A place for a party, a children's club, or other event; located underneath St Luke's CE(C) Primary School and reached from the playground.
This page gives hire details, a description of the facilities, and a little history of how the rooms came into being and how they may be developed in the future.
Down this page:
hire arrangements,
brief description,
history & future,
terms & conditions,
bookings.
Elsewhere:
find us,
church history,
Link magazine.
Related topics:
Getting married
Christenings
Hiring a room.
Hire Arrangements
Regular hire by non-profit-making community groups:
The rooms are hired out at an hourly rate (£3 per hour in 2003) for non-profit-making community groups. Such groups may also make individual arrangements regarding storage, notice boards, use of church sports equipment, and so on.
Single-use hire for parties, meetings, etc.:
The rooms are hired out on an hourly basis at a rate of £10 per hour (in 2003). In addition to this charge a returnable deposit of £30 (in 2003) is required from hirers against possible damage or cleaning costs. The deposit is payable on booking, and the balance of the payment is payable 2 weeks before the event. The deposit is returned to the hirer after the rooms have been checked for damage and any abnormal cleaning required.
For further information and to hire the rooms, please contact:
Mrs Hartley, Eccleshill Vicarage, 2 Fagley Lane. Tel 01274 636403
Scroll down the page for terms and conditions of hire.
Brief Description of the Premises
You get in by going down the concrete steps in the corner of the rear school playground (reached from Fagley Lane). There is an entryphone system to stop people you don't want wandering into the rooms.
Inside there is a partition wall next to the entrance with notice board space and hooks for hanging coats. There is a classroom-sized main room and a small raised area off it. Off this raised area there is access to a hallway which leads to the kitchen and toilets. The kitchen also has a hatchway to the raised area which allows you to serve refreshments. The kitchen has a microwave oven, larder fridge and a worktop freezer, all of which belong to School's Out, but can be used by hirers provided that permission is sought in advance. There is a washing-up sink and instant hot water, crockery and some cutlery. We plan to install an electric cooker.
The rooms can be heated (independently from the school), and the lighting is of a standard to allow the room to be used as a classroom. There are enough lockable storage cupboards to allow all regular users to have their own storage areas. Improvements to comply with today's fire safety regulations are currently being carried out.
Past, Present and Future
History. The rooms were originally built for the St Luke's Eccleshill Churchmen's Club in 1928 when the school building was being extended. We would be very interested if readers could write in and tell us a bit about the Churchman's Club: the only thing we know about it was it had two pool-tables.
In 1980 there was a fire which affected both the school and the basement. The Churchman's Club was somewhat under-insured, and was unable to replace the pool-tables. So the club decided to close. The basement remained empty after the fire until it was let to the "Bradford Amateur Boxing Club", who refurbished it with the help of a £6,000 Sports Council grant. This refurbishment was fairly basic as the boxing club required only facilities to train, shower, and so on. However, the rear entrance dates from this time (until then the only entrance had been via the school).
In the early 1990's the church decided to take over the basement. Plans were drawn up to make the basement into a meeting room for the church, with kitchen facilities, toilets and an office. The cost of £10,000 was met from deposit funds.
When Bradford's Education system was reorgainsed from a three-tier to a two-tier system, the school became a Primary School (pupil ages up to 11-year-olds in Year 6) instead of a First School (pupil ages up to 9-year-olds in Year 4), and needed extra classrooms. While these were being built the school used the basement as a classroom, and upgraded the premises in various ways. Two new fan heaters, a ventilation unit, the partition wall and enhanced lighting were installed, and the storage heaters were overhauled.
The future. The PCC has appointed a small committee to manage the basement rooms, make them available for hire, and suggest further improvements. We are looking towards redecoration and other changes. Here are two possibilities (but these are only suggestions, not definite plans).
Disabled Access. It might be possible to rebuild the exterior entrance with a ramp instead of steps, and lower the floor of the present ladies WC and build a new doorway, so that the main room and one WC would be completely accessible to wheelchair users. This would also allow pushchairs to enter the rooms more easily.
Themed Decoration. We already have a "monkey room" in our church building (so called because you have to bend a bit like a monkey to enter it). Maybe we could make the Basement rooms into the "Dolphin Rooms" or the "Jungle Rooms" or the "Ocean Rooms", and thus make a feature of the subterranean feel? This might then lead to a theme for colours and pictures on the walls. Any ideas - please let us know.
Terms & Conditions for single-use hire
Financial
General
Kitchen
Fire Regulations
Cancellation of Contract
There are also terms and conditions for regular hire - if you wish to see these please ask us.
Regular Bookings at the time of writing
- A deposit of £30 is required and should be paid on booking the premises. This will be used to cover any breakages, damage to the building or extra cleaning etc. It will be returned, minus any deductions made as above, after the premises have been inspected after your event.
- Fees are payable a minimum of 2 weeks in advance.
- Fees include a contribution towards basic cleaning costs
- Hirers are responsible for their own public liability insurance.
- No smoking is allowed on the premises.
- No alcohol is allowed except with a meal or as a toast.
- Hirers should provide their own First Aid kit, if they want to have one available.
- No events of a nature contrary to the Christian faith (e.g. "Halloween" parties, yoga, alternative medicines or therapies, non-Christian religious festivals etc.) may be held. The clergy and churchwardens of St Luke's Church will be arbiters on any question arising on this point. If in doubt, please contact the vicar well in advance.
- No posters/banners/balloons etc should be fixed to the walls or paintwork. Please use the notice boards for such items.
- Soap, paper towels and toilet paper will all be provided by St Luke's Church.
- The premises should be left clean and tidy after use.
- If there are any problems with the premises (e.g. lights not working) please leave a written message about it at the Vicarage.
- HIRERS MUST READ & COMPLY WITH all health & safety notices.
- Hirers should provide their own washing up liquid, cream cleaner, cloths & pan-scourers and tea-towels.
- If using church crockery, cutlery or kitchen equipment, hirers should put items away in the same cupboards or drawers in which they found them!
- Any broken crockery or glass should be well wrapped before disposal.
- The fridge, freezer & microwave all belong to School's Out (St Luke's Eccleshill) Ltd and should not be used by anyone else without their permission. You may contact the Senior Playleader about this during School's Out sessions (see below for the times).
- HIRERS MUST READ the Fire Safety Notice on the notice board by the external entrance and make sure everyone at the event knows what to do in case of fire.
- Smoke Alarms are fitted and tested regularly.
- NO INFLAMMABLE LIQUIDS OR SUBSTANCES ARE ALLOWED.
- Remember - No Smoking!
- Cancellation 4 or more weeks before the event: your deposit and any fees paid will be returned
- Cancellation 2 - 4 weeks before the event: half your deposit and any fees paid will be returned
- Cancellation less than 2 weeks before your event: you will lose your deposit and fees.
Monday
7.30am-9am School's Out (School Terms)
2.45pm-6pm School's Out (School Terms)
7.30pm-9.15pm Bradford Youth Concert BandTuesday
7.30am-9am School's Out (School Terms)
2.45pm-6pm School's Out (School Terms)
6pm-7.50pm 32nd Bradford BrowniesWednesday
7.30am-9am School's Out (School Terms)
2.45pm-6pm School's Out (School Terms)Thursday
7.30am-9am School's Out (School Terms)
2.45pm-6pm School's Out (School Terms)Friday
7.30am-9am School's Out (School Terms)
2.45pm-6pm School's Out (School Terms)
7.30pm-9.15pm Bradford Youth Concert BandSaturday
Sunday
10am-2pm St Luke's Church (for "Sunday Club")