More than 600 people have already signed a petition to save Braeholm, the family support centre in Helensburgh which is set to close in June.
This week charity Aggie Westons announced that Braeholm, with 16 bedrooms and a range of amenities available for naval personnel and their families, was ‘not providing sufficient benefit’ to justify investment.
The news was greeted with widespread concern, and an online petition has already gained 640 signatures.
The petition, which can be viewed here, is addressed to Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who visited Faslane this week, and reads:
A decision was made recently that an essential service for Armed Forces families and personnel in Helensburgh will close on the 30th June 2016 because a recent study concluded that the ‘building itself is not providing sufficient benefit to the community to justify the level of investment required to maintain it, both now and in the future’.
We refute this study and do not agree that the people who rely on the service were fairly consulted.
Braeholm, our family and accommodation centre, is located in Helensburgh near to the Clyde Naval base at Faslane. Braeholm has very successfully provided accommodation for visiting personnel and assistance to families visiting the area enabling them to be close to their loved ones for a number of years. Working closely with the welfare service, Braeholm has heavily supported the community and boosted morale for naval families during long deployments and supported families relocating to the area.
Without the service provided by the team at Braeholm, and with an already stretched family welfare service, this large armed forces community will undoubtedly suffer.
We ask you to urgently reconsider the funding provided to Aggie Westons charity to enable this service to remain at Braeholm thus fulfilling the Armed Forces Covenant’s first principle: ‘The armed forces community should not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services’.
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