There was a real buzz in Jarvis Brook this lunchtime (Friday, 18 July) as the community got the first glimpse of what will eventually be the Crowborough Community Hub.
Dozens of people turned out for the open day at the Crowborough Station to get a better idea of what the new hub will look like when the ambitious project is complete.
Christmas target
Work has already started on the plan which will see the disused section of Crowborough Station turned into several rooms for community use. It will also house the Crowborough Pantry. So far the work stripping out the old building has been done. The aim is to complete the project by Christmas.
The Chair of the Community Hub Committee is deputy mayor, Cllr Paul Goddard. He told Crowborough News: “This is such an exciting community project. When it’s finished it’ll be space that local clubs and groups can use, and it will provide a new permanent home for the pantry. It’ll be a real community space, for the community, run by the community.”
Confident
It has taken four years of talks and negotiations since the idea was first suggested, and it’s a significant project which will cost £250,000. But Cllr Goddard is not daunted. He added he was confident the project would succeed. “Yes, with the huge amount of support we have from the community, I am confident.”
The financial ball has been set rolling by Southern Rail who provided a £50,000 grant from its Your Station Your Community Fund. The firm’s Senior Community Partnerships Manager, Patrick Ladbury, was at the event. He said the company was delighted to be supporting the hub project “because we recognise the value this is going to bring”.
Southern Rail support
Southern Rail have signed over the lease to the Community Hub which will be operated as a Community Interest Company (CIC), which means any profit will be reinvested into the community project.
Mr Ladbury added: “It’s great to see this large part of the building getting back into use. Stations are real community hubs. We have a few similar projects but the scale of this makes it even more unusual.”
Better space for the pantry
Jo Stonebrook is the Chair of the Crowborough Pantry, which will have its new home at the hub. The pantry redistributes food that otherwise would go to waste and be thrown away by supermarkets. It involves more than 30 volunteers, and they have 36 collections from various supermarkets and shops. It’s currently located in Beechview Parade, Walshes Road.
Jo said: “This is going to be great. It’ll give us so much more space, we’ll have an office, a kitchen, and it’ll be so much more accessible. The whole operation of the pantry will be more cohesive.”
There was a real buzz of excitement as people looked around the building, saw the architect’s plans, and read a bit about the history of the building. Visitors were encouragement to submit ideas and suggestions on post-it notes.
“Mitch’s” daughter
The event also welcomed one particularly special visitor, Marion Doyle, 78, whose father, Harold Mitchener (“Mitch”) was the Crowborough Stationmaster. She grew up in the flat that is part of the building now being renovated as the hub. Now living in Crawley she was thrilled to see what was happening.
“I think it’s wonderful. This always used to be such a busy place with people coming and going, and a station really should a community hub.” But she also had a personal reason for being happy about the scheme. “I still have friends in Crowborough so I visit from time to time and it has been sad seeing this part of the building, where I grew up, abandoned. It’s now getting a new lease of life.”