Sulgrave Church Hall Renovation
Awarded: £75,000
Region: Central
Sulgrave Parochial Church Council is the Parochial Church Council for the Church of St James the Less in Sulgrave.
The project has refurbished and upgraded the church hall which is over 100 years old. This included installation of a new kitchen, disabled facilities and baby changing facilities, as well as new insulation, rewiring, fire safety systems, heating, plumbing, doors and fire doors. The hall has also been repainted and re-floored throughout. In addition, they now have disabled facilities and a baby changing area.
The hall is now bright, welcoming, warm and has modern facilities which mean that it is a desirable place to visit for events and activities. These include monthly coffee mornings, village lectures and a range of classes for children aged under five. Clubs in the village now also meet regularly in the hall including the gardening club, camera club and bridge club and the hall is used for private parties.
“To fund such a transformation would have taken decades of fundraising. The details required in the application process indicated a recognition and understanding by HS2 of the needs of our rural community.
“Prior to the receipt of the HS2 grant the hall was a sadly neglected building uninviting, and largely ignored by those living in the village and further afield. Now thanks to the fund it has been reborn and the community can now see the asset that it is. The building is now welcoming and is being widely used both by those living in the village, and those of surrounding communities not so well served with a modernised hall. The reformed hall committee are now seeing regular “returned” bookings.
“With no financial reserves to fund the necessary improvements, the Hall was far from being fit for purpose, now thanks to the HS2 grant there is a sense of pride in the village for this reborn vital facility. The receipt of the grant gave the community the resources to completely refurbish the building and provide a warm, clean and safe environment for both young and old.
“Particularly, the village’s Parochial Church Council and to a lesser extent, the Parish Council recognised the need for the building’s refurbishment. The challenge was how to achieve that with no internal or external financial resources to call upon. The HS2 Grant provided the solution and delivered on it.”
Ken Christy former Chair Sulgrave Parish Council
