We will rise from the ashes

A COMMUNITY centre in Leamington almost destroyed by fire will rise again from the ashes, its director has vowed.

Steve Baylis fears Bath Place Community Venture will be impossible to rebuild but believes the swift and generous levels of support will see full services at the popular centre
restored in the future.

A blaze swept through the venue, in Bath Place, just before 3pm on September 24.

Mums and toddlers had to be led to safety as eight fire crews were called to tackle the blaze at the former
Victorian school.

Leamington-based crew manger Andy Corbett told the Times: “There was smoke and flames issuing from 50 per cent of the property. Smoke could be seen from half a mile away so I immediately called for back up.

“We then had crews from Warwick, Kenilworth, Southam, Rugby,
Nuneaton and Atherstone, together with an hydraulic platform from Leamington and a command support unit from Atherstone.

“There was a huge pall of smoke over Leamington and it took about two hours to bring the fire under control.”

The full extent of the damage and the length of time until the centre can reopen will not be known until safety inspectors, insurers and surveyors have assessed the building.

But Mr Baylis said it’s likely the building has been so badly damaged it will be impossible to rebuild.

He added: “The fire was a real blow, a real loss. It’s just devastating.

“The bottom line is the building could be a complete write-off. The fire has taken out the back end which
included the main hall and the IT suite.

“The cafe and the main office were water damaged – the only part that remained was the nursery. That only had slight smoke damage.”

The community centre has managed to secure a temporary base in Court Street while investigations continue and work to get its services up and running again has already begun.

Services provided by the centre
include the Veggie Table cafe, a
nursery, opportunities to volunteer, computer courses, English and
history for speakers of other languages and venue hire.

Shrubland Street Primary School has offered rooms for the nursery to use.

And Warwick District Council has said it will let Venture and the neighbouring African Caribbean
Centre move into the town hall for at least six months for a peppercorn rent of £1 a month.

Mr Baylis said: “The offers of
support have been great. We’ve
literally got nothing and when we’ve told people that they’ve been really, really good. There’s so much goodwill.

“Our main priority is to find a base. We’re here for the next couple of weeks but then we need a semi-
permanent home. We’re keen to be in the Old Town area and we’ve already had some offers.

“We need our independence and we need to be flexible.

“At the minute we’re just dealing with day-to-day things but then we’ll be getting our services started again and we’ll look to see how we develop from there. We want to get our youth projects and IT classes back up and running.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future but we’re doing everything we can to move forward.”