Dear Friends & Residents,

Our Community Centre is a 140+ year old former school, a historic building serving the immediate communities of Framwellgate Moor, Pity Me, Newton Hall and Dryburn

The Community Centre is for all our community: whatever your age, gender, ethnicity or interests there are activities for everyone. There is disabled access for anyone who needs it. We are pleased to see the Centre back to the ‘usual’ number of regular attendees, with new groups joining us. Thank you for continuing to support the Centre.

Quick link to our weekly activities

Please see details of our up-to-date business plan

Please see our previous Quarterly newsletters

Please note: to be added to the mailing list email framlochhistsoc@gmail.com

Click here for more details about the Local History Programme

New projects for 2026: The School house areas have been neglected recently and they are having an impact on the overall running costs of the Centre. With a group leaving us later this year it is an opportunity to upgrade and revitalise these areas which affect everyone attending the Centre. Notably the first floor lighting needs upgrading to LED units with energy saving switched controls and the first floor level power outlets need upgrading to energy saving and monitoring units.

Interesting news for Community Centre users: after a number of years, the Centre has decided to rename the halls and rooms used regularly. We have reflected on the area’s historical reliance on coal mining, hence the halls/rooms are named after local coal seams.

• The Dance Studio is now called Hall 1: Brockwell and Green Room is called Hall 1 Room: Tilly
• The Adult hall is now called Hall 2: Harvey
• The Youth Hall is now called Hall 3: Hutton and the Kitchen area is called Hall 3 Kitchen area: Victoria

New opportunity

For more details or to take advantage of being able to book any of these areas, please contact the Centre 0191 3863356 (9am to 1pm Monday to Friday)/framyca@gmail.com

The Trustees have organised the updating of some Community Centre rooms to make them suitable for small conferences, teaching, mentoring, counselling and meetings. Each room contains WiFi, smart TV screen, whiteboard, tables and chairs which are easily configurable to your needs.

Wellbeing Tuesdays 2026

Please come along and join us every Tuesday from 10am to 2pm – there is always a warm welcome, people to chat to, refreshments, creative activities and fun exercises – and helpful advice.

Further excellent news for Wellbeing Tuesdays which has received grants from our supportive partners – for more details see our Wellbeing Programme page. We can now announce that we have received another grant of £6,672 from Point North to be able to continue the programme into 2026

Showcasing our Centre Activities

Karate can be practised by men, women and children. The instructors are Sensei Brian George Godan and Sensei Keith Moir Godan. Please contact
aikijujutsu2001@yahoo.co.uk or 07711 600571 for more information

Students can commence their training from as young as 6 years of age, because of insurance restrictions, up to senior citizens. Anyone who is in reasonable health can train and will enjoy participating in Karate.

Karate has been established since the early 1990s and parents and teachers have continually report on the improvement in the behaviour of children who train regularly at Seishin-do Karate, because of our disciplined training structure focussing on behaviour and respect.

Congratulations to Una Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer of DCC Home Ed Community hub, who has been awarded the 2025 Female business award. Una was winner in the UK-wide ‘Services to Local Communities’ category, with over 800 female-led businesses nominated. Una’s group meet weekly at the Community Centre and she says “the award reflects the value of the work being done locally, in community venues like this Centre, to create welcoming, inclusive spaces for children and families. The judges specifically recognised community impact, quality of service, and the passion behind the work, which very much feels like a shared achievement. Our work simply wouldn’t be possible without venues that like Framwellgate Moor Community Centre which believe in community-led provision and open their doors to it.”

Please check out Una’s website https://www.durhamhomeedcommunityhub.com/

Charity Excellence Award

We are pleased to announce that our Community Centre has received the Charity Excellence Award for 2025

We are delighted to report that the Centre had a recent visit from Newcastle University NICRE (National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise) team. They reported that as part of our plans to future-proof the centre, the Trustees undertook a project to upgrade the energy and heating systems, and make the halls more sustainable. The Centre replaced its gas-fired boiler system with a hybrid heating solution, incorporating solar panels, air source heat pumps, and energy-efficient boilers.

