PARWICH.ORG

There was an impressive turn-out at the Memorial Hall last night for the launch of Project Parwich.   Val Stevenson began the evening by giving a presentation on “The Journey So Far“.  After giving us some useful historical background on the rebuild project, Val went on to explain the committee’s strategy in more detail, and to give us some context for the approach that is being taken.  In particular, she stressed the importance of our needing to demonstrate that a new hall will offer the potential for increased usage, from a wider range of users. 

Having already secured a development grant of £23,500, we are now four months away from our next deadline: the submission of our application for a grant of £500,000 from the Big Lottery Fund‘s Community Buildings Programme.  As applications for this programme are no longer being accepted, the message was clear: in terms of a full rebuild, it’s now or never.

If the grant application is successful – and we have every reason to feel confident that it will be – then a further £255,000 will still need to be sourced from elsewhere, in order for work to commence in Summer 2009.  Although the fund raising group (led by Brian Beasley) is working hard on this, there is still a role for the rest of the village to fulfil.  This was expanded on further by Patti Beasley, who explained the aims of Project Parwich.

As many of you will already know, Project Parwich is a twelve-month fund raising campaign by the village itself.  The idea is to raise as much money as possible, while having a good time in the process.  This will have the additional benefit of demonstrating that we are a self-organised community, who are taking an active and lively role in making the Memorial Hall project a successful one.

Last night’s suggested events included an auction of promises, a “millionaire’s night”, a 10k road run and a party/disco.  There will be many more to follow.  Ruby Hickmott is our official Events Organiser, who will be keeping a list of volunteers and putting together a calendar of events.  (You can e-mail Ruby, or phone her on 323.)  Everyone is encouraged to get involved, whether by planning their own event or by helping out at the many events that will be taking place between now and mid-2009.

The third and final speaker was Steve Riley from Marsh Grochowski Architects, who talked us through some of the current ideas for the new Memorial Hall.  Although Steve was keen to stress that the building plans were still very much at a draft stage, he was able to give us a fairly detailed glimpse at the sort of building we might expect to see.  

One particularly ingenious feature is the use of sliding walls and glass panels, which can open or close different areas of the building according to need.  In this way, a self-contained meeting room can become a dressing room for a play or pantomime, or an open plan bar/buffet area for a social function.  Generous storage areas will allow the main hall to be easily filled and cleared, and the stage area can be placed at either end (e.g. in the centre of the building for a play, or at the far end for a musical performance).  The main entrance will be via a glass-fronted foyer, while a south facing patio/garden area will also provide space for events to spill over into the outdoors, away from the car park.

Some questions were raised about the view of the building from the street, as energy efficiency demands will place most of the windows on its south side, away from the street.  Concerns were also voiced over the size of the kitchen, with a number of options being discussed.  Again, it was stressed that the design process is far from over, and that all comments will be taken into full consideration, bearing in mind the constraints of both cost and available floor space.

The meeting closed at around 10pm.  Thanks go to the Memorial Hall committee for arranging such a well-attended, lively, informative and purposeful event – and also for laying on a most welcome spread of drinks and nibbles into the bargain.