News

As you will know, it’s really exciting that the lease on Palmers Field, between Aldbourne Parish Council and Aldbourne Recreation Centre, has been agreed. 

I’m pleased to say that the lease will be formally signed on Thursday the 15th of August at 7.15pm at the bottom of Southward Football Field. ARC Trustees, Members of Aldbourne Parish Council will be there along with friends and we hope to be joined by a reporter from the local press. This will also be a great moment to formally unveil our new noticeboard. 

We would also like to invite you to come along to this important milestone, which will also give us an opportunity to thank you again for your support and interest in the project. 

Meanwhile…

We are spending the summer talking to different groups in the village to share design ideas and we hope to be able to show the wider village concept designs sometime in the autumn.  

We are also formalising our conversations with groups in the village which will form part of the funding application process. We’ve been very grateful to the Marlborough Area Board who have given us a community engagement grant to be able to do this. 

With the project gaining momentum, we really appreciate offers of help and would welcome anyone to join us, so please do get in touch.  As always if you have any questions or suggestions, please do get in contact with us at:

info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

Also, please do let us know if there is anyone else who would like to receive these newsletters, and don’t forget we are active on social media, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by clicking on the links below. 

I do hope you can make it to our signing ceremony next Thursday and in the meantime thanks again for your continued support. 

Many thanks 
Malcolm Pryce, Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre 

The Lease has been agreed…

We’re delighted to tell you that at Wednesday night’s Aldbourne Parish Council meeting, it was agreed unanimously by Councillors to agree the terms of the lease on Palmers Field, between the Council and Aldbourne Recreation Centre. 

What Next?

This is very exciting indeed and it means we can now progress to the formal design stage. 

Firstly though, there’ll be a formal lease signing ceremony and the unveiling of the new ARC Noticeboard sometime over the next couple of weeks. Everyone is very welcome to come along and witness this momentous occasion, so we’ll let you know exactly where and when in another email very soon. 

The really hard work starts now, and we have already instructed the architect to draw up some initial designs for the new building that will go on Palmers Field, along with the other facilities we plan for the area. 

We will keep you fully informed with our plans every step of the way and we are aware that there are some people who are keen to help in some way and we welcome any suggestions or offers. We are certainly looking to expand our core team members so please do get in touch. 

We’ll be back in touch soon with details of the lease signing ceremony and what we’ll be doing over the next few months.

In the meantime many thanks again to all our supporters for all their continued commitment.

Malcolm Pryce,  Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre 

Welcome to our June Newsletter and despite the recent rain it certainly seems that summer is now here and it’s been great to see so much activity on Palmers and Southward Fields.

It’s been a hive of activity with the Exercise: Digging Band of Brothers as well as all the usual sporting activities. This picture was taken while the Scouts were having a Tug of War evening after being told all about the excavations taking place. 

The Palmer’s Field Lease

For many months now, we’ve been hoping that the lease for Palmers Field is very close to being signed. We were hoping this would have taken place last week at the June meeting of Aldbourne Parish Council. Although everything in the lease has been agreed, unfortunately the solicitors had not completed their work in time to enable the final agreed lease to be circulated to all the councillors before the meeting.  We are hoping we may be able to do this before the next meeting on the 3rd of July and as always, you’ll be the first to know, when there’s any more news. 

Out and About
Aldbourne is always busy with so many great events taking place including the recent Scarecrow Trail. Now in its 5th year it was another huge success so congratulations to all those involved. At ARC we decided we’d make a scarecrow this year on the theme of Books.  Did you get the connection between Theresa May, Emile Macron and the newspapers they were holding? If you didn’t the answer is at the bottom of this email!We’ll be at more events again this summer starting with the Combined Churches Fete on the 29th of June where we’ll have another prize draw with some great prizes. It would be great to see you there for a chat and it’ll give us a chance to answer any questions you have. 

What’s Next
Once the lease is signed, we’ll be moving quickly with design and funding programmes that we’ve been discussing with groups and individuals in the community. We’ll be talking to our architect about designs for the development of Palmer’s Field and will spend the coming months developing indicative designs which will take in to account everything we’ve heard from different village groups. The intention is to design a facility that fulfils the day to day needs of each sports and recreation group, while allowing flexibility when the need arises. Funding sources tell is that they favour the economy, multipurpose and utility of this approach. 

