A church’s decade long vision to create a community centre and café in Thurnby is close to becoming a reality, thanks to a sizeable government grant.
St Luke’s Church has been awarded £250,000 by the Community Ownership Fund and the church community is excited for the future as their missional plans for the HUB begin to unfold.
The HUB will offer a place to eat and drink and meet together for the local community, alongside a range of different support services.
“Our vision is for an outreach centre and café, for the benefit of the whole community,” says Reverend Rob Miles, Rector of The Cornerstone Team. “It’s a way for us to connect with our community more closely and to seek to serve those around us - where unmet needs can be met, where we can work in partnership with others, and reach out with the love of Christ.”
At the centre of the vision is the plan to take the derelict pavilion on Manor Park and turn it into an attractive and welcoming space which can be used in a wide variety of ways. It’s potentially a great venue, both for the church, and for the local area.
The HUB is set to cost £1million, of which £720,000 has already been raised by the church and community.
Revd Rob says: “We’ve experienced some delays along the way over the last few years, as well as some remarkable examples of God opening doors for the project to move forward—and really this is just the latest of those.
“It’s such good news that we have been awarded the grant from the Community Ownership Fund, and I am delighted. It moves us significantly closer to our fundraising goal, and means we can move forward with confidence towards beginning work in 2022.”
Chair of the HUB steering group, David Chiddick, who has been driving the project in Thurnby, says: “It has been a long road to get here, with many twists and turns, but God has continually surprised us.
“Sitting here five months ago, being in need of a quarter of a million pounds, and then the Government launching a new community grant of £250,000 for the re-use of redundant government buildings - well, some might call it coincidence, but we know exactly where that came from.
“It has all been very timely - in God’s time - and it is with joy, and relief, that we can now commit to take the project forward.”