Success stories Phoenix Centre, Market Drayton

The Phoenix Centre has had a new lease of life since it was taken on by a group of local volunteers.

The former Youth Centre transferred from Shropshire Council in 2017 under the Community Asset Transfer (CAT) programme, and now hosts guides and brownies, youth sessions, W I Group, Slimming World classes, boxercise and dancing classes on a regular basis and in recent months hosted a covid vaccination clinic several days a week.

To enable this to happen a group of local organisations formed a new Charitable Trust, The Phoenix Centre Association, which aims to provide social, community, leisure, educational and training for the benefit of the inhabitants of Market Drayton and the surrounding area and work took place with Shropshire Council’s Assets and Estates team to agree the transfer of the building on a long-term lease.  This enabled the organisation to attract grant funding.  The building can also be hired out to other not for profit organisations offering other activities that benefit the local community.

Since being transferred, the centre has gone from strength to strength and is an inspiring story of a building that is being run very successfully by a dedicated group of volunteers – they should be really proud.

One of the dedicated volunteers running the centre said:

“We are extremely grateful to Shropshire Council, having the building on a long term lease means that we had a wonderful opportunity to turn this under used space into a real community asset. We have raised money, and received match funded grants, which have enabled us to replace all the doors and windows to make the heating more economical and the repainting brighten the building up. Over the years we have seen an increase in the number of regular hirers and as more people attend the group and community classes it has become more well known with a normal quote received of "I have lived in Market Drayton all my live but didn't realise this place was here, isn't it lovely". When people realise it is a community building for their benefit, run by volunteers, it creates a sense of ownership and pride. The Phoenix Centre is now a genuine community asset!"

If you're interested in taking over the running of local amenities, take a look at our 'Expression of interest' page.