Jim's A Gold Star

OPEN the doors of Golden Friendships, and you're hit with instant sunshine.

The warmth doesn't just come from the new heating system in the restored former Masonic Hall. It's from the chatter, the laughter, the fun, the enthusiasm. It's from the friendships - and they really are golden.

This is a club with a difference.

Former taxi driver Jim McLaren, 61, set up the charity with inclusion at the centre of everything they do. In fact, he is proud to proclaim that it is the world's first wheelchair entertainment venue.

Golden Friendships, in Dalmuir, Clydebank, near Glasgow, caters for people with additional support needs, those with disabilities, the young, the old and the lonely.

Jim said: "I don't feel like I am working. I was on the taxis for 29 years and I hated it. But I had a family to support. Now I get to do this. It is absolutely wonderful.

"The feedback we keep getting is that we are all like one big, happy family."

The dad-of-three started Golden Friendships with his own family - and built a brand new one.

But he remembers mum Agnes, 80, wondering if the idea he had during a karaoke night would work at all.

When it started in January 2017, she was at his side selling raffle tickets while the part-time pub singer performed for the 28 people who turned up.

Now wife Karen, 57, mans the front desk with his sister Sharon Davis, 58, his recently married son Bobby, 27, helps entertain the members and his aunt Molly Kelly, 72, regularly volunteers.

Great gran Agnes, still in charge of the raffle, said: "We came in here and he was telling me what he was hoping to do. I said, 'I don't think it will work,' and he said, 'Have faith, mother!' From that day onwards it just grew and grew.

"I look at everyone who's here and say to myself, 'My son started this'. Everything he has done has been from his own head. It is amazing."

The humble club is now the beating heart of the community - with arteries stretching far beyond its walls. Every day there's a packed programme of events for those who rely on the lifeline hub. They take fish suppers to a homeless centre in Glasgow every month and have formed a close bond with the local Kilpatrick School, for children with additional support needs.

But, beyond the formal classes and events, Golden Friendships provides a sense of community and belonging for those who, perhaps, didn't have it before.

The proud grandad said: "Back in the beginning I said I was going to take the chance and do this. My wife was right behind me.

"I came in here and the building was very, very tired. It was the Masonic Hall, and it was struggling to get money for repairs. I was using the hall and trying to do some repairs by fund-raising.

"We got the opportunity to buy the building. It was £80,000. I put it on Facebook and asked if anyone was interested in helping me. The whole community got together and did sponsored walks and fundraising nights and we got £84,000, so we bought the building."

Jim - awarded West Dunbartonshire Citizen of the Year in 2018 - listened to the people who started flocking to the club - now more than 4,500 every month.

He said: "When we came back here after Covid, we opened the world's first wheelchair entertainment venue.

"We have five accessible toilets, and a changing places toilet which is the crème de la crème for anyone with a disability. You press a sink and it goes to the height of your wheelchair, a hoist takes you along and lifts you right out and puts you on a hospital trolley bed. You can get showered and cleaned and come back in and join the party again without having to go home.

"The bar's lowered at one end so the wheelchair users can come up and look at the bar staff.

"The people that come here and use the place told me all the predicaments they had like mirrors being too high, hand dryers being too far away. We listened to them. We're definitely a person-led centre. We take into consideration what people want and put on all the clubs they all wanted."

He added: "When I first started, I wasn't too aware of what was going on out there. I knew that there were some clubs, but there hasn't ever been a club like this."

Players of People's Postcode Lottery have raised £100,000 for Golden Friendships. People's Postcode Trust made the award as part of the [Millionaire Street prize which landed in a street in nearby Old Kilpatrick], Dunbartonshire, last November.

Jim said: "To receive this funding is incredible. It has all been made possible by players of People's Postcode Lottery and will make an enormous impact on the opportunities this humble charity can create for our community. We are eternally grateful."

He added: "For us, social inclusion is about improving the opportunities and dignity of those disadvantaged in our community.

"We're incredibly proud of what we've achieved since we started, but you always want to do more - and now we can."