 |
Hebden Bridge Community Association Ltd Home | Latest news Latest News |
Posted June 2
We are holding a special event on Mon June 21st, to name the Town Hall's committee room the Greenwood Room, in honour of Joseph Greenwood, a forgotten hero of Hebden Bridge who was a nineteenth century pioneer of the cooperative movement in Britain. We're delighted to announce that Dame Pauline Green, president of the International Cooperative Alliance, will be there to undertake the renaming ceremony. More details in the two press releases we have issued today.
Posted May 17
We are organising a public consultation session next Sat (22nd) on our plans for the major new development at the Town Hall site. Read our press release here.
Posted May 14
Hebden Bridge is playing host this weekend to a visit from our friends from our twin town St Pol sur Ternoise, so what more appropriate than to fly the tricolour along with the union flag from the Town Hall? A new flagpole has been acquired by the Town Council - our thanks to them.
Posted May 12
We're sending out today to our members and Friends the May newsletter. It's also available here.
Posted May 10
How good to be able to fly the Hebden Bridge 1510 anniversary banner from our flagpole. Have you noticed it yet?
Posted May 10
We thanked Mike Denton of the Rotary Club last week for his valiant work in painting the Waterfront Hall. We ought to give a name-check to David Bell, too, who has also been dashing away with the roller brush in the past few days. Thank you to them both, and to other Rotarians who are also getting pulled in to help.
Posted May 10
Apologies if you've been trying to ring us recently on our new office phone (01422 845261) or our 0845 number for room bookings (which is routed to it). BT promised us more than a week ago to add the 1571 call recording facility to our line... but it has still not been done. They seem to have got themselves into some confusion between 01422-845261 and 01442-845261. (Read it carefully). No, our Town Hall is not in Hemel Hempstead.
Posted April 29
A big thank you to Michael Denton and other members of the Rotary Club for wielding paint brushes and rollers this week. They're helping to get our new Waterfront Hall ready.
Posted April 23
The trustees held their regular monthly meeting yesterday. We were pleased to welcome Kate, our project worker, to the meeting for the first time. Three weeks on, we are already managing to transform the recycling record of the Town Hall. We've begun for the first time to recycle paper and card, bottles, cans and plastic, milk bottle tops, and printer cartridges. (And be doing this, we're actually saving money on refuse collection costs).
Posted April 23
A busy day yesterday. Several of the trustees met our architects Bauman Lyons, our quantity surveyors BWA and consulting engineers Arup, for the usual fortnightly project meeting. We feel that we're making progress in our plans for redeveloping the land at the rear of the Town Hall.
We have agreed to hold another public consultation day on Sat May 22nd. There were also be a public briefing on the details of the plans, just before we begin the formal planning process, on Sat June 6th. We are currently hoping for our plans to be taken to the Calderdale planning committee in September.
David Burdus, who is advising us on access and disability issues, also had a meeting yesterday with a number of representatives of the community concerned with disability issues. We hope to feed the points raised there into the planning process.
Posted April 16
We formally announced last night our policy on recycling. When we took over the Town Hall on April 1st, the percentage of waste recycled was... 0%. Somehow we think we can do better. We've now instituted recycling, and have committed to have at least 50% of the waste being recycled within three months. (It's an example, we think, of how a hands-on community organisation can make a difference.)
Posted April 16
It was good to have welcome our members and Friends of the Town Hall to our special meeting last night, which we held in the main Chamber (the builders are getting on great downstairs, but what will be very soon the Waterfront Hall is not yet quite there.) We passed very quickly a resolution to make a very minor change to our legal rules, and then had a good discussion about how the Town Hall project is developing. Thanks to all who showed up.
Posted April 15
A big cheque (in both senses) was delivered today to the Town Hall by Richard Holborow, the current president of the Rotary Club of Hebden Bridge. A very big thank you to the Rotarians for their generosity and their support of our project.
Posted April 12
We have issued a press release today, about our special meeting on Thursday this week. (We see that it's already up on the Hebden Bridge community website).
Posted April 12
A warm welcome to Kate Rae, our project worker, who begins work today. And to Bev Wood, who was Calderdale's caretaker and cleaner and who were delighted to welcome into our employment.
Posted April 9
Don't forget that we've called a members' meeting for all Friends of the Town Hall, next Thurs at 7pm (7.15pm start). It'll be in the Town Hall - and will give you a chance to both see and hear what we're doing.
Posted April 9
The end of our first week! It's been busy: you'll understand why we haven't updated the diary for a few days. The builders are already in, patching the dodgy plasterwork in the council chamber, mending the hole in the roof, and converting the old housing office downstairs into what will be our new Waterfront room. And meanwhile we're getting to find our way round the building, and the fifty or so keys we have inherited from Calderdale.
(Quick postscript: we think our April fool's press release (below) might just have taken a few people in... We're pleased to say that Chuck M Heigh never showed up).
Posted April 1
Today's the day we've been working for. Today control and management of Hebden Bridge Town Hall is in the hands of the community. No kidding.
