Last summer, we featured some images and stories on our social media channels from across the timeline of the
BCM NI story. This summer, we hope to tell you more about our services as they are now and looking forward.
As a bridge between the two, we are heading back almost to the day 36 years ago when BCM came into ownership of the site of what is now
Kirk House . By June 1989, the late Dr Kirk had made allowances for the Kings Road site to be purchased at a discounted rate after his passing.
Bertie Sharp was Director of Social Work at the time, and he was a passionate advocate for new ways of caring for older people. The 'Housing with Care' model was highly innovative for the time, Sadly the original buildings on the site proved not fit for purpose in delivering Bertie's vision, and in 1993 BCM entered into a partnership with Oaklee Housing Association (Now known as Choice) to redevelop the site. This partnership continues to this day and has proven a highly successful model for our residents- also giving rising to the Copelands concept.
As care and housing needs continue to evolve in our communities, we can only but follow the example of our predecessors in responding to need with compassion and boldness, accepting that the endpoint usually comes after a few kinks in the road!
Below you can see the late Bertie Sharp on his last day with BCM, and the opening of Kirk House's Memory Lane Dementia service just over ten years ago.
