Home-Start Kintyre was set up in 1995 through a working group of the Dalintober / Millknowe Area Development Group. The working group / steering committee worked closely with Home-Start UK and in 1996 secured funding from the Unemployed Voluntary Action Fund (UVAF) for three years to develop a Home-Start scheme in Campbeltown and South Kintyre. Addition funding was obtained from Children in Need and Argyll & Bute Council.
In June 1996 premises were leased at Hazelburn Business Park and a coordinator appointed. This led to an inaugural meeting and the appointment of the first management committee. By January 1997 the first preparation course was complete with 6 volunteers ready to home visit. Two are still with us.
Referrals soon followed and by the summer of 1997 we were supporting families and looking at setting up a drop in facility at Broom Cottage. This was to provide additional respite for some of the families being visited in that area and also to provide a venue where families could meet the coordinator, get to know the play workers and think about getting involved. For some families, accepting a home visiting volunteer is a big step.
The scheme has grown and developed in the first five years. On average we support 27-30 families annually. Some families have been with us for several years. Others get involved for a short while, receiving support from a volunteer as they get through a difficult patch. Annual statistics are available in the office.
In 2000 we received funding from the National Lottery Charities Board, now known as the Community Fund, to extend the service to Mid Argyll, Islay & Jura. At the AGM in 2001 the scheme adopted the new name to reflect the expanded area. We now have volunteers in all of the area supporting families.
In the early 1970s, Margaret Harrison, who retired as Director of Home-Start UK in April 1998, was a voluntary work organiser in what was then the Children's Department of the City of Leicester. Margaret believed that, as well as supporting individual children through voluntary action, the families of these children also needed help. Following discussions with professional workers in education, health and social work, and with the support of the Council for Voluntary Service in Leicester, she drew up a plan to start a scheme with the help of an Urban Aid Grant, and the first Home-start scheme was launched in Leicester in 1973. With the support and encouragement of a multi-disciplinary committee and the enthusiasm and effectiveness of those first Home-Start volunteers, Margaret ran and developed Home-Start Leicester over the next 8 years.
By the end of the 1970s, other areas of England, particularly in the Midlands, had begun to seek guidance to establish Home-Start schemes in their own communities. In 1981 Home-Start Consultancy (now Home-Start UK) was set up to support both existing and potential schemes.
Today, the Chief Executive, together with his team of National Directors and Regional Consultants, is responsible for the day-to-day man agement of Home-Start UK. This work is overseen by a multi-disciplinary management committee which, in turn, is responsible to the Home-Start UK Board of Trustees. Home-Start UK has a central administrative office based in Leicester and national offices in Scotland, Northern Ir eland and Wales, as well as regional offices in England. Work in the regions/nations is undertaken by Home-Start UK Consultants who are res ponsible for providing training, information, guidance and support to each existing and potential local Home-Start scheme.
There are hundreds of Home-Start schemes throughout the UK, with others supporting British Forces families in Germany and Cyprus. Each scheme supports approximately 165 children and their parents. On average, there are 28 volunteers supporting 70 families per scheme per year (2000 figures). Through the support of Home-Start UK and its volunteers, tens of thousands of children will have a better chance of looking back on their childhood fondly.
Each scheme organises various activities to support families including regular bulletins and newsletters, family groups, drop-in hours, parent groups, outings, parties, toy libraries, crèche facilities, fundraising events, and holidays. In addition, some schemes offer video/book libraries, loans of baby and safety equipment and playschemes.