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    We have a new handyman

    Just to update: we have now been working with our new maintenance man, Adam, for several months, and he’s doing a great job for the Centre. So we’re not currently looking for anyone else to take on minor maintenance and decorating tasks, but thank you to those who have recently shown an interest in providing this service. Our fault for not updating this feed more regularly. Sorry about that.

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    We are looking for a handyman (or woman). Please get in touch.

    Anyone know a reliable handyman (or woman)? We’re looking for someone to do occasional / odd jobs at Coulsdon Community Centre, as sadly, Keith, our regular handyman has had to retire following a serious illness. Tasks range from replacing broken loo seats and fixing loose door handles, to replacing fluorescent tubes, repairing running gear on curtains, and putting together flat pack furniture. Some decoration (mainly retouching scratches and scrapes) and occasional bits and pieces of carpentry also required. Nothing too technical or arduous. Probably amounting to a couple of days a month on average – but jobs tend to be as and when required. An hour or two here or there mostly. Sometimes longer jobs. It would suit a retired person with a reasonable level of DIY skills and own tools! We’re happy to pay a competitive hourly rate.

    If you’re interested – or know anyone that might be suitable – please drop an email to our part-time administrator, Janice, at coulsdoncom@yahoo.com

    Thank you.

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    Centre and site development update – March 2018

    As you may know by now, Croydon Council’s arms-length development company, Brick by Brick Ltd, has now gained planning permission from the council to move ahead with related schemes to redevelop the existing Coulsdon Community Centre site for new housing, and to redevelop the old Smitham Junior School site (in the town centre), to provide a new, improved community centre facility.

    What does this mean for us?

    In the long term, we expect to get a bigger and better community centre, with an extra function room, and a new-build main hall – fully accessible, energy efficient, and central to the area.
    At present, nothing will change in the short term. The agreement with Brick by Brick Ltd, is that the new community centre will be completed to the agreed plan and specification, and only then will we, Coulsdon Community Centre Association, together with all our operations, equipment and user groups, relocate to the new site and buildings. Once we have vacated the existing site, it will then be redeveloped. We therefore anticipate that the move will take place mid – late 2019, but obviously much depends on the pace of work, and getting all the necessary final agreements in place.

    We now need to work closely with the architects, surveyors, and with Brick by Brick Ltd., to finalise the detailed plans for the new centre, and to agree the lease and contract that will form the basis of our occupation. In the meantime, we continue operating as usual, on the site we’ve known and loved for the last 83 years.

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    Developments on developments

    Well, as you may have heard, Croydon Council have come up with a cunning plan to build houses on our existing community centre site, and relocate the Centre to a new facility in the town centre (on the site of the old Smitham Junior School, sometimes called the CALAT site). Now there may be certain advantages to this proposal, including new, improved facilities and more space. Or there may not. We’re engaging with the council, their development company and the architects, to consider all the options, and to make sure that any scheme that does go forward (and there’s no guarantee it will) meets the needs of all our many user groups and the wider community.

    If – and it’s a big if – we feel we can reach an accommodation on a scheme and a deal which we feel able to recommend to our users, then we’ll make sure everybody knows about it and is happy with it.

    If we can’t, then we will vigorously defend our right to stay exactly where we are, and to continue operating very successfully as we have been for many years. We’ll keep you posted.

    Please be aware that even if an agreement can be reached, it’s likely to be around two years before any new, improved community centre would be built, up and running. During which time we would, of course, continue operating from our current site. Watch this space for more news. Or contact us at the Centre if you have any particular issues or concerns about this that you would like to discuss. Thank you.

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    Holiday period contact

    Our one and only part-time administrator is away during the latter part of August, so any enquiries will take longer than usual to get a response. Possibly several days. Please email rather than leaving a phone message if possible. We will get back to you as quickly as we can, but at this holiday time of year, please bear with us. Thank you.

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    Nobody’s mug

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    We’ve recently made another small improvement to the Centre’s facilities, with the addition of a supply of stylish Coulsdon Community Centre mugs, available for users in both the upstairs kitchenette and the downstairs kitchen. Please feel free to use them. We have also replenished our supply of cutlery, so we have a full complement of new knives, forks and spoons. A few of these will be kept in the kitchen drawers. However, as experience proves they have a tendency to disappear over time, the bulk supply will only be made available on request to the administrator for particular functions or events.

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    Refurbishment of the upstairs hall

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    We’ve nearly completed the refurbishment of the upstairs hall at the Centre, redecorated throughout, with a new kitchenette installed for the convenience of users, and now with smart new Polyflor sprung vinyl flooring. The old, ill-assorted metal cabinets will shortly be replaced with a brand new set, and roller blinds (also in blue-grey) will be fitted to all windows. If you use this room at the Centre, we hope you’ll be pleased with the improvement.

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    ‘The Ladykillers’ – classic Ealing black comedy at Coulsdon

    The Centre’s resident theatre company (and Coulsdon’s finest), Theatre Workshop Coulsdon (TWC) will be staging ‘The Ladykillers’ at the Centre, from Saturday 2nd April through to Saturday 9th April. There are seven performances of Graham (Father Ted) Linehan’s hilarious adaptation of this classic Ealing comedy, but they’re not on every day, so for more details, or to book tickets online, please head over to Theatre Workshop’s website: www.twcoulsdon.org.uk

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    Phone and broadband service restored

    We’re back up and running on the internet. So please get in touch 🙂

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    Our phone and broadband are currently down… :(

    We’ve been having problems with our phone and broadband for the last 2 – 3 weeks and are waiting for engineers to come out (again!) and try to fix it. Meanwhile, phone messages are not getting through, and the Centre has no internet access at present.

    So if you have an urgent enquiry, your best route is to contact us via email on coulsdoncom@yahoo.com

    We can access emails remotely, and will do our best to deal with your enquiry that way. Other than that, I’m afraid you’ll just have to bear with us until our broadband provider fixes the fault.