Buy a brick to play your part in community

The committee of Hayling Island Community Centre wants to build a two-storey extension on the 30-year-old building to accommodate all the groups that want to use it.

As well as applying for lottery funding for the Station Road centre, manager Tania Jones has launched an appeal for supporters to buy a brick at £10 each.

She hopes to raise £10,000 and has sold 53 in one week.

Tania said: ‘We’re a busy community centre and we have reached capacity.

‘We’re having to turn away groups that want to start up because we just don’t have enough room.

‘The two-storey extension will house three other rooms which we will let out to groups who have been coming to us asking for space.

‘We decided to make the extension into a hub. There will be three small, flexible rooms and downstairs we will have a community cafe.

‘At the moment we don’t have a cafe area at all.

‘There is nowhere for people to sit and drink their coffee unless we have a room spare – which rarely happens.

‘It’s not a huge extension but it’s going to have two extra toilets.’

More than 2,000 people visit the community centre each week.

This week Tania and her team are busy completing a grant application for cash from the National Lottery.

If they are successful the grant will make up the bulk of the money needed to start the build.

Everyone who buys a brick will receive a certificate and have their name entered on the community centre’s roll of honour after completion of the project, which will remain for years to come.

- If you would like to buy a brick and be part of the centre’s legacy, pop into the community centre, telephone (023) 9246 7545 or go to hicca.co.uk.