Cottingley Cornerstone, a unique scheme to create a new centre for Cottingley, an outer urban estate in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

News and Updates

May 2008

A Development Worker has been appointed to support the work of our Centre Manager, Zoë Marston, and our Trustees. Emily Godfrey takes up the post in July and has worked for the Leeds Involvement Project since 2003, supporting local groups of disabled people, carers and older people to get more involved in improving services in Leeds. Emily's experience includes working with children and families and she will be a valuable addition to the team.

Meanwhile, work continues on site as the GP Surgery and Community Hall begin to take more shape, as the pictures below demonstrate.

Looking up The Parade to the front of Cottingley Cornerstone Centre	The artistic curve of the roof in the Community Hall can be seen
The GP surgery - construction moves on apace	Still plenty of scaffolding but the church building is moving forward

April 2008 - THANK YOU TO THE LOTTERY!

We have been awarded over £315,000 by Big Lottery for the community buildings, the second largest grant given to our project. The funding has been given to us to equip the centre with good quality furniture, fixtures and fittings throughout as well as providing exterior lighting, paving, street furniture and landscaping to the front of the building.

Items which the grant will purchase include equipment for the IT room, sound and lighting equipment for the community hall, and cookers, fridges and freezers for the kitchen.

Sue Pinnington, our Chair, said: "We are delighted that Big Lottery has decided to support our community here so generously. The award of £315,582 means that we are now able to fit our community facilities with all the equipment we need to provide the best services that we can for everyone. We will also be able to make the outside of the buildings attractive and safe.

"The Trustees would particularly like to thank Anne-Marie Quigg of our community development consultants Jackson Quigg Associates. She has worked on the capital fundraising for the centre from the outset, and on this particular bid for over a year, and it is a testament to her and her company's skills that we have received this and other awards, thereby achieving the total needed to fund the equipment at Cottingley Cornerstone Centre.

"We intend to be a benefit to our community for many years to come and are very pleased that Big Lottery has recognised our commitment to everyone here in Cottingley."

Fundraising continues to complete the capital needed for the centre, and work to raise funds to help support the running of the facilities is underway.

Sue added: "All the funds we have raised so far have gone into the bricks and mortar and professional fees, actually building the centre, and employing our Centre Manager, Zoë Marston. The centre has to be self sufficient so we will be hiring out our facilities to a wide range of organisations as well as seeking further grant support for staffing."

March 2008

Zoë has moved headquarters to Plot 48 as the Plot 5 has been sold and was needed for finishing work. There is a lot of interest already in using the new facilities when they are ready (August this year is the current finishing date) and we have some exciting possibilities which we will tell you about as soon as we can.

January 2008

The first building has now been handed over by the contractors! The specialist foster care home for young people with serious disabilities is now complete and is being operated through Bradford Social Services.

More buildings are due for completion in February and March, and final completion of all community buildings is due for late June/early July.

Plans are now underway for an Open Week in July where everyone will have an opportunity to see what is on offer and to take part in and experience a range of special events and workshops. Centre Manager Zoë Marston says: "There is a real buzz going around the community now and we want to have a fantastic celebration for the opening of Cottingley Cornerstone Centre."

"Everyone who lives and works locally will know that this project has been a long time in the planning and we are getting close to achieving the dream that was set out by our Chair, Reverend Canon Sue Pinnington, with the tireless support of the Cornerstone trustees. We will keep people informed about the planned programme, and will be producing a booklet in the next couple of months which will give details of all the facilities that are available."

Zoë now has a temporary office on site, one of the houses at Plot 5, and has a landline installed. She can be contacted on 01274 512800.

The foster care home, with offices to be completed above

Zoë's new office!

The GP surgery under construction

November/December 2007

Our new Centre Manager, Zoë Marston, has started work, meeting with members of the local community and organisations who want to use the many facilities which are on offer. Zoë was manager of the Illingworth Centre in Halifax and is very experienced at developing programmes that give everyone in the community an opportunity to take part.

One of Zoë's first tasks was to get involved with the arrival and installation of the church spire, and the pictures below give a sense of the complexity of the job. The Calendar news television team turned up too and put together an excellent piece for the evening news on Yorkshire Television. Local paper the Telegraph & Argus were there, supportive as ever, and produced a very positive story and piece of video. And the Yorkshire Post came too, producing a great picture the following day. Thanks to all those in the media who continue to record and support what we are doing here.

