COMMUNITY CENTRE DEVELOPMENT MANAGER

Full Grant funding has been made available for 3 years to appoint someone into this key role to help us manage both the Community Centre & the community use of St Mary’s and build links out into our community.

CHURCH CENTRE

Project Planning Progress

Planning Permission & Grant Funding from the Borough is in place for the new Community Centre (which, as now, will be run by Christ Church). We are now considering build methods, engaging suppliers to provide outline costs with a view to securing detailed specifications and costs by October, with a Contractor being appointed by the end of this year.

Antony Feltham-King will remain our Architect, also acting as an advisor and consultant throughout this important phase. Antony will help us develop the specifications, introduce potential companies and make our applications for the required consents from the Diocesan Advisory Committee.

Funding

We have received the first part of the £230,000 Section 106 Grant from the Borough, which coupled with the £245,000 remaining from the sale of the Devizes Road Hall, the existing £26,000 in the Development & Renewal Accounts and a £5,000 Grant received from the Weston Foundation, leaves a not inconsiderable available ‘pot’ totalling £506,000.

We have also recently completed the sale of Upham Road making another £208,000 available, and continue to pursue other Grant sources to secure additional monies between now and April 2013.

The estimated current project cost is in the region of £670,000. Obviously, we will make every effort to minimise these costs, seeking to leave monies available to maintain momentum for the next stages of the Programme. In the worst case i.e. with no additional grant funding, we would still have enough to complete the Centre and some smaller projects within the Church building itself.

The Community centre should be completed by July 2013.

CHURCH
Phase 1

We are planning to complete three smaller projects in 2013-2014 :-

• Replacement of the lighting, to significantly reduce maintenance & running costs and give more flexible, efficient & effective lighting. (£30,000)
• To improve the heating, we must first plan restoration of the West Porch to reduce drafts. (£25,000)
• Upgrade & improve Audio/Visual system (£25,000)

Phase 2

• Building a toilet at this time does not represent good value for money, so this will be integrated into the later work in the Church on the heating and flooring.
• In order to minimise costs, we are investigating ways to retain the central pews by making them free standing to maximise flexibility to re-configure the interior space. This and the removal of the few remaining aisle pews would save up to £45,000 (the cost of the proposed replacement stackable pews).
• Subject to raising the required funding, we will then level and re-surface the floor and replace the heating system with an Under floor & radiator based system. Our latest estimate for this work is £400,000.

It is unlikely that any of this work could be started before 2014/15 due to wedding commitments, and lack of funds.

If anyone wishes to contribute to, or discuss any aspect of the above in more detail or get involved with the programme, then our project managers, Mike Palmer or Stephen Grosvenor will be happy to talk to you.

• Stephen : 01793 341034 – s.grosvenor@gmail.com
• Mike : 01793 436220 – michaelailsa@o2.co.uk

On the first day we conducted a sports day which the children thoroughly enjoyed, also playing lots of group games. These children were incredibly inspiring in how much responsibility they had in the school and how they appreciated everything they had. On one day there was severe flooding causing the classroom I was in to be a foot deep in water, yet all the children took the responsibility of clearing it up and the school was back to normal by the next day. I had great fun teaching the children who were all eager to learn new things. However, this does not cover up the reason why we were there. All the normal teachers were local volunteers many of who were too tired to teach in the afternoon meaning many children were left to revise under their own steam. Even though the children were fed 2 meals a day at the school, the portions were small and due to the shortage of water, everything was “washed” in the same water which after the first few classes was more a case of moving the dirt around the dishes.

Alistair Senior

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News of our plans to replace our church hall has begun to spread. You can read what the Adver had to say about it here.
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/9702480.Dilapidated_church_hall_to_be_replaced/