ROTARIANS in Newton Abbot have been helping a home for people with learning difficulties – with architectural help, installing a kitchen and now a cheque for £5,000.

President Kerry Labarlestier, of Newton Abbot Rotary Club, handed over the cheque to Lynn McElheron, chair of the Meadowside charity, towards the cost of ­renovating and modernising Meadowside.

Lyn said: ‘The donation is important in helping to provide a more pleasant and up-to-date home for the residents, and we thank the Rotary Club for its generous support. The charity doesn’t receive any regular grant funding and relies on fundraising to make improvements and repairs to the home.’

Meadowside provides 24-hour permanent residential care for 11 adults with learning disabilities, many of whom also have physical disabilities. Many of the residents have lived at the home for more than 25 years.

The Rotarians have also provided architectural help with planning applications and, now that some of the work is underway, other Rotarians are offering the services of their companies to install an up-to-date kitchen.

As well as thanking club members for all the prep work, Lynn thanked Rotarians Kevin Sherwood, Martin Smith and Andy Nolan for the installation work and Nigel, from System 6 Kitchens in Exeter, for very generously donating the new kitchen and installing it.

She added: ‘This couldn’t have happened without the support of the whole Rotary Club, started under club president Martin Smith and now continuing under this year’s ­president.’

Martin extended his appeal to tradespeople in Newton Abbot to step forward and give a little of their time to help with the renovation of the building.

He said: ‘Meadowside provides such a valuable home and centre for its residents, and for the wider ­community. After the kitchen, the next item on the refurbishment list is to replace hall and stair carpet, which has seen much better times.’

President Kerry added: ‘The Rotary motto is “making a difference” and with Rotary’s support, something is really starting to happen at Meadowside.

‘This is just one initiative in the local community and Rotarians also aim to help on a wider worldwide scale.

‘Anyone interested in learning more about what the club does, or becoming a Rotarian and supporting the community, can see the Newton Abbot Rotary Club website.’