Our Story
The Etherow Centre Charitable Trust looks after the historic former railway warehouse by the station, enabling many disabled and able-bodied users to participate in activities. Trust Directors are responsible for ensuring a sustainable future for the building and that the Centre is managed for the benefit of the community.
The upper floor is currently used for the Etherow Bowling and Activity Centre, run by Active Tameside. The space was previously occupied by the Tameside School of Gymnastics which moved to a newly-built facility in Hattersley in the autumn of 2009. The upper floor was modified to provide an indoor bowling green to national league standard and opened in December the same year, giving the residents of Tameside the opportunity to play at the highest level all year round. Many users are elderly people, most of whom are registered disabled and for whom bowling is an important part of maintaining their health. The Centre is in use every day during the season, up to 9pm on Thursdays, and is looking to expand the use of the space for other low impact community activities.
The lower floor with its indoor arena continues to be used by the Kingfisher Animals for Therapy Group, which now provides animal-assisted therapy. The group includes 15 volunteers, mainly young people at school or college and four of whom are disabled. Volunteers help with everything from running the yard to fixing fences and managing finances. The Group also looks after its several horses and the Group is now able to accept occasional riders although it has lost four of the older horses. Local businesses have provided help in kind, with the Co-op providing 20 people from its Estates Team to treat the fencing and w**d the back yard and Tesco Glossop sending a team to tidy the front yard. A dog training group of at least 36 people also meets three times a week in the indoor arena. One of the volunteers commented,’ I have an illness that limits my ability to exercise and has an impact on my day to day life. Being able to be part of Kingfisher to have gentle exercise working with the horses but more importantly spending time with the animals is very relaxing and calming and gives me ‘time out’ from day today stresses and pressures.’
Wildways is a group for adults with additional needs, run by Tameside Cultural services and meets in the mezzanine area. The group currently works with six clients aged from 25–55 and activities include making bird boxes, working with the Kingfisher animals and undertaking regular walks spotting wildlife. The staff running the sessions have commented, ‘It has been noticeable how, with growing confidence, the members of the group now readily support each other.’