Posted April 1
A media release from the Association put out today says the following:
Hebden Bridge is to be the site of the country's first community-run casino, in a pioneering initiative announced this morning by Hebden Bridge Community Association. The development will breathe new life into the town's fine Victorian town hall, which has now passed into the hands of the Association from Calderdale.
The development involves an innovative tie-up with Las Vegas based operator Imperial Leisure Inc (I.LI ), and represents the first casino development by I.LI in Britain.
“Once again Hebden Bridge is demonstrating that it is ahead of the rest of the country. We have been planning this development for exactly a year, but have held back on the announcement until the Town Hall was safely in the hands of the Association,” says chair Peter Hirst.
The plans will bring the opportunity to play blackjack, craps and poker to the heart of Hebden Bridge. The Association has announced that the large upstairs room, currently used as the council chamber, will host a roulette table, whilst state-of-the-art fruit machines will be available for playing in downstairs areas of the building.
Under the terms of the recent asset transfer for the Town Hall negotiated with Calderdale council, the responsibility for maintaining this grade-II listed building passes to the Community Association. According to Mr Hirst, the result of the I.LI arrangement will secure the future financial sustainability of the Town Hall for many years to come.
I.LI's Senior Vice-President Chuck M Heigh III will be in Hebden Bridge town hall this morning, to seal the agreement. “We love this Hebden Bridge place which is one hellava cool town. We are looking forward to making bags of money with you guys,” says Mr Heigh.
Use of other parts of the Town Hall building by the Town and Parish councils will not be affected.
Posted Mar 31
Tonight, Calderdale's caretaker closed up the Town Hall for the last time. Tomorrow, we will open up the building - and a new chapter in the story of this landmark building will get under way.
Posted Mar 31
We have posted a new media release about the appointment of our project worker, Kate Rae.
Posted Mar 30
We have added two new media releases to the website, announcing the transfer of the Town Hall on Thursday.
Posted Mar 30
Our chair Peter Hirst and co secretary Andrew Bibby are just back from signing the formal agreement on asset transfer with Calderdale. Yes, it's happening. Yes, the transfer takes place Thursday.
Posted Mar 30
We are delighted to announce that Kate Rae has been appointed, as our part-time project worker. We hope to be able to issue a press release with more information about Kate's background and experience in the next 48 hours.
Posted Mar 28
A lot of activity upstairs in the Town Hall today. One of our trustees Robin and several members of HB Local History Society have been busy carefully boxing up old records of the town, and of the old urban district council, which have been languishing in an upstairs room for thirty years or longer. The records will be carefully looked after, and will be added to the local history society's already impressive archive.
Posted Mar 26
We interview today for our new part-time Project Worker post. We have five strong candidates: thank you to them all for their interest in the job. We will undoubtedly have a difficult decision to take, but hope to be able to advise you on the successful candidate very shortly.
Posted Mar 25
Our annual report for 2009-2010 is at the printers - but it's also available here. It aims to set out the background to what we're trying to achieve. Please download!
Posted Mar 24
Eight days to asset transfer...
Posted Mar 24
A very interesting meeting this morning with Bill Boffin, Yorkshire Forward's sector champion for the digital and new media industries. We talked about ways in which we can link Hebden Bridge up to extremely fast digital communications networks, enabling very large files to be sent within seconds around the world. There may very well be possibilities here, which could really help businesses in the digital sector in our valley blossom. More news in a few weeks, we hope.
Posted Mar 24
Our March newsletter is now online here.
Posted Mar 24
Three of our trustees (plus a friend of Sue's, who'd come for dinner and got pressed into helping out) were busy yesterday stuffing envelopes, sticking labels on them and then sticking stamps on as well. It's a slow job when you've got over 500 members to contact...
Yes, we have just done a mailing to all our Friends and members with the latest newsletter, and with the notice for our general meeting on April 15th. As you know, we usually rely on email, but this time we wanted to make sure everyone got the formal calling notice and voting form by post.
Posted Mar 22
We are calling a special general meeting of all our Friends (over 500 of you at the last count) on Thursday 15th April, at 7pm in the Town Hall. We want to be able to share with you what the trustees are doing, our plans for the Town Hall once it becomes ours to manage, and our rapidly developing business plans for the capital build at the rear of the site. We also need to make a minor change to our constitution, and would like your votes on that.
There is a rumour that April 15th could be the date of the first party leaders' election broadcast. If so, we will keep our meeting short. (Though as one of the trustees put it today, we reckon we're more interesting than those party leaders anyway...)
Posted Mar 22
It's not quite clear how two weeks have managed to go past since our last posting, given how much is going on. Maybe that's the reason: an inverse ration between how busy we are and how much gets into the diary.
We're busy because the transfer of the Town Hall into community ownership is now only ten days away; yes, we're working flat out to ensure a smooth and efficient transition on April 1st, when control of the Town Hall will pass to us. No jokes about April 1st, please!
Posted Mar 8
Our application for funding from the European Regional Development Fund for support for what we're calling Hebden Bridge Creative Quarter (facilities for small businesses in the creative and digital sectors) has reached the Outline Business Plan stage, and can be consulted on the Yorkshire Forward website.
