In December 2007, we were informed that we had been selected to make a stage two application to the Big Lottery Fund (BLF).  200 applicants had been selected from an initial  total of 1600, to proceed  with a more comprehensive stage two application, which required a great deal more work, and we had until September 2008 to complete this.

Ruth Bonney, BLF Grants Officer, visited us on 8th January 2009 to see for herself the facilities that have been lost over the years  for community  use, and also to visit the buildings currently in use in the village, a tour that also included the proposed site. She informed us that the judging panel met on the 22nd March, and we would be informed of the outcome the following day.

In a twist to the plot, we had been informed by WRG WREN that our funding offer only lasted until October 09, (two year timescale) and this meant that there was a real urgency to proceed with the project as soon as possible. In consultation with Ruth Bonney, our BLF Grants Officer,  we were actually given the go-ahead to start the design and build tendering procedure in the second week of January,  six weeks before we would know the outcome of our bid on 23rd March, and several weeks ahead of the official release date of 30th March.  A Project Manager has been appointed, his name is Howard Parkin, F.R.I.C.S. who is at  present principal quantity surveyor at South Derbyshire District Council.

We are at the moment well into the project, which is running on schedule. The next milestone is the return of the tender documents on the 17th April.

For more information on the Big Lottery Fund
go to  www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Four local companies have been selected to tender, they are -

Bowmer & Kirkland

Radleigh

Tomlinsons

Davlyn Construction

More

Back

Page 1  2  3  4

New Village Hall is on its way

The quest for a Village Hall has become a serious issue, as many of the former meeting places in the village have been lost to the community because of maintenance issues, being sold for conversion into houses or because of Health & Safety regulations.

The new Village Hall will  be the first building in the village to have disabled and disadvantaged persons provision designed in.  It will provide excellent new facilities for the 25+ clubs and groups to use. It will provide many new facilities that have been asked for by the user-groups, that will enable them to expand and extend their services, encouraging many more people to become involved in community activities.  Designed to operate with minimal running costs, the new hall will be heated by an Air Source Heat Pump, new technology which operates similar to a fridge in reverse.  It’s main attribute being that for every 1kw of electrical energy it consumes it produces 3kw of useable heat energy.  This coupled with a high specification of

insulation will give the hall an excellent energy efficiency rating.  The new car park, which is constructed of porous asphalt, was completed in May 2007 by Bardon Construction.  There is no drainage system, as surface water drains through the whole of the tarmac surface in a similar way to a normal grass surface.  It has already been used for youth activity days, a car boot sale, and rescued the Carnival Day, back in the wet summer of 2007.