Kingsley Holt Centre were delighted to receive a £1000 grant from the ‘We love the Moorlands’ fund to enable them to complete essential maintenance tasks on their building.

The grant has been used to repair the flat roofs, which were leaking in places and to replace damaged flashing, which had come away from the join in the building creating a space where water was entering the building. The work was carried out voluntarily by local builder, Steve Bateman, meaning only the materials needed to be funded from the grant.

The remainder of the grant was spent repairing an original stained-glass window, one of only two remaining in the Centre. Work on the window was completed by volunteers; John Brammer, who is a joiner by trade assisted by John Hogshon. John Brammer said ‘The frame was completely rotted away and the original leading was broken and coming apart in places. One good gust of wind, could have meant this window was lost forever.’ The window was removed and repaired and re-leaded at Design World in Fenton and was then encased in a double glazing unit by Fenton Glass & Glazing Ltd, to further protect the stained glass and to additionally insulate the building. The leaded panel was refitted in a frame handmade by John Brammer, and now sits proudly in it’s original position, safe for decades to come.

Karen Bateman, Secretary of Kingsley Holt Centre said ‘We are extremely grateful to the ‘We Love the Moorlands’ fund for this grant, which has enabled us to make the Centre weatherproof and safeguarded one of it’s original features. We are also very thankful to the skilled volunteers who have completed this work, meaning that we have been able to use this grant for both of these issues as we have only had to pay for the materials.’

The ’We love the Moorlands’ fund is managed by The Community Foundation for Staffordshire. Leanne MacPherson, Head of Programmes at The Community Foundation for Staffordshire said “The We Love the Moorlands Fund is a community focused fund that aims to raise money locally and redistribute this across the community via the allocation of grants. Organisations like the Kingsley Holt Centre are vital to supporting local people across the Staffordshire Moorlands and we are proud to support their work.”