THE future of a care home which is almost 100 years old has been secured.

The Bell Memorial Home in Lancing has been entrusted to Worthing-based charity Guild Care with immediate effect.

It means the home, which cares for 44 residents, will remain open for the foreseeable future.

The Bell Memorial Home charity was founded in 1890 by William Chorley, whose vision was ‘to improve the spiritual and physical wellbeing of the poorer people by providing a change of scenery and fresh sea air’.

It has always worked to adapt to changing social and healthcare needs but in more recent years this has proved to be harder to sustain. Over the past year the home’s trustees have been looking at a number of options to enable the work of The Bell to continue and Guild Care agreed to take over responsibility.

Chairman of trustees Andrew Reed said: “We are delighted that Guild Care has come forward to take care of our facility, our residents and our staff.

“As a fellow long-standing local charity, we know The Bell will be in safe hands for the future.”

Guild Care chief executive Suzanne Millard said: “We have been working with the Lancing charity to ensure that the home can remain open as a charity, protecting residents and saving jobs.

“The Bell has been providing care to residents for nearly 100 years and, by becoming a subsidiary of Guild Care, we can ensure it has a future.”

Guild Care will oversee the management of the home and provide a wide range of specialist support to enable the home and staff to more easily meet the challenges of a rapidly-changing care climate.

The home will add a different perspective, being a residential home, to Guild Care’s four care and nursing homes in the Worthing area.

Each year, Guild Care supports thousands of local older people, carers, people with dementia, families with children with special needs and disabilities and older people with learning difficulties, working to boost exercise and wellbeing for all over the age of 50.

The charity achieves this through a range of services, which include a community outreach programme, home care, a sheltered housing scheme, residential care homes and the Ashdown Centre services for children and young people with special needs.