Parish Council support for new Youth and Community Centre

The Parish Council have recently granted the Skelmanthorpe Youth and Community Association £16,000 towards their plans for a new centre. The recent civic reception, which is held every year by the current chair of the Parish Council, also raised approximately £700 for this good cause. I am the secretary for the association, so if you would like to know more, please get in touch.

The project has been running for several years now. The old youth club building in Skelmanthorpe was two barns joined together and converted to a youth club in the 1970s. This building would have needed a lot spending on it just to bring it up to disabled access standards, and desperately needed major works to bring it up to date and suitable for use by local groups. The fact that it was a listed building further complicated matters, and the fact that it had no parking was a major drawback. Temporary repairs to the electrics and fabric of the building were originally carried out when a grant was obtained from the Parish Council (approx. 6 yr ago), to enable the building to stay 'habitable', while options for the future were considered.

An opportunity arose to buy the extension at the back of the Savoy Squash Club, which consists of 2 unused squash courts, changing area, and the car park area (often used by people using the Leap Frogs children's play centre nearby). After much discussion the youth and community centre committee decided to pursue this option due to the opportunity of designing a new interior to the building which would be disabled access friendly, and have plenty of car parking. The old building has been sold and the new one purchased. The new plans can be seen if you are interested - please contact myself.

More info on this story will be posted soon when i next have time - but we are currently looking for some friendly local builders who will work for us very cheaply - any ideas? Also ideas and help with fundraising will be welcome, as we have had quotes for £450,000! We have so far raised approximately £150,000 - more details soon.