Westbury Parish Hall has been serving the community of Westbury since 1873. The congregation of All Saints’ Church want to see the Parish Hall play a bigger role in community life in Westbury. It already plays an important role in nurturing young people in Westbury. It hosts Brownies, Guides, St John’s Ambulance Cadets and the weekly Friday Fun Youth Club. However its current poor condition means that it is not used as much as it should be. There is a scheme with planning permission to modernise the Hall and make it into a modern multi-purpose community space, but the congregation of All Saints’ Church don’t have the capacity to see the vision to its conclusion. Without the help of the community of Westbury, we risk losing this valuable community asset. The steering committee working on the transformation of the Parish Hall need your help. The Parish Hall could do so much more to support activity within our community with fresh leadership and a new vision. The steering committee working on this project are currently developing a new Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) to enable management of Westbury Parish Hall by the community, taking over from All Saints’ Church (Westbury Parochial Church Council). The new CIO will take over the day to day management of the Hall and spearhead its transformation into a thriving community space that the people of Westbury deserve. This form of constitution involves a membership from whom the trustees of the new charity are drawn. Members can be individuals and both incorporated and non-incorporated organisations. As a community space managed for the community, by the community, more funding opportunities are available to support the development and ongoing management of the Hall from sources such as government funds and the National Lottery Community Fund which would not be available to the Church. The steering committee working on the project are inviting organisations and individuals who might like to take part in this project and seeking new members to join the CIO at this exciting time. There is no membership fee – we are simply seeking your support to ensure the continued use of the Parish Hall as an important community space. Members will be invited to attend the Annual General Meeting and take an active role in the future direction of the Parish Hall, which is currently provisionally calling the ‘White Horse Community Hub’. Members will elect trustees from the membership at the AGM. By taking its trustees from community groups it is hoped that the Hall meets the needs of a wider range of people. Those who are interested in becoming members are invited to attend a meeting on Saturday 15 March at 10:30am in the Parish Hall. This will give potential members an opportunity to find out more about our plans and how they can get involved. If you would like to know more about the proposals for the Hall or how you or your organisation can help, please contact Beth Thomas by email beth@whtministry.org.uk.
