About

 

The Shelter was built around 1953 and was originally intended for use by the veterans of both the World Wars. The Building is trust owned and therefore does not fall under the council. The Shelter was up until a number of years ago a thriving community centre. Due to the lack of use and vandalism the Shelter declined into a state of disrepair.

 

Due to the expansion of Scholes F&N School Wobbly Tots who have been based in the village for over 10yrs found themselves looking for a new home. The Shelter was the obvious choice for a new home for "Wobbly's" However the building was in such a state of disrepair as it was it wouldn't be possible to take on the Shelter without a considerable amount of money and time to be put into the refurbishment. Wobbly's is a not for profit group and all the money goes back into activities for the children and as the Shelter is a charity there just wasn't the kind of money available to spend on the Shelter so it seemed to be a non starter.

 

April 2007 we formed an action group to get the Shelter back up and running including Mums and Dads and the local councilor Kath Pinnock. We quickly managed to get Yorkshire Water involved in the project as well as a number of local businesses to help out with the refurbishment of the Shelter. Yorkshire Water are great believers in giving back to the community through their cares challenge projects and jumped at the idea, although it was to be the biggest community challenge they had done up to date. as a result we managed to get some of Yorkshire Waters contract partners involved namely Bentley's, MMB and DrainsAid.

 

The time span to get the project completed was very short indeed, basically all the works had to be done and completed during July 2007 in time for opening in August. with the help of Kath Pinnock and the Area Committee we secured a £15,000 grant to help with the refurbishment.

 

MMB J Bentleys agreed to do the roof, gutters and disabled ramp for us at their own expense this was more than we could have ever asked for and without them the project could have been a non starter. DrainsAid helped out with the drains around the building and got them working for us. Yorkshire Water supplied 50 people over a three day period as a community cares challenge. We fed and watered them and in return they gave the garden a much needed makeover with the support of Beardsley's Nurseries who donated all the plants, as well as decorating the whole building with paint and materials donated by Sigma Kalon Birstall using brushes etc donated by Purdy, big thanks to Jonnie Fay for that and his Decorating expertise on the day! Citizen Security donated 3 men's time and labour and the parts at cost to put us an excellent security system on the building. Biffa donated all the skips to get rid of all the rubbish.

 

We employed local companies using the grant money to replace all the windows, fit new security grills, a new heating system and get all the lights and wiring on the Shelter sorted. The companies involved knew we were on a tight budget and offered us generous discounts. Especially Mark from Regency Windows Bradford who is the most helpfull and patient guy you could hope to meet.

 

Without all these people the Shelter would not be open to the community to use and the Children wouldn't have a fantastic building to use. We cannot thank everyone enough for their help and support in this project. It was a true team event. Yorkshire Water recognized the project in their Community Spirit Awards where Wobbly Tots came out the overall winner against some tough competition.

 

Now some 4 years later the building is a thriving hub of the community. The tireless work of the original volunteers is still ongoing along with a few new people ! We have adopted a "through thick and thin" attitude through these tough times and the hard work has paid off.