FOLLOWING its 60th anniversary celebrations the staff and board of directors of Moffat’s Bankfoot house have been reflecting on the home’s history and evolution.
The residential care home is completely unique to other care homes in the region in that it is owned and managed by a charitable trust and its board of directors are all volunteers who live within the town.
The building itself began its life as two separate houses that were later joined, and the care home opened in September 1964 and was initially run by the Abbeyfield Moffat and District Society, later becoming a registered charity in 1965.
Now 60 years later, the care home has gone through many significant changes including how the sector is funded and regulated, the extension of the building in 2018, the creation of a new outdoor space.
The average age of residents has been increasing over the course of its 60 years, as board member Janet Tildesley explained: “Bankfoot started as a home where residents received minimal residential care and then that has gradually evolved so it’s now nearer to nursing care.
“When people come into Bankfoot and their nursing needs increase over time we don’t move them into a nursing home, we have the home nursing service come here and support our staff.
“People with mild and moderate dementia have thrived here because there’s stimulation around the clock that you just can’t achieve with care at home.”
Community is at the heart of everything at Bankfoot with the majority of staff, residents and volunteers having close connections with one another, fellow board member Liam O’Neill commented: “Once people come here there’s plenty opportunity for them to mix with people socially, people of their own age as well which is an advantage because they’ll be of similar backgrounds and memories.”
Bankfoot’s manager Kirsty Mcvittie has worked as carer for 26 years, spending of those 16 years at Bankfoot, and she couldn’t be prouder of the home’s milestone achievement.
She said: “It’s something to be proud of, to have a standalone care home for 60 years.
“We love being part of this community and having the nursery coming in every week and the residents love to go out to the Monday Wellbeing Club or to any of the major events going on in the town, they like to go and be part of it. And with the most of the residents and staff being from the Moffat area it’s nice to be able to keep up that kind of closeness.”
Sunday’s anniversary celebrations only enhanced the home’s close relationship with the town with residents, their families and staff hosting a garden party. As well as a variety of cakes and treats, there was a fundraising raffle and musical entertainment and a bouncy castle – and the sun even made an appearance.
With the celebrations over and the confetti cleaned up, the board are looking forward to the next 60 years with further transformations in the works, as chair David Booth explained: “We [Bankfoot] have been here for 60 years and we plan to be here for another 60, but we will be making some updates to the building itself. We want to do something out the front where the summer house used to be so I’ll be meeting with the planning officer find out what we can and can’t do.
“But our next big jobs will be replacing all of the bathroom sets and we’ll be fundraising for that. And the roof repair which will be starting in October, so watch this space.”
