The Goals

• Provide and sustain a supportive environment which benefits the community where all children can be free and safe and able to develop themselves.
• Provide a centre which is desperately needed in West Cumbria which provides short breaks for disabled and disadvantaged children, their carers , parents and families
• The centre will be fun and will encourage and facilitate play, running free in a safe, nurturing and happy environment
• Through development and provision of a short break centre, we will address a significant need in West Cumbria by providing a quality, accessible, planned and crisis short term break services to eligible people with a disability, their families and carers.
• To ensure all disabled and disadvantaged children and other young people in need have the right to play safely, express their views and feelings and play a part in the local community.
• Improve the quality of disabled and disadvantaged children’s lives and life experiences by providing a much needed Short Break Centre in West Cumbria.

The Premises

In order to deliver planned short breaks, GUAB 2010 requires long-term access to a facility and surrounding open space. Ideally, the facility will include at least 2 structures; the primary structure would provide accommodation facilities including bedrooms and activity rooms with a separate support facility where business offices, meeting room, kitchen and pantry, laundry, a café and dining areas could be situated.

Introducing the 'RaynorShine' Centre

• Indoor Areas

• 4 multi-bedded rooms, 2 of which are to be wheelchair accessible
• Multi sensory room – for exploration, relaxation, producing a pleasurable experience to be enjoyed by clients of all ages. It can be tailored to meet the needs of each individual to promote learning as well as sensory stimulation. It can provide a sense of comfort and safety and allows the client to have a sense of control of the surroundings of the room.
• Soft play area – a robust, fun and safe area for climbing, bouncing, tumbling, rolling encouraging the use of gross and fine motor skills.
• Games room – this room will have pool tables, computer consoles, board games etc. This room is for relaxation, socialisation, to play with peers and siblings. This room could be used as a youth club night or siblings group.
• Hydrotherapy pool – water can alleviate pain and discomfort and offers stimulation of the joints and can be available for all ages of clients. In this pool clients can change colours of the room/pool and hear different sounds e.g. waves, dolphins – to aid stimulation of the senses. This could be used/booked by other members of the public who could donate/pay to use this facility.
• Two kitchens – first kitchen – to cook all the children and staff meals. Second kitchen will be used to provide a learning experience for children to learn basic life skills such as making a drink, sandwich etc. This will have sinks, worktops, ovens low enough for wheelchair accessibility.
• Cafe – for children and parents to socialise. Parents and children can help work in the cafe. We could hold coffee mornings to encourage community participation and for children to sell their produce from the garden.
• Dining room - for staff and children to eat meals together. Children use the dining room as a learning experience to appreciate ‘family time’ and ‘eating time’. This can be used as a place for children to entertain each other – puppet shows, acting plays, mock interviews etc.
• Conference room – to hold staff meetings, parent meetings, interviews, training days – can be booked by other services such as school training days and other conference business meetings.
• Offices – two offices – one to use for the everyday running of the centre. Second office for the use of other services providers who might access the centre.

• Outdoor Areas, Features and Transport

• Poly tunnels – outdoor area. Children can get to grips with the outdoor environment with the opportunity to grow their own vegetables (provide vegetables for the centre’s kitchen) as a learning experience.
• Mini Bus – to collect and drop off children to relieve the stress and location issues that some parents have cutting into their respite time due to long journeys. This will aid parents who do not have transport and can be used for planned outings such as trips to the zoo, swimming, cinema, etc.
• Outside space- Different types of play equipment for all users and ages and wheelchair accessibility. Seating areas to have picnics, lots of greenery and trees for children to explore. This will help gross and fine motor skills.
• Animals – A small selection of animals that are considered as ‘pets’. Children will benefit from an education on how to look after someone/something else as well as themselves. This will encourage fine motor skills of handling with care and decrease tactile defensiveness for touching different materials. It will promote self-awareness and an awareness of the environment around them.