Renovation Plans Paused

The Community Centre committee have received notification that they were unsuccessful in their bid to get a grant from WREN to renovate the Main Hall.

Vice – Chair Sue Hardacre said "There is no doubt that this came as a bit of a surprise. We have been so successful in achieving our goals recently that we had begun to think we were a little bit invincible. However, we are very fortunate that we have a sufficiently large amount of income in reserve to ensure that some work can still take place. It was always our intention to spend some of this income as part of the renovation scheme."

The plans include the renewal of the main Hall ceiling and the replacement of the current, inefficient strip lighting with more energy efficient LED bulbs. All other Hall lighting was to be upgraded to provide for a wider range of lighting conditions to suit a range of uses, including parties and theatre shows. The high-level curtains were to be replaced with electrically operated black-out blinds to give better conditions for films and formal presentations. The high-level walkways needed work to make them safer. The work planned is the first major, internal upgrade since the Hall was built – though CW&C, as the landlord, did install new windows a few years ago.

Sue said "There are still other grant options that we can pursue, and we are doing so with vigour. However, it would be sensible to have a Plan B should we have to rely on our own resources. A small sub-committee will meet to decide what works might be undertaken soon. They will decide on priorities and the central questions they will be looking at are 'What gives best value for money?' and 'What investment will benefit the largest number of Centre users?"

The Committee is very aware of the support given to the Centre by the community and how much the facility is valued. A good proportion of income generated from this support will be ploughed back so that future generations will have a brighter and better equipped Centre to enjoy in the years to come.

Ed: As a user of the Community Centre, and bearing in mind the possible cost, which of a range potential renovations/improvements to the Main Hall in the short-term, would you get your vote?