Gateshead community leaders have welcomed the news of a 490,000 British
pounds lottery grant to renovate an historic building in Bensham for
a much needed Jewish community center.
The National Lottery Charities Board has awarded the Jewish Community
Council of Gateshead the money to renovate the derelict Bewick Road
Bingo Hall, a former Edwardian cinema in the heart of a conservation
area.
Over the next year the Jewish Community Council will convert the building
into a community center for Gateshead's 4,000-5,000 strong Jewish
community.
Dozens of groups will use the new center for community education,
drama events, indoor games, meetings, lectures and leisure activities,
catering for all ages from mother and toddler groups through the elderly.
Other money for the conversion job is coming from the Bensham and
Saltwell Single Regeneration Budget, government funding set aside
to help improve this disadvantaged area of the town.
Joseph Schleider, of the Jewish Community Council, said: "This
is tremendous news for the community, it will provide much needed
facilities especially for young people. We are very grateful to the
funding bodies providing the money and to Gateshead Council who have
worked so closely with us and provided expert guidance and advice."
Councilor Frank Donovan, a local ward member who chairs the Bensham
and Saltwell Regeneration Partnership Board, said: "We are delighted
to have been able to get such a major grant for a community which
does not have its own facilities or the money to build them. It will
make a big difference to their lives and community spirit, as well
as bringing a derelict building back into use in an area which needs
environmental improvements. It preserves a much needed part of our
heritage in the Coatsworth Conservation Area."
Gateshead's Jewish community first settled in the town in the 1890s
but grew mainly after the Second World War to become one of the major
centers of Jewish education in Europe.
