A grant to help save a Kington community hub will be discussed at a special town council meeting in February.
A grant to help save a Kington community hub will be discussed at a special town council meeting in February.
The Lion Café and Hub currently supports more than 15 local groups and as a Talk Community Hub, they also work with countywide and national organisations to extend their support to the community of Kington and beyond.
But in October their landlord informed them of his intention to sell the building.
They have raised about £56,000 in three months to enable them to put down a deposit to buy the building but they need to have £85,000 this month.
Hub manager Kate Watkins attended a recent town council meeting to ask for help.
She said; “After careful consideration, we believe that purchasing the building is the only viable way forward to ensure the hub’s stability, security and long-term sustainability. This will also enable us to continue our important work and open the door to greater funding opportunities.
“To secure the future of the Lion Hu we are seeking donations or pledges to help raise the £85,000 required for the deposit. We plan to obtain a commercial mortgage to complete the purchase.
“Over the past three months we have raised a total of £55,000 in pledges form individuals, with an additional £270 through our GoFundMe Campaign and £420 from counter collections, bingo nights and cash donations.
“Unfortunately, time is of the essence and we have until the end of January to begin the purchase process. If we do not raise the necessary funds, The Lion Hub will close when the building is sold.”
Kate said they could probably manage a delay of a couple of weeks.
She said if they owned the building they would be able to apply for more grant funding, have a more secure future and offer lots more to the community. She said it would also mean the ground floor of the hub would be rent free for its existence.
Chairman of Kington Town Council’s Finance and General Purposes Committee, Councillor Richard Banks said the Lion Hub does extremely good work but he said the council would have some questions which would need to be answered. He said they would need to consider the request for help properly and put together a paper for a special meeting.
He agreed to work with Kate to get answers to questions they have and members agreed to have a special meeting on Wednesday, February 12 at 5pm to see if they can help.
