SWAPT meeting at the Goods Shed

Camilla asked me to help her this morning at the meeting of SWAPT, the
South West Association of Preservation Trusts, where representatives of all the building preservation trusts in the South West gather. They meet three times a year, often in a building that is about to be or has been restored within the area. as Today's venue was the re-generated Brunel Goods Shed, which Stroud Preservation Trust (SPT) had offered.

I met Camilla, the chair of SPT, at 10am when the first of the visitors arrived and I helped by handing out coffee and biscuits whilst describing the twenty-five year saga of the Goods Shed; the emergency repairs, the new roof in the 90s, the countless schemes and possible partnerships that arrived and departed, the fund raising and the ongoing legal negotiations necessary to preserve this listed building and bring it back into use. Finally the works were instigated and then just over a year ago we were able to lease out the whole building to Stroud Valleys Artspace.

This has been a great success as they now use the building as additional space to their main site in town, for many events that need a large open interior such as artist workshops, children's activities, film shows, exhibitions and musical events. They are about to run their annual monthly art festival all around the Five Valleys of Stroud, and will be featuring the Goods Shed prominently. One event I hope to get to is a workshop and performance with the celebrated saxophonist Andy Sheppard. I will take my camera, as I do whenever I visit this lovely building.

Today I took some pictures for the record, so that the members of the various Trusts who attended can use them in their publicity. This scene has Camila who is chair of the Stroud Preservation Trust telling the history of the project, which has particular value to three of the visitors from Exeter. They have recently taken control of another very similar goods shed adjacent to Exeter train station and they are just beginning their journey. Our experiences will help them save a lot of time and energy and possibly help them to get the building restored and working again in less than twenty-five years.