FOR the first time in years, those responsible for running the gem that is the Guernsey Cheshire Home are free of the responsibility of having to find more than £1,000 a day, every day, to keep the doors open and their residents looked after.

The success of the weekend’s £1m. Lotto draw means that the charity has an extra £300,000 in the bank, one lovely local family has a substantial nest egg, and a dedicated band of fund-raisers can breathe a sigh of relief – well, for a few months at least.

When the Guernsey Press was asked by GCH to become the Lotto’s media partner, we did so for two reasons: the skilled and dedicated care the home provides is less widely known and appreciated than some other headline charities, and the burden of finding £35,000 a month just to keep going is a huge burden that needs recognition.

Without that private, volunteer effort, the Guernsey Cheshire Home could not keep going, yet it receives no dedicated funding from government despite the invaluable services it provides.

There is a slight irony in that. For if the home closed tomorrow – it won’t, but there have been times when the money nearly ran out – Health and Social Services would have to step in as carer of last resort.

So not only is the home saving the Guernsey taxpayer money, it is also providing a vital service more cost-effectively than government could.

Part of the reason for that is that the Cheshire Home provides a specialist service for a comparatively small number of individuals that a more generalist public authority would be less likely to be able to match.

The benefit to individuals is in an improved quality of life and a life which is, in some cases, actually extended as a result.

These are not things that can be measured in cash terms but the value to those who need such help and their families is incalculable and deserves greater recognition.

The reality, of course, is that while the Lotto has given the home about 12 months’ financial certainty, that period will soon pass.

This island’s’ support for it has to be more than one-off.