Official opening for Aldingbourne Trust Quarry Building

The Duke of Richmond, Patron of the Aldingbourne Trust, declared the Trust's Quarry Building officially open at a celebration and ceremony at the Aldingbourne Country Centre on Thursday. The Duke's family have supported the Aldingbourne Trust for many years - the Duke's father had opened the Centre's wood recycling project in 2006 - some of this wood is now powering the Quarry Building.

The Duke said, "The Quarry Building is the culmination of 10 years of designing, securing support, funding and construction. It offers a new vision for social care - where local businesses, the community and people who have learning disabilities and/or autism can learn, work and prosper. It's a model which is attracting international attention. The impressive building is a new West Sussex gem which I would encourage everyone to visit".

The Aldingbourne Trust took the opportunity to thank everyone involved in supporting them to raise the funds to develop and improve the facilities at the Country Centre. This included people who had jumped out of planes, scaled the Spinnaker Tower, cycled across the UK and Europe, and run marathons. Special thanks were also due to the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership. Tony Middleton, Chief Operating Officer said "We are delighted to support the Aldingbourne Trust, the space here is truly inspiring".

Two of the Centre's members, Sean Simmonds & James Weller, spoke about how much they enjoy being involved with all of the opportunities on offer at the Centre and their pride in the new Quarry Building. James said "The new building means a lot to me, it is a place to chat to the public, a place to work, have fun and learn new skills".

James and Sean look forward to welcoming more visitors, to the impressive building, (which has an indoor slide, café, meeting rooms, shop), & the other enterprises on the site - wood, furniture restoration, horticulture, horse rug washing/repair, open farm and new children's play areas.

 

Coast to Capital contributed £1.96 million Local Growth Funding towards the new building.