The 88-year-old lorry driver building a rural care home

November 10

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Rosemary Stevenson collects second-hand furniture to sell and raise money

At 88, Rosemary Stevenson spends her days loading a lorry with furniture to sell in a tiny village in South Ayrshire.

It’s one of the many ways her team have raised more than £1.5m over the last 25 years to support elderly people in Ballantrae.

So far, they’ve started up a care agency and a daytime space to entertain elderly people in the coastal village.

But her ultimate goal is to build a care home with a dementia unit, which could cost over £500,000 due to rising construction costs.

The plan came about after Rosemary noticed that older residents in the village were forced to move away from family and friends to get overnight care.

“They’re going away from their families and their grandchildren, it’s not right,” she told BBC Scotland News. “It doesn’t happen anywhere else.

“If you live in Girvan and you need a care home, you’re still in the same area. But this place is different.”

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The BRICC house is used to entertain elderly people and the BRICC shop sells second-hand items next door

Rosemary said the council would not pay for overnight care and older people had to go into care homes, which could be as far away as Girvan, Maybole or Ayr.

“But there were several people in the village who would not go,” she added.

After the council turned down requests to build a care home, the group decided to create a charity – Ballantrae Rural Initiative Care in the Community (BRICC) – to build their own care home.

“These people have been in the village all their lives and they do not want to move,” Rosemary added.

“It means their families and friends have to travel miles and miles away to visit them, which could mean sitting on a bus for hours.”

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The founding members at BRICC decided to raise money to look after the growing elderly population in the village

One of the founder members of the committee recently had to go into a care home miles away from her family and friends.

“It’s upset a lot of us because we’re not there yet,” said Rosemary.

“After 25 years, we can’t look after the people here because there’s nowhere for them to stay and the council won’t pay for overnight care.”

Since the committee formed, Rosemary has been driving the lorry around South Ayrshire collecting furniture to sell at the BRICC Shop.

“I quite enjoy driving the lorry, you feel a lot safer way up there,” she said.

“Since we got the charity shop, I’ve been going about South Ayrshire and beyond.”

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The group hopes to build the care home on the land next to the BRICC House

Just before the pandemic, the committee received planning permission to build a care home with 16 beds on land next to the BRICC House.

“We were ready to go but Covid stopped us and we didn’t do anything for three years,” Rosemary said.

“When we went back to the architect, he said he needed another 15%.

“But by the time we raise that, he’ll tell us the same thing again. We’ve got to get help to do this, but who’s going to give us help?”

Audrey Houston, 67, runs the BRICC shop. She joined the charity 12 years ago while she was recovering from breast cancer.

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Audrey Houston joined BRICC when she was recovering from cancer

“I’m now in and out in the van emptying houses and bringing furniture back to the shop,” she said.

“It’s been really good for me to have something to get up for in the morning, and we get customers coming from all over.”

She told BBC Scotland News it was essential for the charity to secure more funds to reach its goal.

BRICC had more than 40 volunteers when it launched, but since then many of the older members have become ill or died.

Now there are only about eight people left to keep the charity going.

“We just need the funds to get the ball rolling for the care home,” Audrey said.

“We want Rosemary to see something happen – this has been her life’s work.

“We’re all hoping to go into this care home facility when we’re older. We don’t want to have to leave the village.”

A spokeswoman for the South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership said: “South Ayrshire has one of the oldest populations in Scotland and our population is expected to continue to age quickly until 2040.

“This means that we have more people requiring care and fewer people available to work in care.

“This is especially challenging in our more remote and rural areas such as Girvan and Ballantrae.

“We will continue to work with all of our providers and partners, including BRICC to adapt our care delivery models and meet people’s needs as best we can.”

She said the council has a meeting with BRICC planned for this month to discuss the charity’s plans for the village.

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