Case Study - Balmoral Community Centre
Westcliff on Sea
In April 2007, the Balmoral Community Centre, based in Westcliff-on-Sea, received a grant of £2,500 from the Southend Fund.
The Southend Fund recently held an Awards evening which was hosted by KeyMed at their offices in Southend and they asked the Balmoral Community Centre if someone could come along and say how the funding had helped them.
Stephanie Stamp who is Chairman of the Balmoral Community Centre Association Management Committee, was unable to attend, but she asked that the following letter be read out on her behalf. She says …..
“Thank you so much for the kind invitation to attend the Reception at Keymed, and for the opportunity to let those present know how much support and assistance the Balmoral Community Centre has received from Essex Community Foundation and the Southend Fund. I am so very disappointed that personal circumstances prevent my attending, but would be very grateful if you could pass on my comments.
“The Balmoral Community Centre is a two-storey purpose built building in an area of great social and economic disadvantage. In September 2005, it was abandoned by Southend-on-Sea Borough Council as part of a very painful cost-cutting exercise.
"boarding up was not an option for us"
In its 30-year history, the Centre had never been self-financing, because it was heavily subsidised by the Council, but from 1st October 2005 the Management Committee (a tiny band of volunteers) were given the stark choice of taking on the huge building on a fully repairing lease, refurbishing its dilapidated facilities, and making it stand on its own feet financially, or surrendering this one and only community facility in the area and allowing the Council to board it up. Effectively there was no choice; boarding up was not an option for us.
The mountain we had to climb quickly became very clear. The windows were ill-fitting, their frames rotten and the panes in danger of falling out ... an horrific health and safety risk with our main Hall being on the upper floor ... our boiler and heaters were ancient and not fit for purpose (in winter, the children at our Playgroup had to keep their coats on!); our toilet facilities were basic and unpleasant; our two kitchens were condemned. The scale of our problems was massive. We depleted our available funds by attending to the toilets, but had no idea how to proceed from there. We simply did not have the time to save pennies each week towards refurbishments at a later date; everything needed attention, and it needed to be done now!
Then we discovered Essex Community Foundation, and the Southend Fund.
An appeal for help with the replacement of our windows (a tragedy waiting to happen, as they are full length, extending to the floor, and a child could easily have run straight through them) brought us a truly magnificent response. Not only did we secure enough funding to give us a significant boost towards our target for the complete replacement of the windows throughout the building, but the encouragement and support we received in our desperate plight spurred us on to greater efforts in fundraising. I am not a professional fundraiser and had absolutely no previous experience in such matters. I had been wrongly advised that we would not be eligible for funding from any source as we are not a registered charity, and it was my dealings with Essex Community Foundation and our visitors from the Southend Fund that led me to understand that I had been misinformed, and this gave me the encouragement I needed to pursue other avenues on behalf of the Centre. Without this help, I dread to think how daunting our task would have been; indeed, it is difficult to see how progress would have been possible at all.
"Your support and encouragement meant more to us than you could possibly have known.”
As a direct result of the support we received in our initial hour of need, I have now been able to secure funding for refurbishments at the Centre over the last two years in the sum of around £70,000. Much has been achieved, much still needs to be done, but I know now that help is out there for projects like ours and I continue to pursue funding to ensure the future of this desperately needed and absolutely vital community facility.
Our grateful thanks are sincerely sent to the Essex Community Foundation and the Southend Fund, without whom none of this would have been achieved. Your support and encouragement meant more to us than you could possibly have known.”
The Balmoral Community Centre has continued to go from strength to strength, providing a community facility where local people and children can meet for events and activities.
More recently, they have started Saturday morning fun and fitness sessions for children from the estates around the Centre, to encourage them into healthy lifestyles and healthy eating.
