Stroke victim support group in Horsham loses funding

JPCT 210714 S14301206x Horsham. Phoenix Stroke Club. Susan Koch, volunteer, Jackie Mullin, manager, Sam Lord, care and support enabler, Sarah McGregor, volunteer -photo by Steve Cobb SUS-140721-115708001

The manager of a group that offers support to stroke victims has vowed to keep fighting for the funds that will secure the group’s future.

The Phoenix Stroke Club, based at the Forest School in Horsham, has received funding from West Sussex County Council for more than ten years - but the backing has recently come to an end.

Manager Jackie Mullin, one of two employed members of staff funded mostly by grants and donations, has accused the county council of ‘short-term thinking’.

However, the group’s chairman Nigel Haverson said the club’s immediate future was secure thanks to healthy financial reserves.

Jackie said: “We don’t know what is going to happen and that is a worry, but we are determined - we have been going for 25 years and we are not going to let this close us down.

“We have to do something to get more money in. Anything we can do to keep the place going, we will do.

“West Sussex County Council are absolutely crazy to pull away from us, it is short-term thinking.”

The stroke club offers care and support for dozens of people who have suffered strokes, first offering speech therapy classes before introducing them into groups.

The staff are assisted four days a week by a large, dedicated team of volunteers.

Jackie said: “A lot of people base their lives around coming here - our longest attending member has been coming here for 18 years. They consider us as part of their family.

“There isn’t another place like this - there isn’t anywhere that offers the same kind of stimulation that we do.”