Old vicarage unveiled as new community centre for Weymouth
Hope House will offer services for children, families and young people
Last updated 2nd Feb 2022
An old Weymouth vicarage is getting a new lease of life as a youth and community centre.
Hope House, adjacent to St John's church, was bought back by a collection of churches after the Church of England sold the property in the 1980s.
Now, it's been converted into a centre for the community with the finishing touches being put in place in coming days.
But it's not just the church that will be using the centre - the Parish of Radipole and Melcombe Regis want community groups to use the centre too.
They're inviting social services, schools and even small businesses to see how they can use the centre.
Church Youth Worker Joe Hobday said:
"We're hoping the community will cohesively grow together and see there's a facility here that's open to all and this facility will hopefully invest back in the community, as the community invests in us.
"We want to see the community change, we want to see the community grow together... back in the olden days community was a great thing and I don't think we've lost that but I think we need to continue to reinvest to build community links, and that can only work if we all work together."
Bought back
The vicarage originally belonged to the church until the 1980s when it was sold off by the Church of England for ÂŁ25,000. In 2018 the parish discovered it was back on the market after a chance telephone call from an estate agent, who told them it was on the market again for ÂŁ600,000.
Rev Tom Coopey is the Vicar of St John's Church. He said:
"We took the decision really carefully because it's a lot of money, it's a big investment to make.
"As we talked about it, as we prayed about it, several people just kept using the word 'restoration'. This was something actually being restored for what it was originally there for.
"These buildings were always meant to work together. It was always meant to be a building that would work for the community and bless the community so our parish took the plunge, trusted it was the right thing, raised the money and here we are."
It comes at a time when the country is preparing to leave most COVID-19 measures behind. Small businesses have taken their fair share of the impact during the pandemic, which is something the church wanted to ease with Hope House.
For some time, Small Businesses who rent the community centre as office space were granted a total rent holiday as a way of supporting them through the pandemic.
There are also plans to build a sports area outside the site for young people.
The church sees that as just another way the building can be used for the community, and a way to help build back.
Joe added:
"So with less restrictions, this house can be fully utilised, the building can be fully utilised, the space can be opened up for more communities to use it.
"We want to push out to our community and let them know that we're here and let them know that this is a place that we want everyone to use.
"Community, whatever challenges they face, we want to be part of that solution part of the plan that will help our community grow stronger, and build better."
If you'd like to find out more about using Hope House as a community group, you can do so here.