A church and a community hall in Brighton have been given grants totalling £110,000 in the days leading up to Christmas.
The two community organisations that serve the Prestonville area have been given the money by the Veolia Environmental Trust.
The trust has awarded them the grants to improve community facilities in the area.
St Luke’s Church has been awarded £75,000 to enable it to begin the first phase of a building project to make the church more accessible for the community.
This money will be added to the cash reserved from the sale of the church hall to the community in 2013 so that work can begin in 2017.
This will entail the reworking of the main entrance of the church with disabled access ramps and glass doors, the provision of disabled toilet facilities and the creation of a new foyer which can be used as a separate meeting room.
The Rev Martin Poole said: “We want to provide more activities and facilities for vulnerable individuals across the city, including the elderly living alone and those who have mobility difficulties. These improvements will help us create the space to do this.
“Our plan here at St Luke’s was always to use the money we received from the sale of the church hall to further improve our building for the benefit of the people of Prestonville and we’re delighted that this grant will enable us to begin that building project.
“It’s great to be sharing this award with The Hall Get Involved group as they continue to improve the hall and we work together to make Prestonville an even better place to live.”
Exeter Street Hall has also been awarded £36,000 from Veolia to complete its Access for All project.
The funding will provide 80 per cent of the total £44,000 project cost – the other £8,000 has already been raised through fundraising.
The project, part of a five-phase programme of works, will include building a new access ramp, accessible toilet, lobby and corridor.
The grant is a major contribution to the redevelopment budget which currently stands at in excess of £100,000.
Susan Corlett, chair, said: “For the first time, the hall will be fully accessible, enabling everyone in the community to enjoy the diverse range of events and activities that we schedule.
“The addition of the lobby will help with our heating and support our aim to be energy efficient.
“The corridor will provide separate access to our community room at the rear so that it can be hired out separately from the main space. This will provide much needed regular income.
“Our vision is to bring the hall up to 21st century standards and be a destination venue in Brighton.
“We’re already getting great feedback and have been hailed ‘a hidden gem’. We’ve made great progress with a new roof and refurbished community room – but there’s a long way to go.
“Further projects will see new toilets, and improvements to the kitchen and garden.”
