Board members attended the official opening of the Castle Green Pavilion on Friday 19 September. We were blessed with fine weather and it was absolutely fantastic to view the amazing transformation that has taken place to the building, including a new roof top terrace that provides beautiful views across the River Wye.
In her speech, Abigail Appleton, Chair of the Stronger Hereford Board, highlighted the long history of the Pavilion (including previously being the home for many decades of Hereford College of Arts). She encouraged everyone to celebrate not only the physical transformation of this beautiful building but its potential to bring the community together, to showcase local talent, promote skills development and to connect us all to our River Wye.
Abigail was also keen to recognise the tenacity and vision of project lead Paddy Nugent and to celebrate the power of community behind this flagship project. She said: “None of us carried the trauma and the pain as Paddy and his team have done.”
Paddy Nugent, the project leader, thanked the Stronger Towns Board for its unwavering support throughout good and bad times. In his speech, Paddy also named the many individuals and groups who had supported the project team over the years – his Board, Friends of Castle Green, volunteers, residents, Aspire Building Contractors, Errand Studio and the government’s Stronger Town’s officers, to name but a few.
The refurbished Pavilion has two beautifully restored rooms for hire to the community (the River Room and Artists’ Room) suitable for a multitude of purposes. There’s also a new café and roof terrace, run by CSons, that will be opening this October.
We are thrilled that the project has overcome all of the challenges it has faced to deliver this wonderful community facility. Here’s to ‘Team Castle Green’ – we wish you the best of luck for the future!
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