Community Hub Proposals
Our vision is to develop a new, highly sustainable, accessible, and flexible not-for-profit community hub on land at Cemetery Road.
The community hub would deliver the following:
600 seat auditorium* for church services and a wide range of community events.
Large multi-purpose flexible hall capable of being subdivided into up to four smaller rooms.
Entrance foyer with community cafe and modern kitchen facilities.
Meeting rooms.
Changing Places facility.
Flexible lounge space with coffee bar.
Modern and accessible WC accommodation.
Main car park and reinforced grass overflow parking.
Sensory play spaces and secure gardens.
The hub would also form a permanent home for Grace and our members, most of whom live in Kempston, South Bedford and surrounding villages.
*Includes 200 seat balcony at first floor level.
Illustrative visualisation of proposed community hub
A hub for the community
The new hub will allow Grace to…
Expand the essential community groups and services provided by the Church, benefitting the vulnerable groups who rely on this support.
Ensure those living in the west of Kempston can access essential support and services nearer to their homes.
Extend important charity and local outreach work.
Provide a not-for-profit facility for the local Kempston community, available to use for community meetings and events.
Assist Bedford Borough Council in the delivery of their Corporate Plan.
A typical week at the new community hub
The new centre would be run on a not-for profit basis, so would not compete with any existing community centres or spaces for hire in the area that rely on commercial bookings. Instead, it will complement existing local facilities and provide expanded essential community services for vulnerable residents that Grace already runs.
In a typical week at the new community hub there could be church services, youth groups, workshops, isolation support groups, children’s groups and the Foodbank.
"Since July 2013 Grace Community Church has been running a distribution centre for Bedford Foodbank in Kempston with all the volunteers from Grace Community Church, feeding over 90 people each month.
It is invaluable to the Foodbank to have a distribution centre in Kempston as it enables us to serve the people in that area.
Grace Community Church is also a referral agency for Bedford Foodbank, so that service users of the different groups they run including CAP (Christians Against Poverty) can be referred for a food parcel if needed. Also with the number of groups that Grace Community Church operates it is helpful to be able to refer clients using our other distribution centres to their groups and or CAP.”
- Bedford Foodbank
The hub will not be licenced, so would therefore not be used for weddings or other large social gatherings of this nature.
We are not proposing a general purpose, commercially run function hall, but rather a not-for-profit community hub, embedded in and focused on serving essential local community needs.
"I was excited to hear about the plans for the development of Grace Community Church's work in the Kempston area.
As a former Kempston headteacher I worked closely with the church to support our families at the time. This was a highly effective partnership and I can say without hesitation that many families at the school saw tangible benefits from this partnership.
Clearly, I now have much less contact with the Kempston Community but would anticipate that the work has continued to impact the town in practical and measurable ways for the benefit of its most vulnerable community members. Equally, I am sure that the new project is well placed to build on the strong relationships that have been formed over the years.”