Petworth's Sylvia Beaufoy Centre ‘amazed’ as donations roll-in

The Sylvia Beaufoy Centre has upped the ante with a new range of services over the pandemic.

With the end of lockdown in its sights, Dan Sneller, senior youth and community development manager, put out a fundraising appeal to raise money for a minibus, a trailer and mountain bikes for use in the community.

After receiving a donation of £10,000 from The Grange in Midhurst and nearly £250 raised online, Dan said: It is amazing and really exciting.

“It really opens up doors for us. Getting the minibus, the trailer and the bikes just means that we can offer so much more.

“We are really very grateful for the donations – we couldn’t be happier and we are glad they are there to support community groups.

“The continued support from everybody is really appreciated and although something like £15 next to £10,000 might look small, every bit helps and without that we would never reach our funding targets.

“We were given some support from a successful grant application and £10,000 from The Grange in Midhurst but the crowd-funding side of things is going quite slowly so we really need that to pick up if we are to reach the target.

“We have got a deal with a minibus dealer which sells vehicles to schools and community organisations and they have reserved the minibus for March but at the end of March they will release it back into stock.”

The community centre will reopen its doors to the public from April 14.

Due to the Government’s guidelines, the centre will be restricted to 15 people indoors.

Dan added: “It will be great to be face to face again so we are all really looking forward to that.

“We are expecting to be fully booked so people need to get in quickly.”

Anyone looking to donate to the centre can do so by visiting www.localgiving.org/appeal/MarchTo find out more about events, visit the Sylvia Beaufoy Centre on Facebook.