To a meeting at the CAB this morning, which was held for the first time in the new meeting room.
Recent expansion into what was the old folks lunch club at Belle Vue House has meant that the CAB has doubled its capacity and now has six meeting rooms to accommodate advisers helping people with their problems. This is just as well because, thanks to the recession, the people seeking assistance is rising exponentially. Until now we have had to cope in something a little larger than a broom cupboard!
Photos of two of the new rooms, the advisers’ room and the training/meeting room are shown above.
It is a little worrying, as a trustee, that expansion has taken place at the very time that we are concerned about the security of our funding from local authorities. This type of contribution makes up by far the largest amount of our resources.
It would be an irony if, at the very time the Government is placing more emphasis on volunteers and the ‘Big Society’ to deliver services, we see a cut in our grants from Babergh and Suffolk County Council. I do hope that this will not happen. In Babergh’s case I know that councillors are very aware of the amount of support that the bureau gives to the residents of the District, rich and poor.
