Exciting Update on the Restoration
It’s been a while since we updated on the progress of the restoration plans as we have all been busy beavering away on the project but…. Drumroll please 🥁🥁🥁 … The Lafrowda Club are beyond excited to announce we have received a £24,979 grant from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Community Capacity Fund.
This money has enabled The Lafrowda Club Committee to take the next step in securing the Club’s future 🥳🥳🥳
These critical funds are being used through the next stages of design development producing Planning Consent and Listed Building Consent drawings and designs, with St Just’s own conservation accredited architect, Studio West Architects , who have worked very hard to achieve a building that is accessible to all with a splendid extension for a lift that is of very high quality clad in copper panelling to reflect the copper mining heritage of our town!
As well as critical ecological and heritage assessments, we have had design input on the structural alterations and the heating and lighting proposals to make this a warm, welcoming and environmentally friendly space!
And the exciting part is that this week we have submitted to Cornwall Council’s Planning Department our application for the project 🤩🎉😁
The doors to the Lafrowda Club have been thrown open once again to showcase these plans and proposals – do pop in and take a look, and whilst there you can also see our wonderful exhibition, “St Just at Work and Play” featuring a collection of photographs kindly shared by the Eddy family.
The future of The Lafrowda Club is looking more and more secure 😍 Our plans have been developed following closely the feedback from our many community consultation events and we are excited that the plans to create an arts and heritage centre, local history archive, a town museum and commercial units are coming to fruition. We will shortly be embarking on developing the St Just Town Archive Project, and will be inviting other heritage focussed groups in St Just to join us on that – this is very much an archive for the town and all will feel ownership of this exciting part of the overall project 🥰
Beyond the restoration, in line with the Club’s heritage as the St Just Literary and Scientific Institute, we will be host to talks, lectures and a wide range of learning opportunities, for the local community, schools, colleges, universities and visitors to the town. We will also be offering space to other heritage groups to do the same ❤️ as well as arts based groups who want to use our wonderful space 🎶🎨🎭
Funding for the project has come from the Cornwall Council Good Growth Community Capacity Fund, part of the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund.
Carol Mould, Cornwall Council cabinet portfolio holder for neighbourhoods, said: “The Community Capacity Fund is about enabling local communities to develop their projects which aim to boost health, economy or wellbeing. This funding is designed to help communities take their projects to the next stage in the process of making them become a reality – whether this be to develop concepts, produce business plans, or commission professional services such as architects and surveyors. Communities can bid for funding until November 2024 – I encourage anyone interested to get in touch!
“I wish the committee every success with The Lafrowda Club restoration – their plans to bring this well-known building back into use to meet the needs of the local community, while reflecting its heritage is a great example of the type of project we want to support.“
So onwards and upwards! Hopefully the planning application will be registered in a few weeks when all the documentation can be viewed online, but anyone itching to see the plans and reports in more detail can pop into The Club when the doors are open to view hard copies 🧐🤩👍
Thank you to all the community for joining us on this wonderful journey through the renaissance of this wonderful building at the heart of the town 🥰❤️😘