We’re hoping that we’ll be able present our ideas to the rest of the village in a consultation in the autumn. In the meantime, we’re always keen to hear from anyone who has any ideas or would like to get involved with ARC, so please do get in touch. At this stage I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all those in the community and ARC for their contribution and commitment to the lease and everything else that has been worked on in preparation for the next phase, which put simply is design, fund and build.  While we’ve been waiting for the lease to be signed we have been working hard in preparation for the moment we can move ahead. We have been fortunate to have so many people contributing their skills and talent to date and these will be invaluable in the coming months. 

Stay in Touch

This is certainly looking to be a busy summer for ARC, so we look forward to keeping you up to date at every stage of our progress. As always if you have any questions or suggestions, please do get in contact with us at: info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

Please do let us know if there is anyone else who would like to receive this newsletter every month, and don’t forget we are active on social media, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by clicking on the links below. 

Many thanks 

Malcolm Pryce, Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre 

P.S. The answer to our Scarecrow……. The Tale of Two Cities!

Spring is well and truly in the air, so it’s a time to get out and enjoy more outdoor activities. It’s been great to see more and more people coming to the Fitness with Friends (10.30am on Saturday morning) and the Rugby Netball (Thursday evening 6.30pm). Both events take place on Southward Field and thanks again to Mike Campbell and Rupert Bound who organise this every week. They always welcome new people (of all levels of fitness) to come along and join in or just watch. 

Funding

We are very grateful for more donations from people in the village including the Aldbourne Band. We are also excited to announce that we have been awarded £3,500 from Marlborough Area Board to go towards architects and design fees. This is a great boost and very exciting because now, we nearly have sufficient funds to be able to engage the architect we’ve chosen to produce drawings for consultation and designs that will eventually form our planning application. 

We’ll be involved in lots more funding events very soon, and one way you can help now is to be involved in the Scouts monthly Big New Hut 100 Club Draw. They have a couple of spare numbers so do contact Robin Morris at rozzamozza@gmail.com to find out more. This is a picture of Gary Salmon and his Big Blue machine at the last draw.

We’re also pleased to say that thanks to some generous Awards for All funding we will be engaging someone locally to gather vital information from the community to help us design a facility that truly meets the needs of the village when it comes to sport and recreation. 

Upcoming Events

We have a busy year of events coming up on Palmers Field, with the Doggy Day, Carnival Sports Day and Bonfire Night already in the diary. We are also looking forward to being at various events this year to answer people’s questions and spread the word. So look out for our banner and say hello to us at the Village Fete, Proms on the Green and the first Village Green Community Market on the 28th of April.

Palmers Field Update

Although we’re doing everything we can, we still haven’t signed the lease for Palmers Field with Aldbourne Parish Council. The final wording of the lease is still been worked on by solicitors working on behalf of ARC and the Parish Council and although the delay is frustrating, we’re confident we’ll keep making progress. Needless to say we’ll let you know as soon as we have any more news. 

Behind the Scenes

As always we’ve been very busy doing as much as we can in anticipation of the lease being signed. We have engaged an architect who’s all ready to commence drawing some initial designs for us to consider, when we have the lease agreed with the Parish Council

Stay in Touch

This is certainly looking to be a very exciting year for ARC, so we look forward to keeping you up to date at every stage of our progress. Again, we’d like to thank to all our supporters for all their continued commitment; we really appreciate it. As always if you have any questions or suggestions, please do get in contact with us at:

info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

Also, please do let us know if there is anyone else who would like to receive this newsletter every month, and don’t forget we are active on social media, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by clicking on the links below. 

Many thanks 


Malcolm Pryce,  Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre 

Firstly, if it’s not too late, all of us at ARC would like to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2019. We hope it’ll be a great year for you and your families.

We are very excited about this year as we get closer to bringing new sports and recreation facilities to Aldbourne. Although this has taken somewhat longer than we would have hoped, we’ve made tremendous progress over the last year and as you’ll read below we are very close to signing a lease for Palmers Field with Aldbourne Parish Council. In the meantime, the team has been working hard on as much as they can in readiness for the next stage. 

