Please donate where you can to the Victoria Centre!
All donations are gratefully received!! We have signed up with Just Giving to make donations easier for our supporters.
If you would like to make a donation to the Centre please follow the link below:
Donations will go towards running costs of the Centre and essential project works for our local community.
Every penny donated will be used well and we are very thankful for those thinking of the Victoria Centre!
Funding
At the time of writing this it is February 2024 and the Victoria Centre is entering into a RECOVERY mode of operation following several months of financial uncertainty. We would like to send thanks to all friends, followers and funders over the last few months. Fundraising as part of our Save the VC appeal raised in excess of £10,000 alone. We have secured new clients and are pleased to have retained a large majority of existing hirers also. We have a lot planned for our local community for this coming year including a 45th Birthday celebration!
National Lottery
With the assistance of a local consultant, the Centre applied for a ‘Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund’ which is provided by the UK Government and delivered by The National Lottery. We are pleased to share good news about the funding….. we got the grant!
This essential funding from from the Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund delivered by the National Lottery has helped us to host warm spaces at the Centre. It has enabled us to produce and provide in excess of 125 warm and rough sleeper packs and a number of food parcels for those who are struggling to make ends meet. Staff and Volunteer training has been financially supported and enhanced across all departments. We have increased efforts on the ICNA and also have a number of building maintenance jobs penciled in (including a Sky Lantern Blind installation in our Sanctuary!!) (award to cover period October 2023 – March 2024).
Thanks to the Government and National Lottery for making this possible!
National Grid
We are pleased to announce an award of £9,995 from the National Grid also! This will fund the installation of new ‘character fitting’ Preschool doors which will enhance the energy efficiency across the space (reducing energy costs) and will enhance the overall look of the Centre. This fund also enabled us to host the Breakfast with Santa Event where in excess of 50 children received warm packs from Santa via the VC & National Grid ;). We would like to thank the National Grid for the award which will help the Centre resist cost of living pressures on rising energy costs.
Rotary Club of Wellingborough, Milap Dostiyo & Hindu Community Centre
After hearing about the situation at the Centre from one of our Volunteers the Management Team (2024) were approached by the Rotary Club of Wellingborough who wanted to see what they could do to help. Since learning about all things VC and seeing what we provide to the local community they have made two generous donations to our cause totaling a whopping £3000.
Principal Finance Officer 2024 & Vice President of Rotary Club above
We have also received a number of large donations from other local organisations such as Milap Dostiyo Wellingborough and also the Hindu Community Centre. A founding member of the Victoria Centre (Shashi Dolakia) also arranged a fundraiser event at the Akash Restaurant which raised a large amount for donation. 
Shasi & VC President above – Hindu Community Centre Event below
These recent donations will go towards core operational spend at the Centre, it will support higher than average utility bills and enable us to continue providing warm spaces until end March 2024. Thank you to all who have donated we wish we could thank everyone but we would run out of publishing space 😉 !
Northamptonshire Community Foundation Step in To Save Our Holiday Club
Staff and Parents were delighted to hear the Centre has received additional money from NCF to help save this Summer’s Holiday Club. Head of Children’s Services, Marta Jankowska, was over to moon when she heard the Centre had been awarded essential funds to make the Holiday Club happen after COVID 19 Social distances restrictions looked like making this vital service untenable.
“We were determined to get the Holiday Club going, its been such a difficult time for parents and Children and to know that we could offer this service was very delightful for us, especially when we found out we were the only Holiday Club operating in the town. The grant has been a life saver for many parents and children”.
As we near the end of the 4 week Holiday Club Children have been able to enjoy lots of great activities and really enjoy playing and learning together, trying out new things and sometimes just getting a bit ‘messy’ in a safe environment.
“We have lots of lovely activities planned for the rest of the week and are planning to finish off with a lovely party”.
Thank you once again to the Community Foundation for making this possible….
Heartfelt Thanks to the Heritage Lottery From All at the Victoria Centre
Colleagues and friends from the Victoria Centre have gathered together (in a socially distant way) to thank and praise the Heritage Lottery for their support in helping us begin to create a comprehensive archive of the Centre’s history, as part of a project to celebrate 40 years of the Centre’s operation.
Victoria Centre members, friends and staff have been helping out in the Wellingborough Community since 1979, forging links and understanding across the many diverse people that call this community home.
A grant of just over £9,000 pounds helped Centre staff and volunteers do research on the Centre’s history, find missing or mislaid records and begin to protect crucial historical materials, such as original video footage from Princess Diana’s visit in November 1984.
Funds also helped the Centre create a film showing how the centre is now as well as cataloguing some of the big events in our history.
Vice President Cynthia Bailey said, she wanted to “send her heartfelt thanks to the Heritage Lottery for providing the funds to make this possible as well as to all the volunteers and staff that helped make it happen”.
“Its been such an important project and its wonderful to begin to bring all these important articles and stories together for the posterity of the Centre and the local community”. She went on to add, “many of our records show the ‘great and the good’ of our town as well as significant characters from our own history and our Community, and this is just the beginning, we know there are so many other stories out there that we would love to capture and share”.
Marion Turner-Hawes, who was the centre manager at the time said, we have been delighted with the information we have managed to find and being able to store it all in the right way for safe keeping is vital.
“We don’t want it all hidden away in dusty cupboards though, we have so many more artefacts and records to check through, this has got us all really excited. Its not only inspiring us to see or remember the many great achievements of the Centre its also providing lots of new materials for the Town’s social history, and this is just the tip of the iceberg we know there is so much more out there”.
Thank you again to our friends at Heritage Lottery and we look forward to continuing to share the Victoria Centre story and legacy.
Wednesday 22nd July 2020