In 1841, Paisley bade a graceful farewell to Miss Elizabeth Kibble, one of its most visionary citizens. In her Will she had laid down that part of her estate should be used to “found and endow in Paisley, an Institution for the purpose of reclaiming youthful offenders against the law.” By 1845, prudent investment along with charitable donations had realised the sum of £8,518 which enabled ground to be purchased on the outskirts of Paisley. Links were developed with the Ragged School in 1857 and on 1 July 1859 the Kibble Reformatory was opened with 14 boys being transferred from the Ragged School.
Since then, the centre has witnessed many changes, moving from Reformatory to Industrial School to Approved School to List D School and on 1 April 1996 to Kibble Education and Care Centre.
For most of the twentieth century, central and local government grants funded Kibble's work. This situation came to an abrupt end in 1996 when the dissagregation of local government confronted Kibble with two stark choices. We either closed our doors, or opted to enter the “social market” to sell education and residential care services to local authorities throughout Scotland. The latter course of action was chosen, but it was recognised that major investment was required in staffing, services, buildings and campus infrastructure if the centre was to realise its vision of being at the forefront of effective and innovative services for young people in trouble. We therefore set about reclaiming our charitable mission and in recent years as the work of the centre has expanded, charitable support in cash and kind from a wide range of grant making trusts, the Community Fund, European funds and other philanthropic benefactors has improved not just the assets of this public trust but also facilities for the local community. Today, Kibble is firmly established as a social enterprise with approximately 93% of turnover derived from earned income.
The Enterprise Development Team was established two years ago and incorporates a graduate trainee programme. Based at KibbleWorks 5, we are responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of all non fee-based initiatives and contributing to the marketing, media and publications work of the organisation. We bring qualifications and experience in marketing, politics, media, international relations, journalism and ICT and most of us are currently working toward a variety of professional qualifications. We regularly represent Kibble at events and conferences, keeping up-to-date with developments in the sector at home and abroad.
Funding, Marketing and Communications Manager leads the team. We see ourselves as an “ideas factory” with creativity at the heart of everything we do. For example Kibble’s most recent awards (Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce 2006, Scottish Business in the Community 2006 and Enterprising Solutions 2005) offer just one way to market our services, and the application process allows us to tell Kibble’s story in different ways.
and , Funding Development Officers, have responsibility for Kibble and KibbleWorks respectively. Their roles involve identifying and researching appropriate funding sources, and submitting applications for revenue and capital projects. Although Kibble operates as a social enterprise and charges fees for its services, this additional funding allows us to invest across the organisation - eg The Robertson Trust Centre, Peter Harrison Foundation Arena Play System outside Mossway and the Lifeskills Centre currently under construction have been funded by grants from trusts and the Big Lottery respectively. European funding has helped us make huge strides in staff training and development - Men Can Care being just one example.
, Marketing Officer, co-ordinates exhibitions and events. Lynsey is responsible for the design and production of all marketing materials such as flyers and leaflets for activities and services across the organisation. Lynsey also coordinates the mailings to local authorities advertising service developments and placements for young people.
provides us with information around the current policies of the UK, Scottish and Local Governments and also advocates Kibble's services within the government structures. Another key part of his remit is to advocate and help develop the Social Enterprise side of Kibble and KibbleWorks throughout Government, in the UK and also Europe.
, Multimedia Developer, has responsibility for the development of our intranet, as well as all web design and hosting. Our newly designed website and intranet will play a pivotal part in improving communication across the organisation and developing a comprehensive knowledge management resource. recently joined the team as Database Developer and is consolidating all our existing databases into a user-friendly format. Stuart also works on “back office” functions of the intranet and develops the code which allows our different systems to “talk” to each other. , Communications Officer, joined us in February and is responsible for the development of our podcasting services - click on www.sepodcasts.org to listen. This involves researching participants, conducting interviews and again does much to raise the profile of the organisation.
, Volunteer Co-ordinator, is developing a comprehensive volunteer service which will focus on providing volunteers for the Safe Centre as well as placements at KibbleWorks for Project Scotland volunteers.
, Social Historian, has been trawling through our record books and unearthing lots of Kibble stories. She has also interviewed a wide range of individuals - pupils past and present, staff and others with some connection to Kibble. It is our intention to display the findings of this project in words, pictures, and displays with input from boys and staff. Please speak to Elaine if you have any Kibble memorabilia or memories.
