Lye & Wollescote Chapels, Cemetery Road, Lye.
As many of you may be aware, Lye & Wollescote Chapels was the first building in Dudley borough to undergo the Asset Transfer journey. Since then there have been others and I am happy to report, more on the way and as and when they do happen, we will keep you posted.
On Tuesday 3rd March, Dudley CVS welcomed the community into Brierley Hill Civic Hall to gather people’s visions for building it into a vibrant hub for a variety of activities and events.
What great things could happen in this space? This photo was taken during the set up of our last AGM and Volunteer Awards
On Tuesday 3rd March, 2pm-4pm, we’ll be throwing open the doors of Brierley Hill Civic Hall to anyone who would like to help us bring this wonderful venue to life.
Whether you’re a resident, an artist, entertainer or promoter, or if you belong to a business, college, voluntary group or charity, you’re welcome to come along and see the Civic Hall’s potential for yourself. I’m really looking forward to meeting people who want to make great things happen at the Civic Hall, ask questions, tour the space and share their ideas and inspiration.
There’s so much potential for Brierley Hill Civic Hall to become home to many more groups and activities, particularly during the daytime. Since my last post, we’ve already had some great ideas ranging from socials for older people, vintage cinema events, linking with local businesses, and I want to thank everyone that’s shared their ideas so far. We want to encourage local talent to use the Civic Hall as a showcase venue for their skills; we want to make sure that the Civic reflects local heritage and is a vibrant community hub for everyone.
So please join us at Brierley Hill Civic Hall on Tuesday 3rd March, 2pm-4pm, to share your ideas over light refreshments.
If you can’t attend but would still like to share your ideas, please join in the conversations here by making a comment, on Twitter or on Facebook. Alternatively, you’re welcome to contact me on 01384 573381.
I’m looking forward to working with you.
Dudley CVS will take on the running of Brierley Hill Civic Hall from next month in an arrangement that aims to make the venue an exciting hub and to make Brierley Hill a vibrant destination for entertainment and leisure.
More than just bricks and mortar; community assets are about the people and activities they attract. This photo is of Volunteer Award winners packed into the foyer of Brierley Hill Civic Hall.
Our work in partnership with the local authority to guide communities through the process of taking on, developing and managing buildings has been held up as an example to be replicated across the whole country in a national paper given to the CLG (Communities and Local Government) Select Committee earlier this week.
One of the office ceilings ripped down by vandals
After approximately two years, Dudley MBC has officially signed over the former Age UK building based on Stafford Street to Dudley CVS, however, due to mindless vandalism this once valued and desirable building is in need of some major refurbishment.
As shown on the pictures below, there is much work to do on site and this work begins in earnest today!
Even the newly refurbished toilets did not escape the vandals, as copper piping was ripped from its mountings, again causing water and fixture damage.
Help is at hand however and Dudley CVS is lucky to have a dedicated team of experts working alongside us, and over the next few months we will transfer this building to its former glory. As the work progresses I will keep you fully updated on the transformation of this building and others that are progressing as a 
result of asset transfer.
If you would like further information or support regarding asset transfer and asset development then feel free to contact me.
Caroline Webb, Senior Development Officer, Dudley CVS
e-mail carolinewebb@dudleycvs.org.uk
It’s a busy and exciting time here at Dudley CVS as we’re gearing up for our AGM and Volunteer Awards, which will be held on Thursday evening. Within all this preparation and planning, we’ve been working on a new style of annual report that celebrates what we’ve been doing to support our sector and the wonderful people within it and we’re so happy to share it now.
Dudley CVS has always worked to broker relationships between funders and the groups we support, through working with big and small funders on their programmes and helping to promote them, searching for funders for our groups and supporting them with applications and bringing funders together with groups at regular ‘meet the funder’ events. But last week, we ran a ‘meet the funder’ event with a difference, focussing on a theme which is becoming ever more popular in Dudley – developing community facilities and asset transfer.
In this post, you’ll find details of the event and the presentations that funders and others gave.
Community Assets are land or buildings predominantly owned by statutory services which are then transferred over and developed under the management of community organisations. Asset based development assists 3rd sector organisations to achieve long-term sustainable social, economic and environmental achievements within their own locations.
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