Construction company donates to Young Melksham’s renovations

A local construction company is lending Young Melksham a helping hand with upcoming renovations at the Canberra Centre.

Bowerhill-based Rigg Construction will be replacing and renovating the existing toilet block at a ‘considerably’ reduced cost, only accepting the £9,000 the charity has raised for the toilet renovations through local grants as payment.

Young Melksham had raised an additional £3,000 for the new toilets – but Rigg Construction’s offer has freed up these funds to be used for other works in the building.

Chair of trustees, Jon Hubbard, told Melksham News, “We are incredibly grateful for the extraordinary generous contribution from Rigg Construction, this will make such a difference to the centre.

“It was touching to hear from Phil Rigg, who owns the company, about why he has chosen to support the charity – he used to come to the club when he was young! And he recognises the importance of working with young people – lessons learnt at a youth club, enable young people to make better choices in their later life.

“Rigg’s support and the new toilets will enable Young Melksham to continue its work in the community and become more sustainable – we’ll be able to hire out the building – something we couldn’t do with the old facilities.”

Owner of Rigg Construction, Phil Rigg and finance director Dianne Tristram, told Melksham News, “We try and do our upmost for the youth of Melksham – as well as helping Young Melksham we also have apprentices. In fact, we have a local lad starting this September.

“It was Wiltshire councillor Jonathon Seed who made us aware of this project after Young Melksham took over the lease for the Canberra building from the council. It’s important that they can generate funds by hiring out the building, but the toilets were not of a standard that they could do that, hence the offer of coming in to help.”

To allow for the toilet renovations and additional works to take place, Young Melksham will close from Friday 30th August. The charity will reopen on Saturday 5th October with a family fun day to celebrate the new facilities.

Jon said, “The works will include completely replacing the existing toilets, fixing many of the niggles that we have with parts of the building and a splash of paint to brighten things up. 

“Unfortunately there is a down side, that is we need to close the centre for the duration of the works as obviously there would be a number of issues with trying to run youth clubs while builders are working and the staff team are trying to paint the walls!

“So the Canberra Centre will close after our activities on Friday 30th August and will reopen to the public on Saturday 5th October with a Family Fun Day where we can show off our new facilities. Youth clubs will restart on Monday 7th October.

“Do put the 5th October in your diary, more details are to follow but we are planning a really special afternoon with all sorts of activities and a barbecue for the whole family to enjoy.

“I really look forward to seeing you then, and in the meantime – if you fancy offering to come and help us with the decorating or refurbishment, please do get in touch!”