It’s wonderful that so much interest is being shown in the Me2U Centre from media outlets. This allows us to amplify our reach and let people know about the work we are currently doing and what projects we’ve got going on in the future.

We were blessed when Liverpool TV approached us to do some filming here.

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Me2U Centre interview summary from August 2019.

The origins of the Me2U Centre started life as a seed when she was a young woman of around eighteen or nineteen while working in a day centre: “The feeling I got, I chased that right through my career.”

To help nurture that seed, Rosie credits the Women’s Organisation, whose training and support has been invaluable:

Rosie: I was introduced to the Women’s Organisation who’ve been absolutely marvellous in the early days and through our journey because I’m a nurse, I’m not a business woman, so to learn the business side was a big thing for me.  

As well as the opportunities forged by the Women’s Organisation, Rosie needed some help from her friend.

Angela: “She approached me about four years ago now. I was working in a finance department as an accountant and I just wanted something more, something, job satisfaction, the feeling that Rosie was sharing with me, and then we just took a massive risk and then we went from there.”

Rosie couldn’t have predicted the impact of the Me2U Centre on families and their homelife. Leaving your loved one in a residential home is heart-breaking but often families have no other choice because of the lack of respite services available to offer a break to carers. The Me2U Centre has thankfully been able to fill that gap for some:

Rosie: “We’ve been fortunate enough to enable families to take people from EMI nursing homes back into their own home with the support from the Me2U Centre, so there’s a big spectrum of rewards, you know, it is hard work but if this is your forte and I’m so fortunate to have found my calling, it’s not as hard as what other people might think.”

The impact has not only had profound consequences for carers and families, but also for the people living with dementia who still crave a quality of life when socialising has become difficult.

Service user Dave Woodcock describes the centre thus: “It’s like a second home, a family, more of a family than anything.”

For Gerrad Dickinson, Me2U has helped him navigate the changes in his life and satisfy his need for company and social interaction: “I didn’t know where I was going, you know what I mean… I’d go out with some of the lads… and it got too much, but now, without a doubt, it’s brilliant. You can only go so far to explain it, but it really is.”

Rosie and the team are always compelled to offer gratitude to their supporters. Rosie credits the fundraising efforts of the Eldonian Community, for their support, both financial and moral. Tony McGann has been a personal supporter of the centre.

Rosie: “In the early days, we were struggling to raise the money for our non-slip floor and they did a fundraiser, we raised £3000 and it went towards our non-slip floor. And just last month, they did another one.”

You can still watch the TV clip by following this link: https://www.liverpoollocal.tv/videos/me-2-u-kirkby-x7imygl/