in July last year. The Lodge is the first part of the project to be completed.
Emma Harper, the local MSP, officially opened the building and said: “Cloverglen is a care service providing essential services to assist persons with learning difficulties or mental health from the age of 16 upwards, and it was founded by Eric Bridgwood in 2003.
“Over the last year the staff, volunteers and service users of Cloverglen have been working hard to redevelop the Shambellie Lodge as a base for Cloverglen Support Services which will provide training and support to more than 40 vulnerable young adults.
“Part of the training will include looking after the grounds. The young people have already started to learn gardening and there are plans to grow produce and plant trees – it is really exciting and encouraging to see.
“The redevelopment of the building at the entrance to Shambellie is an excellent example of reclaiming a vacant, abandoned, almost derelict building and transforming it to help deliver something very worthwhile.
“I look forward to continuing to work with Eric and all involved to see this project flourish and thank everyone – both at Cloverglen and the Shambellie House Trust – for everything they have done to transform the building and its fantastic grounds into a useful community asset.”
Eric Bridgwood and the young adults from Cloverglen have been an integral part of Shambellie for the past year.
Eric said: “Our young people love the scope of opportunities that we have had since coming to Shambellie. Their skills in managing the gardens, planting trees and flowers, and keeping the inside of the house neat and tidy while learning how to cook has been tremendous. We are grateful for the support of the Trustees and the local community.”
John Stewart, Vice Chairman of Shambellie House Trust welcomed everyone to the launch and added: “The Trust are very lucky to enjoy the company of these young people at Shambellie. We are learning a lot from each other and are looking forward to continuing our partnership with our young service users into the future”.
Cloverglen’s young people will be among the first to attend the courses being offered at Shambellie in April and May. Ann Hill, BEM will be teaching them to make cushions for their new accommodation during their ‘Quilt Fling’ festival which runs from 19th to 29th May at Shambellie House.
Further information on all classes available on the website at ShambellieHouse.org.