Posted Mar 4
Details of the job vacancy here.
Posted Mar 4
We get a mention (albeit a brief one) in a press release put out today by the Dept for Communities & Local Government. (PS Someone should tell them in Westminster where Whitley Bay is...)
Posted Mar 3
Our last posting here mentioned that we are starting the process of looking for a treasurer. More information is on the press release we have issued.
We are also now in the position where we are advertising for our first, part-time, member of staff. This is an exciting step forward for us, and for the project as a whole, and it reflects the fact that we anticipate asset transfer taking place at the start of next month.
The post we are advertising is for a Project Worker, working 20 hours a week; the post is initially temporary, lasting a year. The role will involve setting up and ensuring the smooth running of administrative systems, responding to enquiries about the Town Hall, maintaining records and generally promoting the use of the Town Hall and the work of the Community Association. If you would like the application pack, please contact Peter Hirst on 01422 842551. The closing date is March 19th.
Posted Feb 26
The trustees held their usual monthly board meeting last night, and as usual we had plenty to discuss. Lots of things are happening.
One decision we made was to appoint Peter Hirst as our Chair, and Sara Robinson as our Vice-Chair. Andrew Bibby continues as our company secretary. (If you can't remember who we all are, there are details about all ten trustees here).
Talking of trustees, we're very sorry to be losing Derrick Palmer as our treasurer. Derrick has been involved in the project since the early days two years ago, when there were just a handful of us sitting around a kitchen table, dreaming dreams. Derrick has recently taken on new work commitments in London which is taking him away from Hebden increasingly. Derrick, you'll be missed.
Which means that we now actively advertising for a new hon treasurer to join us. If you would like details of the job (yes, it's a job, albeit unpaid!), please get in touch.
Posted Feb 24
We're racing towards 1st April, which is the scheduled day for the asset transfer to take place.
One of the many things on our work list is the need to finalise the wording of the legal agreements between us and Calderdale, which of course has to be got right. We're enormously grateful to Steve Nixon of solicitors Walker Morris who is acting as our adviser on this, on a pro bono basis. We've arranged this through Business in the Community's ProHelp scheme. We held a very useful meeting with Steve yesterday.
Posted Feb 18
A report of our consultation day in today's Halifax Courier, and in the HB Times.
Posted Feb 15
We had about 190 people through the Town Hall doors on Saturday, for our open consultation session on our development plans. We'd like to thank everyone who took part in what we thought was an extremely useful event. Our lovely architects are now going through all the questionnaires and comments received.
We've been asked is there's some way that people couldn't make Sat can also make comments. The answer is, of course, yes. We need somehow to get the detailed plans (which were on boards) into a format which we can put up here on the web - please give us a little time to talk to the architects about this. In the meantime, don't forget that the survey on parking is available here for you to complete (see Feb 12 entry below).
Posted Feb 15
We've issued two new press releases today, celebrating news of a £75,000 grant from the Community Builders fund and reporting on our consultation day.
Posted Feb 12
One of the things we'll be doing tomorrow at our consultation session is to invite feedback on the issue of car parking, always a controversial issue in Hebden Bridge. You'll find the trustees' statement on car parking and the Town Hall, together with a very short (2 question!) questionnaire, online here.
Posted Feb 11
Our latest press release which we issued last week can be accessed on the documents section of this website. It's a reminder about our open consultation session this coming Saturday (11am - 1.30pm) on our architects' initial plans for the new build development.
The story has been picked up in the Halifax Courier, today's Hebden Bridge Times, and the Hebden Bridge community website.
Posted Feb 10
Sorry, your diarist here has been away for a week's hols. So this is a belated chance to mention that we're pleased to be (once again) the lead story of the Hebden Bridge Times, this time with the story of our application for a licence for the Town Hall for weddings and civil partnerships. Can't seem to find the story on the HBT website, though - we'll tell you if it appears.
Posted Jan 29
We are applying for a licence to enable weddings and civil partnerships to take place in Hebden Bridge, in the Town Hall. Here's the press release we issued today.
Posted Jan 29
A good report in this week's Hebden Bridge Times on our relationship with HB Light Opera Society and the Youth Theatre. We're pleased to be able to have had our joint public statement reported in this way. We're looking forward to a productive and mutually supportive relationship with both groups.
Posted Jan 29
A useful meeting today to discuss our financial projections in detail with Margaret from Social Investment Business. She wants to make sure that our plans for the Town Hall are financially robust. And so do we.
Posted Jan 29
So what's going on? (a) We're discussing with Calderdale the exact terms of the leasehold transfer of ownership of the Town Hall [that was yesterday morning]; (b) We're discussing with the architects and quantity surveyor the options for the proposed new-build [that was yesterday afternoon]; (c) We're putting in place all the practical arrangements for the management of the Town Hall after April [that's on-going, pretty well continuously]; (d) We're preparing for the consultation day on Feb 13th [ditto]; (e) We're distributing our new Friends of the Town Hall leaflet [today and last weekend]; (f) We're working on our financial projections and business plan [on-going]; (g) We're starting the work of recruiting a part-time member of staff [that's the responsibility of one of our trustee committees]; (h) We're buying chairs and tables for the new downstairs hall [today]; (i) Oh, 100 other things. You really don't want to know. Just to say that the ten trustees you elected last October are working about as hard as we can...
