Ancoats Dispensary Trust are pleased to announce that they have been awarded £170,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) under the Heritage and Enterprise Scheme and are now able to begin developing its plans to restore and transform the building into a community hub for Ancoats and surrounding neighbourhoods. This earmarked funding from HLF means that Ancoats Dispensary Trust and their partner Igloo Regeneration can now undertake immediate stabilisation works to the fragile building.
The Heritage and Enterprise Scheme has been designed to empower people working in partnership with the private sector to find sustainable new uses for disused historic buildings in their local communities.
The passion and commitment demonstrated by a group of local people inspired the Board of Trustees of the HLF in London and they felt that it was important to support the project.
At the present time the governance structure, legal processes are being worked on but in the meantime the Group are trying to build their membership base and would ask that supporters or people who are interested in becoming members of Ancoats Dispensary Trust visit the website at www.ancoatsdispensarytrust.co.uk for further information. To become a member does not necessarily require any cost but there are options should people wish to pay various levels of membership.
Volunteers wanted
The Group are looking for volunteers who can offer a variety of skills so that they can add to their volunteer data base. Skills of fundraising, website maintenance, graphic design, finance, photography, film would all be welcome. There is also a presence outside the Dispensary for a few hours per day during the week and if you could spare an hour or so per week to help at this visitor base you would be very welcome.
This space will eventually become a Visitor Centre where people will be able to find out the latest news about how the restoration of the Dispensary is coming along. The volunteers will be speaking to the general public and should have an interest in the building itself but no specialised knowledge is required as you will be given information to assist in gathering information about the history of the building. To volunteer for this role contact 0161 237 1103.
If you wish to offer the skills mentioned above email: [email protected] with a brief description of your area of interest.