Zoë can be contacted at zoe@cottingleycornerstone.org.uk.

Fabricated locally, the spire weighs 5 tons and is 40 feet high	Taking the weight	Preparing to lift clear of the lorry
Ready to lower into position	Nearly there now...	In position and ready for fixing

October 2007

We had a visit from two staff of Shipley College in the middle of the month. Margaret Robson and Sheila Jones, both Assistant Principals at the college, came to take a look at the spaces we have in the centre as we continue to develop our partnership to provide a range of courses and training for when we open.

Our discussions are at an early stage, but the IT room is of particular importance as it will become an additional Connection on Shipley College's Learning Line. This means that residents will be able to access college provision online near their homes, without having to go into college, so they can combine web-based learning with the added benefit of face to face tutor support at the centre.

Margaret said: “We are delighted to be working with Cottingley Cornerstone in this way. The development is very exciting and we look forward to providing a good variety of programmes - from taster events to qualification courses.”

As we prepare for opening in June 2008, we will put information about study and training opportunities here on the website as well as getting information out to our community in newspapers, magazines and with posters.

If there are any courses or activities you would like the chance to take part in, drop us an email to admin@cottingleycornerstone.org.uk and we will pass it on to Shipley College.

August 2007

It will soon be a year since work started in earnest on site - October 2006 was the start date - and progress has been excellent. In two months time the respite care home will be opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire and work on all the other parts of the site will continue apace.

As you can see from the two pictures below, the hall and the church are well on the way now, and the houses shown give a good sense of how impressive the overall look of the development will be.

THE COMMUNITY HALL AND CHURCH TAKING SHAPE

Work on site has moved to the erection of steelwork for our new community hall and church as the pictures below show.

COME AND JOIN THE PARTY!

A special Garden Party will be held by St Michael and All Angels church on Saturday 16 June to raise funds for Cottingley Cornerstone Centre. It will be at Bishopscroft, Ashwell Road, Heaton by kind permission of Bishop David and Mrs Gill James, from 2pm - 4pm.

Admission is £1, with accompanied children under 12 free, and tickets are available from Nora Whitham, one of our trustees. She can be contacted by telephone on 01274 487180 or by email at noranmwhit@aol.com.

BLOOMING BEAUTIFUL

Cottingley Open Gardens will be on Sunday July 8th from 2pm to 5pm in support of Cornerstone. A large variety of different and interesting gardens can be visited and there will be stalls to be visited and cream teas in beautiful surroundings. Programmes will be available from 20th May at a cost of £3.00. For advance bookings please contact admin@cottingleycornerstone.org.uk, local shops in Cottingley or phone 01274 562278. Tickets are also available on the day from the Sales Office, Littlelands, Cottingley.

ON TARGET FOR APRIL 2008!

Work on site is progressing very well and we are on target to be open in April 2008. It's hard to believe that in a year we will at last be able to provide wonderful facilities for our community. The first part of Cottingley Cornerstone Centre, the respite care home for young people with disabilities, is due to be completed in September this year.

Compare these pictures and see how much has already been done: the first two were taken in the middle of November 2006, not long after work has begun. The second five are from March 2007 and the change is dramatic.

Click on a picture to see a larger version.

BUY-A-BRICK

Now you have seen how many bricks are already on site, why not Buy-A-Brick for Cornerstone? To find out how, click on the Buy-A-Brick logo at the bottom of the left hand navigation panel. It's cheaper than you think!

EVERYCLICK MATTERS!

Don't forget that a great and very simple way of helping us raise money is by signing up to Everyclick, a website which donates money to your charity dependant on how often people use it as a search engine. We could really do with more people signing up and nominating Cottingley Cornerstone Centre as the charity they would like to support. It costs nothing and helps us. Ask your friends to sign up too..every little click helps!

NEW GARDENS - CAN YOU HELP?

We are hoping to develop two wonderful new open spaces outside our new community centre - if we can raise the money for them.

At the moment we have two open spaces on either side of the centre but we would really like to develop a Sensory Garden in one and a Wildlife Garden in the other.

The project to create the gardens will provide an accessible oasis for people of all ages, and will establish and promote a range of habitats for flora and fauna. Access to the gardens will be free.