Posted Jan 27
Some important news: we are arranging a public consultation session on Sat Feb 13th, 11am - 1.30pm, where we will be showing our current plans for the proposed redevelopment of the rear of the Town Hall. Our architects Bauman Lyons will be there, too. Here's the invitation. All welcome.
Posted Jan 27
Our thanks to Sweet and Maxwell (ThomsonReuter) in Mytholmroyd for hosting a business breakfast briefing today about our plans for the Town Hall. We are grateful for their interest and their support.
Posted Jan 27
A thank you to those who joined as Friends of the Town Hall at the cinema last weekend (and also for all the kind words from the existing Friends who were out for a night at the pictures and found us on the steps).
Posted Jan 22
Look out for several of the trustees at the Picture House foyer this weekend - and if you haven't signed up yet as a Friend of the Town Hall, please do.
Posted Jan 14
We have a brand new membership leaflet which is currently at the printers. (Sneak view here).
We're about to start a major campaign to increase the number of Friends of the Town Hall (we're up to about 470, but would like hundreds more!). Among other things, we will be running a stall in the Picture House in HB on Fri Jan 22, Sat Jan 23 and Sun Jan 24. Look out for us if you're going to the film on one of those evenings. Even better, could you offer to volunteer to help us (7pm - 8.30pm) on one of those days? If so, let Sue know on HB 844906.
Posted Jan 14
If you're the secretary or officeholder of a local community organisation, don't be surprised if one of the Community Association's trustees ings you in the next few days. We are planning to phone about a hundred groups, partly to let you know how our plans are developing, and partly to ask you if you are likely to be a user of the Town Hall's facilities (hall, meeting rooms etc). And, of course, if your group isn't yet a Friend of the Town Hall, we'd like to consider becoming one.
Posted Jan 11
If you were one of the 139 Friends of the Town Hall who cast your vote in our trustee election in October, you may be wondering how the ten trustees you elected are getting on.
We're meeting regularly as the full Board of Trustees (minutes of our meetings are posted on the website), but we have also instituted a series of sub-committees handling particular areas of work. Firstly, our governance committee has the responsibility of ensuring that we we run our affairs well, meeting our charity and legal commitments (and also meeting our democratic responsibilities to the Hebden Bridge community). The operations committee is handling the practical arrangements linked to the actual take-over of the Town Hall (likely to be only about ten weeks away). The asset transfer committee is liaising with Calderdale on the legal and contractual aspects of the transfer. We have a business planning, finance and fundraising committee which among other things is overseeing the applications we are in the process of making; this group works closely with the Capital Build and sustainability group. Finally we have a Communications and stakeholder relations committee. This is busy organising the consultation day on Feb 13th, and is also planning a major new drive to increase the number of Friends of the Town Hall.
(Yes, never a dull moment...)
Posted Jan 8
Now that it's definite that the Town Hall will be passing into community ownership, we think it's appropriate to relaunch our Friends of the Town Hall campaign. We are planning various ways of doing this later this month and in Feb. In the meantime, we have a new leaflet and membership form available. Why not have a look?
Posted Jan 8
Firstly, happy new year to all Friends of the Town Hall, and to all who support what we are trying to achieve here in Hebden Bridge.
We had our first trustees meeting of 2010 last night, some of us battling down from the snowy tops to make it. It was, as usual, a busy agenda. One decision we have taken is to hold a public consultation event in the Town Hall on Sat Feb 13th, starting at about 11am. More info soon, but please note the date.
Posted Dec 23
The trustees held our last meeting of the year yesterday. We can look back on twelve months in which really quite a striking amount of progress has been made: at the start of 2009, the project team was only four-strong, we were still awaiting our registered charitable status and were engaged in what at the time seemed like endless meeting with Calderdale officers to try to progress things. (If you're interested, you can read back through this diary to see what we wrote then).
We end the year with ten committed people on the board of trustees (elected at the first AGM of the Association), with over 470 members of the Association and Friends of the Town Hall, with the formal decision from Calderdale's Cabinet to approve transfer of the Town Hall to us taken, with our architects Bauman Lyons appointed and working closely with us, and with our plans developing quickly for the two major funding bids we hope to put in during 2010.
Next year is scheduled to see us actually taking over management of the Town Hall. We are aware of the responsibilities we are taking over, and will be taking steps to ensure that we undertake the tasks which need to be done efficiently and in a highly organised manner. But we're also looking to bring the maximum energy and creativity to the process, too, and will be looking to involve everyone in Hebden Bridge in making this landmark building genuinely a place that belongs to us all.
Posted Dec 21
More press coverage of what we're up to, this time on the Local Government Association website.
