The Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre at Lowestoft (Kitchener’s) this week, on 4th March, launches a crowd funding campaign with the insurance giant Aviva’s Community Fund to raise £5000 for an accessible toilet facility for their disabled veterans.
When the Lowestoft branch of the Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club lost their previous venue last year Kitchener’s was pleased to step in and fill the gap. There was a problem, however, that the ground floor toilet facilities at Kitchener’s are not of the standard expected in 2021 and there is no ‘accessible’ toilet for the disabled.
Kitchener’s main guest clientele stays overnight in the ten twin bedded rooms with en-suite bathrooms and so the priority has not been on reorganising the 1919 layout of the ground floor toilets. The management team’s priority now is to ensure that disabled veterans are not excluded from the Breakfast Club because of the lack of an accessible toilet.
Kitchener’s is a registered charity founded in 1919 as a memorial to the late Lord Kitchener to provide holiday and respite accommodation to ex members of the armed and merchant services.
A spokesman for Kitchener’s said, “We are hoping that our project will appeal to the public’s sense of duty that we owe to our veterans and that they will help us to bring our facilities for day visitors into the 21st century”.
“Since 1919 the nature of our guests has changed as ladies who have served in the forces are now permitted to stay as are wives and widows (or husbands and widowers). The whole ground floor toilet refurbishment plan includes realigning the layout of the men’s urinals and providing more privacy and enhanced facilities for the ladies. What passed as an acceptable standard of ablutions for men in 1919 now fails our current guests dismally and it is hoped that the public’s generosity will allow us change that. Any excess of donations towards the accessible toilet will go towards the cost of the whole refurbishment plan”.
Jude Brooks, UK Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Aviva said, “We are extremely proud to support the Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre and look forward to enabling them to bring ideas to life”.
The URL of the crowdfunding appeal is: https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/vets-toilet-upgrade/
Visitors to the Centre at 10 Kirkley Cliff, Lowestoft NR33 0BY very welcome by arrangement. For further information please email: admin@lowestoft.org.uk
