MORE than 150 people joined in celebrations as Harlawhill Day Centre marked its 25th anniversary.

Staff and clients were joined by past trustees and volunteers at a party at Royal Musselburgh Golf Club to mark the Prestonpans centre’s landmark birthday.

The centre was originally proposed in 1991 by the late Dr Pat Gracie who put together a steering group including Jean Thomson who, 26 years on, remains involved and is the current chairperson.

Fiona Smith, manager of the centre, said: “Harlawhill has fundraised for three buses in the past 25 years with a dedicated staff team and enthusiastic volunteers and a team of hard-working trustees.

“Behind all those people are many friends and supporters without whom we would not be the happy, vibrant and secure centre we are today.

“This has been an excellent year for our 25th year: our first care inspection report in January brought good results and we took delivery of our new bus in April .

“We had the first Rempod and Jiving Jenny went viral on Facebook.

“We hope to continue to improve our service and keep providing a happy homely centre for our clients and would love to see funding to open at the weekends as there is such a need for more respite for carers.”