Posted Dec 15
Our architects Bauman Lyons have completed an internal architectural audit of the Town Hall, to identify the particularly important aspects of the building. This is now up in the documents section of the website.
We are continuing to liaise with Social Investment Business who are adminstering the CommunityBuilders scheme, and three trustees held a useful meeting with two of SIB's staff today in the Town Hall. As you'll know, we are preparing an application to the CommunityBuilders fund for capital works.
Posted Dec 11
Hebden Bridge Times story now available on-line.
Posted Dec 10
Press coverage continues. There was a big piece in yesterday's Yorkshire Post (which mysteriously doesn't seem yet to be on their website) and a news report in the Halifax Courier. And today we have, as you may well have seen if you live locally, the front page splash in the Hebden Bridge Times.
Posted Dec 8
New Start magazine has an article about us on their website.
Posted Dec 8
Calderdale has also issued a press release today about the asset transfer. View it here.
Posted Dec 8
The HB community website HebWeb is quick off the mark with our news.
Posted Dec 8
The emails are beginning to arrive. Here are just a few comments: "Really great news about the transfer going through" (Farah). "Magic - many congrats" (Neil). "Well done - at last! Congrats to you all" (Barbara). "I am absolutely thrilled for you all" (Annemarie) "Wonderful - well done" (Lars) "Congratulations on a job well done"(David). We rather like getting emails like these...
Posted Dec 8
We have of course press released yesterday's news. Here's the press release we've sent today to the local and regional media. Here's our national press release.
Posted Dec 8
We have sent out today, by email and post, our December newsletter to all Friends of the Town Hall. The newsletter has gone from our membership secretary Sue Fenton - if you get it, please open the attachment (it's not spam!). Here's the first paragraph:
We have at last the good news we have been waiting for. Calderdale's Cabinet agreed on Mon Dec 7th to the transfer of control of the Town Hall to Hebden Bridge Community Association. This is a landmark decision, and it means that the long-term future of the building is now, we believe, secured. As part of the deal, Calderdale will continue to use offices in the building, and will pay us rent. We will take over full responsibility for the building, initially on a forty-year leasehold basis. Calderdale is also making a contribution towards necessary immediate maintenance work. We are now working on the necessary technical legal agreements with Calderdale, aiming for a legal hand-over date of 1 st April 2010. However, thereafter it will take us a few weeks to get everything straight, so we are planning the ‘real' launch celebrations and events for the start of June.
Posted Dec 7
At 4.37pm today, Calderdale council's Cabinet formally agreed to the transfer of HB Town Hall to HB Community Association. This is the news we have been waiting for. Full report tomorrow.
Posted Dec 4
As this week's Hebden Bridge Times puts it, next Monday is D-Day, where 'D' stands for Calderdale's decision on the future of the Town Hall. Stand by for news late on Monday afternoon!
Posted Dec 1
Calderdale's Cabinet is to discuss the recommendation for asset transfer of the Town Hall to us next Monday, Dec 7th. This is a key moment for our project. We will advise you on the outcome here immediately afterwards.
In the meantime, you may wish to look at the Cabinet paper, with recommendation, which is posted on Calderdale's website, and the options appraisal appendix accompanying the paper.
Calderdale have also taken the unusual step of press releasing the fact that the asset transfer proposal is on Cabinet's agenda. The text of their press release can be found on their website, too.
Posted Nov 20
Trustee meeting last night - plenty on the agenda, and plenty of useful discussions. And before that, some of us had one of our regular steering group meetings with Calderdale officers. We were talking among other things about our proposed ERDF grant bid; we're meeting our ERDF contact officer at Yorkshire Forward next Tuesday, to discuss progress.
Posted Nov 20
The Development Trust Association organised a valuable conference last Tuesday in Sheffield, with the theme
'Empowerment, Enterprise and Regeneration: Valuing Community Asset Transfer'. One of our trustees Peter attended on our behalf, and we were pleased also that several Calderdale officers were represented. The new publication People, Places and Partnerships from the DTA's Asset Transfer Unit includes number of interesting case studies - including one about us!
Posted Nov 13
Half past nine on a Friday morning, and all ten trustees are together, having a cup of coffee (and eyeing up the packet of chocolate digestives which one of us has brought along to share). We're holding the second of our special sessions designed to help induct our five new trustees (see Oct 9) and to help us work well as an effective team. Today our theme is governance - in other words, how we work as a board to ensure that we manage the Town Hall project effectively, meet our legal (and our community) obligations, and keep the strategic vision there, too.
We're taking these issues seriously: as the minutes of our last trustees meeting put it, "It was agreed that although HBCA is a relatively small, local organisation our aims are to operate with first class governance." Helpfully we have in Sara Robinson and Peter Hirst two trustees whose work involves or has involved them advising other voluntary orgs on governance issues - not surprisingly, we asked Sara and Peter to lead today's session.
And in case you're wondering how ten volunteers manage to get time off on a weekday morning, we're fortunate that several of us are self-employed and therefore have some flexibility over our diaries, one of us is retired, and another was able to swap her workhours to make time for our meeting.
