The Community Centre is located in Church Road, next to the church although it isn’t connected to the church in any way. It was built as a grade school around 1855 and was the junior school for village children until a new school was built further up the road in the early 1970’s. The building opposite The Centre was originally the infant school, and this was turned into houses soon after the last children left.
The building was purchased for the people of Roberttown by way of a loan from Kirklees Council. The loan was repaid over the next 10 years thanks to various fundraising events, and the Centre has been looked after by a committee of local residents ever since. It is a registered charity and is entirely self-funding, relying on income from the groups who hire it on a regular basis and individuals who hire it for private functions. It is NOT supported by Kirklees Council, except by way of grant funding which has been applied for and received for various projects over the years.
The last few years have seen major improvements to the building, thanks to constant fundraising efforts by the committee, and large landfill grants from Veolia, Sita and Biffa. The grants funded a large extension to the front, new kitchen and toilets to the rear and a total refurbishment of the roof.
Sizeable donations from Bobtown Beer Bash and Roberttown Road Runners, along with the profits from annual shows by Roberttown Players have helped to fund an overhaul to the coffee bar / waiting area, and the replacement of the windows and roof in the corridor to the back of the building. A new boiler was installed in 2019, and the wooden floor in the hall was re-varnished. In 2020 the front door was replaced, and in 2021 we purchased new flame retardant curtains for the hall and lounge.
A refurbishment of the main hall was originally planned for 2020, but this was postponed until summer 2023 due to the recent pandemic situation. In 2022 we received a grant from One Community to help with spiralling energy costs, and it enabled us to replace all the lighting in the building with LED alternatives, which will help to keep our annual costs down. We also installed a new suspended ceiling, which will be able to house the smoke detectors as well as modern LED lights, giving a much cleaner look to the room.
Regular users of The Centre include Roberttown Community Centre Pre-school, Roberttown Art Group, Roberttown Womens Institute (WI), Dru Yoga, Jujitsu, Karate, Pilates, Slimming World, Roberttown Road Runners, and Nova Bowmen (Archery, winter only)
Full details of all groups and how to contact them are on our Regular Activities page, and in the notice board at the top of the car park.
To hire the Centre for a private party, event, or regular hire please contact Lynette via the Contact Us page.
We are always happy to welcome new members to the committee, if you are interested in joining us please come along to our next meeting, which is at 7pm in the Centre Lounge, on the date shown on the Home page.