Tealby Multi Use Centre
Multi Use Centre opened “to develop villages and conserve rural heritage”
Tealby Multi Use Centre, opened on June 28th 2004, with a medium term view to develop into a thriving community hub at the heart of the village. 10 metres x 3 metres, it was designed at the request of the planners, to look pretty much like the outbuilding that had stood on the spot for decades previously – hence the scout hut look.
Tealby has a classical village set up – Junior School, Church, Butchers Shop, Garage, Tea Room, Village Hall and two pubs – all to serve just 500 residents. Most of the village is classified as a conservation area, and it also lies in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. All of this makes it, according to the Estate Agents, one of Lincolnshire’s most sought after villages.
Conversely it is also in the middle of an Objective 2 area – most of Lincolnshire is classified as such. The European Commission’s Objective 2, aspires to revitalise areas facing structural difficulties. In general, rural Lincolnshire faces “a decline in traditional activities”, with attendant job losses and encroaching rural isolation.
It was the Objective 2 aim, “to develop villages and conserve rural heritage”,
that gave us the impetus to proceed with the Multi Use Centre project.
Some more pertinent facts:
- Tealby is a small Village in North East Lincolnshire – 3miles from Market Rasen.
- It has 230 households.
- Its general store closed in the late 90’s.
The previous Spar shop was simply not making enough profit to sustain its proprietor and family. That same proprietor now runs two successful businesses from the old shop premises - the Tealby Tea Room and Best Dressed Bird, purveyor of those excellent Poacher Pasties that you find at County Shows, Game Fayres and Christmas Markets. So he is still very much conserving our rural heritage.
The village always had a Post Office, but back in November 2003 it was operating from the lobby of the Village Hall, under imminent threat of closure –and efforts to incorporate it with a shop in the grounds of the Village Hall, had faltered when the funding stream ran dry. At this stage Lincolnshire Development and ViRSA stepped in to breathe new life into the project – Lincolnshire County Council and the ERDF added a £16,555 to the monies collated earlier from the District Council (£5,000), Parish Council (£1000) and Post Office (£10,665).
A Multi Use Centre committee was set up to bring the project in to being and the shop opened in June 2004.