THE Okehampton branch of Devon Senior Voice, along with other interested parties, will attend a meeting with Devon County Council next week to gain information and advice about making a bid to save the services at Wardhayes Care Home and the Poppy Day Centre. At a meeting of the Okehampton branch, which invited members of the public and representatives of voluntary organisations to attend, acting chair Ken Crawford said the group had been told changes to services in the homes, following Devon County Council's decision to cease the provision of residential care, would happen over a period of 18 months and that Wardhayes was set to start the withdrawal of services at the beginning of next year. Having agreed to investigate ways to try to keep the home and the day centre open at a previous meeting, the branch has now been invited to a meeting at County Hall on July 18. Mr Crawford said: 'We have had the final document telling us the phasing of the closure of the homes which is set to go ahead unless someone else puts in a bid or response. 'Wardhayes is looking at any transfers to start in early 2015. The fact that Devon County Council will not be running it doesn't mean we can't find a way of retaining the services. 'DCC are open to other ideas. We've got the initiative, now we just need to move it on further. 'DCC has invited us to a meeting along with other groups wanting to take on community assets, where hopefully they will give us some more information on how to do that. 'They say we need to make a case for keeping what is essential and what is not available elsewhere in the area. The general consensus is to direct our resources into thinking of a way to save Wardhayes. 'It is slightly more difficult with the Poppy Day Centre and Lyric House but the main thing to be sure of is to keep services in Okehampton.' There was strong agreement for Mr Crawford's suggestion that the home and day centre provides services for dementia and re-ablement that are not available elsewhere in the area. One member of the meeting asked if the people of Okehampton had the will and energy to save Wardhayes. He highlighted that there were 3,500 signatures on a petition to keep the home open, but putting down a signature and being actively involved were different. 'He said: 'There is lots of support from the area but it will take a few organisations in the town to move it forward at some pace. We as a group are all for supporting any group that wants to help us take it forward.' Another member of the meeting said: 'The council is not concerned about the social impact of this move. The impetus for us has to be on an economic basis in order to sell it to DCC. Although the social impact is important to us, we need to make it a solid economic case.' The meeting on July 18 is expected to help give the group guidance on the process of making a bid, and give information to help make a 'proper financial case' to move it forward. A spokesman for the county council said: 'We have had nearly 60 expressions of interest from organisations about our residential homes and day centres, which we will be looking at more closely.  'We will be discussing those expressions internally within the next couple of weeks before meeting those groups to better understand what's being proposed. 'Groups considering taking responsibility for regulated services will need to consider their registration with the Care Quality Commission who will ultimately be responsible for agreeing a registration or not.'