A charity’s welfare centre in the Highland capital has celebrated its fifth anniversary with a new name.
The Poppyscotland centre on Strothers Lane has dealt with more than 3,000 inquiries since it opened in 2013 and taken on almost 400 individual welfare cases, with around a dozen people dropping into the centre per week.
Now it will be known as the MacRobert Centre. The MacRobert Trust is a charity based in Aberdeenshire with links to the military, the countryside and farming.
The centre is the second in Scotland to be named after the trust in recognition of its ongoing support.
During a ceremony at the centre yesterday, Nina Semple, welfare service manager at the Inverness centre said: “The centre has really improved the accessibility to services that are available to the armed forces community.
“There are a lot of ex-forces charitable organisations out there but what we find is that people either do not know they are eligible for support, or if they do know, they don’t know how to access it.”
Poppyscotland CEO Mark Bibbey said: “There is a great atmosphere and that’s encouraged people to use the centre.”
And the MacRobert Trust’s chief executive, Rear Admiral Chris Hockley, added: This enforces our determination to work alongside Poppyscotland to make a real difference to those in our armed forces community who are seeking guidance and advice.”
