A group of 7 loyal dedicated volunteers immediately set up a committee named M7, to try and save the vital holiday service provision for children and young people with cancer - Malcolm Sargent House in Prestwick.
The UK Charity; CLIC Sargent, who own MSH announced on 6th June that they were planning on closing the house after a 30 day consultation period. M7 battled to try and #SAVEMSH then when the decision was announced on the 27th July that the house was definitely closing and the service provision ending - they changed their strategy to #BUYMSH.
They set up a new charity with OSCR - Ayrshire Holiday Dreams Foundation (MSH) and an enviable board of trustees from the local business world. Every day of the last few months has been solely dedicated to fundraising and raising the deposit for the house but CLIC Sargent has recently announced that they have a property developer willing to pay them a figure of 1.75 million - it is assumed, as it is not officially confirmed that they will knock the house down to build retirement flats.
M7 had their own valuations carried out only a few weeks ago and as a charity they were very low, as a house the value was 850k, and as commercial land it was £1million maximum.
That's almost £1 million of a difference in valuations and figures expected in the market place.
CLIC Sargent want to sell to the highest bidder to get as much money as they can to inject back into their charity for children with cancer. M7, the board of trustees and the community want to keep the house and service provision open for the same children but can't pay this overvalued price. It's not feasible.
''We can't use the money donated to us from the community to pay an overvalued figure for a property. The house requires work too, not just renovation work but work to bring the house in line with regulations to today's standards. In order for us to open the new MSH to children and young people with cancer and to those same children with life altering illnesses we would need to spend a large percentage of monies on these renovations.'' said Maxine Allan, committee spokesperson.
She added that ''CLIC aren't willing to come down to our valuations and we cannot, in the interest of the children agree to an overinflated figure of 1.75 million. But we know that this service provision is totally vital - it's a holiday respite facility that needs to be kept in Ayrshire. Something we can't let go!
"And for this reason we have decided to build a new one - a 21st century MSH incorporating all the love, passion, care and atmosphere that the original house offered. We understand people will be upset - we have spoken to many families who have visited MSH over the years, yesterday and today and they understand and want to support this new facility.
"We are heartbroken about the house and believe us we did try every eventuality. Our new plans are very exciting and we hope that the community will continue their support and follow us on this journey in building a 21st century MSH for the children and young people with cancer and life altering illnesses.''