Chilton Miners Welfare Recreation Ground (Charity Trust) has this week announced a £172,895 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to restore the Welfare Pavilion.
Once complete the building will function as a heritage centre, featuring exhibitions and a digital archive containing thousands of images, videos and documents relating to the history of Chilton and Windlestone, preserving our history for future generations and making it accessible to the wider community.
The Welfare Pavillion is one the oldest buildings in Chilton and without this funding from the Heritage Fund it would fall into a state of disrepair.
In addition, the thousands of photos, documents and stories that have been collected over the years would be lost forever without a place to store and showcase them.
With the addition of a heritage trail and a sensory garden, the Welfare pavilion will be transformed into a community hub that celebrates our rich history.
Volunteers from the local community will receive training in a range of roles from archiving to exhibition creation.
And with the inclusion of a gift shop and cafe, the project aims to be sustainable for many years to come.
Sue Reece, chair of the Trust, said: “The Miners Welfare Recreation Ground Trust is excited to be working with Ben Race of capturefilms to deliver a project that will not only ensure we continue to deliver on the original purpose of the Trust, to provide social, wellbeing and recreational activities for our former mining community.
“It will ensure we utilise Ben’s knowledge and expertise to open up access to the rich history and culture of Chilton and Windlestone, building a shared sense of local pride that underpins community cohesion and supports the town’s plans for economic development.
“I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Bryan Harris, Durham County Council’s Senior Conservation Officer, as well as Director of Collections & Programmes, Helen Barker and Sustainability Manager, Lisa Wilkinson, both from Beamish Museum, for their continued support with this project.”
Ben Race, from partner organisation capturefilms, said: “I have worked on various history projects in Chilton and Windlestone over the last seven years and I have seen first hand how passionate and proud this community is about their history.
“Chilton is a unique place with a fascinating history and we can’t wait to share these stories with everyone.”
To keep up to date with the project and find out about opportunities to be involved visit www.chiltonmwrg.org.uk.
Ferryhill & Chilton's local community newspaper.
Use to love playing ther in the sixty’s
Would be nice to see how the money is getting spent & give local businesses in the village chances to quote on the work
Just an idea
Robin Middleton we have specified in our funding bid that wherever possible we will use local contractors.
The project also has funding to train local volunteers and through linking to the heritage tourism network we hope that it will bring opportunities for local business to benefit .
Fantastic! This could be such a good community space with a little investment.
I’d be more than happy to hire a room to run workshops out of it.
Chilton Town Council