Grant award sounds great to Heysham community centre users

A popular Heysham community venue is turning up the volume after a four-figure grant from a renewable energy firm paid for much-needed noise management technology to be installed.
From left, Heysham Central Coun Carla Brayshaw, Mossgate Centre assistant manager Vicky Birchall , director Mike Greenhall, chair Jean Yates, director Geoff Robertshaw, Heysham South Coun Colin Hartley and Lewis Stokes of The Banks GroupFrom left, Heysham Central Coun Carla Brayshaw, Mossgate Centre assistant manager Vicky Birchall , director Mike Greenhall, chair Jean Yates, director Geoff Robertshaw, Heysham South Coun Colin Hartley and Lewis Stokes of The Banks Group
From left, Heysham Central Coun Carla Brayshaw, Mossgate Centre assistant manager Vicky Birchall , director Mike Greenhall, chair Jean Yates, director Geoff Robertshaw, Heysham South Coun Colin Hartley and Lewis Stokes of The Banks Group

Heysham Mossgate Community and Sports Centre provides a range of indoor and outdoor fitness and health facilities, including an outdoor 3G all-weather floodlit sports pitch, and also provides a venue for a wide range of community events held in its indoor hall.

Despite its popularity, the centre’s management committee has been looking to improve the hall’s poor acoustics, which make it difficult for it to host events with amplified music or speech.

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But now, after turning to Banks Renewables for support from the community benefits fund linked to the nearby Heysham South wind farm, a £3,000 grant has enabled the installation of specialist noise baffles which absorb sound energy, lessen reverberation and improve users’ listening comfort.

Around 900 people already use the Mossgate Centre every week, and it provides a home for several sports and community-based clubs and organisations from around Heysham and the west end of Morecambe.

Regular activities in the Townson Way venue’s hall include fitness classes, parent & toddler groups, table tennis, yoga and badminton.

Jean Yates, chair of the Heysham Mossgate Community and Sports Centre management committee, says: “We have to meet all the venue’s running costs out of the revenues that we generates, and Banks Renewables’ generous contribution means we’ve been able to get this work done earlier than would otherwise have been possible and direct the funds that we have towards other priorities..”

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Lewis Stokes, community relations manager at the Banks Group, adds: “The Mossgate Centre is a fantastic community venue that plays a central role in local life, and we’re very pleased to see revenues generated by our Heysham South wind farm being put to such good use.”