Community Building Due to Open
On Saturday 28 November 2009, the residents of Gotham and the surrounding area will celebrate when the Mayor of Rushcliffe, Cllr Peter McGowan, unveils their revamped community hall. The ceremony will take place at 12.00 noon and between 3.00pm and 5.00pm, the hall’s doors will be open and visitors will get the chance to enjoy afternoon tea and cake, tour the new hall and library, and see the sponsored wall of signatures, which features over 100 engraved bricks sold to raise funds for the project.
The £200,000 project has transformed the village’s former youth centre into a comfortable, modern, environmentally friendly centre for the whole community to use, day and night, throughout the year. It now features a new entrance and rooms, a part-time library, a community café, and space for indoor sports/keep fit activities. The building’s facilities and services have also been upgraded so that they are more efficient and environmentally friendly. Funding for the work came from several sources, including WREN and The Veolia Environmental Trust, with the two organisations awarding a total of £80,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund.
Other funders include East Midlands Airport, The Co-operative Community Fund, E-on, Gotham Parish Council, Awards for All, The Bernard Sunley Foundation, The Garfield Weston Foundation, the On-Fire Fund, Nottinghamshire County Council, Rushcliffe Borough Council and the Keepmoat Fund. WREN’s Nottinghamshire Project Manager, Cheryl Raynor says, ‘I'm really looking forward to the opening of this revamped centre on Saturday.As Project Managers we try to attend as many opening events as possible. This is one I am particularly looking forward to’
The hall and eleven acres of recreation ground were given to the village in 1922 as a War Memorial. Since then, it has been re-built and extended three times responding to the needs of the time and available funds. In 1969 a Youth Centre was provided via a government scheme to provide facilities for young people. This closed over 10 years ago due to lack of demand, and it became the financial responsibility of the Gotham Memorial Hall and Recreation Ground Trust. The youth centre room has recently been used on a temporary basis by a Boxing Club.
The building’s poor conditions and defunct heating system has meant that other lettings of the hall have ceased. An extension was built to provide a satellite doctors surgery, and one room is rented by Nottinghamshire County Council’s Library Service to provide a part-time library. Both these services are very important to the local community and provide vital income for the Trust. Both organisations have asked to rent more space, which is not possible in the current layout. It is planned that the refurbishment will address this problem. The new hall features three multi-purpose rooms, including a resource and educational area and part-time library, a medium sized meeting room and community cafe with a new kitchen, and an upgraded room for indoor sports/keep fit.
A new purpose-built entrance has also been created. All the building’s toilet facilities have been upgraded so that they use less water and are accessible to all. New suspended ceilings and energy efficient insulation have also been installed. Finally, the plumbing, heating and lighting systems have been improved to cut running costs, create a pleasant ambience and reduce the building’s environmental impact. Environmentally friendly ‘Sun Pipes’ light rooms with sunlight and a natural ventilation system has been installed to provide an energy-efficient alternative to traditional mechanical ventilation systems.
