Community test

IN the final days of Wear Valley District Council in December 2008, plans were approved to reopen the Elite Hall in Crook as an arts centre. A 25-year lease was agreed and £568,000 allocated to the project, while arts company Jack Drum Arts had agreed to move in.

The hall, which had been closed for five years, was being brought back to life.

Now needing £800,000 worth of repairs following damage by vandals and the elements, the Elite Hall is one of four community centres in Crook confirmed to be closed permanently by Durham County Council.

Anyone above a certain age in Crook will tell you that the Elite was the place to go.

Many couples today celebrating years of marriage can recall how their eyes first met across the crowded dance floor at the hall at the foot of Church Hill.

It was built by the British Legion after the First World War as a place for war-time friends and allies to meet and remember, and has served as a council chamber and magistrates court in its time.

But it was closed by the then district council in 2003 because it was losing about £900 a week.

Some have campaigned tirelessly for the hall not to be abandoned but its place on the scrapheap has been confirmed, along with three others in the town, months after Crook lost Glenholme Leisure Centre, which had the only swimming pool within six miles amid a storm of public protest.

For county councillors such as Eddie Murphy, who covers the Crook South ward, all the losses of amenities are contributing to the decline of Crook.

He said: “We are losing more and more services.

Soon there will be nothing left to cut in Crook.”

While the Elite, Bedburn Close, Grasmere Grove and Millfield Community Rooms have had their closure confirmed, the Cabinet also confirmed that Wheatbottom and Bankfoot Grove will no longer receive investment.

A separate debate is to be held on what happens to the £568,000 earmarked for the Elite, although the council has said it will be used for the people of Crook.

Away from the council closures, there are still positives in the town coming chiefly from community-spirited volunteers.

St Catherine’s Community Centre, in Crook market place, is a thriving hub of activity while St Cuthbert’s Community Centre, up the hill from the Elite, has provided a new home for arts company Jack Drum Arts and the Crook and Weardale Choral Society, as well as holding numerous other events.

The centre, built as a school for the neighbouring Roman Catholic church, was transformed into the hall it is today by hard-working volunteers after the school moved to a new, multi-million pound facility next door in 2010.

Husband and wife team Roger and Janette Kelly were two of the key players in the refurbishment of the centre, and said business has been booming.

Mrs Kelly said: “The key has been to get in tenants, like Jack Drum Arts, who are providing a regular income.

“The hall is very well used, there is something on every day with a range activities for a range of people.”

And up on the town’s Watergate Estate, home to more than 700 households, the Bedburn Common Room is also being given a new lease of life.

The Bedburn, one of those the council has said will be permanently closed, has been rescued by new group Mohan Community Services, whose founder Graham Tomaszko hopes to make it a flagship for a new way of running community centres.

He said: “We understand the council can’t afford to run all these centres, but rather than shut them down why not give them to the community and let them have a chance to keep them going.

“These buildings are really important for the communities they were built to serve.”

MR Tomaszko, who is also a martial arts instructor, and his team of volunteers are still on track to have the common room back open for public use by the beginning of next month.

Durham County Council insists it still has plans for Crook, including the on-going revamp of Crook Civic Centre which, in the district council days, was one of the town’s biggest employers.

At the moment, 139 people work there with a further 28 moving in this week. The council said it hopes to be up to its full capacity, of 240 staff once works are complete.

Crook library will be moved into the centre with the old library and council depot next to the market place earmarked for demolition and replacement with a supermarket, bringing jobs and shopping to the beleaguered town.

But for many, the loss of first the leisure centre and now the community rooms are inexcusable actions by the council, and the message seems to be if you want something doing, you have to do it yourself.