Halesworth Rising

People living in Halesworth are being invited to find out more about exciting projects which have been designed to improve healthcare, sports, leisure and heritage facilities and together represent an investment of around £15m in the town.

The Halesworth Rising group has organised a special community projects fair on Saturday 21 March 2015 at the Rifle Hall.

The drop-in event will give people the chance to find out more about the proposed developments. Organisations taking part include:

• Halesworth Community Nursing Care Fund (HCNCF), which plans to develop a £714,000 Information and Support Centre to bring a full range of holistic services, such as help understanding a diagnosis and counselling, closer to home for people with life-limiting illnesses, their families and carers.

• Halesworth Health – which is working with an independent care home company to develop a new purpose-built 64 bed health and care facility on land adjacent to the surgery and hospital, which will include nursing home, dementia and NHS-funded intermediate care beds as well as outpatient services. A ‘housing with extra care’ scheme is also in the pipeline for the town, with both projects together worth around £8m.

• Halesworth Dementia Carer’s Fund – which works in partnership to support people with dementia and their families, as well as providing respite care and transport costs. It is organising training programmes for individuals, organisations and businesses to raise awareness of dementia, its impact and how best to work with those affected, with the overall aim of making Halesworth a ‘dementia friendly community’.

• Halesworth Campus – which is behind a £4m plan to develop open access sports and leisure facilities on the former middle school site which would be available to anyone living in the town. The project will be funded by the sale of Dairy Hill playing fields and grants from Sport England and other sports governing bodies.

• St Mary’s Church – which is working on a major £1.5m regeneration programme to make the 14^th century church accessible to people of all ages, faiths and abilities by creating an open, warm and welcoming area with 21^st century facilities. The aim is to benefit both businesses and the local community by making the mediaeval building into a place which will attract people to the area.

• Rifle Hall – which is looking for around £0.5m in funding to modernise the town’s only public hall. The project would see the roof and flooring replaced, redecoration throughout and new electrics, heating and toilets installed to provide a modern public building for use by a variety of different community groups.

• New Cut Arts – which is looking for £0.45m in funding to create a community space for formal meetings and informal gatherings on the Cut’s flat roof. The space will provide a comfortable, light and airy venue with unique views overlooking the town.

Simon Weeks, chairman of the Halesworth Rising group, said: “This special drop-in event will give people living in Halesworth and the surrounding areas the perfect opportunity to find out more about the wide range of fantastic developments in the pipeline for the town.

“As well as helping raise awareness of these initiatives, the day will give the charities and organisations behind each proposal the chance to explain the projects, answer questions and take on board any comments or ideas the public may have.

“These are exciting times for Halesworth. Together, these projects represent an investment of more than £15m for the town, and will dramatically improve health, heritage, sports and leisure provision for local people.

“We hope as many people as possible will come along to the event on March 21 and take this fantastic opportunity to find out more about the wonderful initiatives happening right on their doorsteps.”

The community projects fair takes place between 10am and 4pm. Everyone is welcome to drop in during the day.

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For more information about the fair, please visit www.halesworthrising.blogspot.com or contact Simon Weeks on 01986 784348.

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