Annual Report 2022
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At the Wistaston Memorial Hall & Community Centre AGM held on 31st March 2022, the Trustees’ Annual Report including a proposal to rebuild the Hall was accepted. A New Build Committee was set up and project initiation started in April 2022.
The project team are being assisted by the charity Cheshire Community Action (CCA), which provides an advisory service for village and community halls in Cheshire and is part of Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE).
New Build Project Team
  • The New Build core project team consists of 6 Hall Trustees, Diane-Heather Edge-Robinson, Bill Heath, Bob Squirrell, Judy Gratton, Diane Houston and Anne Vetter.
  • Terms of Reference for the project were approved by Trustees on 29th September 2022.
  • Meetings increased to bi-monthly from November 2022 to include an evening meeting to allow people who have day-time commitments to join the committee on a permanent or one-off basis.
  • Stephen Wright, grant application expert, joined the committee December 2022 (see Funding).
Consultations
  • During the year the team visited new build halls at Worleston (12/08) and 5 Villages Mollington (18/10) and met with Wistaston Scout Group (19/07) to gain design ideas and to learn from their experiences of building their halls.
  • On 19th July 2022, members of the committee met with James Bancroft, Principal of Wistaston Church Lane Academy, to discuss options for the rebuilding project and the potential benefits for the Academy, particularly regarding carparking and the safety of the children at the start and end of the school day. Increasing the amount of carparking available, rebuilding the hall, and maintaining the facilities of the bowling green and tennis courts will require additional land. The possibility of relocating the tennis courts onto the school playing field was discussed and positively received by James Bancroft. On 16th December 2022 members met with Darren Sumner from the school trust, The learning for Life Partnership. Darren is the Estates and Compliance Manager for the trust. School Principal James Bancroft also attended the meeting on what was a very cold day. Darren could see benefit to the school in terms of use of tennis courts and also giving back to the community. Biggest challenge for school is car parking and increase in parking spaces by moving the tennis courts onto school land seen as a major benefit. Next step Darren to speak to Trustees. 
Funding
  • Training – On 19th May 2022, Diane Houston and Bob Squirrell attended CCA training on Capital Funding. On 26th September 2022 Diane Houston attended CCA training “How to write and develop exceptional grant funding applications” run by Stephen Wright.
  • On 29th September 2022 Diane Houston contacted Laura Myles, Funding Officer for the Cheshire team of The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF), for initial funding advice.  Laura explained for our project that it would be highly unlikely for TNLCF to be able to support a Capital Project of £700,000 - £1m because the allocation of funds they have to distribute for Cheshire East is only around £1.2 million a year. If we were to apply for above £500,000 this would have to go before the England Committee to make a decision rather than the local team, with a lower chance of success. Thus, even though we may be successful with the TNLCF, we will have a funding shortfall and will need to explore other funding options.
  • Stephen Wright, a grant application expert, was engaged In December to help write the application for funding to TNLCF. Stephen has successfully worked with Worleston, Warmingham and Audlem Village Halls to obtain their grants from the TNLCF. 
Design
  • The project team met on 13th September 2022 to document design ideas from our village hall visits and recommendations from ACRE and TNLCF.
  • On 22nd September 2022 Diane Houston had an initial meeting with Bower Edleston, Nantwich architects who designed new village halls including Worleston. Their costs are 6% of the build cost. Their advice, next step to have a Topographical Survey of our site to accurately measure the land and levels.  
Structural Survey
  • ​As required for our TNLCF grant application to establish if it’s an option to refurbish the Hall, a structural survey was completed by Alan McKeown of Plum Stone Surveyors on 10th November 2022. The report concluded “It is fully appreciated that all efforts should be made to repair and restore buildings before considering rebuilding. However, the extent of structural defects, combined with the lack of sustainable quality and hazardous materials present means that any redevelopment project would not be economically viable”. This survey was completed free of charge so a big thank you to Alan. 
Communications
  • The Roundabout, the magazine distributed to all households in Wistaston, has been used to communicate updates on the project during 2022.
  • A New Build Project page has been added to the Wistaston Memorial Hall website and a dedicated project email address, [email protected], created.
  • Jonathan White agreed to manage project communications from December 2022
Finances
​There was no project income and expenditure in 2022.
Plans for 2023
  • Arrange Topographical Survey
  • Conduct Community Consultation Questionnaire
  • Request Letters of Support from Hall hirers
  • Perform Options Appraisal in line with TNLCF guidelines
  • Engage architect to draw up plans for chosen new build option
  • Approach Cheshire East Planning for planning permission for new build option
Other Rebuild Project Reports
Annual Report for 2023
​Annual Report for 2024 up to 30th September 2024
​Rebuild Project Background
​Rebuild Project Latest News
​Information regarding the progression of the project will be published on the website and in local communications.
If you would be interested in being involved in  the Rebuild project, we would love to hear from you.  Contact us at [email protected]