The Trust Chairman, John Ritchie, BEM, welcoming attendees to the event ……
It was an ideal opportunity to express gratitude to the various bodies which have provided funding towards the renovation and extension work – West Lindsey District Council, the National Lottery and iGas- and to showcase what has been achieved to date with the money raised. West Lindsey’s Chairman and Vice-Chairman, along with other West Lindsey councillors, were in attendance, as was Julian Tedder, CFO of iGas. And we were most grateful to him for making the long journey northwards for the day. Jenny Stone of CommunityLincs, represented the National Lottery Fund who were unable to be present with us on the day.
Over the past 3 years, the Trustees has spent over £50,000 on renovation/restoration work, with £27,000 of this obtained from grant aid. This has allowed the Trust to rebuild/extend the kitchen, renovate the small function room to the rear, remove, replace and extend the toilet block and install central heating, build a disabled access ramp, and repair 8 metres of the playground wall, whist using the original 1880’s bricks to retain the character of the building.
Cllr Pat Mewis (Chairman of WLDC), Gail Jackson (CEO of Community Lincs) and Julian Tedder (CFO of iGas) then addressed the meeting. Representatives were then invited to cut ribbons marking the official re-opening of the kitchen, committee room and toilet block areas.
Much of the practical work during the last three years has been carried out by the Trust’s Treasurer, Grahame Dunkin, and the other Trustees are really indebted to Graham for his unstinting and generous devotion of time and energy to the various projects, and for greatly reducing the financial outlay in terms of labour and expertise.
Thankfully, we were blessed with fine, warm autumnal weather on the day. At the conclusion of formalities, attendees were able to inspect both the internal and external work in greater detail, after which everyone enjoyed a very pleasant lunch together.
The Dunholme Trust was grateful to everyone for their attendance and participation on the day.
However, the Trustees will not be ‘resting on their laurels’, and discussions are already taking place on plans for further work to improve, enhance and extend this valuable local community asset.
Gail Jackson, CEO of Community Lincs, marks the official re-opening of the refitted and upgraded toilet block area
Cllr Pat Mewis, Chairman of WLDC, cuts the ribbon on the extended and refurbished kitchen.
Julian Tedder, CFO of iGas, opening the newly renovated Committee Room – formerly the ‘Headmaster’s Study’
It seems there is very little that Grahame cannot undertake – from working on grant aid submissions, through to managing outside contractors, and masterminding the installation of tiles, cupboards, plumbing, and even rebuilding walls. He is a veritable ‘master-of-all trades’ - and greatly appreciated……
Grahame had previously been nominated for, and awarded, the 2018 Community Lincs John Barker Trophy Award (Community Buildings) and this was presented to him during the course of the Open Day event by Jenny Stone from Community Lincs.