Community Centre

The church owns a Community Centre close to the church and the centre of the village, with its own car park.

The centre provides accommodation on two floors. On each floor there is a large meeting room, a small meeting room with kitchen facilities (although no crockery in the downstairs kitchen) and a further small room suitable for a small group (upstairs) or storage (downstairs.) There is one toilet upstairs and male, female and disabled facilities downstairs. The photos below show the newly refurbished kitchen,  main room and smaller meeting room upstairs.

Groups which meet at the Community Centre regularly include a Pre-school Play group, a Mums and Toddlers group, various Uniformed groups (Explorer Scouts, Scouts, Cubs, Beavers, Guides, Brownies, Rainbows), a tutoring group and a yoga class. The Church Council and other church groups hold regular meetings there too.

The local Parish Council holds its annual meeting in the centre.

If you would like to rent a room at the community centre for  meetings/clubs or for a party please contact Ann Teasdale on 824375. The  times that rooms are currently available is

Saturday downstairs all day, upstairs afternoon and evening

Sunday any time (both floors)

Monday and Tuesday afternoons (upstairs);

Wednesday morning, afternoons till 3.30 pm and evening from 7.30pm (upstairs);

Thursday morning, afternoon and evening (upstairs);

Friday, morning, afternoon and evening (upstairs).

 The photos below show the downstairs smaller room with kitchen and the main room.

 

More about Ripponden Community Centre

St Bartholomew’s Church was fortunate to have acquired two 19th century cottages in the heart of the village and earmarked for use as a parish hall. The Parochial Church Council (PCC) organised and funded the conversion from cottages to a two storey Community Centre in 1973. Following the conversion, the PCC, whilst retaining ownership of the premises, delegated financial and administrative responsibility to the Centre’s Management Committee.

Over time, the centre was steadily falling into disrepair due to the leaking roof, poor insulation and out-dated furnishings and furniture. Groups were starting to look for different venues to meet within the village but lack of appropriate space meant that the majority continued to meet at the centre.

The Management Committee recognised that action was needed to improve the premises. In September 2011, the committee met with users and asked for their views as to how the centre could be improved to meet their needs more effectively. As a result of these discussions, the committee became proactive in putting together an improvement plan funded through rents and grants.

An application for grant funding to Awards for All – Big Lottery was successful in acquiring £10,000 which enabled the centre to be re-roofed in 2012.  This has made a real difference to the community centre as the building is now watertight.

The problem of poor insulation was resolved when a further grant of £2,000 was awarded from South Pennines – Leader Fund.  A condition of this grant required that the centre had to improve its energy efficiency by fitting new lighting, draught-proofing and roof insulation.

With the problem of the leaking roof solved, it was now possible to focus on improving the interior of the first floor rooms. To facilitate the kitchen refurbishment, a successful grant application was made to the Community Foundation for Calderdale. This award of £2,500 made it possible to fit the kitchen units which had been generously donated and to improve the hygiene and safety within the kitchen area.  Re-decoration of the upper rooms then became the next priority which was funded through Calderdale Small Grants. A further grant awarded from Awards for All has enabled us to purchase new, comfy chairs and smaller tables with stacking trolleys for safe storage and movement. 

In 2019 we had the downstairs kitchen room damp proofed and decorated. During 2020 and 2021 we have started to update windows,  as funds become available, that are leaking.