Teignmouth Meadow Centre May Re-Open Next Month
Kingsway's Community Centre could be up and running again next month. For an Exeter-based community scheme is taking over the lease which it is hoped will be taken over by Kingsway Residents Association in the future. And volunteers are being sought now for the youth club, senior night, or other activities so the necessary police checks can be carried out in readiness for the re-opening. The lease is being taken over by the League of Friends of Westbank, believed to be one of the first community based schemes in the country, which has the support of Devon Social Services and the local health authority. Westbank League of Friends will be working with Kingsway Residents Association and clean-up operations are now underway in a bid to get the Meadow Centre's doors open to the public next month. The taking over the lease follows weeks of meetings with councillors, including top dogs at partner organisations, such as Teign Housing. Kingsway Residents Association was determined that all the activities that were available for children, as well as activities for older people, were carried on. The centre was being used by people from surrounding estates and not just people from Kingsway. Townspeople were shocked by the news a few weeks ago that Teignmouth Community Association had gone into administration, with debts of more than £30,000 and the loss of around 50 jobs. Teignbridge District Council had written off rent arrears of £36,618 in a bid to help keep the centre open last November. The council had been warned that if the rent arrears were not written off then the association would "undoubtedly be at serious risk of ceasing operation as a registered charity" which would result in "a severe reduction of key local service provision in some of our most deprived wards".Local councillors were consulted and the arrears were written off as a key decision by Councilor Marie Jenkins, the portfolio holder for communities and regulations and Councillor Alan Connet, the portfolio holder for resources and budget. The decision took immediate effect and the association was granted a full rent subsidy on the Somerset Place premises, subject to annual review. The reason given for the decision was that the association provided a wide range of services that were available to the wider community such as adult learning opportunities and more focused activity aimed at hard to reach groups, such as family intervention and training for those not in education or employment. "These services contribute towards the council's goals of prosperity, health and wellbeing and sustainable communities and are often directed towards the most vulnerable members of our community," said the notification of the decision. "It is essential that the council supports the sustainability of such community based service providers in as many ways as it can." One of contenders in the Star Teignmothian competition, run by our printed magazine, the late Cynthia Holmes, was instrumental in establishing the community facility for Teignmouth back in the 1970s. Cynthia got a committee together and moved heaven and earth to get the Ј71,000 needed to build an 80-foot long building and adjoining venture playground. The building was opened in 1981 by the then Chief Constable John Alderton and it was known as the West Teignmouth Community Association. The committee ran the centre for years until the time came when it seemed right to pass it over to the district council. As the community centre grew, funding came in from different streams, including a National Lottery Award, and the government projects that the centre ran increased. The association acted as community agents for the Teignmouth Regeneration Project and organised many community consultations and community based activities. Partners included Dawlish and Teignmouth Sure Start, South Devon College, Teignmouth Community Development Trust, Teignmouth Town Council, Teignbridge District Council, Devon County Council, Teign Housing, Devon youth Service, Connexions, Community Safety Wardens, Devon and Cornwall Police and Dawlish Town Council.
