i) What is Clifton Village Hall?
Clifton Village Hall is a familiar local landmark to people in the Clifton
area of South Nottingham, and an attractive listed building. It was built
in 1871 and for around 90 years housed a school. It was left to the local
community by the Clifton family in the early 1960s when the school closed,
and since then has served as a local centre for a wide range of activities.
It is operated as a charitable trust (registered charity number 237468)
and is located on Clifton Village Green on the outskirts of Nottingham,
adjacent to the Clifton housing estate (once one of the largest estates
in Europe), many of whose residents use the Hall. For forty years the local
community has maintained the Hall using their own resources, and kept it
open and available to all. Now, however, the Hall is in need of substantial
refurbishment if it is to be kept open for the benefit of future generations.
ii) How have we defined our project?
In 2001/2002 a group of local residents, aided by consulting engineers and
a retired resident architect with considerable experience of renovating
Victorian buildings, have been considering options for the future of the
Hall. These options have ranged from carrying out basic repairs only (£39k)
to the construction of a new Hall (well over £450k). The views of
local people have been sought via consultations and questionnaires and the
options have been discussed at public meetings. The preferred path, which
is heritage based and has the full backing of the local community, is now
defined, and we are in the process of raising £198k to enable us to
implement our series of proposals.
The local community is able to fund raise and will continue to generate
considerable funds, but we need external help. The sum required to complete
our project is:-
STAGE 1a High priority repair work and visual improvements: £45k
STAGE 1b Other repair work to secure long term future of Hall £55k
STAGE 2 Modernisation of hall including disabled provision: £78k
STAGE 3 Provision of car park facilities: £20k
Total: £198k
iii) How will we fund our project?
A business plan has been produced which involves the project being completed
in a number of stages. Each stage is divided into work packages and will
only be commenced once the funding needed for that stage has been secured.
Stage 1a of our project involved high priority restoration work. This involved work to maintain water tightness of the property, alleviate potential structural or material degradation and damage, address health and safety issues and provide visual improvements such as a new false ceiling to greatly improve the internal appearance of the Hall. This stage cost £45k. We have obtained the funds to complete this stage and the work has been completed.
Stage 1b of our project involves additional work, which will secure the fabric of the building for the long-term future. It includes a relaying of the roof of the building with original slates (the roof has never been relaid), additional treatment of external facades, additional stonework repairs, and repairs to fencing as recommended by our surveyors GNA. This stage also includes £5k for a project to digitise and make available via display boards as many as possible of the hundreds of available heritage photographs (some well over 100 years old) of the village and immediate surroundings, for the benefit and education of all who visit the Hall. These photographs exist but it is rarely possible to display them to the public. The Village Hall is an ideal venue for a permanent exhibition of them, with related historical descriptions. This stage will cost £55k. We have just been awarded a ‘Your Heritage’ lottery grant for £50k, but we still need to find another £5k to complete funding of this stage. We are currently working hard to raise the final funds for stage 1b.
Stage 2 comprises modernisation of the Hall, to bring the facilities up to standards expected in the 21st century. This involves demolition of the existing link corridor and rear extension, construction of new toilets (including disabled toilets), an extension to the existing kitchen, an improved heating system, and alterations required under the disability discriminations act 1995. This stage will cost £78k.
Stage 3 consists of construction of a car park, which will also provide improved disabled access to the building. This stage will cost £20k.
John Hooley
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