The committee is made of a group of volunteers with a wide range of skills and talents. Some have experience in the building and construction industry; others are “mere mortals”.
Our main focus is to maintain and develop all premises within the Parish of Blessed John Henry Newman. The group maintain all three churches, priests' houses and other buildings ensuring that they are in a good state of repair and that they are fit for purpose. They regularly check that all current building regulations are followed and that health and safety requirements are met. They work in conjunction with the diocese on major projects while dealing with the day to day maintenance at a local level.

The group has responsibility for maintaining, developing and running the Newman Centre. Here they deal with the weekly bookings for both parish voluntary groups and for other users who offer services to the wider community. We try to be self-financing and over the years have largely succeeded in this. Any profit is redirected into developing the centre further. There are always plans on the table for improving the centre, but we can only do development work as the finances permit. In recent years we have obtained various grants which have allowed the hall, kitchen, conference room and toilets to be redeveloped.

The centre has become a thriving community for so many in the Parish with too many groups to mention. As a measure of its success here is a little aside. When we received a water bill last year, we noticed the amount had nearly doubled. We set about checking for leaks and had the water board check the meter, all to no avail. Then one member of the group, while working at the centre, found the reason for the increase. It was the sheer number of people using the centre and its toilets!

Tony Rushfirth