This is an urgent appeal to raise funds to save Dipton Community Centre from closure and move forward to a secure future.

The 'Jubilee Centre' was built by the community, for the commuity using funds raised by the community. The Centre has been struggling like many other village halls, and over that past few years their income has declined dramatically and running costs increased. They lost an annual grant from the county council and groups that regularly used the Centre folded or moved on to their own premises. To compound the problem, most of the trustees either passed away or became unable to manage the centre due to old age and ill health. This left 2 volunteers to try and run the whole thing. As a result they fell into debts of approximately £10k!

Now with the support of our local councillors, the village partnership, officers from Durham Community Action, and local residents, everything is in place to build the Centre back up to a more vibrant and well-used facility. No grant funding is available to clear debt so must generate the income themselves. The community has rallied together and has reduced the debts to less than £6k and has other activities lined up for the next 2 months, .

The centre provides - facilities for local interest groups to meet and function (eg: a local environmental group, toddler group, village partnership); affordable room hire for local people to hold functions; facilities for other groups to host fundraising events; meetings and consultations so local people can have easy access to advice from statutory and other services; family-focused events so local families can have fun without travelling out of the village. Dipton is a rural community that has lost several facilities over recent years, and an area of high deprivation.

Please help by donating what you can to get us back on an even keel so the new committee can plan for the future, get new groups in and apply for grants.

Thank you for reading.