11 April 2016
Midlands developer Walton Homes has donated £400 to a Bloxwich church to provide purpose-built storage facilities for the various community groups it plays host to.
Members of St John’s Methodist Church in Victoria Avenue contacted the housebuilder after hearing about its 30 Wishes campaign, launched last year to mark 30 years in business, to provide support to 30 charities, organisations or individuals within the Midlands.
Since then, Walton Homes has granted various wishes to deserving applicants including Acorns Hospice, primary schools, the RNLI, a cat’s protection group and a canal trust.
Pauline Osbaldeston, a member of the property committee of the church, said: “Our outdated storage facilities are no longer adequate for all of the community groups we support here., and we asked Walton Homes if it might be able to help us address that.
“We host a whole range of community groups here; rainbows to senior guides, beavers to senior scouts, an art club, a railway club, an activity group and a young church group, all of whom have various equipment that they keep here at the church, but we simply don’t have sufficient space.
“This year, we’re celebrating our 50th anniversary, yet some of the storage in the old part of our building dates back further, so we were delighted when Walton Homes stepped in to help,” she added.
Amy Summerton, director of Walton Homes, said: “St John’s Methodist Church provides a much-needed resource for a whole range of local community groups, and we wanted to do our bit to help them organize their storage facilities to cope with the demand. We donated a large storage unit from one of our sales centres as an interim measure while Adam Kane, our production manager, met with the team to see the scale of works required to ensure each group has its own dedicated storage area within the church.
“The funds we’ve provided will enable a purpose-built facility to be built, and with luck, it’ll last another 50 years!” she said.