We plan to create paths and paved areas - suitable for wheelchair users and children's prams, raised planting beds for those with mobility difficulties, a pond, soft landscaping and sensitive, external lighting. This will transform the spaces from nondescript wasteland in between buildings into two contrasting, welcoming and fully accessible outdoor gardens. The Sensory Garden will feature fragrant and tactile planting, whilst the Wildlife Garden will attract abundant insect, bird and plant life.

We know that local young people are enthusiastic about the gardens and they have participated fully in devising ideas and potential layouts, especially for the wildlife space.

Any help you can give us will be welcome. Please contact us on newgardens@cottingleycornerstone.org.uk or by telephoning our fundraisers on 01422 204405.

FUTUREBUILDERS FILM UP AND RUNNING!

Even though we're right at the end it's well worth a look all the way through to see the amazing projects currently being supported by one of our major funders.

MAJOR CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY, NOVEMBER 2006

Major construction has begun on site! We signed scores of documents between us and our partners and we're up and running. Special thanks to our lawyers Gordons who worked on the complex agreements, and to developers Close Brothers and Bramley Homes, the Diocese of Bradford and Bradford Council.

Final completion of all community facilities and housing is due in Spring/ early Summer 2008 and we can't wait to begin to provide the much needed services to our community.

Houses will be built throughout the construction period and there has already been considerable interest from people interested in purchasing. Contact Bramley Homes for more details of what will be available

"In a strange way is the beginning of the end" says Chair of Trustees Sue Pinnington. "Of course there is still an enormous amount of work to do, and without the strong partnerships we have built up with Bradford Council and the developers we could not have reached this stage. But very soon everyone will see the physical shape of what has been developed over the last three years and by late Spring/early Summer of 2008 we hope to have our new community facilities up and running."

FUTUREBUILDERS FILM

Cottingley Cornerstone Centre is one of the projects featured in a new short film by Futurebuilders England, one of our major funders. We'll be posting the whole film on the website soon. Keep watching because we're at the end! We also hope to put some out-takes on this site.

EVERYCLICK

If you would like to support us further please take a look at Everyclick, the search engine. By signing up with them as an individual or corporate supporter you could help us raise more funds for the centre.

FOUNDATION STONES LAID

On 26 July 2006 the Foundation Stones were laid for Cottingley Cornerstone Centre and St Michael and All Angels Church. The Bishop of Bradford, the Right Reverend David James, and Councillor Margaret Eaton performed the ceremony in front of many of the people who have been helping and supporting the project for the last five years.

The ceremony was filmed by Yorkshire Television for that evening's Calendar News programme, and BBC Radio 4 carried a six minute piece on the Sunday Programme on 30 July. The Bradford Telegraph and Argus also carried a large piece.

Listen to the Radio 4 piece here:

WORK BEGINS

On Monday 9 January 2006, the builders, JS Bramley, started work on site. The initial site preparations and the demolition of the old Church Hall and Littlelands Court are expected to last until the end of February. Building work is due to start in late spring/early summer.

Chair of Trustees, Sue Pinnington, commented: "This marks the next exciting step for the Cornerstone Centre, it is no longer a dream and plans on a piece of paper, but a reality.

"We are delighted to be working alongside JS Bramley as we regenerate the centre of Cottingley."

LAUNCH OF LOCAL FUNDRAISING

A special local fundraising day was held at Cottingley Village Primary School on 25 November 2005 to help with the last push for funds for the centre.

The school put on an amazing arts day with children involved in dance and puppet workshops, face painting and balloon modelling as well as many of the school's own art projects.

Guests included Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, The Most Reverend David Hope, former Archbishop of York, Fiona Ellis, a Trustee of Futurebuilders England who have contributed over £1m to the project, and Bradford Council's Deputy Leader, Councillor Simon Cooke.

Beckfoot School, the local secondary school, sent its vocal group to perform, and the primary school's choir also sang.

Reverend Canon Sue Pinnington, Chair of Trustees of Cotttingley Cornerstone Centre, said: "The day was a tremendous success. Not only did all the children have a wonderful time but we raised a lot of money through selling our new "bugs" and through the "Buy a Brick" scheme. Many, many thanks both to the school which gave so much time to make this a success, and all those who came and gave workshops or visited to give support."

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