It was great to see a New Year tradition continue on the 1st of January with the annual Rugby Netball game on Southward Field. It was a fun day thanks to Rupert Bound and Mike Campbell who did a fantastic job organising another great game with more people participating than ever. 

Funding

Thanks to the efforts of our fundraising team, in 2018 we successfully received funds from Tesco (Bags of Help), Wroughton Solar Farm Project, Marlborough Area Board and most recently Awards for All (part of the Big Lottery Fund). These grants have been awarded to assist us with the cost of architect consultations and community engagement. We’ve also been able to pay for the new gates that were installed in the autumn and we’ll be putting up new noticeboards at the entrance to Palmers Field to keep everyone up to date with our progress. 

The Team

With the workload increasing all the time, we are pleased to say we now have 6 trustees, 16 voting members and nearly a hundred people receiving this newsletter as well as more and more people following us on social media. We’re very grateful to see so many people in the village getting involved and showing interest in the project. 

Architects

We mentioned in last month’s newsletter that after careful consideration we have now chosen an architect’s practice we’d like to work with, and as soon as the lease is signed we’ll formally engage their services and work on initial designs for the proposed development.  

Research

ARC’s core team have been working hard in many areas to research all aspects of this huge undertaking. This has included engaging with community groups in the village to understand the sport and recreational needs of our community, looking at all types of funding and learning from other facilities in our area to understanding the design & build process and operation of similar facilities.

In December members of the core team went to look at the facilities at Royal Wooton Basset (RWBSA). Although their facility is much bigger than our project, it is a multipurpose centre and the team at the RWBSA were incredibly generous with their time, so we were able to learn a huge amount. The RWBSA have also been very kind in offering their ongoing support and advice on all aspects of the project, which we are sure will prove invaluable. We’ll be having many more visits to other projects over the coming months and we’ll let you know how we get on.

Palmers Field Update

As we speak the solicitors representing ARC and Aldbourne Parish Council are looking at the last few details of the lease, and we hope that this process will not take much longer. We’ll keep you posted on any progress and we’ll let you know as soon as we have been able to sign an agreement. 

We look forward to sharing more news very soon, but in the meantime please remember we always welcome your questions and feedback so please do drop us a line. Also, please help us spread the word by letting us know if there is anyone else who would like to receive this newsletter each month

info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

And finally don’t forget to follow us on social media; we’re on on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so just click on the links below. 

Many thanks 

Malcolm Pryce, Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre

Welcome to this month’s newsletter and especially to those of you who will be receiving this for the first time. We now have nearly 100 people on our mailing list which is great news, as it’s a really good way to keep you up to date with what we’re doing. If you know of anyone else who would like to receive it please do let us know and don’t forget that we are active on social media, so please do follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by clicking on the links at the bottom of this page. 

Bonfire Night

It’s great to see Palmers Field being used for events, and what a great evening the Village Bonfire Night was. Building on the success of last year the team from the Scouts did a fantastic job with a magnificent bonfire and spectacular fireworks not to mention the tasty food. Well done to all concerned – another superb event for the whole village to enjoy with the bonus of raising some very much needed funds. 

Palmers Field Update

As you’ll be aware, we have been working very hard with Aldbourne Parish Council for quite some time now, to secure a lease on Palmers Field. Although this has taken longer than we had hoped, we are pleased to say that we are very near to signing the lease. It has been agreed in principle and the solicitors are now working on the last few details, so we hope that we’ll be able to make an announcement very soon, and rest assured you’ll be the first to hear about it!  

Architects

In our last newsletter we mentioned that we have had some very productive meetings with four different architect’s practices. We have now chosen the architect we feel will deliver the best designs at the most competitive prices and are ready to instruct them to begin work on outline concepts for the proposed development. This will happen as soon as we sign the lease with the Parish Council, and again we’ll share all the details then.

In the meantime members of the core team will be visiting other projects in the area to give us a better understanding of design concepts and operating models. This research will be invaluable for us and we look forward to letting you know what we’ve learned. 

