Cambridge Health and Community trustees Rob Feisst and Peter Nicholl browse through maternity home history with the centre’s manager Lisa Lindsay.
An open day at the Cambridge Health and Community Centre will serve the dual purpose of unveiling a new name and vision for the centre and celebrating the 60th anniversary of the maternity home that was at the heart of its foundation.
Those at the helm want to future-proof the way the spaces are used and give the centre a new name.
The idea is to reveal both at the open day, on October 9, and invite people who are interested in finding out about the centre, or who have some association with it, either past or present.
The Taylor St premises has long operated as a multi-purpose community centre, but it didn’t always have such broad usage.
It opened in 1962 as a purpose-built, 20-bed maternity hospital for Cambridge, complete with nurses’ accommodation and other related facilities. Twenty-six years and thousands of babies later the maternity hospital closed, and a group of individuals met to decide on the future of what was considered a valuable community asset.
The Cambridge Health and Community Trust was formed in 1988, the complex was purchased and upgraded, and plans forged ahead to turn it into the community hub that, after a halting start, benefits Cambridge today.
Long-standing trustee Rob Feisst said this month steps needed to be taken to secure the centre’s long-term future, given its increasingly costly maintenance requirements.
“We have been talking about trying to better define ourselves for the current environment … who we are, what we are,” he said. “The centre began with a singular purpose, as a maternity home, then moved to multiple use. We feel we can broaden its usage further … there are a range of possibilities we are looking at.
“It is only because we have the security of income from our commercial and semi-commercial tenants that we can offer good rates to community organisations. The building has a use-by date that we believe we have exceeded, and we now need to secure our future.”
Peter Nicholl, a trustee for the past two years, said it was hoped the open day would remind the community of how important an asset the centre is.
“This is an excellent community facility that could be more widely utilised. It has enjoyed success in recent years because it is now quite secure financially, with reasonably high occupancy rates. There are very flexible, multi-use spaces available here. It is time to look at whether what we have been doing matches what we need now.”
Both said the impending name-change was important, primarily because of confusion that exists between the Taylor Street’s Cambridge Health and Community Centre, and Cambridge Community House in Leamington.
The October 9 open day, at which a new name and vision will be revealed for the Taylor St centre, will run from 1.30pm to 4pm. Either come along or contact Lisa Lindsay on 07 827 8246 for more information.
