The theme of the August mayor's Coffee and Drop-in morning was recognition of the sponsors and project team responsible for the installation of the lift in the west entrance lobby of Cowbridge Town Hall.

Councillor John Andrew, the mayor, said that Cowbridge is fortunate to have a lovely, ancient Town Hall which contains, on the first floor, a great meeting venue. Probably the largest in Cowbridge with the exception of the leisure centre.

However, until recently it had one major drawback. It was not accessible to people who were unable or did not wish to use the stairs.

In October 2016, Cowbridge U3A, with over 300 members aged 60 and above, wrote to the then Town Clerk expressing their concerns that a significant number of their members were being excluded from their monthly meetings held in this hall and encouraging the Town Council to look again at the possibility of installing a lift. 

The Town Council engaged a Cowbridge-based architect, Nick Renwick, together with his colleague Elio Leo, to carry out a feasibility study to determine if it would be possible to install a lift for a reasonable amount of money bearing in mind that it is a listed building.

Nick was able to come up with a clever solution using the west entrance lobby which entailed minimal alterations to the building.

The next steps were to do a detailed project costing and design then obtain listed building consent and of course funding.

To do the detailed costing and structural design Roger James, a quantity surveyor with Downies, and Vale Consultancy, a local firm of structural engineers, were engaged. Also, a Construction (Design and Management) Regulations advisor, Simon Biggs, was employed.

The main contractor, Orbit Construction, based in Cowbridge, was selected through a tender process - the lift supplier selected was Ability Lifts. The project cost estimate was £40,000. 

The Town Council agreed to fund £15,000 so the remainder, £25,000, had to be obtained via grants. Ceri John was the Town Clerk at that time and she set about applying for grants.

The £25,000 of grant funding came from a variety of sources. Three large grants from the National Lottery Community Fund, the Vale of Glamorgan Council Strong Communities Grant Fund and The Waterloo foundation.

Two local families generously provided significant grants. They are John Homfray and Sharon and Remo Vernaschi. 

Contributions were also received from Filco, Waitrose and Cowbridge U3A.

The mayor expressed his sincere thanks to these organisations and individuals without whom the lift could not have gone ahead.

Work started on site in early 2020 but of course, everything came to a shuddering halt when the government announced the Covid lockdown in March.

However, the work was finally completed and handed over to the council in August 2020 although the town hall was not open to hirers at that time. It is only in the last year or so that Town Hall has gradually got back to normal and it is good to see that the lift is now being well used and people who previously could not come to events and meetings in this hall, are now able to do so.

It had always been the Council's intention to have a formal opening of the Lift and recognise the sponsors and project team. Because of Covid, this is happening much later than they would have wished but better late than never.

Finally, the mayor displayed the plaque which will be mounted on the wall beside the lift as a permanent recognition.

In addition to the recognition of the lift sponsors and project team, there was the usual raffle with prizes kindly donated by local businesses. On this occasion, the star prize was a cut and blow dry at PH71.

Also coffee, tea and cakes were available, all kindly donated by local businesses and individuals.

All the money raised through generous donations and the purchase of raffle tickets is for the benefit of the mayor's two charities: Barnardo's and Atal y Fro.

Also, residents were able to raise issues of concern with the mayor and other councillors and all of these are being followed up.

The next Coffee and Drop-in morning on Saturday, September 3 will be rather different. Watch this space.