Field Lane venue to open as community hub

This remarkable achievement will be celebrated during the ‘Space Launch Family Fun Day’ will be held this Saturday (September 7) between 1pm and 4pm.

The Mayor of Calderdale, the Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire and other VIPs and funders will be there, but the honour of cutting the ribbon and unveiling a plaque at 2pm will go to two local young people who will be chosen through a draw at the start of the afternoon.

Following the success of last year’s Fun Day, the Group decided that this year’s event will follow a similar format and it has been funded in large part by the iWill Youth Social Action Fund which encourages young people into volunteering.

Young people from the estate have selected the activities to take place, designed the poster and will help run the day.

There will be lots of family fun and refreshments on the play area opposite the school and of course there will be opportunities to see inside the new Space @ Field Lane.

From Monday, September 9, various activities will take place inside the new Space, along with different help and advice clinics and most importantly of all, an opportunity for everyone to mix and mingle over a cuppa in the new community cafe. Opening hours will be limited at the start but will increase as the cafe becomes more established.

Local resident and group chair Steve Tipton said: “We really hope that our new building will increase opportunities for all sorts of activities, volunteering and training and general socialising in our neighbourhood and look forward to talking to people about it at the fun day.”

Emma Woods-Bolger of the Community Foundation who manage the iWill funding in Calderdale said: “Thanks to donations from local businesses like the Halifax Courier we have already been able to offer over 900 young people the opportunity to take part in social action projects, like the one at the Space at Field Lane. 

“By then end of August 2019 we will have engaged a further 800 young people in projects. We simply can’t thank local businesses and individuals enough for the financial support they offer us, especially for this project, because it enabled us to bring in match funding from the Government and the Big Lottery Fund.”