AFS Support Young People in Midlothian

 

Bright Sparks recently received amazing support from Alba Facilities Services (AFS), who are a Scottish commercial facilities management and building maintenance company based in Glasgow. They  were founded in 2003, they provide mechanical, electrical, and building fabric services to commercial and public sector clients across Scotland and Northern England.

They became aware of the portal through their air conditioning contract with the University of Edinburgh, where they had been directed to the portal as a resource to deliver community benefits commitments within the local area. 

Bright Sparks is a registered charity which operates within Midlothian.
Their mission is “To provide valuable, involved, inclusive and quality based child and family oriented services which includes playgroup, holiday activities and after school support for children with complex additional needs and their families.”

 

To compliment the many ways that they support the children and families who rely on their services, they requested support to build a mud kitchen in their outdoor space.  The garden is used for many activities and is accessed by all the children attending the centre. The hope is that the mud kitchen will allow for imaginary play, sensory play, and cognitive growth which are all essential for all their members.

The charity is fully grant dependent and run by a Management Committee made up of parent volunteers. "We are a group of passionate parents trying to make a difference within our community, as we face the same daily challenges with our own children’s disabilities as our families who attend do. The opportunities and activities that we deliver aren’t widely available locally."

 

The team at Alba Facilities Services saw Bright Sparks' request and wanted to help provide the mud kitchen, as they felt Bright Sparks did great work rooted in the local community. As a facilities maintenance company, they were in a position to utilise the resources and skills needed to design and install the mud kitchen, thereby complementing their community benefits goals and strategy.

AFS gathered information from Bright Sparks on the requirements for their new mud kitchen to ensure it would be safe and accessible by all for years to come. Their team of joiners created a bespoke design that would fit the available space and the required specifications.

 

 

Once the designed was all worked out and agreed, Alba Facilities Services sent two of their fantastic joiners, Sean and Lewis to complete the project. They arrived with all the neccessary timber, tools and supplies needed for the build and set about the design to life.

Sean and Lewis carefully built and installed the mud kitchen that day, ready to be tested out that very night - and it proved to be a huge hit with everyone at Bright Sparks!