A vision of Chairman, Cllr Ian Hodges, the Cubbington Hobby Centre is now a reality and was opened at a ceremony on 22 February 2025. The event was well attended by 400+ parishioners who on the day toured the centre and watched demonstrations whilst sampling tea and cake. The feedback from the first month of operation has been heartwarming and made the hard slog of planning permission, grant chasing, physical construction, safety inspections and certification all worthwhile.
The Hobby Centre is based on the Menshed Association concept. Although open to all, the centre is primarily for the elderly community, providing a safe inviting hub for people to meet to combat social isolation, make friends, share skills and learn new hobbies. Many of the attendees have health issues including dementia; this space offers respite to carers.
The Hobby Centre was constructed from 2 x 30’ shipping containers. These were dropped on site in October 2024 as empty shells. The containers were joined together which created workshop areas for woodwork, metal work, crafting, jewellery making, communal seating area for smaller groups like knitting, sewing, book clubs. Toilets were installed including a disabled access toilet.
The project was only possible due to grants from the National Lottery and generous donations from WCC Councillor Fund and Interclass Ltd, a construction company carrying out work within the Parish. Interclass provided all of the material to insulate and line the walls.
The next stage was to fence the area around the containers to create an outdoor seating area for the summer months. Again, the materials have been supplied by Interclass.
Cubbington Parish Council is very grateful to the hard work of Councillor Ian Hodges. Ian has spent hundreds of hours of hard work installing and building everything required, turning his hand to the electrical work, woodwork, plumbing. It is recognised that without this dedication, the project would not have happened.