Funding

We have been very grateful for donations from people around Aldbourne and beyond; it has been a great help in getting us to this point. We’ve also been very fortunate to have received two small grants and the team is working hard on seed grants for short term and ongoing costs. The team will then be working on larger core grant funding once the lease has been signed. 

Stay in Touch
As always, if you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please do get in contact with us at: info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

Thank you again to all our supporters for all their continued commitment.

Many thanks 

Malcolm Pryce, Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre

With autumn upon us we are pleased to say that we’ve made a lot of progress during the summer. We attended quite a few events, including the combined churches fete and carnival day.

New Gates For Southward Lane Field

Thanks to the Marlborough Area Board grant we received, we were delighted to replace the old wire gates to the Southward Lane field with a lovely new gate. There is a gap for pedestrians and those using mobility scooters, so this will make life for all those using the field much more comfortable, while keeping the area secure. This is one of two gates that we were able to buy, and while one is being stored until it is needed, this one will be moved to it’s new position between Palmers and Southward Lane fields, as and when the development begins . (This is marked on the plans on our website).

While we were installing the new gate it was fantastic to see regular Saturday sporting events taking place behind us. It was a great reminder of the keen sports interest that there is in Aldbourne. On this particular Saturday a group of about 20 people (aged from 12 to over 50) were playing mixed rugby netball as well as a fitness session.

Stay in Touch

As always if you have any questions or suggestions, please do get in contact with us at: info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

We send this newsletter to nearly 70 people every month and are adding new people every month, so if you know anyone who may like to receive it please let us know. We are also active on social media, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by clicking on the links below. 

Many thanks again


Malcolm Pryce, Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre 

While we’ve been enjoying a summer of fabulous weather, it’s been a busy time for ARC with lots of news to share

Palmers Field Update

We are making good progress with the lease for Palmers Field. Although it’s taking a little longer than we hoped, it’s really important that the least satisfies the needs of Aldbourne Parish Council as well as ARC. We hope to have another meeting with members of the Parish Council this month and hope that we will be able to agree terms of the lease. We will have more news for you in our next newsletter. 

Meanwhile, thanks to some funding we have already received, we’ve been working with the Parish council to install a new gate and entrance on to the Southward Lane Playing Field. This will be the entrance to the proposed development on Palmers Field and will replace the old rusty gates that are there at the moment. We’ll let you know when it’s been completed.   

Out and About

Thank you to all those who came along and saw us at the Combined Churches fete on the 30th of June. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to chat to people about our plans and answer questions. Apart from giving out information, we were able to add more people to our mailing list, so thank you again for all your interest. Look out for our banner at many more events over the coming months, including the Proms Concert on the Green, on the 4th of August and of course during carnival week. 

Congratulations to Aldbourne Band

We would like to congratulate Aldbourne Band on its qualification for the British Open Brass Band Championships.  This is a momentous occasion for an amateur village brass band, competing against heavily sponsored organisations, many of whom field professional musicians.  The band will be up against the top 17 bands in the Country and from around Europe, and we at ARC want to ensure that our village band has facilities to match, by providing a home for the future for our band, and its youth training programme. An arts and music room for our great band and other local musicians and artists, is a key part of ARC’s proposals along with a modern sports facility and of course the home of a big new hut for the scouts and guides. 

Design Concepts

We have been in contact with some leading specialist architects to consider our development proposals. We are pleased to say that we will be having a series of meetings over the next month to decide which architect to team up with and progress to the next stage once a lease has been signed with Aldbourne Parish Council. 

Family Picnic and Sports Day

We are very excited to announce that we will be part of the Aldbourne Carnival celebrations this year by hosting a Family Picnic and Sports Day on Palmers Field on Saturday the 25th of August. It’ll be a fantastic day with an opportunity to enjoy a variety of sporting events featuring competitions and demonstrations for all ages and abilities. Whether you take part or just watch the fun, we look forward to seeing you there. All the details will be on a leaflet that we’ll be posting to every house in the village nearer the time.

In our Next Newsletter

Now that things are progressing at quite a pace, we will aim to send out more frequent updates. In our next update we’ll share some exiting funding news as well as details of our AGM and lots more. 

