Use it or Lose it!!! – Give your thoughts on a Community Hub in the village

The Parish Council is supporting the plans to improve the chapel in the village and develop this into a community style hub and we are inviting residents to give their views on the future of the chapel and if they would support the idea of a community hub. Please email your views to camblesforthclerk@yahoo.com or respond on facebook.

Fiona Fenton one of the volunteers who is working on the plan attended the parish council meeting of March to speak to Cllrs about the plan. Please see the notes below

Members of the chapel were a small group of people who looked after the building for a number of years now and who had been trying to carry out urgently needed renovations, however this had been hampered by different ministers coming and going, each with different ideas
Following the pandemic, the members had taken the decision to take over the restoration – a decision had been taken to restore rather than replace as the latter was too much for such a small group.
The progress so far was surveys had been conducted and plans produced – the roof and building were sound, but has water coming in at back, meaning walls and floors were damp – the proposal was to replace all wall plaster in the hall – the original lime coating had been mixed with modern plaster which was not working. The ceiling would be lowered and the whole hall would be insulated and damp proofed.
The current building housing the kitchen and toilet would be taken down and drains would be sited there to help take water away from the building. This part of the building would not be replaced and the kitchen and new toilet would be built where the current storage was with a new entrance at the side of the hall.
The cost of the project was circa £180,000 and the members were currently applying for grants – they had received some monies from the Methodist Church and the fund currently stood at circa £25k. They were confident of achieving the target and were taking advice from a team who had developed the hall at Eggborough which had started out in a similar situation as at Camblesforth, and had successfully created a community venue which was now used every day.
The hope was to create a community venue which would be used by the residents but this needed support from the community and the fear was without this, the building will be closed and sold off.
No adult groups were currently using the hall, with only the youth group and messy church holding sessions there. However, it was recognised its current state was not attractive and this was why they were trying to bring up to standard where it is an attractive venue
At this point there was a big question if there was sufficient support from the village and if the Chapel would not be used in the future, then would all the effort be for nothing – currently membership is very low and within a few years it could be the building has no support.
Chair advised that he had personally always supported the idea of a community venue / village hall and he felt the Parish Council would absolutely support the project and would endorse or provide references to any grant applications.
In finishing Mrs Fenton advised that it would be great if they knew the village supported them – they had carried out surveys in the past and it was clear residents wanted to keep the chapel in the village, but firm ideas and support was lacking.

Resolved Cllrs agreed that the Parish Council would use social media and its website to reach out to residents and get their views and if they would support the chapel by using it in the future.

Members of the chapel were a small group of people who looked after the building for a number of years now and who had been trying to carry out urgently needed renovations, however this had been hampered by different ministers coming and going, each with different ideas

Following the pandemic, the members had taken the decision to take over the restoration – a decision had been taken to restore rather than replace as the latter was too much for such a small group.

The hope was to create a community venue which would be used by the residents but this needed support from the community and the fear was without this, the building will be closed and sold off.

No adult groups were currently using the hall, with only the youth group and messy church holding sessions there. However, it was recognised its current state was not attractive and this was why they were trying to bring up to standard where it is an attractive venue

At this point there was a big question if there was sufficient support from the village and if the Chapel would not be used in the future, then would all the effort be for nothing – currently membership is very low and within a few years it could be the building has no support.

Chair advised that he had personally always supported the idea of a community venue / village hall and he felt the Parish Council would absolutely support the project and would endorse or provide references to any grant applications.

In finishing Mrs Fenton advised that it would be great if they knew the village supported them – they had carried out surveys in the past and it was clear residents wanted to keep the chapel in the village, but firm ideas and support was lacking.

Resolved Cllrs agreed that the Parish Council would use social media and its website to reach out to residents and get their views and if they would support the chapel by using it in the future.