More About Farnley Community Centre

The Association was formed in 1957 with 54 people named Cowclose Community Centre.
The Association's main aim was to raise funds to build a Community Centre.
Events such as Bingo and Whist Drives were held in St Wilfred's Church rooms. The association also organized a yearly Garden Fete with a Village Queen, which took place on the grounds of the old James Graham College.
In 1961 the Association was renamed Cowclose & District to bring in more of the expanding community.
In 1974 the proceeds of these events and lots of hard work by the committee meant the sum of £5,000 had been raised. With the help of Trevor Thewliss, a plot of land was secured and plans went ahead for the present centre.
A grant of £15,000 was received from the Education Department, and money from other sources was obtained to boost the fund to £20,000, the amount needed to start the building works. The building was officially opened on 20th April 1974.
The original building was quite different from the one you see today, in 1982 it was decided we needed more space so the lounge was added to the side of the building.

Since 1988 we have been known as Old Farnley & District Community Association.
A few of the early members are still attending the centre today.

 

A new committee was formed alongside some of the existing members in November 2021 and since then a raft of changes have occurred, many of which occur behind the scenes and some of them not so noticeable such as policies and procedure updates and new fire detection equipment etc along with the usual maintenance. In early 2023, we invested heavily into having a gas supply installed to the community centre and a new modern heating system installed alongside new low-energy LED lighting throughout and not forgetting a lick of paint.

 

A big change was the charity transferring to a new charity (bearing the same name: Old Farnley & District Community Association), in early January 2024, as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The aim of this is that it makes us more accountable for our accounting but more so gives us the ability to apply for funding to be able to modernise and keep the centre running for many more years to come.
 

We have various groups and sessions running at the centre and we look forward to being able to expand our offering to the community in the coming months.