Clitheroe community centre to be taken over by charity (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Clitheroe community centre to be taken over by charity

10:00am Thursday 20th September 2012 in News

A RIBBLE Valley community centre is to be taken over by a Clitheroe-based charity.

The St Mary’s Centre, in Church Street, Clitheroe, is run by a committee on behalf of St Mary Magdelene’s Church.

But the centre, which hosts 30 regular groups and societies, is now to be managed by the Lancaster Foundation, which supports Christian charities across the world.

The foundation, which was set up by Ultraframe founder John Lancaster, also owns the Grand Theatre and skate park in Clitheroe.

Rev Andy Froud, from St Mary Magdalene’s Church, said he hoped the new management set-up would open up opportunities for the centre.

He said: “It is an offer of importance and we are very grateful for it.

“There are a lot of people involved and the congregation have put a lot of money into the church hall.

“It is something that people have invested a lot of time in and we want to get it right.

“We are proposing to continue running it as it is, nobody will notice any difference, it is just a change of management.”

Rev Froud thanked the current committee, including its chairman Richard Jackson for all of their hard work over the past five years.

He said: “Under the present committee we have seen a lot of improvements made to the building and I know we will continue to see improvements.”