The Charles Burrell Centre will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025.
We have been operating for 10 years and intend to be here for 10 more.
However, parts of the Centre were opened in 1963 and as such, we routinely have issues with water ingress, flooding and boiler problems, and face substantial maintenance costs. Like all organisations, the Centre has experienced increased costs over the past few years, with a rise in gas, electric, insurance and staff costs, not to mention the maintenance alone on such a large and old building.
The Centre is a thriving community centre that supports over 50 organisations and exists to make services more accessible, reduce rural disadvantage, raise aspirations and increase community pride. All profits are re-invested to maximise our impact as we are a charitable social enterprise accountable to our community. The Centre is a vital asset that is relied upon by dozens of organisations, with the Burrell Shop and welfare support we provide being crucial to so many.
The Roof - The former science block roof is the oldest part of the Centre, dating back to the 1960's. Due to heavy rain and a number of recent storms, water has been getting into the building at this location, impacting tenants and compromising the integrity of the building. Faced with either abandoning this whole section of the building and terminating the tenancies of a number of businesses, or fixing the problem, we decided to try to take on the expensive task and repair the roof. Any visitors to the centre will see the scaffolding on site and the repairs have been ongoing for the last few weeks.
This will cost £108,000. A huge sum for any organisation.
We are confident we can obtain external support for £50,000, but must find £58,000 ourselves. We are launching this fundraising drive to secure this money and would ask for your support with this.
Charles Burrell Centre receives no core funding (funding to cover our routine running costs) as the vast majority of our income is raised through trading, tenant lease income, sessional hire and sales through the community shop. Like any business we have to evolve and adapt to respond to increased costs and make difficult business decisions. Our focus is on continuing to provide the Centre for the benefit of our tenants and hirers and we will provide community services where funds allow and with your help we can continue to do this.