Rowheath Restoration Project: Bournville's Hidden Gem

WHO WE ARE:

For 100 years Rowheath Pavilion has been at the heart of Bournville, showcasing just how a thriving community looks. As a grade 2 listed building, we host a plethora of community groups, sports facilities with over 5,000 visitors a week.

We welcome everyone throughout the year, giving vulnerable people a place to feel safe and welcome, to help us out volunteering, for a friendly chat in the café or a place to worship on a Sunday.

Our beautiful building has stayed pretty much untouched for its lifetime in Bournville. The legacy of its founder, George Cadbury, is being kept alive by our devoted team of paid staff, volunteers and church elders who have never stopped loving this building.

Please see below for important details of who we are and details of fundraising:

WHERE PROFITS GO AND HOW WE SPEND IT:

As you can imagine, the outgoings we face just to keep our charity run community centre open, are near astronomical.

Our monthly outgoings for the entire building including utilities, heating, playing field maintenance, staff costs, general building repairs, insurance, security measures, cost of goods for café/bar/baking/cleaning and waste collection are nearly £25,000.

To follow on from our Centenary Year, we are very excited to be hosting a huge number of events in 2025, some supporting local charities like Birmingham Hospice’s Chocolate 5k run in March. Our in-house schedule is packed full of great events including: Spring Craft Market, Vegan Market, Twilight Terrace events, Bank holiday events, Back to School Disco, Fireworks, quizzes, open mic nights, Pumpkin Painting, Christmas Craft Market and a New Year’s Eve party. This is just a short list of what will be happening at Rowheath Pavilion in 2025.

The money generated through these events and our café/bar are donated to our charity (TCC), who pay for the monthly outgoings of the building. TCC, the charity, takes care of our grounds and building, with funds that are left over after monthly outgoings have been paid. This is why it is so important for us to run successful events throughout the year, to help us keep the building open and functioning.

WHY WE NEED DONATIONS AND PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE DONATIONS:

As mentioned, the monthly outgoings make it extremely hard for us to have any left-over funds available to use for repairs and cosmetic changes to our building. This is why we are so grateful to everyone that donates and why we need to continue to fundraise, alongside our 2025 events.

The purpose of upcoming restoration projects is to save the historic building from becoming dilapidated, improving the functionality of the centre by creating accessibility throughout the entire site and to ensure the building is an appealing place to be with friends and family all year round.

The funds we obtain from this fundraiser will be put towards our next project, which is our exciting bar renovation!

We are relaunching our onsite bar under a new name: The Gathering. The name was a popular choice with our existing guests and bar staff; it helps convey a message of community spirit and reflects the Christian values of our charity, TCC.

To improve these facilities, we need a large pot of money to complete this work. We have already received £20,000 from the Lottery Community Fund, and £3,500 from the Benefact Trust. The funding from these organisations is so exciting for us, however, we still require a further £16,500 to make the project possible.

We aim to create a welcoming, family-friendly, vibrant space for all, where you can enjoy our facilities in a gorgeous, open plan space. We have 100 years of sporting heritage, which is why investing in our sports bar is so important.

After listening to our community, we realise that the sports bar and toilets require significant investment. We love and appreciate our loyal guests who have stuck with us over many years but also to welcome new users and ensure The Gathering is a place everybody feels they can enjoy!

The bar and outside seating area will be revamped and rebranded as The Gathering. Murals, created by Sarah Dickins, are intended to brighten up and connect the space between the changing rooms and the sports bar. Accompanied by festoon lights, bunting, and planters, the two buildings will be better connected, and the space will feel much more welcoming and vibrant.

Improvements to the Bar:

· Comfortable chairs and bench seating

· Two large TVs for watching Sky Sports

· Relaxing ambience

· Community Games Room

· Remove meeting room wall to create large open-plan space

· Comfortable seating

· Foosball, pool table & boardgames

Improvements to Bar Outdoor Area:

· Increased outdoor sheltered seating

· More welcoming outdoor space

· Regular street food available

Improvements to toilets:

· Overhaul Ladies’ toilets

· Overhaul Men's toilets

· Improve accessible toilet with baby changer (Unisex)

When will this happen?

As soon as we successfully raise the funds needed.

Do you want to be a part of history?

Please do consider joining us on improving our building and donate to help us launch The Gathering.

We will keep you updated and share new plans and pictures of any work we do so that you can see exactly where your donation has gone!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this plan and we hope to see you all enjoying our new bar once it is finished.

The Rowheath Pavilion Team.