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A busy west Newcastle community hall is looking forward to a brighter future after using funding from a North East employer to pay for a new energy efficient lighting system.
Throckley Community Hall has used a £1,897 Banks Group grant to replace failing, 15 year-old strip lights in its main room with a state-of-the-art LED lighting system which is both cheaper to run and less impactful on the environment.
Local contractor Switch Electrical & Mechanical Services was chosen to carry out the required work, with feedback from the Hall’s regular users already highlighting how much of a positive difference the change has made to the venue.
And the Hall committee is hoping that the improved environment within the building will encourage more local people to hold their events and activities there.
The volunteer-run Throckley Community Hall welcomes over 500 visitors every week and hosts a wide range of different groups and functions, including dance and exercise classes, a youth club, a men’s group, Knit & Knatter sessions, a craft club and popular twice-weekly bingo sessions.
It is also the home of a community larder which distributes food parcels to dozens of local people and families in need every week.
Michelle Mitchell, office manager at Throckley Community Hall, says: “The difference that the new lighting has made is immense and we’re thrilled with how much brighter our main hall now is.
“The old strip lights had begun to fade and flicker, which wasn’t great for the general atmosphere in the hall, and they were causing particular problems for some of our older visitors with poor eyesight who couldn’t easily see what they were doing and others who have epilepsy.
“The feedback we’ve had from visitors has been fantastic, especially from some of our older bingo players who say they can now see their cards properly!
“While we’re always very busy, we’d love to see even more people choosing to hold their family functions and group activities with us, and we think the improved lighting is going to play a big part in making this happen.
“We’d started to do our own fundraising to bring in the money for this project, and getting Banks’ generous support has allowed us to make this change far more quickly than we otherwise could have.”
Jamilah Hassan, community relations manager at the Banks Group, adds: “Throckley Community Hall plays an important role in the lives of hundreds of local people, and we’re really pleased to be able to hear just how much of a difference the new lights are making to everyone’s enjoyment of being there.”
The Banks Group’s community funds are independently managed by Point North (formerly the County Durham Community Foundation).
Anyone from a community close to a Banks Group project who is interested in applying for funding from the Banks Community Fund should contact the company via its website enquiry form (www.banksgroup.co.uk/contact-us/) to find out if their group or project is eligible.