The Aylesbury Society....
caring for all the town's built environment.
Aylesbury Methodist Community Centre Project (MCCP)
How did it all start?
It all started with the back door. Four years ago, it came off its hinges and the problem was raised in a discussion in the Property working group. One thing led to another. People said, well, while we are doing the door., what about the state of the loos. While we are about that, the reception is not very good, it should be where people come in, given the place is in use 7 days a week by all sorts of community based groups, we need to give them a place that is fit for purpose.
Where are we now?
Well, the Methodist Church in Aylesbury is located in Buckingham Street, near Coopers Yard car park. The Community Centre attached to it is in use 7 days a week by many different groups www.aylesburymethodists.org.uk, click on Community Centre, then Redevelopment Scheme for more information).
Four years after the initial discussions about repairing a back door started, we are looking at a major redevelopment of our town centre premises to help us continue to expand our work with those in need of community based support. Provisional plans are being drawn up to bring the premises into the 21st Century and to provide Aylesbury Town Centre with a real centre for all the communities who are based there.
What goes on there today, then?
The centre is open to all and includes a parent and toddler group, uniformed and non-uniformed youth groups, youth drug and alcohol addiction counselling, Child Contact Centre, an Asian women’s project, blood donor sessions, a Fair Trade shop, a ten weeks long charity Christmas card shop, Cruse bereavement counselling, a six-days a week coffee bar, a weekly Smarter Café for informal adult computer learning and two day centres for referred elderly patients.
How do we see that developing when the project is complete?
New work the scheme would enable us to start in partnership with a range of agencies include a ‘One Stop Shop’ of advice and help on virtually everything for young people, extension of our Parent and Toddler Group, a Baby Café, and training of disadvantaged young people towards a qualification. Fitting out will be to 21st Century standards (AV/PC support included), thus providing the town with a community base it can be proud to use.
What is being done, then?
The building work involves:
- Modernising our mainly 1920’s premises to provide a lift and other improved facilities for the disabled and parents with young children
- Replacing windows, heating, lighting, toilets and kitchens to modern standards
- Increasing our capacity by 30% by extensions, new corridors and partitions
- Providing a suite of attractive, safe and secure town centre meeting rooms.
How is it being funded?
Our risk analysis shows us that the biggest threat to the scheme would be failure to attract sufficient external funding. Two thirds of the money will come from local and national Methodist sources and we are already confident of achieving 95% of this. The remaining third will be sought from a variety of national and local charities and grant awarding bodies, including local authorities and partner organisations. This process is being helped by a rigorous cost-saving exercise with our architects.
Who supports what is going on here?
Enthusiasm for the scheme has been expressed by local, district and national Methodist review bodies, local press and radio, county, district and town councillors, as well as existing and potential new partners. These partners have well documented research on the needs for their services in this area of rapid population growth.
When is it going to happen?
Implementation plans are currently on track to go to tender at the start of 2006, begin work in summer 2006 and reopen in the summer of 2007. During the building phase we will be working with the contractor to temporarily re-house some of our activities in the church and find alternative arrangements for our other user groups. Church services may be held at St Mary’s church, just a few streets away and for that we are most grateful to our friends at St Mary’s for their kind and supportive offer.
Conscious of the need to be fully accountable for the use of public and charitable monies, we have signed up to the Faithworks Charter (www.faithworks.info), a quality standard of best practice for the delivery of community services by faith-based organisations. With this plus the extensive project management experience of our Steering Group and a proven track record of many years of service to all sectors of our community, we are confident in our ability to deliver this project on time and within budget, thereby strengthening the infrastructure of our revitalised town centre.
Want to help at all?
This is an exciting project, funded by the efforts of local people alone and likely to cost many hundreds of thousands of pounds to deliver over the next two years. If you feel you can help in any way towards achieving our goals by contributing your time (do you have professional or trade skills and the time to help us out) or money, we would love to see you. Why not pop into the Methodist Church on Buckingham Street any morning between 10.00 and 12.00, we have a cup of coffee waiting and more detail on the scheme if you are interested.
Kevin Hardern
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