COMMUNITY project leaders have expressed their delight following a successful bid for a �15,000 grant – kick-starting a drive to finish every other job in the next 12 months. Great Dunmow s Arts Centre organisers, Jacky and Mikki Rom, have successfully ma

COMMUNITY project leaders have expressed their delight following a successful bid for a �15,000 grant - kick-starting a drive to finish every other job in the next 12 months.

Great Dunmow's Arts Centre organisers, Jacky and Mikki Rom, have successfully managed to haul in the cash to pay for vital heating and air conditioning.

They hope that when installed the system will become a lifeblood of the Haslers Place adult and children's community centre.

Jacky said: "Air conditioning will transform this place in the summer, in the past it has been hot indoors when we put on events and shows, mainly because we get a lot of people coming.

"Heating is also so important - we have lost some groups over the past few months because the centre has been a little colder. We hope that getting the heating installed will bring all those people back and give everyone an even better environment to enjoy themselves."

The grant is made up of money from three parties, �12,000 from waste management company Viridor, �1600 from the Youth Capital Fund, and the rest from fundraising within the centre itself.

Having heating and air conditioning installed is also the beginning of a 'final push' to finish the Arts Centre entirely within the next 12 months.

A shopping list has been drawn up and the organisers who are actively seeking grants to tie-up the lose ends which would end a four-year project with a fully functioning community centre for the public.

The list includes: �5000 to build a cookery, pottery and arts and crafts room, �25,000 for vastly improved sound and lighting across the building, �20,000 for retractable sloped seating for the theatre, and �25,000 for a new toilet block.

Jacky said: "In all we need about another �100,000 to completely finish everything we want to do here - and we want to do it quickly as this is the final push.

"We have already raised and spent �150,000 on the project and it has been a great success - we are very thankful for all the money and grants we have received so far."

She added: "We welcome any groups or committees that want to use our facilities, we have just taken on the Chamber of Commerce meetings for example. But we need people to use the centre because our bills have risen sharply - heating has gone up from �250 a month to �800."

Contact the Arts Centre on 01371 878020 for more information.