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Wynstones School New Hall
The Hall is now available for limited use!
No you are not seeing things, you read that correctly. After seven years of sustained fundraising and heroic communal effort we now have a hall we can use… a truly historic event in the life of the school. The Hall is still to be finished, but the main space is now available for sports and gym. The role of the Hall will grow within the life of the school, as further funds become available.
A very warm thank you to all those generous people who have made this possible by making a donation, joining the Borrowing Community or organising and supporting fundraising events. If you have yet to make a contribution, don’t be downhearted, there is still plenty to do. Collect a donation form from Liz at reception and play your part in this enormous project to enhance the educational experience of our children. Guy Pinnington
New School Hall
The New Hall is a revelation in so many ways. The use of wood inside and out gives the building a welcoming warmth very suitable for school children. The inside glows.
What has been most impressive and right from the beginning is the community effort which has culminated in this fine building. From the summer camp, the borrowing community, the Paris bike rides, the attention to detail in all aspects of the project, the parent involvement all leaves me with a deep sense of gratitude. Here is a community creating a space for its children. A true gift freely given. And a real fight, one which encompassed the ups and downs, the disagreements and many challenges. A gift followed through and carried through. No government grant or state subsidy but a community deed which stands out clearly amongst us as the building itself.
Many years ago, perhaps the summer of 1989, an old man spoke to a school assembly gathered for midsummer. He spoke with eloquence and passion of a New Hall for the school. He believed in this and told us we could build it if we had the will. His name was Benedict Wood one of the school founders. He spoke of his vision, knowing he would never see its realisation. His vision arose out of his love for the school. Benedict was a craftsman and his eyes would be twinkling with delight to see our beautiful New Hall.
My heartfelt thanks to a very long list of contributors headed by Charles Crittall, Richard Fox, Guy Pinnington and Pete Williams.Ken Power
The New Hall Project was launched in 2002, to provide a badly needed facility for school assemblies, festivals, some performing arts and sports. The great news is that over the past two years we have taken dramatic steps towards our goal.
Since the start of the project, the school community has raised a truly gargantuan total of £486,000 towards the cost of the building. To this the school itself has added a further £350,000 in borrowed funds. The first phase of construction, which included the structure of the building and the roof, was finished in the autumn of 2007. Last year saw the third sponsored bike ride to Paris raise nearly £20,000 in sponsorship for the new hall to which was added some £40,000 in funds from charitable trusts donations. These funds and school borrowings enabled the second construction phase to start in September 2008.
This second phase was completed in September 2009 and we now have a hall available for limited use. Although far from being finished, all external aspects of the building are complete and a very large space, suitable for gym and some sport are now available. The extractable seating, showers, stage lighting, basketball goals, balcony stairs, kitchen and finish to the rooms surrounding the main space, will have to wait for the last building phase, costing a further £180,000.
In order to raise this money as quickly as possible we are having a Big Push programme of fundraising events this year culminating in the Wynstones Walkathon on the 1st May 2010. This culminating event will be an epic sponsored walk in which all the children, parents and teachers together with their friends and extended families, will raise sponsorship and walk across the Cotswolds to converge on Wynstones for food music and celebrations.
However in the short term we are in urgent need of a heating system, two toilets and floor protection. If you wish to help please join the borrowing community by pledging to pay a small amount per month for a period of say four years. On the basis of this pledge the school can borrow the equivalent of all these contributions immediately. Remember that with gift aid a £10 monthly contribution will bring more than £600 closer to our goal.
Wynstones is well known, as are many Steiner Schools for the excellence of their performing arts. The barn, which is less than a quarter the size of the new hall, is too small for whole school events and is completely inadequate to deal with the competing needs of drama, music , gym and sport. Please help us to give the present pupils of Wynstones a hall worthy of their talents whilst they are still at the school.
For further information or a standing order and donations form please contact Guy Pinnington on 07770 736702.
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