An Agnonizing Decision

0 Comments | Grimsby Telegraph, Jul 29, 2010

THE first annual general meeting of the Community Buildings Network Volunteers, who are involved in running village halls, and other community buildings, revealed the group is expanding and developing a Community Buildings Network across North Lincolnshire.

The idea behind this comes from similar forums that have been operating successfully in the East Riding for a number of years.

They provide a whole range of support for the management committees of these halls and give an opportunity to exchange information, discuss issues, share ideas and even equipment.

They also arrange presentations on relevant subjects like energy conservation and funding.

Currently the network members are collating information in order to look at negotiating more favourable energy and insurance deals for the network members through common purchasing.

Now volunteers in North Lincolnshire are looking to realise the same benefits for their halls and community centres.

The first annual general meeting of the North Lincolnshire Network is taking place at Grange Farm Community Centre, Wesley Road, Scunthorpe on August 11 at 7pm.

Anyone who is involved in this kind of activity is welcome to come along, get involved and see how your community building can benefit.

Get involved If you cannot come to the meeting but would still like to become involved just give Celia Wangler a call on 01652 633297 and she will include you on the mailing list for future meetings and events.

The Winchester f lat that grew into a [pounds sterling]1.8m house

0 Comments | Mail on Sunday (London, England), The, June 21, 2009

Byline: Duncan Farmer

Sometimes it is a smart move to divide a grand house into flats. In other cases it is best to unite all the assorted parts for a much more valuable whole, and this is what Jill and Andy Tyler-Smith have done in Winchester, Hampshire, by buying four flats over 11 years in a 200-year-old former clergyman’s house in the popular St Cross area.

Now they are selling the four-storey house, called Bishop’s Sparkford, either in its entirety or as three separate flats.

The couple, who share the house with their four daughters, two dogs, 14 guinea pigs and six tenants (four hospital doctors and two French marine engineers), spent [pounds sterling]690,000 buying all the flats and then tens of thousands of pounds refurbishing them.

‘It’s certainly worth more as a whole,’ says George Burnand, partner of Strutt & Parker’s Winchester office, which is selling the house. ‘These period houses are hugely popular with families moving from London who see Winchester as a stepping stone to the country and are attracted by the great state and private schools. St Cross has a very villagey atmosphere.’ The entire house is on the market for [pounds sterling]1.8million. The main bulk of the building – used by the Tyler-Smiths as their family home – may be sold separately for [pounds sterling]1.1million; and the two flats – which bring in a total rent of [pounds sterling]25,000 a year – could be sold separately for [pounds sterling]700,000, although the tenants will not necessarily be staying.

‘We bought the two-bedroom ground-floor flat and the basement in 1998 for [pounds sterling]240,000,’ says Jill, 44, of the Grade II listed building which had been split into flats in the Fifties after half a century as a hotel.

‘The basement was used as a beautician’s salon, but we turned it into another flat and let that immediately. Later on my parents moved in with us and lived there, but I always wanted the upstairs of the house. There was a wonderful landing that could be used as a dining hall.’ It was on their wedding day in the summer of 2001 that the two flats above suddenly came up for sale.

‘We had a marquee in the garden and when we were getting ready, Sam, who lived on the top floor, said he was going to sell and asked if we wanted to buy it,’ says Jill, who met Andy when they were sparring partners at a local boxing club. ‘Then later on in the day, our other neighbour said she was selling, too, but we had no money for a deposit and our bank said it would not give us a mortgage.’ The top-floor flat with four bedrooms was for sale for [pounds sterling]200,000 and the first-floor apartment with two bedrooms for [pounds sterling]250,000.

Luckily the couple eventually found a broker who arranged a 100 per cent buy-to-let loan for the whole lot.

With no money to convert the flats back into a house, and income needed to pay the new loans, Jill and Andy let them.

‘We had four hippies in one flat and four boys in another,’ says Jill, a former chef and chambermaid. ‘This has always been a working house and for a while we did bedand-breakfast here and were very busy with tourists and cyclists.’ Four years ago, with the basement and top floor let to long-term tenants, the couple took the plunge and transformed the ground and first floors into a large family home.

Ceilings and walls were torn down, windows that had been bricked up to avoid window tax were reinstated, and a swimming pool was created in the garden.

‘We did a lot of the labouring work ourselves and found all sorts of things,’ says Andy, 39, who runs Colourworks, a printing firm, started with a grant from the Prince’s Trust, which now employs 40 staff
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