Current Projects
St Mary’s Community Hub, Longcot
St Mary’s Community Hub GoFundMe page is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/st-marys-community-hub?qid=a26ef53195eed36944164d49e6835696
Since its formation the Trust has concentrated its activity on fundraising to:
- Create the St Mary’s Community Hub which had been the focus of Longcot 800 work
- Create the church toilet and kitchen facilities which were the aims of the Friends of St Mary’s.
- Replace the Longcot & Fernham Community Room (LFCRC) which had been developed and funded within Longcot & Fernham School jointly by the LFCRC and Local Education Authority (LEA); this was relinquished to the LEA when increasing pupil numbers necessitated the transfer of the Community Room back to the school. The LEA made a substantial compensation payment to LFCRC which was transferred to the charitable funds of LVT when it formed.
The community started this project some 14 years ago and, in 2017 in or close to St Mary’s 800th year, Longcot 800 gained approval for the joint-use of the church from both the Oxford Diocese and local residents. The internal reconstruction work will take six-months to complete, at an estimated cost to LVT of £190,000. Work will begin on 1 June 2021, subject to current Pandemic regulations.
The Community Hub will provide the opportunity to run community activities such as mother and toddler groups, lunches for the isolated elderly, possibly a visiting Post Office, yoga and Pilates classes and will provide the LVT and St Mary’s church with additional income to help fund their overheads. The Norman building has a capacity of 200 and LVT already hold instrumental and choir concerts, flower and art festivals, local and regional bell ringing and seminars. However, without a toilet, hot water plumbing or a kitchen, its use has been limited and providing these has therefore been at the heart of its planning.
There will be an internal Oak framed mezzanine structure with a staircase leading to a Gallery at the West end of the Nave. This will provide storage and a partially glazed open meeting room which will overlook both the bell tower and the Nave. On the ground floor, a kitchenette, a private meeting room and a disabled toilet facility will be installed under the new Mezzanine Gallery. Work will also include creating a level floor in the nave and bell tower to improve disabled access; updating the heating and lighting systems to reduce carbon footprint; installing superfast broadband access and a new, distributed IT and sound system. External pathways will also be improved to create easier access for the elderly and disabled and to create a robust structure for the churchyard Wildlife Garden.
LVT is still short of some £40,000 to complete the whole project and we are hoping to receive some additional grants. However we will be starting work on a reduced schedule of work on 1 June and hope that local businesses and individuals can help us raise the final amounts needed to finish the whole important community project. Like all charities, we’ve not been able to hold fundraising events for nearly a year, so our funding is very tight, but donations can be made via our new fundraising page at GoFundMe. Additionally, anyone buying on Amazon, can shop at smile.amazon.co.uk and Amazon will give LVT, at no cost to you, 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases. (https://smile.amazon.co.uk/)
The building works will be book-ended with closing and re-opening events, subject to Pandemic Restrictions. St Mary’s will host Longcot’s annual Flower Festival during Oxford Art Weeks from 1 to 23 May, a choral Evensong Service will take place on Sunday 16 May, there will be a concert in the church on Saturday 22 May and the Trustees are planning a celebration re-opening in the lead-up to Christmas.
A wide selection of images and architects’ drawings are in this Dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0e9u4ifjowie8ky/AABA3wRfUZxzxDQVl6LhEe3va?dl=0
St Mary’s Community Hub GoFundMe page is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/st-marys-community-hub?qid=a26ef53195eed36944164d49e6835696
Longcot Children’s Playground.
The Trustees have already discussed appropriate projects for LVT and the Longcot community to investigate when the Community is finished. The most popular seems to be a substantial upgrade of the playground on The Dash. As the amount of Trustee effort involved in St Mary’s starts to decline, the Trust needs to identify volunteers or new Trustees to investigate the land ownership, planning approval, design, development, funding and construction of a Longcot Children’s Playground.
Future events in 2021 and beyond.
As shown above there are a number of LVT activities planned for the rest of 2021 subject to Pandemic restrictions, as follows;
Trustee Meeting Late April
Oxfordshire Arts Week 1 -23 May
Longcot Flower Festival in St Mary’s 15 -23 May
St Mary’s Choral Evensong Sun 16 May
Concert in St Mary’s performed by the Clarinet Collective Sat 22 May
LVT concert on Village Green Date to be confirmed in July.
St Mary’s reopening Date to be confirmed in December
The Trustees hope that the trust can develop to become a powerful community voice for entertainment, leisure and personal interest activity in the years to come. If it is to succeed it will need the involvement of Longcot residents as volunteers to organize and manage these activities and to broaden the numbers and skills of Trustees and Officers of the Trust. Anyone who would like to offer their services in any voluntary capacity for LVT should contact the Trust as follows:
Background
The Longcot Village Trust (LVT) was formed in 2018 from village organisations which had existed in the village at various times over recent years. These included:
- The “Longcot Millennium Committee” which existed as a village event organisation between 1999 and about 2012.
- “Longcot and Fernham Community Room Committee” (LFCRC) which was registered with the Charity Commission from 1996 to 2018. It’s trustees agreed to close the charity and transfer it’s bank balance to LVT accounts when the Community Room was relinquished to the school.
- The “Friends of St Mary’s Committee” which was formed to fund the construction of a toilet and kitchen in St Mary the Virgin church in Longcot and existed between about 2005 and 2009. It’s cash balance was held in the Longcot and Fernham churchwardens’ accounts and transferred to LVT when it became registered by the Charity Commission in 2018.
- The Longcot 800 Committee which has originally formed as the “Open Door Committee” in 2010 to create a joint-use St Mary’s Community Hub in the church. It was responsible for the many fund -raising events and, when the LVT registered with the Charity Commission it transferred it’s bank balances to the LVT accounts.
Registration of LVT with the Charity Commission was based upon it’s approval of the “Object” of the Trust which is as follows:
“To provide facilities and services for the inhabitants of Longcot without distinction of political, religious or other opinions with the object of improving the conditions of life for the inhabitants.”
Put more simply, the LVT aims to provide residents of Longcot with new facilities and events, which residents believe will improve the quality of life for everyone in the village. All Longcot residents are members of the Trust!
Formation of the LVT was approved at a public General Village Meeting on 28 February 2018 and seven trustees, a Secretary and Treasurer representing both the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and other Longcot residents were appointed. Trustees Meetings take place quarterly, with one public Annual General Meeting. The Objects of the LVT are shown on the Charity Commission website under LVT’s Registration Number 1053052 and the names of the Trustees are shown on the same website.
The Trustees anticipate that the Trust will contribute to Longcot’s community and social activity in the coming years. To start with It is hoped that the new facilities built inside St Mary’s church will house a variety of community events, meetings, classes and social gatherings, which currently can’t take place because the building lacks a toilet a hot water supply and handbasin. It is also hoped that funds raised by LVT events will allow some funding support for activities which are not self-funding such as a potential project to upgrade the Village Playground, after completion of the Community Hub project.
Contact .
LVTTreasurer@outlook.com
Longcot Village 