To many residents of Burngreave, Vestry Hall is the physical evidence of the changes New Deal has made to the area. When we took it over the building had suffered from a substantial period of neglect and required a full internal and external refurbishment to allow it to become the vibrant heart of the community.
The transformation has been spectacular from the photo in the left corner, through the dereliction years (far right) to the reemergence as a modern community building which serves the whole community in 2007 (top).
Since its re-opening Vestry Hall has become a major local centre for learning with many of our residents passing through its doors as they seek to improve their skills allowing them to achieve their aims and aspirations. It has not all been about learning and working though – we have seen a number of celebrations from children’s birthday parties to wedding celebrations for a number of the communities in Burngreave, who want to hold their celebration locally. We of course are only too happy to accommodate these celebrations.
The Hall has recently had a new occupier as many of you will remember from previous issues we are working with Launchpad to develop a number of social enterprises at Vestry Hall including the opening of the Corner Egg Café in the hall which is open every day from 9 am and offers a daily special and the usual sandwiches etc. This is something that has been often requested by the residents and now is being run with charitable aims.
To help us work with the community we have established the Friends of Vestry Hall working group to enable New Deal to understand what the community require from Vestry Hall. The meetings to date have been very productive in generating new ideas to enable us to increase usage of the Hall. Get in touch if you would like to be involved.
We are still offering our BOGOF promotion at Vestry Hall – so if you book a room you can have the same room at no cost for your next event and we are able to offer local groups the use of our small meeting rooms at the excellent rate of £10.00 per hour (for the first 2hours). We also encourage the community and organisations to use the facilities so offer discounts to residents and community groups.
Telephone 213 3800.
