Future Plans
The Cordes Hall has been serving the community of Sunninghill for over 100 years. The Trustees and Management Committee are keen to continue to provide this wonderful facility and make major improvements to increase the attractiveness of the Hall for all users.
The Picturehouse Theatre Project
We are delighted to announce that the Cordes Hall charity (no. 238678) has taken the project 'Save the Novello Picture House' under its wing. As many of you who attended the meeting at the Hall on 24th January know, community support is very strong to save the Novello Picture House next door from being sold by RBWM and instead given to the community to be run alongside the Cordes Hall, as a commuinity arts and theatre hub. Alan Everett, who is leading the campaign to save the Novello can be contacted on alan@sequoiconsulting.co.uk if you'd like to receive updates about the campaign.
LATEST NEWS - The Sunninghill Trust, a charity with over 200 years of history providing support to the residents of the Sunninghill and South Ascot parish, has secured the ownership of the Novello Theatre in Sunninghill. This innovative deal secures the Theatre for public use following a successful campaign by the Save the Novello Picturehouse group, under the aegis of the Cordes Hall charity which owns the Cordes Hall next door. Under the new structure, The Sunninghill Trust will own the buidling and provide an affordable lease to the Cordes Hall charity which will run the two buildings as one versatile performance and events hub. More information about The Sunninghill Trust and how the partnership will work is on the website www.savenph.com
Check out the BBC News report on the success of the campaign
What we've done so far to upgrade facilities
Essential Remedial Works undertaken since 2014 include repairs to the back wall, sorting out the guttering and a new heating system has been installed. Plus we've upgraded the electrics. We've also repainted the front entrance hall and the lobby to the bar to brighten and freshen the place up.
We have now finished upgrading and improving the toilets. This was a major undertaking for us and would not have been possible without the generous support of the Doris Cowdry Fund and The Hope Trust.
The new floor has been installed, thanks to the support of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead. This provides a clean, smooth and very good floor for exercise classes as well as general use. Our grateful thanks to Brian Finch for project managing this for us, after the fantastic job he did on the toilet refurbishment.
State of the art stage lighting has been installed in 2023, thanks to a grant from the Sunninghill & Ascot Parish Council.
What we want to do after that is:
- Transform the entrance hall into a welcoming space.
- Install a new user friendly kitchen.
- Install electric raised seating - so that it doesn't need a small army to put it up and down and the space is more flexible for all our users.
- And the big one - it may take a few years to get to this - build a new extension at the back of the hall to provide a great atmospheric bar area with extra space above for community groups to use.
If you want to join us on the Management Committee, or can help us in any way please contact Vanessa Cummings, Hon Treasurer on vcatcordeshall@gmail.com. Thank you very much.
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