RAF Association Funds Refurbishment to Provide ‘Home From Home’
by Catherine Hughes
RAF Boulmer opened its first Contact House in 1999, and a second in 2002. Having seen much use in the past sixteen years, they had taken on a tired appearance. Our Serving Personnel deserved improved short- term accommodation and facilities to offer their visiting families, and to meet their other welfare needs.
Warrant Officer Connie Copland from Personnel Services Flight took on the task of leading the refurbishment. Looking at the costs involved, her first decision was to attempt to secure two new, modern houses from the Service Families Accommodation stock – not having to upgrade kitchens and bathrooms would leave more money to spend on updating kitchen essentials and furnishings, and with such constant demand for the houses, having larger properties with improved access would be an added advantage.
The ‘green light’ was given to the allocation of a new 4 bedroom and a 2 bedroom house. Then on came Connie’s second priority – securing funds to provide the highest ‘internal’ standard possible – off went a bid to the Royal Air Forces Association.
Connie said: “Whilst we had some funds to spend, it became clear from the outset that if we were going to provide two fully equipped houses, and provide things such as Wi-Fi, then we would need more
www.raf-ff.org.uk
financial assistance. A massive thank you to RAFA for their generous donation of £6,000 which has been fully utilised in the refurb; without it we would not have been able to equip both properties to such a high standard.”
Station Commander Group Captain Mark Coleman officially opened the new Contact Houses, called ‘Smugglers’ and ‘Copland House’, in October.
He said: “There has been so much effort from so many people, chiefly led by Mrs C (WO Copland), and I would like to thank them for that. We call this a ‘contact’ house, but maybe it should be called a ‘community’ house, because I think this has been a community project to help deliver this. We expect a lot of our Service Personnel, and if we don’t look after their families, and their extended families then there is no way that we are going to be able to complete our military tasks. So it is with gratitude that I thank Mrs C, RAFA and everyone involved and I know that the first people are staying, starting from the launch day so all your hard work will pay off immediately.”
The final word belongs to WO Copland: “The welfare of our service personnel and their families has been at the heart of this project from the outset. To have been part of such a motivated team and to see what we have achieved has been incredibly satisfying. I would urge all Units
who have not already done so to review their Contact House provision to assess whether they deliver the best for our Service personnel and their families, in a modern era.”
For more information on RAFA Contact Houses
Or to see how you might like to raise funds to go towards future projects: •
rafa.org.uk/what-we-do/on- station-support/contact-houses
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