MEMBERS of Helensburgh's men's mental health group Males Tales helped out another local organisation dedicated to supporting people with health issues recently.

Enable Scotland, the charity for people with learning disabilities, moved its Helensburgh offices from the former Clydesdale Bank building on James Street into the ex-Santander building on the corner of West Princes Street and Sinclair Street earlier this year.

However, the refurbishment project has been delayed due to lockdown, with Enable only taking over the lease in February, before the coronavirus pandemic. The charity had aimed to occupy the premises by April.

Members have now made significant progress after enlisting the help of some willing volunteers.

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Katrina Sayer, development manager at Jean’s Bothy, of which Enable is a lead partner along with Argyll and Bute health and social care partnership, said: “It has taken longer than first envisaged due to lockdown, however we are nearly there.

“The building really needed a coat of paint on the outside to allow for new signage to go up and we looked to see if there were any willing volunteers out there.

“Jean’s Bothy have worked closely with Males Tales over the last year so when approached they were only too happy to help out, along with the Royal Navy.”

John Lewis, founder of Males Tales, said: “Enable Scotland and Jean’s Bothy are at the heart of providing services to improve the lives of people with mental health issues in the local area.

READ MORE: Enable charity's Helensburgh move hailed by service users

“They have supported us from the beginning of Males Tales, so this was an easy decision for some of our service users to come down and lend a hand in preparing what will be a valuable asset to the community.”

Enable’s move to the new premises was hailed as “a step in the right direction for providing much needed support services” in the town when the Advertiser revealed the news in February.

Katrina added: “We’d like to thank the guys for coming along and helping out with the painting (and all the other jobs we found for them whilst there) and we look forward to more opportunities to work together in the future.”

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