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Newbridge Memorial Hall

I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Islwyn (Mr. Touhig) on securing this debate and on his tireless campaigning for the restoration of the Newbridge memorial hall. On Friday evening, I chaired a public meeting in my constituency of Caerphilly—as my right hon. Friend said, I am a neighbour of his—the purpose of which was to encourage members of the public to join together to save the Caerphilly workingmen's hall. In giving guidance to the meeting, a speaker from the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation went out of his way to pay tribute to what had happened in Newbridge. He said that it was a good example to follow and a model of good practice. That is certainly true: the community as a whole pulled together in support of the Memo. We should all take note of the fact. It is something of which to be proud. The Newbridge memorial hall and institute—the Memo as its affectionately known locally—is an historic expression of the collectivism that made the south Wales valleys truly special. It was paid for by the local miners; and it was, and remains, one of the finest statements of south Wales when coal was truly king. Not only did it have a fine library and reading rooms, there was also a superb cinema decorated in the art deco style, a large dance hall and four billiard rooms. On the demise of the coal industry, the memorial hall and institute went into decline. However, because of the vision and hard work of local people, working alongside my right hon. Friend, their local MP, enormous progress has been made in making the Memo the focal point of community life in Newbridge. It is heartening and inspiring to see people in the community working so hard for such a good cause. I am pleased to say that the hall is once again returning to its former glory—its former central community position. My right hon. Friend referred to the large number of organisations that now make use of the hall's facilities. A good example is that family events are now taking place there. A Halloween party is due to take place this weekend, and a ghost-hunting event is taking place in November for those of a more open and inquiring mind. We should not forget the passion and hard work that went into the campaign that saw the Memo winning a place in the final of BBC's ““Restoration”” programme in 2004. With real dedication and sheer hard work, the Memo saw off some strong Welsh competition from Llanfyllin union workhouse and Cardigan castle, and it came close to winning the final prize. Although it lost in the final to the Old Grammar School and Saracen's Head, a 15th century school building and tavern, in Kings Norton, Birmingham, the Memo nevertheless captured the interest of the nation—including the Prince of Wales. I am pleased to be able to say that members of my family, many of my constituents and I all cast votes with enthusiasm. As my right hon. Friend would say, they voted early and often. Programmes like ““Restoration”” have renewed interest and pride in our communities and their history. We only have to think of the time, effort and determination of the campaigns, whether successful or not, to see the pride and dedication that people put into them. Who could not agree that it re-instilled co-operation and hard work across the community? History is made real once again by that collective effort. That is not happening only in Newbridge; it is happening elsewhere in Wales and throughout the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. Indeed, I venture to suggest that the Memo has reinstated the values that had originally paid for and built the hall and institute. In an age when there is always some trouble or story of woe on the news, it is extremely heartening to hear the value of community shining through. The Memo's importance as a historic structure has been recognised through all that hard work. Cadw, the Welsh Assembly's historic monuments body, has funded the first phase of repair, focusing on the roof and associated works—lead work and water-proofing against the elements. I am told that major restoration works to secure the building and make it the focus of the community will cost in the region of £3 million. The Heritage Lottery Fund has also provided funds through the project planning grant scheme to support the cost of developing specialist reports to help the conservation repair works. Owing to the nature of demand-led funding such as that of the Heritage Lottery Fund and because other projects also required similar sums, it was not possible to fund the Memo project during that funding round. The Olympic Games have been mentioned. I emphasise that they are not the London Olympics or the English Olympics: they are the United Kingdom Olympics. It is only reasonable to expect all members of the UK, in one way or another, to make a contribution to ensuring that the 2012 Olympics are successful for the whole country. Whenever we mention the Heritage Lottery Fund, we are talking about intense competition. For example, during the last funding period bids were made that amounted to more than five times the available resources; it is not simply that support is not being given by the lottery. The fact is that such competition is a good thing. People who are enormously enthusiastic are trying to tap into the Heritage Lottery Fund to ensure that their bids are successful. However, in January, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he was at the relevant Ministry, gave a cast-iron commitment that no further lottery resources would be going to support the Olympics. We should take note of that. Although the Memo's bid was not successful in June, it is important that we recognise that all hope is not lost—far from it. I understand that the Heritage Lottery Fund has discussed the application with the Memo's trustees and the reasons why the bid was not initially successful. The trustees will be submitting a second bid next month for consideration in early 2009. I also understand that an important meeting of the Heritage Lottery Fund board of trustees will be taking place in November and that due consideration will be given to the bid then and afterwards.