School pupils help put the finishing touches to £850,000 extension to The Freedom Centre
Pupils from an east Hull primary school helped to put the finishing touches to the extension of a building that’s at the heart of community life in Preston Road.
Budding gardeners from Foredyke Primary School, in Flinton Grove, east Hull, donned their hard hats and high visibility vests to enjoy a tour of the new £850,00 extension to The Freedom Centre, as well as planting new shrubs around the development.
They were the first people to get a sneak preview inside the building, which is planned to provide a venue for functions such as weddings, celebrations and other community events, with capacity for up to 100 people. In addition, the upstairs of the building has trebled the size of the gym at The Freedom Centre.
The pupils provided a helping hand to team members from construction company Sewell Group, which completed the original development of The Freedom Centre in December 2005. Alfie McDonnell-Goddard, five, said: “I really enjoyed planting, the digging was good fun. I have only done some planting once before at school and I enjoyed it – gardening is really good.” Chloe Harland, 10, added: “It was really nice to put the plants in and to have a look around the new bit of the building at The Freedom Centre. I would like to come back and see how the plants have grown eventually too.”
Geoff Smith, project manager from Sewell Group, said: “This was a great opportunity for the local school children to come along and make their own mark on the extension of a building that they already feel a real sense of pride and belonging over – The Freedom Centre is at the heart of the community here and the extension only further enhances the facilities on offer.”
Sewell Group has built an English walled garden at the back of the extension and also developed more car parking. Now, pupils from Foredyke Primary School will be able to spread the word to their parents and members of the community about what the building looks like inside, before it officially opens to the public on March 19. John Prescott, Hull East MP, will officially open the extenstion with Jean Toker, chair of the board at The Freedom Centre, and Don Smallwood, chairman of the Preston Road Neighbourhood Development Company (NDC) along with Paul Sewell, MD of the Sewell Group.
Geoff Groom, manager of The Freedom Centre, said: “We were really delighted for the local school children to be involved, they are our future and they will be the ones using this building for many years to come, so it’s vital that they feel a real connection to it. The extension to The Freedom Centre is fantastic and it will mean even more people can make use of the excellent facilities here going forward.”
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