A vital service that provides baby goods to struggling parents across Lanarkshire has been forced to close after a flood destroyed their premises over the weekend.
Volunteers at Baby Bank Scotland, housed within the North Stand at Hamilton Accies Football Club, were devastated to learn that a burst water tank had swamped their unit, leaving thousands of items completely ruined.
Goods destroyed included prams, cots, car seats, covers and clothes as the water tank in a room above cracked, leaking gallons of water through the ceiling, engulfing the Baby Bank room below.
The incident has now led to the Lanarkshire service to close with immediate effect whilst the damage is surveyed.
Baby Bank Scotland manager Jillian Thompson told Lanarkshire Live: "We are absolutely devastated, our premises were flooded on Saturday morning due to a burst tank in the upper floor.
"Contractors are in at the moment trying to clear the water out and dehumidifiers are being brought in to try and dry the place out but the damage and loss is vast.
"We therefore have no choice but to close with immediate effect and until such times as we can assess the long term damage/impact to both the unit and our service."
Following a post on social media over the weekend alerting service users to the flood, local businesses and staff at Hamilton Accies rushed to the aid of the Baby Bank with dozens of people helping begin the mammoth clean up task.
Staff at the nearby Sponge n Hoses car wash also offered to help and quickly began hosing down and drying items to enable the Baby Bank to salvage the goods.
Others helped by gathering up water in buckets, while a team of volunteers assessed the stock.
Jillian added: "We have to say a massive thank you to Sponge N Hoses car wash, who power washed a lot of our prams and high chairs to allow us to save them.
"We would also like to thank Hamilton Accies for their prompt action in bringing in contractors to clear the water and today they have dehumidifiers going in to try and dry it out.
"They also have a team in clearing all the damaged stock away for us. I would also say a thank you to our Facebook followers and the local community for all their offers of help over the weekend and to ACS Clothing in Holytown who have offered to launder bedding and textiles for us that was soaked in the flood.
"I guess the biggest concern is how quickly it dries out in the cold as that will really determine how quickly we can get up and running again."
In a further cruel twist, the Hamilton children's charity shop Swaddle, on Castle Street in the town centre, has now also been forced to shut until after the New Year as a knock-on effect of the flood at the Baby Bank.
Swaddle, owned and run by Roz O'Callaghan, share the premises at Accies' New Douglas Park, with Roz storing hundreds of goods donated to her shop within the North Stand building.
In a Facebook post on Monday, a devastated Roz said: "It’s been a very tough weekend coming to terms with the damage and unavoidable disruption that this is going to cause for both of our organisations.
"The shop is now closed earlier than planned for the Christmas holidays as the space is needed more urgently to dry out prams and store as many donations as possible to avoid them getting damp and ruined for future use.
"We will all work together to make sure that all our hard work this year supporting families doesn’t go to ruin and that our much needed services in the community are back up and running as soon as humanely possible!"
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