Community asset transfer - Londesborough Lodge

A community centre for the prevention and treatment of stress, a place for enhancing health and well-being, offering a holistic approach to stress-reduction, health and happiness for all the community.

Expansion of existing activities and addition of new ones.

Funding: renovations will be funded by Rokpa Trust.

Sustainable income streams will be generated through rentals (accommodation and room hire), courses, fund raising and donations.

• Community based centre, housing all aspects of theatre and the arts, managed by Scarborough Youth Theatre (SYT).
• SYT, is a part time musical theatre course (Saturday's only), aimed at children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Rooms at the Lodge will be let to various other enterprises and community groups at an appropriate economic rent.
• Organisations currently wishing to rent facilities include:

   - Hatton School of Performing Arts  

   - Kund Fu Club

   - Dance Warehouse Costume Hire

• Stephen Joseph Theatre wishes to hire rehearsal space and may wish to hire office space
• Qdos Entertainments, hiring rehearsal space for cruise ships
• Rehearsal studios for local amateur operatic societies and other music groups
• Soundproof room for local bands to enhance their training
• Indoor soft play area - needed as Playzone has closed
• Zumba and fitness hire, who presently hire church halls for this purpose
• Playgroup running all year round for children's social and motor skills development
• Osteopath - a local and recently qualified professional wishes to start up his own business
• Hatton's will open a 16-18 vocational course to bring and keep young people in Scarborough rather than London. There is no equivalent course in the North East of England. This will attract associated income into Scarborough. Local accommodation establishments will be used to house the pupils which will keep businesses running all year round.
• Most businesses are self contained and will be hiring the rooms.

The building would be used as a public museum, the ‘Museum of Scarborough’. The Museums Trust is acutely aware of local concerns that since Woodend Museum was closed significant parts of the Borough Council collections are not on public view. The development of a ‘Museum of Scarborough’ would meet these concerns and add significantly to what Scarborough can offer the visitor. So we plan to tell the story of Scarborough using these collections. For example, we would be able to display internationally renowned artefacts such as those from the Mesolithic site of Starr Carr as well as our tourism archive which charts the development of Scarborough as a seaside resort. There will therefore be displays aimed at a range of audiences as well as education and community spaces. We also plan to have a café and shop area. The Museums Trust already operates the Rotunda and Scarborough Art Gallery and the addition of Londesborough Lodge would enable us to develop spaces there which could be shared by the other sites – for example, a café.

We would run a range of events in the building relevant to the history of Scarborough which would engage a wide range of audiences from toddlers to the over 60s, from tourists to local families.

The process of developing the building, displays and facilities would aim to include the community at all stages and we intend to use a ‘Community Curator’ model. This would mean consulting and engaging the community about what is their history, collecting their stories and also objects to add to the collection. This process should enable us to develop a space which is owned and used by the community. For example, we may have a ‘community gallery’, and a room which could be used by local groups e.g. mother and baby group. The recruitment of volunteers would also be important in utilising the building and its collections to their full extent. Volunteers might act as ‘interpreters’ in the displays, guides for groups or help catalogue and research the collections. We would also aim to have specific projects aimed at disadvantaged groups within Scarborough.

The capital required for refurbishment of the building and development of displays etc would be sought from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The fact that Londesborough Lodge is a listed building which needs a new use would strengthen our case, as well as the fact that we would be displaying important objects not currently on public display. Match funding would be obtained through sponsorship and other fundraising activities.

We would develop revenue streams in order to fund running costs – e.g. admission charges as appropriate, retail income, patronage schemes. Our core staff across the Trust are already funded and we could operate another site with minimal extra staff and efficiencies of scale.