The grants team have some very exciting news to report. We have received a grant of £67,500 from Biffa Award. Through the government’s Landfill Communities Fund, Biffa Group Ltd donate their landfill tax credits to organisations, to fund community and environmental projects in the vicinity of landfill sites and it’s through this scheme that we have secured our award. It represents a significant contribution towards our accessibility and inclusivity project. The access platform lift has been ordered and we hope that work will start towards the end of October on the ground floor toilet refurbishment, including the installation of an accessible toilet and direct access for the Peter Pan Pre-school. We are very grateful to Biffa Award for their support. News of the building work After winters of uncertain heating and amazing fundraising we are glad to announce that as promised by the design team and heating engineers we have heat in the premises! There are 2 large boilers and impressive new pipework in the boiler room. Unsurprisingly there has been a hiccup with supplying hot air to the church but that is now sorted. Please do not tamper with the radiators! Now that we have secured from Biffa Award a generous grant, we have been able to accept a tender from a builder to embark on the next phase of 30 Years On. This is to upgrade the Hall toilets including a fully accessible one, and to install a lift to make the upper rooms accessible to all. This building work will start on Monday 21 October and last for 8 weeks. Necessarily there will be some disruption but we have been working hard to maximise the use of the rooms that will be available and have been glad of the willing co-operation of groups that meet here. We have tried and are still trying to accommodate everyone’s needs but there have to be some compromises in the short term. Essentially, all the rooms, bar the Hall, beyond the Café will be out of commission for reasons of safety. The Pre-School will move into the Church. In order to satisfy the requirements of Ofsted and Children’s Services, they will have sole access to some of the toilets in the Linkway. Please bear with this inconvenience! Assuming all goes to plan and that the lift which is on order arrives as promised, it will all be complete by 14 December! |