Wessex donation for Wiltshire institution

The region behind the Jubilee Gardens development in Warminster has donated £1,000 to the town’s renowned Athenæum.

Persimmon Homes Wessex handed over the cheque to the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Trust that cares for the institution, Phil Keeble and Jon Ellis, as part of the housebuilder’s Community Champions scheme. They were joined by local Wiltshire councillor Russell Hawker.

Warminster Athenæum is a Grade-II listed Victorian venue on the High Street in the heart of town. Built in Jacobean style in 1857/8, it is managed by a charitable trust, run by volunteers and is arguably Wiltshire’s oldest, longest-running working theatre venue. It was also one of pioneers of cinematic film, first showing films in 1897 as the Palace Cinema, and still shows films to this day with the latest screen and sound technology.

Over a long and varied history, the building collapsed into bankruptcy until being rescued 25 years ago, and the current Warminster Athenaeum Trust established. The remit of the trust is threefold, entertainment, education and community support to Warminster residents and visitors to the town.

In more recent years the Athenaeum has started a program of ‘refreshment’, looking at the shows that are staged, and acts that are bought in to provide a variety of events to suit a range of interests. In addition, a number of energy-efficiency and technology upgrades have been undertaken, providing one of the best technologically-equipped small theatre venues in the South West, which not only helps controlling costs, but also attracting better acts coming to town.

It also home to the town’s foodbank, contributing to the Trust’s mission to provide education, entertainment, and social welfare facilities for the residents of Warminster and nearby.

Persimmon’s Community Champions programme sees £700,000 spent on good causes and much-valued organisations across Britain each year. Recent local recipients include Trowbridge RFC, Chippenham Team Takeover, and Doorway Homeless Charity.

The accredited five-star housebuilder has two, three, and four bed homes for sale from £259,995. Persimmon’s sister company, Charles Church, has four-bed homes for sale from £449,995 at its outlet on-site where the cheque was presented.

Pauline Fletcher, Persimmon Homes Wessex Sales Director, said:

“Selling homes at Jubilee Gardens has been a joy over the years we’ve been on-site and we have many more to go as we deliver hundreds of homes for local people in Warminster and nearby.

“As part of our commitment to the town, we were very keen to assist a group that makes a difference in Warminster, and so we were delighted when the Athenæum expressed its interest in our Community Champions funding scheme. We hope this donation proves helpful to them.”

Jon Ellis, Vice-Chair of the Athenæum Trust, added:

“Running a Grade-II listed building is not without challenges, and some considerable costs, so whilst we can secure grant-funding for specific physical projects, it’s great to have the support of local organisations such as Persimmon that allow us the ability to invest in other areas such as development and training of volunteers and support tools to enable us to operate more efficiently.

“We hope that the new residents of Jubilee Gardens come to love and enjoy the Athenaeum, as so many locals have done over the years, contributing to making Warminster a great place to live and relax.”

Cllr Russell Hawker, Wiltshire Councillor for Warminster West, commented:

“I was invited to attend as the Wiltshire Councillor for Warminster West. I live on the estate just 100 yards from where the photo was taken. I’m interested to see the estate growing, all the houses selling quite quickly, and that Persimmon is supporting the local community.”