A community centre has expanded its services after the opening of a new extension, bringing a boost to the local community and improving access to public services.
The extension to St Paul’s Centre in Spennymoor has been possible following £50,000 from Durham County Council and £37,000 from the Local Networks Town and Village Funding.
Cllr Liz Maddison and Cllr Pete Molloy also each contributed £5,000 through their Neighbourhood Budgets, along with former councillor Luke Holmes.
The centre provides support to the local community through wellbeing groups, art and photography sessions, dementia support, money advice, and activities for children during the summer holidays.
The venue is also home to two businesses, with The Café @ St Paul’s Centre providing homemade food and cakes, and Damascus Road Technical Services supplying lighting, sound and visual equipment to the region.
The new extension has created an additional room that can be used as a meeting room, activity room, foodbank storage, or expand the already existing GP referral facility. The further activity space will also allow the centre to welcome more participants to its exercise classes.
The centre may now even be able to provide further groups, bringing the community together and enhancing the building as a central access point to support.
Cllr Karen Allison, Cabinet member for leisure, tourism, regeneration and high street, said: “It’s great to see this asset to the community expanding its offer and bringing further support to the people of Spennymoor following our funding boost.
“We’re looking forward to seeing how the many community groups that use the venue will be able to make additional use of the new space that the extension offers.”
Jason Turnough, Durham County Council’s local networks coordinator, said: “This is a fantastic boost to the St Paul’s Centre which provides a variety of innovative projects to support the local community. The community centre is a key resource for residents in Spennymoor and the surrounding area, and the extension will allow a variety of new groups and users to access the facility.” The present centre replaced the Parish Hall in 2010, which had been in place since the 1960s. St Paul’s Centre is a registered charity and has an annual footfall of almost 34,000.
Spennymoor's local community newspaper.
