A charitable integrated organisation (CIO) 1176548

Follow Our Progress

Amount Raised:

40000
30926.87

Progress Update 17/11/2020

Dear Friends,

“Our Pavilion”, dedicated to the memory of Frank Verwey who was the inspiration for this community project, has opened its doors and is already employing adults with additional needs to serve takeaway hot drinks during this lockdown period.

The conversion is now complete and has been a real labour of love for a dedicated team of volunteers since last spring. We have so many to thank and will do so in due course as hopefully restrictions ease and we can plan for an “official” opening some time in 2021.

In the meantime, we will slowly build on our repertoire with the addition of ice creams, cold drinks and snacks in the near future.

We intend to evolve as the current climate allows, so please bear with us, but please also do remember our charitable aims which are being realised from day one.

We continue to build on our volunteer base so please contact us on info@fordeparkcp.co.uk if you are able to offer us any time in any way…be that serving in the cafe or helping us with a mountain of administrative hoops that we need to climb through!

We have received our first visit from environmental health and been awarded the top food hygiene rating, so we need to maintain this as we progress.

We are working on a website for the cafe itself that will link with this site and our just giving page so do please continue to check for updates.

Here’s to the future!

Julia Julie and Mark

Progress Update 23/09/2020

Dear Friends,

Thanks to an amazing bunch of volunteers, our project to convert the pavilion in Forde Park into a cafe where adults with additional needs can work is now close to fruition.

The huge amount of goodwill we have received has enabled us to come in very close to budget and our funds have received a welcome boost this week by the final payment of our grant from Devon County Council ( Creative Innovation and Growth) along with a very generous donation from the locality fund to enable us to equip the building….thank you so much Gordon Hook!

Jobs arranged and settled for but still left to complete are the erection of railings around the ramp, the plumbing in of cloakroom facilities and the laying of the vinyl flooring. Yet another volunteer is giving his time and necessary equipment to have our tired wood flooring restored to its former glory. When the railings are completed we will be able to remove the temporary fencing and the site will feel more accessible.

The croquet club have moved into what is now an out house at the rear of the building and now have the necessary plumbing and electricity. We look forward to continuing our close relationship with them as our project progresses.

Friday afternoon 2nd October we are calling a meeting on site for anyone who feels able to give some time towards volunteering in the cafe when we do open. Please contact us via e mail below should you be interested…even if you are unable to make the meeting.

Finally a massive thanks to our project managers Peter and Margaret Kendall without whom we would undoubtedly still be at the planning stage 

Hoping we will be serving you a coffee soon!

Mark

Progress Update 19/07/2020

Dear Friends,

The ramp has been completed! A big thank you to Regal Heritage and a continual supply of volunteers who have worked relentlessly over the last 2 weeks to make this happen. Special mention to Peter Vine who delivered 12 separate lorry loads of hard core to the site over a single day and , of course, to Peter Kendall who continues to shoulder all our worries and concerns and holds the entire process together for us.

The slabs were sourced from Glendinnings in Ashburton who waved their invoice , the project yet again benefitting from local generosity. Thank you!

Mark

Progress Update 30/06/2020

Dear Friends,

I am very pleased to report that with huge help from a band of local volunteers, our builders Regal Heritage and now with the additional support of Sherwoods Building Services who have provide us with professional help at no cost to ourselves, our project continues to make good progress.

Internally a doorway has been created from the cafe to our store at the back ( previously a public toilet now converted). A false wall has been built in what will be our disabled cloakroom facilities. The kitchen walls have been lined with plastic to enable easy cleaning in the future. The ceiling has been plasterboarded and we await the kind assistance of volunteers from the croquet club who are assisting the fitting of the dropped ceiling in the kitchen. The internal walls have been prepared for painting.

Outside I do hope many of you will actually have been over to see the transformation. The wooden boarding from the windows is now permanently removed and the windows have all been prepared and painted. The plastic panes have been replaced by glass at the kitchen end. Most of the exterior has now been painted. The site is surrounded by Harris-fencing at the front so that the ramp can be built. A small trench was dug under the supervision of the Teignbridge tree consultant and the retaining wall has been completed.

