In 1947 the New Haw Community Association was
formed with the idea of providing a maintaining a community centre. This centre
would provide sports and leisure facilities for the people of New Haw and
Woodham.A Brief History of
New Haw Community Centre
In 1947 the New Haw Community Association was
formed with the idea of providing a maintaining a community centre. This centre
would provide sports and leisure facilities for the people of New Haw and
Woodham.
The community set about raising funds in order to purchase a suitable site and subsequently to get a community centre built. The building would seat some 250 people and its own kitchen and stage.
For the next ten years a programme of fund raising events was organised in order to raise the money to build and equip the centre, the annual carnival week was always the main source of income, with Whist drive, beetle drives, films and concerts all leading up to carnival day it self.
At last in 1959 the Community Centre was opened and New Haws' ambition was fulfilled. Over the years the Centre was used extensively for events organised by the sections and affiliated groups allied to the Association, also from private hire for weddings , parties etc.
By 1995 the centre had outgrown itself and
with forth coming legislation regarding access and facilities for the disabled,
it was agreed that plans should be developed to take the centre in to the 21st
century.
Under the able leadership of the Chairman and Vice Chairman, a huge fund raising effort was launched, to meet the cost of the modernisation of the program this included an application to the millennium commission for the funding.
Despite various promises of support, from the locality, these did not come to fruition, however through various ways the total figure edged towards its target. but the whole fund raising effort, was a strenuous task, for the few people who were willing to help.
The first application to the millennium commission was turned down, so the constant round of fund raising continued. However in 1996 the millennium commission awarded the association the sum of £155,000 towards the total cost of £327.000.
In June 1997 the first turf was cut to signal the start of a
very ambitious project, to enlarge and modernise the community centre.
At the end of November 1997, the completed building was handed over to the association, then the race was on to make the centre ready for he first event which was the community carol service to be held one week later.
After five months closure, it was a delight to have our modern building which now offered two halls, a coffee bar, a large fully equipped kitchen, modern toilets included facilities for the disabled and a baby changing unit.
Since the reopening, the centre has become even more the centre of the community, catering for people from a much wider area than New Haw and Woodham. The demand for the facilities has far exceeded any ones expectations.
Since 1997 we have carried out many major improvements, both to the building and the site, including the front entrance, additional car park and a full lighting system on the stage however, we are not resting on our laurels' yet, we still have an agenda of tasks to be accomplished which we hope will further benefit our current users and all those who will use the centre in the future.