RENFREW DEVELOPMENT TRUST NEWSLETTER
Autumn ‘14
Renfrew Development Trust Newsletter
RENFREW GALA DAY – JUNE 2014
This newsletter is designed to give you a flavour about how the Development Trust is going through the process of becoming established.
Community Action Plan On Friday 12th September we launched our Community Action Plan for the town. There was a good attendance by local residents and photographers, members of the community council, local businesses and agencies as well as elected officials (MP, MSP and Councillors).
20 photographs of the town out of 160 submitted for our two competitions. Our ambition is to make the town a better place to work, live and visit. Not on our own but by building partnerships and alliances and being close to the community. We were delighted with the level of involvement and engagement we have had with local people in developing the plan with over 1,000 filling in our survey and over 200 attended various meetings and discussions, supported by Renfrewshire Council, and working very closely with Community Enterprise on the consultation and development of the plan.
We have produced a short summary of how we intend to develop community facilities, services and promote jobs and enterprise throughout the town.
Main Themes Over 5 months we took extensive soundings and we identified 4 main themes: The Environment – Our Architecture and our Landmarks Community Facilities for All Ages
At the event which had been organised with grant support from the Big Lottery’s Awards for All Grant and also their Our Place Renfrew West programme, and Engage Renfrewshire, we exhibited
Jobs and Enterprise Events for local people and visitors As a result we now have a plan, which we consider will make Renfrew a better place to live, visit and work.
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and agreed an early action programme.
and taking on tasks enthusiastically and professionally.
We have been busy since we developed the action plan:
4. Spoken to funders about healthy walks/heritage walks in the town.
1. We joined Development Trust Association Scotland in which we were assessed against our intentions to be:
5. Liaised with private companies and the council about a Farmers Market.
We are doing the mundane now. This is a long-term project but we are setting about it deliberately and determinedly and it will last much longer than the time frame of this plan. Our priorities are to get formal legal status, a shop front, a staff resource and sustainable business plan.
Progress
engaged in the economic, environmental and social regeneration of a defined community
independent and aiming for selfsufficiency not-for-private profit community-led and owned actively Involved in partnerships between the community, voluntary, private and public sectors
2. We also benefitted from over £8,000 from the lottery to launch the plan, set up the trust, create a website, host the photographic exhibition, audit our use of cash etc..
6. Investigating the potential of working with another charity about boosting the live music at the annual gala week 7. We have visited three different organisations to get their help and insight into refurbishing older buildings to create sustainable businesses. 8. We are in contact with the Scottish Government’s Just Enterprise programme to develop our business plan 9. We are discussing with various people the opportunities to find suitable immediate premises in the town for the Trust’s offices. 10. We have appointed legal advisers to become a formal company and charity this year. A charity, which will be community-led, democratic and accountable.
3. We met the Council in the summer
11. The steering group is also involved in learning, and developing
Logo Competition Earlier in the year, we set a competition in the local primary schools in order to design a concept logo for the Renfrew Development Trust. The winning concept was designed by Lauryn Bradley from Newmains Primary School. Here you can see the concept design and how the key elements have been adopted in the official logo.
We wish to express our thanks to all the people of Renfrew for being actively engaged in the consultation, expressing their support and working alongside us in starting to implement the plan. We have already distributed over 1,000 of these plans but want to get more out. We have already distributed some round the schools but would be delighted to get more out to pupils and parents and anyone else who can take these and help us raise our profile. If you want to know more then please contact us to have a chat, as we are happy to meet and
see we can work together. Thanks. Foster Evans (Chair)
RENFREW DEVELOPMENT TRUST NEWSLETTER
Autumn ‘14
Renovation Visits by Graeme McMeekin
Members of the Renfrew Development Trust Steering Group took the opportunity to visit some projects in Glasgow that have been involved in renovating older buildings, modernising them and finding alternative use for the premises.
The reason for these visits was to inspire the steering group to what may be achieved with some of our older buildings such as the former Police Station, the Brown Institute, the Parish Church etc., either by the Development Trust or by encouraging others to take the opportunity.
Govanhill Community Development Trust Unlike Renfrew Development Trust, which has been initiated by members of the community, Govanhill Community Development Trust (GCDT) was established as a subsidiary of a local housing association. As a result, the emphasis for Govanhill Development Trust has been primarily around premises. They have purchased and transformed Churches, shop fronts and a former hospital.
range of instruments, which in turn helps them to gain confidence and various social skills.
Govanhill Baths The group also went to Govanhill Baths which had made local headlines due to the campaign by local residents to keep the baths open.
One of the local Churches has been transformed into workspaces for small businesses and charities to use with short-term rental options available for them. Another one of the local churches has been transformed into a space that may be used by local charities and as a result, they invited the Big Noise project to come in and use the space for a period in order to become established in the area.
The Big Noise project is one which actively encourages children and young people to learn how to play a
This renovation project is in the early stages and therefore the group got a taste of some of the activities that was being done in the interim, such as a theatre in a disused swimming pool, a small concert venue and a community cafĂŠ. Although there are some similarities between Govanhill Baths and our very own Victory Baths in Renfrew, in that they are both public baths and have very similar changing areas. However, unlike Victory Baths, the Govanhill Baths are much larger consisting of three pools along with other areas and had fallen into significant disrepair. The renovation of the Baths has been a labour of love for the local residents who campaigned in 2001 for keeping the baths open and our now working on transforming it into a wellbeing centre.
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Members of the Renfrew Development Trust were inspired at the enthusiasm, determination and innovation that the community bring to this project.
Maryhill Burgh Halls Unlike Govanhill Baths, where the focus was on community activism, the focus for Maryhill Burgh Halls
Next Steps The Development Trust has now become a company and is currently undergoing the process of gaining Charity registration through OSCR (Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator) this will enable the development trust to access more significant assets.
was on the regeneration of a historic building. This magnificent building had been in need of a complete regeneration which meant taking it back to the
brickwork, adding new levels, joining to the former police station next to the halls, creating new rooms etc.
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space, most of which used for letting purposes to attract new businesses into the area. Most of these spaces are transformed into usable workspaces for small businesses such as music lessons, community artists etc. as well as providing a base for a local housing association.
The project has been focussed around maintaining the rich heritage of the area and of the buildings whilst modernising in order to make the building usable in a contemproary era, including the use of stained glass windows which were part of the old building and incorporating new stained glass windows using artwork designed by local residents.
At the end of the project there is 14,500sq ft (1,350 sq m) usable
This vital step will help us to put on more events in the town, establish new community facilities and attract more businesses and jobs into the town. CONTACT US
To contact the Renfrew Development Trust then please either email RenfrewDT@outlook.com or add a comment to our Facebook page RenfrewDevelopmentTrust
If there are any skills that you would be willing to offer to help us move towards the Action Plan or if you have any ideas of what could be done in the town then please contact us – we would love to hear from you.