01/12/2023
IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT WOOLSTON COMMUNITY CENTRE
The centre is a popular venue for a wide range of activities in the daytime and evenings. In a typical 12 month period we provide facilities for 24 different user groups. In addition, we have Southampton Day Services and the Shore Pre-School with us throughout the year, providing essential services. We also host many family parties at weekends.
The centre is managed by volunteers from Woolston Community Association, who give of their time to keep this essential facility open and available for the whole community. Some of the volunteers have been doing this since 1992, when a group of concerned residents saved the building from demolition, revived a passive WCA and gained charitable status in the process. This started the ball rolling and the learning curve was steep, but here we are today with a firmly established, financially secure and safe place for the use and benefit of our community. In order to safeguard the future of the centre, we really need to attract new faces with fresh outlooks, enthusiasm, and determination to carry the legacy forward. It would be a great shame and an immeasurable loss to our community if the centre is allowed to wither in the coming years through lack of support.
The centre committee meet on the first Monday of the month to discuss and attend to all issues involved in the day to day management of the centre. Attendance is open to all who wish to contribute to the continued well being of the centre. If you are unsure whether you would be able to help, you are welcome to come along to a meeting with no obligation and see how it all works.
A matter of great importance right now is finding replacements for two important posts. Our retiring treasurer Abi McGough is working with a prospective candidate, who we hope will be able to take up this role. We are also seeking someone to succeed Ann Lowe in the role of Booking Secretary to organise the allocation of rooms, dates and times to user groups, so that the centre is used as much and as efficiently as possible.
There are many other smaller tasks that are essential to keep the centre ticking over e.g. being a keyholder, meeting and greeting new user groups, arranging annual services for equipment and systems, obtaining quotes and placing orders with contractors and carrying out minor repairs in house. As is often said, every little helps!
The intention is to circulate this message as widely as possible. You can help spread the word by passing this message on to anyone you think might be interested in helping to keep this centre at the heart of our community.
It has to be said, that unless we can fill the crucial posts of treasurer and booking secretary quickly, there is a very real prospect that Woolston Community Centre would not be able to function and we would have no choice but to cease activities and close to the public.
Thank you for taking the time to read this rather long-winded but very important news.
