Follow our Past News...

January 2026 News from your Treasurer

Well, the Cottonstones Community Centre has enjoyed what many would say been a fantastic finish to 2025, and 2026 promises to be another great year for local residents. Whether attending from Cottonstones, Mill Bank, Soyland, Ripponden, Triangle or beyond, we are all part of a Communityand we are all here to socially share and support one another in a friendly and safe environment.

From the Treasurers perspective, and with the support of the committee, we have for the last 6 months been finding our feet determining what works well, and what works ‘really well’, and all this has been achieved on a shoestring budget. The Community Centre also has overheads like heating for example which costs £3,000 a year, and every month, whether we have a function or event, we have to pay out £250, so it’s vital that we raise enough to cover this and other expenses if we are to continue providing a welcoming community hub where everyone can come together.

We don’t like the idea of selling admission tickets at the door but would rather raise money from events based on kind donations from everyone attending. So if you have a really fun evening and all your friends and family enjoyed themselves then it would be nice to see that reflected in the size of the donation. It can be an economical fun evening out by bringing your own drinks and nibbles while using all the facilities.  We thank everyone for their kind and generous donations over the past 8 months, all of which have kept us moving forward to keep the door of the community centre open.

Some events have been very well attended, like the Quiz Nights – who doesn’t love a good quiz?  Thanks have to go to all the quiz setters who have given their time researching and presenting an eclectic mix of questions covering every conceivable genre imaginable. We have had a modest prize for the quiz winners - a bottle of prosecco - until our December quiz night where Claire Murray (artist and our very own chair) kindly donated 3 small paintings as special prizes.  

Another great evening’s entertainment has been found in the form of Games Nights and Social Evenings where we have seen parents and children pitching their talents against each other, or other teams, in games covering table tennis, pool, darts and board games. Even the more serious gamers have been spotted pondering their next move over the chess board while others, set on just having a laugh and giggle, tease their opponent in a game of Jenga. There’s a good variety of board games to suit all the family available on the shelves in the pool room, but if there’s something we don’t have that you feel would be a popular challenge then let us know and we will see if we can provide. It’s a good ‘value for money’ night out with friends when you consider the alternatives.  But if it’s just an opportunity for a quiet social catch up with friends that you’re after over a cuppa or a drink then there’s always a table and a comfy chair for that too.

There will be greater emphasis this year on other events promoted by the Community Centre that we would like to see incorporated more into the calendar. Events like Bingo Evenings and Special Guest Speakers are on the cards but we are open to your suggestions if we can get the numbers in to support the event.

For those of you that are not familiar with the Community Centre there is also a huge Open Space/Sprung Dance Floor available for private hire upstairs. We already have regular weekly bookings for dance classes or stretch and tone classes utilising this space but more events can certainly be accommodated. Whether it be a regular event or a one-off birthday, anniversary, christening, wake or lecture, this is an attractive venue.  Furniture hire is also available for your own external off-site functions if required.

You can have a look at our web site www.cottonstones-community-centre.com and search the calendar for upcoming events or if you’d like to be an active committee member we’d warmly welcome your support.

Stuart Mills

Treasurer, Cottonstones Community Centre

November 2025

A little update from me, your chair of the Cottonstones Community Group.  I'll try to be brief but there is so much good news to share with you about how our little community centre has begun to re-emerge from its hiatus.  

The clear up, clean up, glow up process continues in earnest, and we have now cleared and deep cleaned the upstairs kitchen, which is now ready for a much needed upgrade.  We were so grateful to be able to accept some funding to support this upgrade from the Ward Forum Grant scheme, and the generous provision of all the fixtures and fittings from someone in the village who works in this sector.  We hope to start work on this very soon, so watch this space for the before and after photos!   We are also so very grateful to the Sowerby Bridge Freemasons for raising funds for us to buy a replacement fridge, urn and new kettle for the downstairs kitchen too. 

On a personal note, I hosted a lovely Sip and Draw evening last month, which was fully taught but very social, and attracted creatives of all ages and abilities.  We enjoyed a couple of relaxing hours, drawing, chatting, laughing (those self-portraits were fun!) and enjoying our BYO refreshments.

November saw the grand opening of our games room and the first social games night, closely followed by a second, with pool, darts, table tennis, Jenga, Connect 4, Scrabble and Chess all being played (I’m personally enjoying discovering who all the secret darts and pool hustlers are!).  The social games night is an opportunity for anyone to come along and enjoy an evening with warm company, and there’s no obligation for everyone to play.  We have been so fortunate to have been able to secure some Bridge tuition too, and we now have the small beginnings of an emerging Bridge Club.  There were many generous donations, transport and trailers loaned, time offered, and many hands on deck to get the room cleared and ready for its transformation to games room, and were all immensely grateful for the help to get it off the ground.

Outdoors, our volunteers continue to prune, clear and improve and we have a beautiful new bench along the side of the church, kindly arranged by one of our parishioners.  We are hopeful that more handy gardeners will join our gang to help get the shrubbery spring ready.

Coming Up...

As we continue through November up to Christmas, we have the regular quiz night coming up, wreath-making workshops, carols evening, film night and the continued bookings from the regency dance group and keep fit classes.  You can keep up to date on the Facebook page, the events page or noticeboards in the village and church.

Get Involved...

There's much to do still but we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the support and goodwill we have received so far.  Our goal is to ensure that there is a community space for our friends and neighbours to meet up in, to laugh, enjoy good cheer and simply get together.  Getting involved can be simply turning up to one event a year, or baking a cake for the summer fete (there's an idea!).  Lending a hand at an event helps out all our helpers, and makes light work of setting up or clearing away at the end of the night.  And we really do appreciate every gesture of help, right through to your generous donations that support our events.  

Did you know that you can rent the room for £25 for the session (AM, PM or evening) and host your own event?  It could be a private party, a fundraiser, a ceildhi, dance, pie and pea supper, or a village social - we don't mind!  The community centre belongs at the heart of the community so please feel warmly welcome to come along and see what we're doing.  Come along, the doors are open, and the kettle is on...

Claire x

Chair, Cottonstones Community Centre

Hire the space - contact.cottonstones@gmail.com

Drop us a line at contact.cottonstones@gmail.com or message the Cottonstones Community Centre Facebook page.