A Local Lifeline

Rowley’s Centre for the Community wins £10,000 renovation!

Amuch-loved Cranleigh community organisation that’s provided a life-line for hundreds throughout the pandemic is celebrating after winning £10,000 in free windows and doors.

Since the 1980s, Rowley’s Centre for the Community has provided meeting spaces, opportunities for socialising, and a meals-onwheel service to housebound people across Cranleigh and the surrounding area.

The centre also runs a regular singing group for people with dementia, hosts art classes and sewing clubs, and runs day trips and holidays.

However, like many charities and other community organisations, Rowley’s has struggled to raise funds throughout the pandemic, and the building itself is beginning to show its age – so when centre trustee Anne Warzee heard about the Community Giveaway competition being run by home improvement specialists P&P Glass, she decided to get in touch.

“P&P Glass were looking to support a worthy local cause by donating and installing £10,000 in new windows and doors,” Anne explains. “As much as we love our centre, it could certainly use some TLC in places, so I decided to fill out the application form and send it back – at the time, I had no expectation we would actually win!

“A few weeks later, I got a call from Tom, the Managing Director of P&P Glass, telling us we’d won. I couldn’t believe it, but I was absolutely delighted! “After inviting him over to Rowley’s to take a look at the building and what could be done, it was decided we’d focus mainly on the kitchen.”

“It’s really the heart of everything we do here, and it can get extremely draughty in winter – the windows are very old, and we’re not allowed to use standing heaters for health and safety reasons, so our fantastic cooks have to work in the cold!”

Work on the project took place in April of this year. P&P Glass Managing Director Tom Scanlan comments: “We were hugely impressed with Rowley’s, and everything it does to support people around the area. We’re delighted to have made a contribution that will hopefully help it continue that work for many years to come.”

For more information call P&P Glass on 01483 467250, visit www.ppglass.co.uk or email

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