Posted Nov 12
An email comes in from one of our Friends, confirming that she is happy to sign the Gift Aid declaration on her donation (good... that's more government top-up money for the funds... it all helps). She also makes a couple of suggestions. Firstly, she asks if we can get the Registry of Births and Deaths back into its old home in HB. We certainly would be delighted if we can persuade the powers-that-be to do just this - it's a very long way to Halifax, where the Registry is now located.
Secondly, she suggests that a disabled scooter is kept at the Town Hall for visitors to the town. It's a good idea, and one we'll remember. (We have set up an informal disability advisory group to work with the architects specifically on this aspect of the building design. We're pleased that town councillor Jade Smith has offered to coordinate this group. Get in touch with us if you'd like to be involved, and we'll let Jade know).
Posted Nov 12
A useful meeting yesterday with our architects Bauman Lyons, who spent most of the day measuring up every conceivable dimension in the Town Hall. We will be meeting Irena Bauman regularly in the coming weeks.
Posted Nov 12
One of our trustees, Andrew, went to Settle today, to find out more about the community hydro scheme which is just about to start generating electricity, courtesy of the power of the river Ribble. We've discussed previously whether we could harness the Hebden Water to generate power for the Town Hall - actually, there may well not be enough water flow or head of water in the river to achieve this, but perhaps Settle's innovative community initiative can be replicated somewhere else in HB.
Posted Nov 10
Local filmmaker Nick Wilding has now produced a shorter three-minute version of the video about the Town Hall project, which we've put up today on YouTube. Want to be the first to view it and leave a comment?
Posted Nov 7
The powerful new documentary Shed Your Tears and Walk Away from film-maker Jez Lewis, who grew up in Hebden Bridge, paints a very different picture of life here from that in the tourist brochures, focusing on young people caught in a culture of drink and drugs. Jez Lewis asks why so many of his contemporaries who he grew up with are dying young.
Those of us who live here know that our community does have these issues to address (as probably do many other market towns in semi-rural areas like ours). The film is a reminder to us of the obligation, in our work for new community facilities in the town, to ensure that we do as much as possible to ensure these facilities are available for all. (You can watch the trailer to the film on the BFI website).
Posted Nov 6
Just to let you know that we've updated the project management team webpage with brief details of all trustees, old and new. We had the first induction session for new trustees a week ago, and will be meeting again for the second induction session next Friday, when we will be discussing in detail the governance arrangements for our charity.
Posted Nov 6
Our thanks to Cllr Stephen Baines, leader of Calderdale council, and his colleague Cllr Ian Cooper, who spared the time to meet with three of our trustees this morning, to discuss our project. Their interest in what we're proposing is much appreciated.
Posted Nov 3
There's a great report of the consultation session with students from Calder High, our local comprehensive, which we organised on Oct 8th on Calder High's own website. Lots of really good photos, too. Take a look!
Posted Nov 3
Six of the trustees spent the day in Leeds yesterday, looking at how other groups have done some of the things we're planning. We started at East Street Arts, a fascinating conversion of an old church building into a set of workspace units for artists, run by a charitable trust. The conversion was undertaken by our architects Bauman Lyons. We then met Jeremy Morton, the director of Tiger 11, the community-led development trust in Beeston which provides both community facilities and small business space in a converted school. Tiger 11's model of combining community and business use is not very different from what we're proposing for Hebden Bridge. We ended the day meeting the Bauman Lyons team at their head office, the 'Black Building' they designed in Chapeltown, Leeds. A useful day, good for getting the thought processes going.
Posted Oct 23
We've been given the link to a very short video, where a Conservative councillor from Wandsworth describes the advantages for both council and community of a recent asset transfer they approved. (We'd like to think we're pioneering here in HB, but it's also useful to see what else is happening around the country.)
Posted Oct 16
Our latest press release, reporting on the Open Day and AGM last Thursday is now up on this website. We've also added the minutes of our trustees meeting on Sep 23rd. (We are trying to keep you all posted on developments, honest).
Posted Oct 16
We had our first new trustees' meeting last night, with nine of us round the table - it feels like a step-change in the life of the project, and we'd like to warmly welcome Linda, Sue, Peter, Sarah and Robin as the new trustees of HB Community Association. Congratulations to them on their election.
Posted Oct 9
We are recovering from yesterday! We had some superb day-time sessions with children from Riverside school and young people from Calder High, who shared with us and our architects their thoughts on how the Town Hall could be better used in the future. We had about 200 people through for our 'Open Doors' session between 5pm-7pm, and we had about fifty at the first formal AGM of the HB Community Association in the evening. We are enormously encouraged by the level of interest in our community in the Town Hall project, and the active engagement of so many Friends in the trustee elections and the AGM itself.
