'Helping hand' for community groups with free venue use

Meeting Point House has been part of the Telford landscape since the mid 1980s, acting as a base for charities and a place for people to come together for events and activities.

The venue has a variety of meeting rooms, including the Octagon Room, a large welcoming space suitable for everything from worship ceremonies, knitting groups and birthday parties.

Wayne Jenson, CEO of Meeting Point Trust, said he hoped lots of people would take advantage of a special initiative to offer the Octagon Room free of charge to community groups.

He said: “Meeting Point House is, just as the name suggests, the perfect place for people to come together, whether for a business meeting, to access support or simply have a cup of coffee.

“We would love more community groups to hold events and meetings here, so we are offering the free use of the Octagon Room on certain days and times for an initial six week period.

“The aim is to give groups a helping hand because we know that every penny counts when you are running a charitable or not-for-profit activity, and the cost of room hire can be quite significant.

“The original ethos of Meeting Point House was to be a place where people of all faiths could meet, and that is still very much at the organisation’s heart today, so we are an ideal venue for any faith group meeting.

“Everything we do here at Meeting Point House is designed to keep costs as low as possible and make our facilities accessible to everyone, whatever your budget or requirements may be, we will do everything possible to welcome you.” 

One group to take up the offer to use Meeting Point House as the base for an event is community theatre company, Moonstruck Astronaut, which held its seventh birthday celebration in the Octagon Room on February 13.

The theatre company wants to move from Newport to Telford Town Centre to further their mission to enable more local children and young people to access the arts.

Hannah de Quincey, artistic director, said: “We want to move our work to Telford to be more accessible to a greater mix of families.

“However, the cost of room hire in the town centre is double that of room hire in Newport so Meeting Point House’s helping hand is very important to us, helping not only with the real costs of our work but also strengthening our grant applications. Thank you so much Meeting Point House!”

Moonstruck Astronaut is currently seeking input from families local to Telford to help develop the plans for the groups’s next performing arts project.

‘Telford Tall Tales’ will allow children and volunteers to experience the joys and skills of creative story-making with professional artists using drama, music, crafts and dance. To help make this happen, people can go to https://forms.gle/7U2GUJ4U9JmKpojK9 to complete the survey before March 3 and be in with a chance of winning a £30 shopping voucher.

Hannah said local input would be instrumental towards developing the project and garnering national funding to bring more communal creativity and fun into the heart of Telford.