Stay in Touch

Thanks again to all our supporters for all their continued commitment; we really appreciate it. As always if you have any questions or suggestions, please do get in contact at: 

info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk 

Also, please do let us know if there is anyone else who would like to receive this newsletter, and don’t forget we are active on social media, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by clicking on the links below. 

Many thanks again

Malcolm Pryce, Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre

Welcome to our latest Newsletter. I’m sure you’ll have received many emails over the last few weeks concerning the new regulation about data privacy called General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR. Like all charities and organizations, we need to ensure we also comply, so we’ll be sending you an email tomorrow and ask that you kindly fill it in. This way we can keep you fully up to date with everything we’re doing at ARC. 

Palmers Field Update

We are at a crucial stage for ARC because we are close to agreeing a lease with Aldbourne Parish Council. As we’ve mentioned before we received some recommendations from our solicitor. As a result, we’ve been in touch with the council expressing our concerns over a few matters in the lease.

Although we are very keen to sign a lease, it’s essential that the lease complies with all our charitable commitments, which have been laid down by the Charities Commission. Equally we have to be certain that the terms of the lease will not affect our ability to raise the necessary funds to achieve our aims and commitments

Because of the advice we’ve received, we are concerned that the current terms of the lease may not meet these important requirements, so we are seeking extra professional help. Although we can never be certain of funding until applications have been made, we are consulting with experts who would be able to give us some professional guidance. While we appreciate this is taking more time than we would have liked, it’s essential that we can agree terms of a lease that will satisfy the needs of Aldbourne Parish Council as well as ARC. 

Out and About

As this is a very exciting year for ARC, we’re determined to keep the village fully informed of every stage of our progress. One of the ways we’re doing this is to be at as many village events as we can, so that people can come along for a chat and have an opportunity to ask questions. We have a big banner so please look out for it starting from the Fete on the green on Saturday the 30^thof June. 

We will still keep you updated with emails as well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Please click on the links at the bottom of this page.

Please also let us know if anyone else would like to receive this newsletter and as always if you have any questions or suggestions, please do get in contact with us at, info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk.

In the meantime, we’d like to thank to all our supporters for all their continued commitment; we really do appreciate it.

Many thanks again

Malcolm Pryce, 

Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre

Firstly, all of us at ARC would like to wish you and your families a very Happy Easter and hope you enjoy the spring break, despite the weather. 

Palmers Field Lease Update

It’s been another busy month for ARC and the main news is that we have received a draft lease from Aldbourne Parish Council.  We sent the document to our solicitor, who is advising us on all legal matters connected with our plans for the proposed development on Palmers Field. As we’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, our solicitor has extensive experience with this type of project and is also very knowledgeable about charities as well as funding. His input is invaluable to ensure the long-term future of ARC’s proposal for Palmers Field.

This is a very important stage for ARC because we have to be certain that any lease will comply with all our charitable commitments, which have been laid down by the Charities Commission. We also need to be sure that the terms of the lease will not affect our ability to raise the necessary funds to achieve our aims and commitments.  Our solicitor has raised some points in the lease that we need to discuss with the Parish Council, and we hope to arrange a meeting sometime in April, so that we can agree terms of a lease that will satisfy the needs of Aldbourne Parish Council as well as ARC. We hope to have more news for you in our next newsletter. 

Drawing Up Plans

Meanwhile we are continuing to have invaluable meetings with various sports and recreational groups in the village, which is helping us put together a design brief. The initial design brief will be going to a group of carefully selected RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) who are specialists in this type of project. They will be tasked to come up with some outline concepts that we can then put forward to everyone for consultation. This will take a little while, but we want to be absolutely sure we end up with the best project, at the best price and a building(s) that best suits the sports and recreational needs of Aldbourne.

This is certainly looking to be a very exciting year for ARC, so we look forward to keeping you up to date at every stage of our progress. Again, we’d like to thank to all our supporters for all their continued commitment; we really appreciate it.If you have any questions or suggestions, please do get in contact with us at, info@ARC-Aldbourne.org.uk and let us know if anyone else would like to receive this newsletter every month. Also, don’t forget we are active on social media so please do follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Many thanks again

Malcolm Pryce, 

Chairman, Aldbourne Recreation Centre