WINTERBOURNE parents are celebrating being awarded £3,000 from South Gloucestershire Council to turn a derelict chapel into a children’s arts centre.


The group was awarded the money on Tuesday, March 10 to go towards a feasibility survey for the renovation of the old and derelict Ebenezer Chapel in Winterbourne into a children's activity and arts based activity centre for the local community.


The centre will be named The Hat Factory in reference to the original chapel’s congregation, many of whom would have been hat-makers from the local industry which flourished in the 1800s in Watleys End and Frampton Cotterell area specifically.


Resident Mandy Nicholls, who had the idea to renovate the chapel into the centre, said: “The money will go towards the feasibility study, of a survey to the local community and an architect report to see how much the project will cost, and to help pay for the clearance in the chapel.


"While we were delighted to get enough funding from the council to pay for the study this was less than half of our original bid for The Hat Factory.


“We are keen to hear from local architects or people who could offer fundraising or market survey expertise, and anyone generally with a bit of spare time on their hands who, like us, would be keen to see this beautiful old chapel brought back to life.


“We particularly need volunteers on the May Bank Holiday weekend (23-25) to help clear the old chapel building so that scoping work can get underway, so please get in touch if you could spare us a few hours.”


Parents in Winterbourne and Frampton Cotterell, Kate Turton, Kelly Allan and Graeme Burns are working with Mrs Nicholls on the project.


To find out more about how you can help email thehatfactorychapel@inbox.com  and follow the project on Facebook.