Chapel St Creative CIO awarded £177,000 to help buy and improve Centenary Hall, Chapel St, Penzance.

It’s official! After three years of tireless community spirit and teamwork, funds have been secured to keep Chapel Street’s Centenary Hall in the heart of the Community. Chapel St Creative CIO has been successful in a bid for £177,000 in grant funding from the Government’s Community Ownership Fund (COF). The sum covers 50% of the cost of buying the building (£150,000) plus a contribution to urgent repairs and installation of an accessible toilet. In addition, the CIO have been awarded a revenue grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund of £28,000 bringing the project’s total value to approximately £356,000 with Penzance Council committed to contributing up to £80,000 with most of the remainder covered by the CIO through Crowdfunder and public donations.

The Hall, belonging to the Methodist Church was put up for sale on the open market in Spring 2021. A bid from a private developer was provisionally accepted and Hall users were given notices to quit. Following a vigorous campaign by the users of the Hall and local councillors, Penzance Council and Cornwall Council intervened and the Hall was registered as an “Asset of Community Value” under the Localism Act. This intervention caused the private sector developer to withdraw his bid. Chapel St Creative CIO, set up by Hall users with charitable objects to manage the Hall, exercised the Right to Buy and agreed a purchase price of £300,000 with the Methodist Church. The sale is expected to be completed later in the year. This result stems from the coordinated effort of local community groups, local Councillors, Penzance & Cornwall Council and Derek Thomas MP.

The journey so far has been a long one for studio owners Fiona and Ben Richardson of The Big Dance Company and their family of instructors, volunteers and members, who initiated the campaign to save the historic community building by forming a group of like minded individuals, passionate about keeping this incredible space in the heart of Penzance of which so many people have come to rely on. 

Under the new ownership of Chapel St Creative CIO the community building will continue to provide a safe and secure space for current activity providers including; The Big Dance Company, Shallal, Little Fishes Parent and toddler group, IgniteYou and Sundance and host a much needed safe space for youth provision and activities. They will be welcoming a range of new and exciting inclusive groups to build community connections for  the provision of accessible and affordable activities.

Future plans also include a community cafe, youth provision space, volunteering opportunities, affordable family seasonal experiences and a performance and lecture space.

Fiona Richardson, founder of The Big Dance Company says “this last 3 years has been a rollercoaster of emotions, trying to keep everyone motivated and the dance studios running through the pandemic while trying to save the building. I just can't express enough gratitude to everyone who has helped along the way. The Centenary hall has been home to us and to so many wonderful Community groups for over 20 years and a safe haven for many families and their children. We can now get back to and focus on continuing with our work within the community and look forward to watching this space grow and bloom beyond its former glory. 

There are so many people to thank and share in our success but one person I would personally like to recognise is my husband Ben, who gave up a job that he loved in an attempt to focus fully on seeing this project through to the end. He is our hero! 

On behalf of everyone at The Big Dance Company we would also like to thank Rev. Ralph Ward and members of Chapel Street Methodist Church for their ongoing support and patience. Rev Ralph has championed for our success since taking over as Minister at the Church and we are looking forward to working together on future like minded community interest projects.``

The CIO would like to express their gratitude and recognised thanks to just some of the people and organisations involved in their journey:

The Trustees of Chapel St Creative CIO; Rob Love - Chair, Rachel Williams, Becci Gowers, Trevor Hocking, Celeste Osborne, Ben Richardson & Cllr Ben Thomas.

Councillors and Steering Group to the CIO; SPORTED for their advice and support during the process of setting up the Charity and funding applications, Chris Strike at RA Design for his architectural expertise, Mark Hamilton, Catharina Oxford Pope and Amanda Heath for campaign and bid writing support, the exceptionally devoted Dick Cliff and Cllr Jim McKenna for their impeccable commitment and contributions to all areas of the project, MP Derek Thomas, Cllr Tim Wotton, previous Mayor Johnathan How and all Councillors who voted in favour of the Town Council Bid including the now current Mayor, Cllr Stephen Reynolds.

Publicity: The Cornishman, Heart FM, Talk funding & Kyle Richardson Media.

Public donations and grant funding: Crowdfunder platform, The BDC Family, Danzaction Charity and everyone in the community who pulled together and very generously donated throughout the Covid Pandemic when times were so uncertain, local businesses who promoted the campaign and supported the online auction.

The Architectural Heritage Fund for their revenue grant, The Community Ownership Fund (COF) from Cornwall Council for recognising the importance of keeping the Hall in the Community by generously match funding the project and the Town Council, as part of Penzance Council's budget setting back in January, the Council included an additional £80,000 in this year's budget to provide funding towards the purchase of Centenary Hall, on condition of Chapel St Creative CIO being successful in their bid to the Government’s Community Ownership Fund (COF).

“It’s great news that Chapel St Creative have succeeded in their bid. The Centenary Hall is an iconic building in the heart of town and with enormous potential to become a vibrant and vital community space for present and future generations. Congratulations to everyone involved in what has been a magnificent community fund-raising effort to secure its future.” (Mayor of Penzance; Cllr Stephen Reynolds)

“It’s been an absolute privilege to work with everyone involved with Chapel St Creative CIO  over the last two years, in their efforts to raise the money to purchase the Centenary Hall. Well now they’ve succeeded! Once purchased and refurbished, the Hall will cater for people of all ages and will include desperately needed, dedicated and safe space for young people. Brilliant news for everyone associated with the project and for Penzance!!”  (Jim McKenna, Independent Cornwall Councillor, Penzance Promenade)

“IgniteYou are absolutely overjoyed with the successful news regarding the COF funding to support the purchasing of Centenary Hall. For IgniteYou it means that we can carry on using the central Penzance hall for our inclusive dance sessions and reaching some of the most vulnerable in the community.” (Becci Gowers; IgniteYou CIC)

“The hall is a great space for the Little Fishes toddlers group to meet, it gives a safe space with enough room for children to play and their parents and grandparents to meet and catch up. There are limited other spaces in Penzance which would be suitable for the group” (Little Fishes parent & toddler group)

Chapel St Creative CIO have now completed the sale and invite the community to continue supporting the project to help get the building beyond its former glory and make it the number one hub in Penwith for community groups, activity providers and The Performing Arts.

If you would like to get in touch, volunteer, donate to the cause, join one of the groups, find out about delivering your own group or activity or just keep up with progress of the project, visit their facebook page, pop an email over or simply drop by from September when the doors reopen. 

www.chapelstcreative.org / chapelstcreative@gmail.com