Member Article

Arts group breathes colour into old church with help from local business

Global paints and coatings manufacturer, AkzoNobel, has helped a local arts group to bring an old church back to life.

Charitable organisation Headway Arts, which operates from the former United Reformed Church in Blyth, Northumberland, received a donation of over 140 litres of paint from AkzoNobel’s new Ashington facility to help with the building’s regeneration into a colourful and inspiring environment for Headway Arts to host its activities.

Established in 1995, Headway Arts is an independent organisation which specialises in participatory arts and promoting cultural involvement to disadvantaged groups and people of all ages living with learning disabilities.

Having acquired the old church as a base for its activities in 2012, Headway Arts has been working hard to transform the building from its dilapidated state into a fit-for-purpose facility that would provide a cultural hub for South East Northumberland.

To help support its ambitious plans, Headway Arts struck up a partnership with the Business in the Community organisation, Prince Charles’ second largest patron charity, to help source donations and support from local businesses. It was through this partnership that Headway Arts came to be introduced to AkzoNobel.

Fran Castle, chief executive at Headway Arts, said:

“When we first took over the tenure of the old Blyth United Reformed Church, we knew we would have a big job on our hands to help bring it back to life.

“Before we could even start on the aesthetics of the building, we had to make some considerable structural repairs to the building itself, including repairing and replacing the guttering, fitting a new central heating system and laying a new floor, as well as some accessibility improvements to make the building wheelchair-friendly.

“We sent out a call for help to the local community which was answered by the Business in the Community organisation. With their support, we were put in touch with a number of local businesses, including AkzoNobel, who have helped us with the project by volunteering their time or making donations. It has been fantastic.”

Maxine Gardner, business connector at Business in the Community, said:

“Business in the Community is a not-for-profit organisation which was set up to help local charities operating within areas of economic deprivation connect with local businesses to help them add mutual value to each other’s organisation. Where charities can benefit from donations of time or resources, Business in the Community partnerships help local businesses to recognise their responsibility to the communities they operate in.

“I met with members of staff from AkzoNobel in Ashington at a networking event organised by Ashington Town Council and started talking to them about Headway Arts’ church regeneration project.

“AkzoNobel advised me to put together a list of Headway Arts’ paint requirements and send it to them and they kindly obliged to donate the entire list for free.”

“I never expected that AkzoNobel would give us everything we had asked for!” Fran said.

“At first, we were going to just ask for neutral coloured paints, whites and magnolias, but with guidance from Maxine, we decided to ask for some brighter colours too so that we could create an ‘inspiration’ themed mural on the kitchen wall and also some vibrant feature walls throughout the building.

“We are incredibly grateful to both Maxine for facilitating the partnership and to AkzoNobel for its generous donation.”

AkzoNobel, which is best known for its Dulux, Dulux Trade and Cuprinol household brands has been making quite a mark on the local community since taking up residence in Ashington.

The firm’s new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility on the Ashwood Business Park boasts some of the world’s most sustainable paint manufacturing technologies and has created 100 new jobs within the region since it opened its doors three years ago.

Jeff Hope, head of manufacturing unit at AkzoNobel Ashington, said:

“AkzoNobel is dedicated to helping bring colour into people’s lives through the creation and enablement of beautiful spaces.

“As a business, we are incredibly aware of the impact that our presence has on the local community and we are committed to giving as much back to charitable organisations as we possibly can.

“Headway Arts is a fantastic organisation that does some great work within the North East region and we are incredibly proud to support its regeneration project.”

For more information about AkzoNobel, visit www.akzonobel.com.

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