July 24th, 2019.


Hillcrest Community Centre held a grand celebration last Sunday to celebrate its 21st birthday. Twenty-one years ago, a campaign by the local community saved the building from demolition, to provide a community centre for Newhaven and the surrounding area.

Surviving locals who spearheaded the campaign include Joan Rhodes, who has run the Hillcrest Community Café for the entire time the Centre has been open, her husband Peter, and Alison Penn, who specialises in the management of voluntary organisations.

The day was a great success. Hundreds of people attended the many events for adults, children and families.

In order to continue the valuable work of providing space for community activities that contribute to people’s health, creativity, and social welfare, the Hillcrest Centre also launched a fundraising appeal that will run through 2020 to pay for the massive amount of work required to upgrade the building to meet current fire and safety standards. Three groups – the Hillcrest Film Club, Haven Harmonies Choir, and The GuestHouse Storytellers, all based in the Centre, presented cheques totalling just over £2000 from fundraising events. There was also a donation of close to £1000 from the Quakers, in memory of Bob Booth, who died earlier this year. A member of the founding group, and a valued and respected trustee for twenty years, Bob was also a mediator, and taught non-violent communication in prisons across the country for many years.

The Hillcrest Community Centre is a registered charity run primarily by volunteers and relies almost entirely on donations, grants and trusts. If you would like to know more about how you can help keep the centre going into the future, call 01273 512376 and speak to the centre manager.

The staff and trustees of the Hillcrest would like to thank everyone for their support of the Centre and look forward to serving the local community for another 21 years.

www.hillcrestcentre.co.uk