Last week end volunteers collected hard core from various sites around Newton Abbot…real back breaking hard work… and the hole has been filled in! Further volunteers collected 175 slabs from Ashburton and once the builders have levelled the hard core these slabs will soon be laid.

Yet again many thanks to all those who continue to support us and also to those of you who have stopped to chat and shown appreciation of what we are trying to achieve. It is all very exciting.

Devon County Council via Creative Innovation and Growth continue to refund 50% of our projected building costs for which we remain very grateful. We do still require donations towards our setting up and future on costs and these can be made via this website if you are in a position to assist us further.

It continues to be a great community team effort…thank you!

Mark

Progress Update 01/06/2020

Well folks the roof is FINALLY completed. It has not been an easy journey as sadly the original tiles were so damaged we were unable to salvage any. We were also hoping to preserve the ridge tiles that gave the building character but regretfully this was not possible either. We apologise as we are aware that some will be disappointed and we are too as this process has severely impinged on our budget but it is done now and the pavilion is sound once again.

The scaffolding has largely gone but we await the removal of the front section now. Since our last post we have prepared the walls indoors ready for painting and insulated the roof of our storage room at the back. We have also lined the ceiling of the croquet store with some of the original wood.

We have been up in the roof and removed the old pipe work for which we were surprisingly able to receive £158 as scrap.

The carpenter has been in and done the work necessary so that the dropped ceiling can be installed, which Simon from the croquet club is kindly arranging for us.

A group of volunteers, including Charlotte, worked in the immediate grounds around the pavilion this week end to prune back the foliage which we hope will improve the aspect of the building as you approach and improve the light to the area.

The majority of work carried out by volunteers in the last few weeks has been on the windows. We were very surprised to find when we removed the boards that they are plastic panes 😱😱. We have rubbed down and painted the frames and a local family have taken on the thankless task of replacing the “soon -to -be -kitchen ” panes with glass….they are now all experts with putty! The other windows we will need to leave as plastic for now and hopefully can replace later on as our income improves. All windows will be protected by shutters at night which we have ordered.

Regal Heritage hopefully will be in a position soon to start construction of the disabled ramp and meanwhile our volunteers will continue painting the exterior.

This week we have submitted our second invoice to Devon County Council who have underpinned our project with 50% of our costs covered by a grant from “Creative Innovation and Growth”. We remain very grateful as without their help our capital costs would not be viable.

Once again a huge thank you to our team of volunteers and to Peter who again as a volunteer is managing the building works for us.

More news soon!

Mark

Progress Update May 2020:

Despite lockdown, work is continuing to progress on the conversion of the pavilion albeit at a slower pace than planned. We are very grateful to DCC via their Creation and Growth funding who remain fully understanding of our situation.

By the end of the week, we expect the new roof to be completed. We had hoped that a large percentage of the old tiles would be salvageable thereby reducing our costs but sadly this was not the case and we have had to replace all the tiles. On the plus side, the roof will be guaranteed for the next 20 years and it will look very smart and we hope you will agree that it is in keeping with the old.

We have managed to complete all the high exterior paintwork while the scaffolding remains in position.

Inside, phase 1 of the electrics is complete and an internal wall removed to prepare for the kitchen. Regal Heritage have carried out the necessary carpentry to suspend the ceiling and a volunteer from the croquet club has offered to hang the ceiling for us, which we are very grateful for. We have asked Teignbridge if we can alter our internal plans by creating a door from the kitchen area to the store area at the rear of the building. Disabled access to supplies will be much enhanced by this.

We have removed the window boarding and got the windows open which seemed like a real milestone to achieve. This weekend we intend to prepare the windows for painting.

Please do check out our updated list of donators to see the continued huge support we are receiving from our community.

Mark Clarvis and fellow trustees

Progress Update Feb 2020:

Great news guys! The project is now physically underway.

Please see pictures below of the work starting and keep an eye out for more updates soon.

Progress Update Jan 2020:

Progress Update December 2019:

Progress Update November 2019:

Progress Update July 2019:

Progress Update August 2018: