Paint donation 'sykes' up Rochdale community centre

Syke community base has unveiled a bright new look, thanks to a generous paint donation from the Dulux Let’s Colour Project

A Rochdale community centre has unveiled a bright new look, thanks to a generous paint donation from the Dulux Let’s Colour Project.

Syke Community Base, on Fieldhouse Industrial Estate, has been a part of the local community for the past 12 years, offering a social space to a wide variety of groups including youth clubs, toddler groups and sports societies.

Funded by grants and donations, the base received a £62,000 cheque from former Dragons’ Den star, Hilary Devey, who featured on Channel Four show, The Secret Millionaire, in 2008.

The funding has helped keep the centre operational, but after many years without a lick of paint, staff from the base were keen to bring the facilities up to scratch for its many members.

Eight volunteers joined forces to completely transform the hallway, function room, office, toilets and gym, using a warm colour palette of red, orange and cream shades, kindly donated by Dulux Decorator Centres in Rochdale.

The paint donation was made as part of the Let’s Colour mission to add colour to people’s lives, after community development officer, Lee Durrant, nominated the project online.

Lee said: “Syke Community Base is a really important amenity in Rochdale and we felt the time was right to brighten up the interior for our members. We really appreciate the paint donation as we rely on kindness like this to keep the centre open.

“The volunteers worked really hard to get the makeover finished as quickly as possible so we didn’t disrupt those using the centre too much. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback already and we hope this continues.”

Tony Woodiwiss, store manager of Dulux Decorator Centres on Magnum Trade Park, said: “Syke Community Base is well known in our local area and it was a pleasure to get involved with the revamp. The volunteers have done a brilliant job with the donated paint and the whole base looks completely different.”