CHAS officially receives Ardoch

Children's Hospices Across Scotland has today announced that the official gifting of the Ardoch Estate has concluded, making CHAS the official owners of the West Dunbartonshire estate.

The Ardoch Foundation also generously donated one million pounds to the charity; supporting running and maintenance costs, and to help CHAS with its ambitious goal of reaching every family in Scotland who needs their help.

The estate and conference centre will continue to run as it is now by the existing management and the charity, which cares for children with life-shortening conditions, will now use the 18-bedroom conference centre, event space, cottages and 133 acres of beautiful countryside overlooking Loch Lomond to support those they care for in new and diverse ways.

Rami Okasha, CEO of CHAS, said: “We are humbled by the gift of the Ardoch Estate. After being offered this extraordinary gift late last year, we’ve taken our time to do thorough due diligence so we can make the very best use of the gift. Now we formally take on ownership, we want to continue Ardoch in its current form, whilst making sure the families we support benefit from it. Many organisations and charities use the amazing Ardoch facilities at present, and we will continue to welcome them warmly to a very special place.

“We recently published the ChiSP3 report which shows that the number of babies, children and young people with life-shortening conditions in Scotland is going up and in response, we launched our three-year strategy to tackle this need.

“At CHAS, we are committed to being there when families need us most, and – as our new strategic plan sets out – we are determined to reach every dying child. Ardoch gives us the opportunity to do just that and extend our reach and fundraising potential further than we could have imagined.”

The estate will continue its current purpose, with a commercial role to bring in income for the charity. CHAS will also use the estate for training about palliative care, supporting learning for families, volunteers and staff from CHAS, and the NHS.

Ardoch will continue to be run as it is now, honouring existing bookings while CHAS works closely with the management team, business partners and local neighbours. Although the assets have now been formally gifted, CHAS will take over the operational responsibilities in 2021.

View our video of Ardoch here: