Room 4 All Project

The plans are to provide a large meeting room adjoining St. Matthew’s Church with access into the church from a shared foyer. The room will have shutters to subdivide the room as required, a well equipped kitchen and toilet with baby changing facilities and wheelchair access. There will be storage and two further small offices.

The plans include improved pedestrian and vehicular access to and around the building and a 14 space car park. (copy of plans below).

Aims

The aim of the association is to assist in the provision of facilities for education and recreation within the local community by:

a) Developing partnerships with agencies across the city and others within the community including people with disabilities, elderly care groups, parents, young people and schools and colleges.
b) Creating opportunities for activities which support the community and the environment.
c) To be a not for profit enterprise.

"Reproduced with kind permission from Mackellar Architecture"

Purpose
The purpose of the “Room 4 All” project is to provide a pleasant, useful place for all people regardless of age, background or disability to access educational recreational and career opportunities. We aim to provide a variety of activities to promote the wellbeing and cohesion of our community. Potential groups include:
• Activity/social groups for local residents with disabilities
• Coffee bar
• Youth groups including uniformed organizations
• Toddler groups
• Luncheon/tea/coffee clubs for the elderly
• ICT in the community

Logo
The Room 4 All logo was designed by a local year 6 school girl. Jane Jobling was the winning designer in a Room 4 All logo competition at Benedict Biscop Primary School.

MISSION STATEMENT

“Room 4 All” will live up to its name by offering a welcoming and attractive space to everyone wanting to flourish and develop in the Silksworth and surrounding area.

This will take forward the Government's vision of radical reform for children, young people and families to be healthy, to stay safe and enjoy making a positive contribution to society.

“Room 4 All” will become a centre of educational and recreational opportunities to include access and facilities for people with disabilities.

Location

Room for All will have a major visual impact on the area. It will be attached to St. Matthew’s Church in Silksworth which is on the main Silksworth Road, the B1286 that links the Durham road, the A690, a main arterial road into Sunderland from Durham and the A19. St. Matthew's church is already a local landmark and once the room is complete with spire it will be quite outstanding.  The village of Silksworth is a former mining community and is in the bottom quartile of the social deprivation statistics. Along with the rest of Sunderland it is the 22nd lowest in the national neighbourhood statistics indices of multiple deprivation, 2004.

Background

For 5 years the Parochial Church Council of St. Matthews Church have wanted to provide better disabled access to the church and in particular disabled toilet facilities, the current provision being woefully inadequate even for able-bodied people.   During these considerations we became aware of certain other needs expressed by local people. For example, provision of a brownie pack was raised causing immediate interest and flurry of attempts to join. Unfortunately as we did not possess the right facilities, the church building itself was not suitable, we were unable to pursue the idea. We became increasingly aware of many other local needs that a project like Room 4 All could meet.

  Click here for business plan                                      Click here planned timetable for project