Jane Morgan, Inspire Coach for Eastbourne and Hailsham, along with two residents, Milly and Josh, are extremely proud to share their story of how they renovated the lounge at YMCA Grove House in Hailsham.
Before – The lounge had been used as a dumping ground for old beds and desks and was in a very sorry state. There were various paint colours on the walls and the carpet looked as if it had also been attacked by a paint brush!
After – The lounge has been absolutely transformed! The working team got together and decided on a botanical theme for the room with an animal twist. The maintenance team cleared the debris, Milly and Josh learnt how to prepare the room for redecorating and enthusiastically painted the walls and woodwork. Milly created bespoke artwork (in the form of inspiring quotes) for the walls and Milly and Josh successfully put together their first ever flat packed furniture, a new carpet was ordered and a large sofa donated by Eastbourne Foyer.
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The Mayor of Hailsham also kindly donated £100 towards the renovation which was used to buy a brand-new shelving unit, coffee table, funky cushions and a cosy throw. Not only that, last week, the Mayor attended a ceremony to declare the room officially open!
The lounge now has a relaxed seating area, a working corner and a reading nook. When speaking to the team, everybody said that they were really proud of themselves and each other for completing such an ambitious project. Milly said ‘I never thought we’d actually do it, I can’t believe how great it looks, I love it!’.
  
A special shout out goes to Geraldine Gurr (Project Worker), Shaun Sinclair (Maintenance Team), Elly McKay-Smith (Chaplain and provider of nibbles and cake!) and Louise Owen-Thomas (Project Manager for Eastbourne and Hailsham) for their support with this project.
