PARISH CENTRE


STONEGRAVELS

A ‘Potted’ History

From Christ Church School to Christ Church Hall to

The Parish Centre



 The Centre was originally a Victorian School and headmasters house built in 1870 at the same time as the adjacent church and vicarage.

It housed the church school until it moved to another nearby site in 1969. The building was then purchased back by the church for a church hall, which it has remained and has been used for church activities, a playgroup, youth club and birthday parties since then.

In 1999 a number of our church members had a vision of turning our church hall into a centre for the local community. By this time the hall had become quite run down, it still had no indoor toilets! It needed a lot of work carrying out to make it into the centre that we envisaged. Our first ‘job’ was to install indoor toilets, this we did with a CHART grant early in 2000. We decorated the Hall and carpeted several rooms and then set about encouraging activities into the building. Our first success was the running of basic computer courses through the Coalfields Vocational Training Project. They then put on Basic First Aid and Basic Food Hygiene courses - we were then on our way and have never looked back since.

Two further toilets, part central heating and some electrical work was completed in the first half of 2001, with the help of a grant from Coalfields Regeneration Trust. In March 2001 our dear friend Mr Denis Broomhead who had purchased and lived in the headmasters house attached to the centre, died. We decided that we could not let the house go, and obtained an interest free loan from Derbyshire County Council to purchase it.

Funding for the major refurbishment was finally secured in March 2002 with grants from SRB5, ERDF and Chesterfield Borough Council. These are for both capital and revenue - we intend to employ a Centre Co-ordinator, part time administrator and a cleaner. We as a church also have to raise £40,000 as our contribution - this will be raised between now and 2005 from lettings of the Centre, so there is still much work to be done. Building work began on 12 August and is scheduled to finish in mid November 2002.

We have already offered a wide range of activities including, computer courses, various first aid and basic food hygiene courses, Tai-Chi, Gentle Exercise, Aromatherapy and Massage, Healthy Living, Writing a Business Plan, Working with Children, Time Management, Parenting Skills, Local History Group etc.

Future Plans include Digital Arts for 11-19 year olds, Drama Group, Toy Library, Horticultural Courses, Wildlife Project and much, much more.

Update 2010

 The Parish Centre, formerly Christ Church School, was purchased by the church in 1969 when the school moved to its present site. It was used as a church hall until 1999 when members of Christ Church had a vision to provide facilities and meeting space for the local community. Following much hard work and help from the Community Economic Development Team funding in excess of £500,000 was obtained from The European Regional Development Fund, The Coalfields Regeneration Trust and Chesterfield Borough Council to refurbish the building. Work was completed in December 2002 and the centre re-opened in January 2003. The centre, which is self-funding, is available for hire seven days per week and is run by a management team consisting of members from both churches. Two part time administration members of staff cover the centre from 9.00 – 5.00 on weekdays and a dedicated team of volunteers – mainly the management team, cover evenings and weekends, a part time cleaner is also employed.

A wide variety of activities take place in the centre including: health, well-being and exercise groups, a luncheon club for the over 70’s (staffed mainly by church members), local history group, computer classes etc; between 30 and 35 activities take place each week. There are also six offices available for hire within the centre, at present two are rented by Chesterfield Time Bank and Church on the Bus, the others are in the process of being re-decorated and will be available for hire again by mid summer 2010.