Help Insulate Our Community Building

Aim

To install extra levels of insulation to the new Community Building to make it better for the environment & reduce our bills.

Friends of Victoria Park

We are The Friends of Victoria Park, Stretford, and we are the group who look after the community's interest in, and run community events in the park. We formed in 2001 and are now a registered charity. The picture below is from one of our community clubs [The Monday Night Craft Club / Helen's Melons - don't ask!] that operated out of the old Community Building and will start up again once we have the new Community Building.

What we are doing - the Background

Ever since we were granted access to the old Community Building from Trafford Council [almost 10 years ago] we knew we needed a bigger, brighter, safer, more modern, space and as such we started planning how to get a new building. We are now on the cusp of realising our dream as we are weeks away from starting demolition. - UPDATE - The Old Community Building is now gone as of 4th May! This new Community Building will allow us to operate a new way of funding our park through the community cafe [The Tearoom] and the hire of the Community Room with all profits to be ploughed back into park improvements and community events and running the Community Building.

The Community Room will also allow us to improve our Community Group offerings to further Stretford's community cohesion. The Friends of Victoria Park have been granted funding from Trafford Council for £120,000.00 and we raised a further £30,000.00 from our crowdfunder last summer and it leveraged a further £22,500.00 from Trafford Council.

What's happening next?

The Friends of Victoria Park have been beavering away in the background to get this project moving [There is so much red tape involved!] and we are still hopeful that we can complete the build this summer. The Building has now been demolished as of the 4th May and groundworks should commence in a few weeks time.

Building Progress

We are still short of total funds [approx £50k] for the completed building and furnishing, and we are waiting to hear back from a funding application which would ensure we had enough to finish the building to the high standards we want - but we are pressing ahead as we want to get this built, as we need the facility for so many other things to slot into place - we have such exciting things coming to the park - we can't wait to share them with you. If anyone wants to pop the last £50k into the build - just let us know!!!

These are the plans for the ground floor of the new Community Building

Why we are crowdfunding again?

We didn't want to come back to you with the begging bowl so soon after our amazingly successful crowdfunder last year - but an ideal opportunity emerged for us that we could not resist. We saw that Marks & Spencer were interested in supporting environmentally sustainable campaigns through Crowdfunder UK so we submitted an expression of interest to use this funding to upgrade our building insulation for the walls, roof, and floor, so that we are better for the environment and have lower heating costs forever. This will build upon the building's sustainability aspects we have already in place from the last crowdfunder and ensure that our building is as 'green' as possible. M&S liked our project and we were selected to take part.

M&S will give £5k to the project that raises the most money during this 4 week campaign and £5k to the project with the most individual supporters. [We can only win one of these!]. There are 15 campaigns that have been selected across the country. You've got to agree it's great odds - We can win this Stretford! 

This extra money from M&S, if we can win it, will mean that we can get closer to our perfect building much sooner, and if we don't win it - we still get increased insulation to the building - we win no matter what!

Thank you!

This project successfully funded on 27th May 2019