Lots of thank yous are in order, particularly to those people who voluntarily came along for the Open Doors as entertainers and presenters. Thanks to Calder Valley Voices (in fine voice, as always), to the great two-piece outfit Cowbaby, to local artists Rachel and Anthony of Canvas/59 steps, to Jason Elliott and Space 5 for the Hebden Bridge 500 faces project, for Johnnie McQuade for his outstandingly mystifying magic, to Fin Plumpton for his exquisite classical guitar playing, and to Diana Monahan and other members of HB Local History Society, for their fascinating photos of the Town Hall in days of yore. We hope very much we haven't forgotten anyone.
More generally, thank yous to Riverside School and the Methodist Church for letting us use their chairs; to Peter Burton and other Calderdale staff for facilitating our use of the building; to the team from our architects Bauman Lyons, who we thought did a superb job both during the day and in the evening; to Hebden Royd Town Council for use of their projector (and of course to David and Christine for their work on the trustee election); to Nick Wilding, with apologies that we had technology problems and couldn't show the video he made; to Gwen Goddard for agreeing to chair the AGM and Maggie Woods for taking the minutes. Sue Fenton, too, for doing a great deal of back-stage work both during the day and during the evening. Yes, we're sure we've forgotten some others - please forgive us if we have.
We hope to have some photos to put up here shortly.
Posted Oct 9
The result of the election for the trustees of HB Community Association was announced last night by David Dempsey, clerk of Hebden Royd Town Council who very kindly agreed to be our returning officer. The votes cast were as follows: Andrew Bibby* 131; Janet Battye* 107; Robin Dixon* 60; Susan Fenton* 90; Peter Hirst* 79; Karen Houghton* 86; Miles Hutchinson 45; Sarah Moss* 57; Derrick Palmer* 94; Linda Patterson* 96; Sara Robinson* 94; Michael Smith 27; Les Siddall 45. An asterisk marks the ten trustees elected.
Posted Oct 7
We're just about ready, we think, for tomorrow's big day - two school visits during the day, Open Doors in the Town Hall from 5pm and then our first AGM at 7pm for 7.30pm. Hope to see you tomorrow.
Posted Sep 28
We've put out a new press release today about our open doors event on Thurs Oct 8th. All welcome in the Town Hall between 5pm and 7pm. Our first AGM will follow, at 7.30pm.
Posted Sep 28
Hebden Bridge Community Association has announced that it has appointed Leeds-based architectural practice Bauman Lyons to work with it on plans for Hebden Bridge 's landmark Town Hall building, currently the subject of an asset transfer proposal.
Bauman Lyons is a highly regarded practice established in 1992, which has undertaken a range of high profile projects in the Yorkshire area. It has an emphasis on combining creative regeneration schemes with high environmental and social sustainability. The firm's director Irena Bauman is a Commissioner of CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) and a member of Yorkshire Forward Urban Renaissance and Market Towns panels.
“We are delighted to have Bauman Lyons working with us on the Town Hall project, and we are sure that they will bring a great deal to Hebden Bridge . Their track record suggests that they will be highly sensitive to local community views, whilst at the same time ensuring that new buildings are very high quality and built to last,” says Karen Houghton, trustee of Hebden Bridge Community Association.
“We share your vision of community led developments and feel that we will be able to add value to the Town Hall project in terms of our experience and creativity. We are interested in working with you because your scheme is community led, because you are breaking new ground with ownership transfers, because the existing building is beautiful, because the existing development site is difficult, because of your aspiration and because we are committed to working in Yorkshire ,” says Irena Bauman.
Bauman Lyons was one of three architectural practices shortlisted and interviewed. Eleven architects submitted expressions of interest, from which a longlist of six firms was drawn up.
Posted Sep 24
We understand that there are thirteen people standing for election for the ten places on the board of trustees. We're pleased at this level of interest, and and at what will be a lively start to our life as a democratic community organisation. Ballot papers go out early next week to all members of HB Community Assoc (adult Friends of the Town Hall).
Posted Sep 23
We're very disappointed that incorrect information about our intentions regarding the usage made of the upstairs rear rehearsal room by the Light Opera Society and Youth Theatre continues to be spread. The committees of both societies had a detailed pledge from us back in April, which can be summarised as 'same terms as previously, same exclusivity, same rent level'. Given that we seek a long-term amicable arrangement with these two groups, we are concerned that what we consider to be scaremongering is still going on. If you want to read the terms of our promise to these groups, have a look at the April 9 entry below, read the same pledge in our submission to Calderdale, or read the actual letter we sent.
Posted Sep 22
We've put out a press release today. Here's how it starts:
One of England 's smallest parishes has made a big contribution towards plans for Hebden Bridge 's Town Hall.
Erringden parish council, covering just 50 or so houses and about 190 inhabitants, has decided to become a ‘Gold' member of Hebden Bridge Community Association, the community-run charitable trust which is leading plans to take over the running of the Town Hall from Calderdale. It joins another rural parish, Heptonstall, which has also become a Gold member. In total, over 450 organisations and individuals have demonstrated their support for the initiative by becoming members of the Association and Friends of the Town Hall.
“We may be a small parish, but we wanted to make a big gesture in support of the Town Hall plans,” says Mrs Veronica Stuttard, chairman of the parish council. “The Town Hall, as well as having the offices of Hebden Royd Town Council, is also our base and we use the fine council chamber and offices for our own parish business.”
