Fantastic response to town hall appeal (From Cotswold Journal)

Fantastic response to town hall appeal

4:30pm Friday 1st February 2013 in News By Freya Leng

IT has stood in the centre of Chipping Campden for 800 years as a jail, school and even a fire station.

But now the Grade II listed town hall in the High Street is to have a £120,000 refurbishment thanks to generous donations from trusts, organisations and residents.

Work started on January 3 to install a new disabled toilet, new men’s toilet and enlarged kitchen along with an additional toilet in the former clerk’s office in the lower town hall.

The Town Trust, which runs the town hall, launched the fund-raising appeal in February last year after its chairman felt it needed updating.

So far, nearly £86,000 has been raised in donations from residents and organisations including the Landfill Trust, the Campden Society, the Community Trust, the Honourable Major Smith Trust, the Somerfield Trust and the town council.

Clive Constable, chairman of the town trust, which is also donating £40,000 to the project, said he had been overwhelmed with the response.

“Without these [donations] we wouldn’t have been able to go ahead,” he said. “The work had to be done anyway.

It was a major worry when the country is in recession.

“We’re over the moon. I couldn’t have wished for a better response and as the chairman I sincerely thank everybody who is involved including a man who’s helped me enormously, Robert Moore.

“Without his help I honestly don’t think we would have got half way to where we’ve got now.”

Campden building firm Pyments is carrying out the work, which is expected to be completed by the end of March.

The town hall is currently used by a variety of groups including film clubs, dance classes, yoga, bridge and chess clubs, art societies and country and antique markets as well as town council meetings.