In the 1970’s the local community used a small meeting room attached to Christ Church in Ashton for meetings and social events. As we entered the 20th century the building was no longer in the condition, or the size it needed to be to cater for the Ashton community. The central location made it an ideal location to develop a community focussed building that could be used by all groups to provide services to the people who live nearby. In 2002 a small group was set up to develop the project and in order to access the funding needed, an independent charity (Christ Church Community Developments) was established in 2006.
The team, with representatives from a variety of backgrounds consulted with the local community, potential users, businesses and other groups and all agreed that a modern, spacious and sustainable building should be developed. The 4C centre offers Ashton one of the very few community buildings in the country that balances environmental ethics of energy efficiency, recycling and sustainability with the needs of local groups for a welcoming, affordable space in which they can meet and work and in 2012 building started onsite with the support of our major funders - the Big Lottery Fund (now known as National Lottery Community Fund) and the Social Investment Business as well as funding from generous individuals and a number of trusts and donors.
Whilst there have been a few set backs since then, the trustees of the charity strongly believed in the vision and need for the centre and have worked tirelessly to ensure that the project was completed.
The 4C Community Centre opened its doors officially to the community in July 2021.