A DEDICATED new fund for Scotland’s veterans may not save Rosendael Veterans’ Residence in Broughty Ferry if local funding dries up it emerged yesterday.

According to Rosendael manager Max McLennan the ex-serviceman’s home, which provides care for 40 ex-servicemen, does not “fit the strategic fit” Dundee City Council are looking for when allocating Supporting People funding.

Despite advanced negotiations taking place with the council over the cash there are fears the home will miss out on funding—leaving a £118,000 black hole in their annual accounts.

A solution to the financial difficulty may have come in the form of the Scottish Veteran’s Fund—a brand new Scottish Government funding initiative announced yesterday by communities minister Stewart Maxwell.

The Scottish Veteran’s Fund, the first of its kind set up by the Holyrood administration to provide dedicated funding for ex-servicemen and women, will be targeted at projects and groups working with veterans and their families.

But it is to be established with only a paltry £127,000 over the next three years.

Yesterday Mr McLennan said he was confident Rosendael would continue to operate without the Supporting People cash but said the activities of the home would be severely curtailed.

“We would have to really dig deep in our pockets and look to other (funding sources).

“I’m not saying we are going to close—we wouldn’t —but it would leave us severely restricted and we would have to look and see how we would manage without that funding,” he said.

“Dundee City Council are doing a service review with us at the moment and we have just progressed into stage three.

“It is not surprising we don’t fit the strategic fit because Rosendael is unique.

“Our youngest resident is 22 or 23 and our oldest is 92.”

The funding fears emerged as local dignitaries gathered at the home to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Rosendael welcoming its first residents.

Fifty people including Dundee’s Lord Provost John Letford—a long- time supporter of the home—and Lord and Lady Dalhousie marked the occasion by attending a birthday lunch.

General Mark Strudwick, chairman of the executive council for Scottish Veterans Residences, also attended the celebration, which was followed by a function for residents and their families.

Rosendael was officially opened on May 3, 1933, after being gifted to Scottish Veterans Residences by Miss J C Gibson, along with an endowment of £5000.

The donation was made in memory of Miss Gibson’s brother, Mr John Normansell Kyd, who lost his son Frank Proctor Kyd at the Somme in 1916, and whose home it used to be.

Since opening, almost 2000 ex-servicemen and women have passed through its doors.

A three-year refurbishment programme was recently completed at Rosendael at a cost of £2.4 million, raised by the charity.