Cold comfort for centre

Volunteers at the centre are pleading for help to mend the building’s heating after being left in the cold since November.

A discussion about the state of the community centre in Gilder Hall sparked concerns about its future.

Representatives from the centre were present at Tuesday’s Mirfield Town Council meeting to express concern that the heating system at the centre was not working.

Coun Martyn Bolt (Con, Mirfield) told the meeting the community centre was set up 20 years ago with a £20,000 grant from Mirfield Town Council.

He added that Mirfield Community Centre, which has 800 users a week, had problems with its heating and also a leaking roof. The group maintians that, as Kirklees Council still owns the building, it has a responsibility for its maintenance.

A representative from the centre told members of the town council that, although portable heaters had been given to them, they were not sufficient to heat the building properly. He also said Kirklees Council told them replacing the boiler and removing asbestos in the building would cost around £30,000.

He added: “We want to exhaust every avenue to keep this centre open, but it feels like it is slipping away from us.

“We need to really make the council know that we need to keep this centre.”

In a letter sent to the Mirfield Reporter this week, manager of the centre Theresa O’Gorman said: “We have successfully provided the Mirfield community with a centre in which to meet and become involved in numerous activities over the past 20 years.

“We are proud of the service we have offered and are aware of how very important community spaces are to peoples’ social, mental health and physical needs.

“We have continued to run the Gilder Hall project from the building providing quality activities for our local young people and are moving forward with building the new community centre for Mirfield.

“We just want to know when the council is planning on restoring the heating to a building that is used seven days a week.”