THE COMMUNITY CENTRE.
The present community Centre was opened in 1997, it replaced a wooden building on the corner of The Avenue and South Crescent which was built during World War II. The old building served the parish well but after standing for 50 years age was beginning to tell on the structure. It was decided to replace it and after demolition Greenaway Court was built on the site.
Also, with the major development to the west of the old Mining village it was decided that something more substantial and central was needed.
The ‘new’ Community Centre is at the heart of the Parish. As well as being the home of Strawberry Poppets, a day nursery rated ‘Excellent’ by OFSTED, it also hosts a number of other activities, both daytime and evening, from a Parent & Toddler group, through Kick Boxing classes to a Gentle Exercise class.
In addition to activities such as the few mentioned above, there is quite a selection of others, which are timetabled throughout the week.
A wide and varied range of events are held at the Centre, some such as Warm Wednesday and Family Fridays are held there on a fairly regular basis.
There are others, such as craft fairs, Christmas fayre, events to mark St George’s Day and St Patrick’s Day and many more are held throughout the year. Some are purely held inside but others may be both inside and in the grounds..
The Community Centre has three rooms of different sizes that can be hired out, there is also a licensed bar and a kitchen.
Both of the larger rooms can cater for Weddings, birthday parties, wakes, fayres and other events. (The main Hall is shown to the left.)
The small room is available to host meetings or small events.
This room, known as the Greenaway Room, is also the Parish Council Chamber.(Shown on the right)