About Us
The Hiltingbury Community Association (HCA) was formed in 1996 with the aim of regenerating the Hiltingbury recreation ground and providing a heart for the local community.
The Community Association is a registered charity, run by the community for the community.
Working to create a heart within Hiltingbury
There's a definite buzz of anticipation within the HCA at the moment: We are just a couple of steps away from commencing build on our Hiltingbury Community Centre. The excitement is certainly mounting as we have several grants already in-hand and the final piece, our submission to the Big Lottery, is now in! If successful, we can then proceed immediately into the next stage - the tendering for construction phase.
Over recent months our plans for the Centre have been tweaked more than a little! First, the overall project has been split into two Phases, as we thought more realistically about funding prospects. So, the South Hall for badminton, or theatre style seating for 200, has temporarily been put on ice. This project is now termed Phase 2.
The current Plan (we know it as Phase 1) is for a smaller North Hall seating up to 80, a meeting room, and now additional First Floor with independent access. The latter has been designed for, and is being funded by, the Youth Service - essentially, a purpose-built replacement for the ageing Basement Youth Centre. This space includes a Youth office, a chill-out den and a café-bar. When not required by the Youth Service, this space will be available for general hire.
The Centre has attracted a lot of support from organisations, and leaders, who wish to start activities as soon as it opens. These range from playgroups to art classes, lip-reading to local history, yoga to gymnastics. Further to these activities we will also seek organisations that will bring relevant services into the heart of our community.
The opening date of the Centre obviously depends on when we receive notification of the results from our Lottery bid. We have high hopes that we will be starting construction early in 2008.
We have dedicated the £2,000 profits from the 2007 Extravaganza towards purchase of equipment for the Centre.
We really appreciated the support of our headline sponsor; Sparks Ellison, helpers, vendors and those of you who attended spend and helped make the 2007 Extravaganza such a great day.
Mike Hughes, HCA Chairman, October 2007
PS We are always on the lookout for volunteers to help pursue the objectives of the HCA. Please get in touch if you are interested: secretary@hiltingbury.com
Update:
We have been successful with our Big Lottery Fund Bid, which means we can proceed with the
construction of the community centre! We will keep you informed with the progress on this front