St Mary's Community Hub

Longcot village has some 650 residents and apart from the local pub, the King and Queen, only has sufficient community space for 30 adults. The village has no bus service, shop, post office or village hall and a car is needed to access other neighbouring community facilities. The joint use St Mary's Community Hub will provide the opportunity to run community activities such as mother and toddler groups, lunches for the isolated elderly, a visiting Post Office, yoga and Pilates classes and will provide the church with an additional income stream to fund it's overheads.

There will be an internal oak framed mezzanine structure with a staircase leading to a gallery at the west end of the Nave. This will provide ample storage and a partially glazed open meeting room which will overlook both the bell tower and the Nave. On the ground floor, a kitchenette, a private meeting room and a disabled toilet facility with baby changing will be installed. Work will also include updating the heating and lighting systems to reduce carbon footprint; installing super fact broadband access and a new, distributed IT and sound system. External pathways will also be provided to create easier access for the elderly and disabled.

The required internal reconstruction work will take six months to complete, at an estimated cost of £190,000. The village have already raised £150,000 of this total but we are still short of some £40,000. We continue to fundraise and apply for grants to fill this gap but also hoping this platform will result in some generous donations for this important community project.