Community Centre highly recommended by the National Lottery Chair

Our Community Centre was delighted to be invited to a prestigious event at Allendale Village hall as the only Centre in County Durham to receive a grant of £40,000 from the National Lottery (NL) towards our replacement heating system. Present were: Dame Julia Cleverdon (Chair of the NL Community Fund) and John Mothersole (Chair of the England NL Committee). Our case study (below) presented to the group attending was highly recommended and featured as one of only 3 awards made.

Case Study: Framwellgate Moor Youth and Community Association (FMYCA) has had a consistent focus on reducing the environmental impact of the building and its carbon footprint.
With support from Durham Community Action (DCA), and with funding from the Community Spaces Project the trustees were able to take key steps toward improving the energy efficiency and sustainability of the hall by installing a new heating system. These improvements have reduced fuel costs, enhancing financial sustainability, and increasing the building’s capacity to support the local community.
The trustees of FMYCA are now planning the next phase of development including improving the old schoolmaster’s building on the site to make it more energy efficient and suitable for extended use.

New heating system 2024-25

Supported by £40,000 from the National Lottery Community Spaces Partnership, alongside some additional funding, the improvements are reducing running costs and supporting the hall to transition towards net zero.

Also supported by £40,000 from the County Durham Resilience Fund, the improvements have made an impact on reducing running costs and supporting the hall to transition towards net zero.

In addition a grant of £5,000 from the Durham Area Action Partnership (now named as County Durham Partnership) helped to make this project a reality.

The project was strongly supported with advice from Durham Community Action, Our halls are warm, affordable spaces for a range of visitors, from youth and wellbeing groups to dance and education classes. Please watch the video below to find out more.

Framwellgate Youth & Community Centre – NICRE

Regular groups attending the Community Centre

We would love to have your support as a volunteer

Our Community Centre supports the local community – can you help us to do even more? If you have a few hours to spare each week please contact us to become a volunteer.

Brilliant news for the Community Centre

Excellent news – Our Community Centre has been awarded Hallmark Quality Standard Certificates at Levels 1, 2 and 3 for the next three years to confirm that the Centre meets all Hallmark requirements and the Assessor appreciates that all the hard work and dedication of the committee which continues to make Framwellgate Moor Youth & Community Centre a well-used community facility. The Centre is one of only two Community Centres in County Durham to receive all three Levels of Certificates. Please check the Hallmark report

Hallmark 1 – Charity essentials and administration. Hallmark 2 – Legislation: safety, licensing, and maintenance. Hallmark 3 – Community/social awareness, forward planning and development

The Hallmark Certificates are displayed below

Our Helpful Volunteers

A quote from the Tutor of one volunteer “It is fair to say that places like Framwellgate Moor Youth & Community Centre change people’s lives. Without kind people like you, we would not achieve any success with our students, and they would not develop as they could.”

Thank you to all our volunteers. To Anna, Mike, Rick and Hayley who make running the centre so much easier. Being a volunteer is a two-way process – for the volunteer to learn or use skills they have and for the community centre to enjoy their contribution to the work being carried out effectively.

Click on this link to see the work towards our green credentials

Can you help please? We are recompiling the history of the centre. Do you know any ‘little gems‘ of information about the building. Please send via framyca@gmail.com

Hello Friends & Residents,

The Community Association continues to adhere to Government guidelines, which means that users now have the choice of whether to wear a mask indoors. Most groups have returned to the centre post pandemic.

Our Centre Manager, Jim Pendrey and Assistant Centre Manager, Carol Callum, work in the office each morning (9am-1pm) Their office door is to the right of the main front door, at the side of the building.

We hope you continue to look after your physical and mental wellbeing and we look forward to welcoming friends old and new to the Community Centre as we expand our classes, services and commercial activities once again throughout 2025 and beyond.

Hallmark certificates are above

To learn more about our the Centre’s Heritage please click here.

You may wish to meet our Trustees or read our Chairman’s Welcome please click here