A New Centre in the Centre

High Street Methodist Church is already a prominent community building in the centre of Witney. Used by many people throughout the community it is already a hub for community events, a meeting place for community organisations and home for some local charities.

Unknown by many, the church also owns the building behind the church that is between the church building and Hacketts. Used in recent years by the King's School as their senior school, it is now becoming vacant and we see this project as a way of revitalising that building and making it another community hub with a particular emphasis on children and young people.

Always there

The Methodist church has had a central place in Witney since the regular visits of John Wesley in the late 18th century. from the early 19th century Methodists were worshipping in a house on the site of the current High Street church before they built the existing church in the 1850's.

In 1884 the school building was built to house the Wesleyan school. With the building behind (now Hacketts) added later as a science block. The Wesleyan school remained in the building until Wood Green was built in the late 1950's.

From then the previous school building was used in various forms for young people of the church and the community. Unfortunately the building also fell into some disrepair and over the years lost some of its purpose. For the last 15 years it has been used, on a temporary basis, by the King's School for their senior school pupils.

A vision for the future

The use of the School Building by the King's School was always meant to be a temporary measure until they built their new premises on their site in New YattRoad. Although it has taken 13 years, the King's School are now ready to move on and the building is in need of a new purpose and a new life.

Over the course of several months the church identified that the key use of the building should be for children and young people from 0 to 19. In addition the church recognised that it already worked with organisations far more suited to providing the services to these groups of people.

The aim then was to redesign the building to be a children's centre for Witney, a teaching / drop-in / advice space for young people and a flexible space that could be used by the community.

A children's centre for Witney

PACT (Parents and Children Together) currently use part of the existing church building to run the Witney Children's Centre. Working with PACT and Oxfordshire County Council, we plan to turn pmt of the building into a purpose built children's centre with indoor and outdoor play space, advice rooms, kitchen space and offices for the staff.

The building is ideally located for the children's centre with close access to the main car parks and an easy walk from all parts of town. The new design will give easy access for pushchairs and wheelchairs and the availability of secure outside space in the centre of town will give parents and c

arers the confidence to let their children play.

Supporting Young People

10 years ago, the Methodist Congregational and Anglican churches of Witney set up Base 33 to work with young people of this town. Over the years the work has developed in a number of wayS. Today there is daytime work with some of the young people on the edge of participation in the local schools and evening work with a wider group of young people both through drop in sessions and on the streets.

The new building will provide a separate space for the daytime work with a dedicated classroom and space for counselling and one to one meetings. There is also room for fitness with the young people both with a fitness room inside and with a separate outside space. The accommodation will also provide showering and laundry facilities to help the young people that Base comes into contact with who have lost their own home.

Space for All

The building is to be open to all. At the centre of this is the exciting double height function or performance space Potentially usable for concerts, dance, meetings, functions and many other things It has its own kitchen and will be available for use by the community. It brings

a new venue to Witney that is not too big but will have a lot of flexibility and, during the day, will be flooded with natural light as the wonderfully decorative existing windows are re-opened to light a room rather than a dead loft space.

As well as the office space being used by the Children's centre and Base there are other meeting / office rooms, including a new third floor space utilising the attic.

This will be a true community building with easy access, multiple and varied use and right in the heart of the town.

Building costs

The cost of the proposed scheme is estimated at £750,000 including VAT and all the necessary professional fees. We will be applying for grants from Methodist and other trusts and grant making bodies but are launching this appeo.l to raise the shortfall of £200,000.

How can you help?

We are confident that with your generosity and commitment, we will be able to proceed with the tight timescale and deliver this fantastic facility for the church and the people of Witney.

To help us achieve our target, we are inviting you to consider making a gift in one or more of the following ways:

• Make a one-off donation - and, if you pay tax, Gift Aid it so that we can reclaim the tax that you have paid on your gift.
  
• Make a regular donation - by giving a monthly, quarterly or yearly amount you can spread your donation over two, three or four years and, if you are a taxpayer, you can Gift Aid it.
  
• Make an interest free loan - to help the cashflow and enable us to gain the interest on the deposit you could make an interest free loan to the church for up to five years. To do so please see a steward or one of the project team.

To make a donation please return to the home page and click on the link entitled : Exciting New Project.  Then click on 'donating on line'. 

 Alternatively our bank details for the project are as follows ...

HSBC 24 Market Square, Witney, Oxon.  OX28 6BG

Sort Code: 40-47-07

Account Number: 81616641

Thank you so very much!

Other ways you can help

• Participate in, or even organise fundraising events
  
• Invite friends and neighbours to events or give literature to people who may be willing to support the work
  
• Pray - for the project and the valuable work that it will enable
  

Thank you very much for your valuable support!!