Call-out for sponsors for new £2.5m disability "community hub"

Saturday 06 November 2021

The Lions Club is asking islanders to help fund a new £2.5m social space for elderly islanders and people with disabilities at Masion des Landes, as part of their refurbishment of the hotel.

The ‘Community Hub’ will be opening in 2022, and feature a 48-seat dining room, a lounge and orangery, gardens, a treatment room and a hydrotherapy pool.

The centre at the hotel, which is run by a charitable trust set up by the Lions Club of Jersey, will welcome both locals and visitors, and include organised activities like talks, films, games and tours.

Pictured: The refurbishment would create a space for elderly islanders and those living with disabilities.

It comes after the hotel closed its doors in 2019, and decided not to reopen them since following the outbreak of covid.

Earlier this year, the hotel submitted a planning request for various upgrades to make its premises more disability-friendly.

Trustees' chairman and Lion Peter Tabb said: "The hotel's closure, forced on us by covid-19, has given the Trustees the opportunity to re-examine the purpose of the hotel which, although unique when it opened now faces a much more competitive and demanding marketplace.

"This has meant that we had to compile a vision of what Maison des Landes as a state-of-the-art hotel that was both in keeping with the vision of founder Elizabeth Ashton Edwards and also more appealing to the people of Jersey who shared the special requirements of our traditional visitors."

Pictured: The Lions Club are looking for sponsors to help fundraise the £2.5m for the space, looking to open in 2022.

He added: "Maison des Landes is the only hotel in the Channel Islands designed specifically for people with disabilities."

"The Community Hub will share these facilities which will make them accessible to all and will offer elderly locals, visitors and people with disabilities a unique facility – an enriching and relaxing experience in a social space designed specifically around their needs.

"Why we are announcing the Community Hub almost a year before it opens is that, despite the outstanding generosity of local trusts who are providing a significant proportion of the funds we require to refurbish and extend the hotel, we will still require further financial support to ensure that our local guests are able to enjoy all the Community Hub's facilities at minimal cost.

"We believe that there are many opportunities for corporate sponsorship that will be of great benefit to the users and also to the sponsors themselves.

"Over the next months we will be making presentations of what these benefits to sponsors will be. That local people will benefit from the new Maison des Landes will ensure that our traditional guests will do so as well, and Elizabeth's vision more than 50 years ago will be amply fulfilled."