Posted Sep 16
One of our trustees Janet was at the Development Trust Association conference in London earlier this week. As you'll know if you read this diary regularly, we're keen members of the DTA and welcome their work in progressing the asset transfer agenda nationally. The talk nationally of course is of the CommunityBuilders fund - we're getting our own application together.
Posted Sep 16
A phone call from Trevor Cryer from the community group in next-door Todmorden which is discussing asset transfer of its own town hall (see April 6 entry below). Trevor arranges to call by to pick up a copy of the application we made when we applied for charitable registration.
Posted Sep 15
An early-morning meeting today with two senior staff from legal publishers Sweet and Maxwell in Mytholmroyd, our area's largest employer. (Sweet and Maxwell are part of the Thomson Reuter group). We met the firm's Mytholmroyd director back in April and are grateful for the firm's interest and support. We are jointly planning a breakfast briefing on the Town Hall project for local businesses, provisionally on Weds Oct 21st.
Posted Sep 15
There's already welcome interest being expressed to us in standing to become a trustee of Hebden Bridge Community Association and it could be a hard-fought election! We are suggesting that anyone considering standing has a look at the short guide The Essential Trustee - an Introduction, published by the Charity Commission. The Commission's longer version The Essential Trustee is also useful. (We will be giving copies of this to all incoming trustees).
Posted Sep 15
We're on the front page of this week's Hebden Bridge Times. And here's the story which appeared in the Halifax Courier (together with a nice picture of the Town Hall) last week.
Posted Sep 15
We posted last night our September newsletter (after stuffing over 400 envelopes, we were beginning to wonder whether our success in attracting new Friends of the Town Hall was really such a good idea...)
The newsletter is available here. You'll see that we're particularly keen to push the events on Oct 8th.
We are also encouraging Friends to consider standing for election as trustees. More information and the nomination form are available online.
Posted Sep 15
We have now withdrawn the facility to become a Friend of the Town Hall from HB post office. We're very grateful for the post office staff for collaborating with us over the past few months.
You can still enrol online here, in person at the Book Case (Market St) or at the offices of the Town Council (first floor, Town Hall) or download details and an application form to enrol by post
Posted Sep 14
"They can run it for a lot less money than we can and they can run it the way the local community wants. It belongs to the community rather than the council, and there's a different ethos in the way people approach it". The quote, from the council leader of North Dorset council, comes from an article in last Friday's Financial Times which reports on the asset transfer of a leisure and community centre from the council to a community trust. Just what we're proposing here, in fact!
Posted Sep 8
Some great news. (Or more precisely two great bits of news). We are extremely pleased to have had a letter from the Rotary Club of Hebden Bridge, letting us know that the Rotary Club will be making a £10,000 donation to the Town Hall project. This will be used to help create new community facilities in the existing building, and although we haven't finalised this with them we think it might be really appropriate to use the grant to create a proper new kitchen, available for events and functions.
At almost the same time, we've had a letter from the Community Foundation for Calderdale awarding us a £5000 grant. This will be used to purchase new furniture, tables and chairs for the Town Hall.
A very big thank you to both organisations for their support and commitment to community life in Hebden Bridge.
And there's more: we've also heard that the London-based charity the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation will offer us a £2000 grant, towards the costs involved in creating the new facilities. Thank you to their trustees, too. We have decided that all this merits a press release. Here it is.
Posted Sep 8
We're delighted to welcome Sara Robinson as a new trustee of HB Community Association and member of the project team. Sara lives in Hebden Bridge and works as a freelance facilitator and project director, with a particular focus on the cultural sector. Before moving to the upper Calder valley four years ago she was Director of the rural arts centre Ludlow Assembly Rooms in Shropshire (where audiences quadrupled whilst she was in charge). She's also been an Arts Council fellow on the two-year Clore Leadership Programme. She says we should also mention that she's got a daughter at Calder High and two daughters at Central Street.
Sara has already worked with us on the architect appointment process, and we're sure that she will have an enormous amount to contribute to the success of the Town Hall project.
Posted Sep 7
The documents section of this website has been updated, to include the minutes of the project team meeting held on Aug 20th. As we've said before, we have begun to make our minutes available, as part of our commitment to transparency.
Posted Sep 3
Yesterday was spent by six of us in the Town Hall committee room, meeting with the three architectural practices which we had previously shortlisted. We were impressed by all three. Each had obviously thought carefully about our project, had done their homework, and had spent time preparing interesting presentations. We felt we were in the fortunate position where any one of the three would have been potentially able to undertake the work for us, and we'd like to thank them all for the efforts they took.
But in the end, as is the nature of all of these interview processes, there could only be one successful candidate. We'll be able to let you know who it is very shortly, once all three candidate firms have been contacted and the details agreed, but we can say that we are very excited at the prospect of working with the architects we have chosen, and we think they will do an excellent job for Hebden Bridge.
The entries from Dec 2007 until Aug 2009 are now archived.