New larger lift opens at Lymington Community Centre
On Thursday 27th October, Lymington Community Centre opened a new larger lift which has been installed to replace an existing lift.
Lymington and Pennington Town Council’s Mayor, Councillor James Hoare, together with Lucie Lewis, Chairman of Trustees, and Rachel Smith, the Manager of the Lymington Community Centre opened the lift alongside invited guests including Trustees, Councillors, staff, supporters of the lift and those that have carried out work to install the new lift.
The original lift at the Community Centre was at the end of its operational life and could only take 1 person. This has now been replaced with a modern 5 person lift which has enhanced accessibility significantly at the Centre. The first floor is now easier to access for those users’ attending classes, social activities, meetings, and events at the Community Centre. The lift helps those with mobility issues, heavy items such as art equipment together with families with children in buggies access the first floor. Users have already commented how beneficial the new lift installation has been.
“The Community Centre is a wonderful facility in the heart of Lymington. I have attended an art class at the Centre for many years with friends. Now the new lift has been installed going to my weekly art class now is much easier. My friend and I can now go in the lift together with all our art equipment and help each other. It has made going to my art class much more enjoyable! Thank you”. LCA Art class student.
The lift was partly funded by New Forest District Council who kindly donated a grant of £37,500 and Lymington and Pennington Town Council who match funded 50% of the total lift cost from the pledge of £900,000.
Lymington and Pennington Town Council’s Mayor, Councillor James Hoare commented – ” I was delighted to be invited to open Lymington Community Association’s new lift. The LCA is an important hub for many residents of Lymington and Pennington. It provides a huge range of services and activities to many age groups. The completion of the lift, which will allow those with less mobility to easily access the upstairs areas of the centre, is another milestone in their modernisation programme. LPTC looks forward to working with LCA as they now address the remainder of the project.”
We would also like to say a huge thank you to the individual donors who have donated to help make these works possible, enhancing the facilities available at the Community Centre for future generations to use.
The next works scheduled, which we are currently fundraising for, is to remove the Wellington Room stairway, install toilets on the first floor, plus reconfigure the existing toilets to include a changing places toilet.
When these works are completed, we will then commence works on the new Malt Café and Garden to celebrate our 75 Years Anniversary.