Newsletters about the hall redevelopment
If you shop online using Amazon, Play, CD-WOW etc, you can help raise funds for the hall restoration by using the links below. There will be no cost to you, but the Hall Restoration fund will get commission.
To date, this has raised - £233.37 - with no cost to purchasers. What have you got to lose?
To make a booking, or to find out the availability of the Parish Hall, telephone Mr David Darvill on 01525 371836 e-mail ddarvill@dsl.pipex.com
To download the conditions of hire for the Parish Hall - CLICK HERE
The hall project celebrated its biggest success so far with the completion of stage 1, the link between the hall and church. This has provided us with more than just a link between two buildings but has given us also disabled toilet facilities and beautiful contrast between the older stonework and the modern glass of the new entrance. We were delighted in November when the design of architects John Hardern and David Scott was presented with a design award by South Bedfordshire district council.
The work to stage 1 took rather longer than expected and also cost more than planned because of the following:
Other work during 2006 has focused around planning for the rest of the project:
Design work for “stage 2a” (the remodelling of the cottage and demolition of the partition between the two halves of the building to form the new kitchen and bar. This design was signed off in the latter half of the year and tenders for the work sought to enable a bid for funding to go to Biffa.
The fundraising committee has organised a full programme of events together with considerable support from many others. These have not only raised money for the project but have brought us together as a community. They have also encouraged many others into the church and hall. Among the many activities I would mention:
Following on the success of completion of stage 1, we launched a major appeal for donations to support the completion of stage 2b. We are enormously grateful that this appeal raised £42,279 in November alone. Thank you to all who have given money in 2006: £52,274 was given to the project during the whole year. Included in that are all the occasional donations, those who contribute on Sunday mornings and especially those who give something regularly every month through the direct debit gift aid scheme.
In addition, we continue to work hard to make applications to grant-making bodies, charitable trusts and the like. In April, we were awarded £50,000 by Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN) towards the cost of the new roof. In February 2007, an application to the Steel Charitable trust proved successful with a grant of £10,000 and at the time of writing we look forward to hearing about the application to Wixamtree.
After two successful landfill tax applications (Grantscape for stage 1 and WREN for the roof as part of stage 2a) we also completed an application to Biffa towards the cost of the kitchen and bar. We have heard from Biffa that they wish to award us a grant of £45,000 but we are unable to publicise it until we have the remaining £115,000 for stage 2a.
During 2006 we passed the £300,000 mark which is a tremendous achievement, finishing the year at £306,000. Compared to the £120,000 raised in 2005, we raised slightly less in 2006 than in 2005 as a result of slightly fewer grants being made.
Totals raised for hall project: 2004-6
However, the amount raised in gifts was far greater than in 2005, and we hope that we can continue to attract more sizeable gifts. We gave special prominence to this in November and as a result one person gave £20,000 and two people gave £10,000 each with several other slightly smaller donations. We are particularly grateful for this generosity which enabled us to make a start on stage 2 and thereby not risk losing the Wren grant.
Totals raised for hall project 2004-6: by category
Our priorities for 2007 will be as follows:
To complete the re-roofing of the complex and the repairs to stonework on the façade facing the park. This work has just started (March 2007) and is due to take about 3 months.
A complete list of all those to whom thanks are due would run to many pages. Particular thanks though are due to:
Keith Saunders
With a target of £500,000 to raise to refurbish the hall, we are looking for events that will generate large sums to reach that challenging target. It’s only too easy to forget that not everybody is in a position to promise large sums.
One parishioner who doesn’t have a lot to spare has found an effective way of making a contribution. She writes:I have a big Quality Street tin with a hole in it for all my 50p and £1 coins I have left over at the end of the week, as time goes by. Not just for me, but for my family, friends, and neighbours as well. I shall make sure it is thoroughly sellotaped round the top so it cannot be opened, then bring it to church when we cannot get any more inside the slot.
No prizes for guessing how much this tin will hold when full! We trust that this parishioner won’t be making herself too unpopular as she extricates all these high value coins from her friends and neighbours.
The structural survey of the hall was undertaken by a Chartered Surveyor. A copy of his report can be downloaded here either as a MS Word document or Adobe .pdf format document
The report from the 'Site redevelopment committee' to the PCC can be downloaded here -