Reviving Temple Hill: Restoring the Youth Club and Gym for a brighter future
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Temple Hill has been a popular youth club and gym since the 1970s, changing the lives of young people in one of the most deprived wards in Kent.
Over the past 20 years the facilities have been on a downward spiral. A lack of investment has resulted in the main building deteriorating, the Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) surface being deemed unsafe, and the floodlights no longer working.
The situation finally came to a head when the group running the facility was reduced to one person who reached out to Europa Weightlifting for help.
As a result Europa formed a partnership with Temple Hill Youth Club and have embarked on a journey to repair and reinstate the facility, agreeing the overall aim “to improve the quality of life, mental health and wellbeing for the people in Dartford through sport activities”.
Following an intense period of consultation and campaigning, in 2021 Europa were able to secure a 30 year lease from Dartford Borough Council as well as circa £630k of funding from various partners to enable the rebuild of the main building.
Despite their best efforts, Europa still required investment to repair the MUGA, the floodlights, and provide the equipment for the gym. This represented the final piece of the jigsaw to transform the offer and business model of the site.
Making a difference to the community
With the MUGA reinstated, Europa forecast they will accommodate approximately 80,000 unique visits every year, roughly half of which will be provided free of charge through partnership with Temple Hill Youth Club, 2 local Primary schools and a new community football team (Temple Hill Tigers).
The gym offer is priced competitively to reflect the local area and will be managed by Europa, who bring their specialist expertise in weightlifting, with more qualified coaches than any other club in the UK.
When the facilities aren’t in use by the partners, the youth club building will be made available for the community groups to hire.
Given the previous history of the facility and the popularity of the MUGA, bringing the building back to life will have a huge benefit particularly to young people in the area.
Funding the project
The total capital award from the Community Ownership Fund is £220k which includes a 5% contingency. The majority of the capital expenditure will be on reinstating a multi-use games area which is critical to increase the wider community use and provide revenue for the project.
In addition there is an award of £25k in revenue funding, which will cover the cost of an assistant manager in year 1, enabling the facility to open for a longer period and free up more time for business development.
Europa have also been able to secure partnership funding of c. £54k from Kent County Council and a local business for their match funding.
Getting the right support
Europa were one of the first groups able to benefit from the COF support programme. Following a diagnostic, the support package was primarily targeted at bringing the business plan up to date. This was prepared in 2019 and only covered the period to 2022.
The support provided helped Europa to improve their business plan. This brought out many of the key strengths of the project which may have been overlooked including the strategic need, the consultation and in-kind support to this point, the knowledge and thinking behind the financial forecasts and the local partnerships
It also helped the group to provide further evidence of the need for the facility and show the importance of revenue funding in the first year. They highlighted the balance of the business model that Europa are aiming for: Making sure the facility is accessible and affordable to the most disadvantaged local people, while also ensuring there is enough revenue for the facility to be sustainable.
“The application was hard in places to understand what was required, direction was really appreciated. James, from Sporting Assets, was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and was a pleasure to work with” Andrew Callard, Europa Weighlifting
Final thoughts
Andrew Callard who has been the driving force behind the project highlights the importance of sticking with it:
The support that we received from COF was the difference between our youth club project succeeding and failing.The funds we were awarded has provided a facility that local people in the deprived area we work could only dream of before this project.The project is a total success story being used by hundreds of young people a week
Don’t give up. We’ve been on a long journey but once you’ve taken that first step to commit to doing it you need to accept there will be ups and downs. But we know the difference a project like ours make. So focus on the positives and how good it will feel when you can open the doors to the facility you know will make a difference to your community
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