Fundraising skydive for Haven Centre –Scotland’s first multi-purpose centre for young people with learning disabilities and complex needs being built at site in Inverness

The mother of a young boy with special needs is among a team of brave volunteers preparing to make a fundraising skydive for a pioneering centre being built in Inverness.

Julie-Ann Flett is part of an eight-strong team taking on the challenge for the Haven Centre, which will be Scotland’s first multi-purpose centre for young people with learning disabilities and complex needs.

Mrs Flett, of Kirkhill, is the mother of six-year-old Ryan who was born with a hole in his heart. As he got older, he was not hitting development targets.

“He is non-verbal and has no communication but he is a happy little boy,” Mrs Flett said.

She said there is a lack of facilities for families such as hers, so the Haven Centre – which is expected to open in a year – will make a difference.

She said she had battled to get Ryan a place at Drummond School and there was also a long waiting list for places at the Special Needs Action Project (SNAP) which provided out-of-school activities.

The £4.1 million Haven Centre project, led by the Elsie Normington Foundation, will include a specialist play centre, a community café, meeting spaces and garden plus three two-bedroom respite flats for adults up to the age of 30. “It will provide so many opportunities for children with learning disabilities,” said Mrs Flett, a pupil support assistant at Beauly Primary.

Mrs Flett, who has persuaded colleague Debs Humphries to join her in the skydiving challenge, admitted she is feeling “sick” about it.

“Now it is getting closer, I just want to do it,” she said.

The team has raised £4000 so far and are due to do the challenge in Perth tomorrow. It includes Scott Hackett and his girlfriend Erin Murdoch. Scott, who turned 18 this month, first did a fundraiser for the Haven Appeal by selling popcorn when he was 11 years old.

Anna Malinowska, a marketing and events student who loves a challenge and has raised money for local charities before is also involved and is joined by her friend Chloe Ironside who has a family member with special needs.

Completing the line-up are Ciobhan Haggerty and Robyn Weir who thought skydiving would be a lifetime experience while raising money for the project.

The Haven Centre is being built at a site in Murray Road, Smithton, previously occupied by Culloden Court Care Home which was destroyed by a blaze in 2010.

It has received support from the Scottish Government, the Big Lottery Fund and Highland Council plus donations from the public.

Donations can be made via enfoundation.co.uk or the foundation’s Facebook page.

Watch: Progress on construction of pioneering £4.1m Haven Centre