The project to rebuild the community huts in Stanwix' Church Street is gathering pace. Following last week's meeting of the Stanwix Community Association (SCA), several small working groups have been gathering information and planting "seeds". We are beginning to develop an ambitious package of grant applications and social events for the next year to meet our target: of raising a fund of up to £145,000.
But here's the rub, this needs to be a community wide effort ... not just another case of "let the usual suspects do it all".
The project is ambitious. The project is vital: to retaining pre-school and after school care within the heart of Stanwix.
As one of the "seeds" for the SCA's project, I have recently emailed everybody in my personal address book, to drum up awareness. I will also be starting up a Stanwix.info based mailing list that I would ask everybody, with an interest in Stanwix as a community, to sign up to so that we can get word, news, updates and "the craik" out quickly and efficiently.
I hope that by now you are aware of the Stanwix Community Association’s plan to rebuild the ageing and decrepit buildings that have housed our communal activities for many years. At present, there is a tiny team of about 10 or 11 people who are trying to make this happen.Like yourselves, we all have family, work and business commitments to contend with and we try to find time to meet our voluntary responsibilities for the huts as well. Not easy some times.
Next week, on Tuesday 6th October at 7:30pm there is another meeting to discuss and move the project forward.
Now that we have committed to the project, it is important that people are aware of just why this is so important to the area: especially for families with children. Crucially, we need two huts to service both Stanwix Playgroup and the Allsorts after school club. Playgroup need it as an emergency space if there is a problem with their normal hut and Allsorts simply need the space of the two huts to function with the older children.
In the playgroup’s last Ofsted, the inspectors praised the care that children received from Julie’s team but were very critical of the state of the buildings. Reading between the lines, I think they were a whisker away from condemning them for that purpose.
I outline the reasons for rebuilding the huts and bringing them up to a modern specification. They are at the very back end of their useful life now and we just happen to have a golden opportunity to rebuild with a good half of the funding already identified.
The project will however founder if there is not some more commitment from the wider community of Stanwix. We need more bodies to step up and take on some of the work.The ideal timescale is to have the work done and dusted by the time school returns next Summer. In truth, the huts may not remain serviceable that long!! The idea of Stanwix, no longer having a place for a Playgroup near the school and nowhere for an after school club while we are busy finishing off a day’s work; is not an idea I am willing to imagine. We have more than enough skills, talent and (collectively) spare time to generate the funding from grant bodies, events and dare I say it – our own pockets.
The target for our fundraising efforts is somewhere in the £130k - £145k. Sounds a lot but the pot already has more than that in potential match funding. In a community like Stanwix, surely we have the wherewithal to source that kind of money, we have the professional skills available and I am sure we have the ethos of participation that can make this project a reality.
Please take a few minutes to watch the video, please sign up to www.stanwix.info to be kept up to date with developments. PLEASE, Please, please do not leave this to “somebody else” to get their finger out; let’s all get our fingers out and make this project happen.
All the best, and I know you’ll be up for the challenge.
Ray Cassidy
Stanwix Community Association Committee
Note: I am strict about maintaining the privacy of people’s email accounts. Although his email has been sent to everybody that is on my personal email list that I think may have an interest in this project, it is blind copied (BCC) to everyone so that email addresses are not broadcast far and wide. If you trust me enough to read this please whitelist my address,
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