By Isle of Wight Observer
Thanks to a grant of £4250 from The National Lottery the Northwood House Stables have had a makeover.
Known locally as the Northwood House Community Hall, the building is a converted stable block detached from the main house off Ward Avenue. It is regularly used for indoor recreation by local community groups and clubs including for yoga and pilates classes and short mat bowling, as well as for meetings and family parties. The Northwood House park volunteers gather there every Wednesday and Saturday morning for their tea break.
With a focus on reducing the overall carbon footprint of the building, the heating and lighting has been upgraded with modern energy saving fittings replacing existing fittings which were over 20 years old in some cases. Using half the number of lights, hall users now get double the illumination with the LED replacements. New efficient panel heaters have been installed ensuring visitors are comfortable during meetings, classes and events. This week internal redecoration has been completed ready for 2020 bookings.
“Since we set up Cowes WI in 2010, The Community Hall has been our base for monthly meetings and events. The space is incredibly flexible for all kinds of events that we run, and extremely affordable. It is really wonderful that this National Lottery funding has been made available to improve the facilities and decor.” said Zoe Stroud, President of the Cowes WI.
Darren Cool, General Manager at Northwood House Charitable Trust Company Ltd commented “The work is now complete and we really hope these improvements will encourage more Isle of Wight groups to make use of The Stables throughout the year. As part of our services to the community the facilities include a spacious main room, private toilets and a small kitchen for self-catering events, very reasonably priced and available for hire by the hour.”
