About

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Rock Hall is a Grade 2 Listed Historic building situated in a beautiful country park setting (Moses Gate Country Park) in Farnworth (Borough of Bolton) and currently owned by Bolton Council.

It closed in 2014 (due to Council budget cuts). It used to be the home of the Council Park Ranger Service that operated from the Hall. It was put up for lease in 2018 and publicly advertised. Despite some interest from individuals and community groups, no suitable organisation was found by the Council, to take over the restoration and operation of the Hall.

In December 2019, our Charity (Banana Enterprise Network), started to search for a building that we could turn into a multi-purpose community and enterprise centre. We were informed about Rock Hall, which was available for lease at the time. In January 2020, our charity embarked on its journey to save, acquire and re-purpose the Hall on behalf of the local community. Bolton Council took Rock Hall off the market to allow us the opportunity to progress our Rock Hall project.

Banana Enterprise Network undertook an initial public consultation about the Hall in August 2020 which had 604 responses. The Charity secured funding for a project viability study (kindly funded by The Architectural Heritage Fund) which explored 3 potential options for the re-use of the Hall.

The hall is rather small internally and is not considered to be a viable proposition in its current size (as at 2024). Our Charity proposes to bring the hall back to almost its original size. It was much bigger prior to being partially demolished by Bolton Council during renovation work in 1981/1982.

In 2022, Bolton Council agreed to a Community Asset Transfer of Rock Hall to Banana Enterprise Network, subject to:
a. A Cabinet decision confirming the Council’s agreement to act as a joint grantee for the proposed National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, and
b. Confirmation that Banana Enterprise have the necessary capital available to realise the project, in accordance with the submitted business plan

The Cabinet decision was approved and our Charity was a joint grantee of our successful Rock Hall Revival bid which was jointly submitted with Bolton Council in order to realise the project to save and expand Rock Hall, turning it into a self-sustaining, multi-purpose, community and activity centre.

The project belonged to Banana Enterprise Network who had led it from January 2020 to February 2024. However, in order to meet the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s requirements for Bolton Council to cashflow the £4million project, the council would only agree to do this if they became a “lead partner” – sadly this gave the council contorl over our charity’s project and we believe they have unlawfully excluded us from our project in January 2025. This matter is now subject to a legal dispute. We are very angry and upset at how our charity has been treated by the council and we have made losses by working on the project to get it to the major funding stage.

Our full story will be told publicly if Bolton Council does not settle our dispute!

THE TEAM BEHIND THE PROJECT

The Save Rock Hall Project was started by Jayne and Christopher Allman from Banana Enterprise Network (the Charity they started in 2014). The project has been led by them, with the support of the Charity’s Trustees, and a dedicated team of Volunteers (most of whom have supported the project since our initial consultation with the community in August 2020). Without the help and support of our dedicated volunteers, we would not be where we are today! Thank you.

We gratefully acknowledge the huge amount of support from the local community and funding organisations.

Project Key Dates

1783

Farnworth Paper Mill first mentioned (presumed built around this time)

1807

Rock Hall built by John Crompton

1970’s

Farnworth Paper Mill demolished and the area begins to be developed as a country park

1981/1982

Rock Hall renovated and partially demolished at the rear. The Hall was reopened in May 1982 and was used by Bolton Council’s Park Ranger Team.

2014

The Park Ranger service ceased to exist and Rock Hall was closed.

2020

In January, Banana Enterprise Network (the Charity) began their journey to Save Rock Hall. They started to build up support from Local Councillors for the project and began work on a formal proposal document for the Council. They appointed an Architect who kindly produced a strategic overview of the site. In August ,the Charity met with the Leader of the Council who at the time was David Greenhalgh (RIP David) along with other senior Council staff to discuss their proposals.

In August 2020 the Charity launched an online survey seeking feedback from the local community about their proposals. They had 604 responses in 3 weeks and 389 people offered to help with the project. In October, the Charity successfully bid for funding for a Project Viability Study to be produced along with a 5 year Business Plan for the Hall.

January 2021

Project Viability Study and 5 year Business Plan was completed and submitted to the Council by the Charity (Banana Enterprise Network)

February 2021

The Charity successfully bid for £99,600 to the National Heritage Lottery Fund (NLHF) for an initial 9 month project enabling them to make further progress and deliver activities for the community.

March 2021

The NLHF informed the Charity that they were successful with their bid.

June 2021

The NLHF funded “initial” project began with a variety of activities during for the community.

August 2021

An Archaeological Dig led by DigVentures was undertaken outside the Hall. The footprint of Vale House was discovered elsewhere in the park (via a Geophysical survey).

September 2021

An Expression of Interest (EOI) document was submitted to the NLHF for the next phase of the project. The Charity was not invited to submit a full funding bid document by the NLHF at that time but was invited to try again in 3 months time.

October 2021

A Conservation Plan and Review of the Project Viability Study was prepared by Buttress Architects.

December 2021

Work began on the 2^ndEOI document. The Charity held an outdoor Christmas activity giving away over 300 free activity packs.

January 2022

A 2nd EOI (Expression of Interest) document is submitted to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the next phase of the project and is successful.

May 2022

Our £4million funding bid was submitted to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It was unsuccesful because more clarity was needed as to how Bolton Council would be supporting the project (as they own the building currently). Our Charity Banana Enterprise was “strongly” advised to reapply though.

May 2023 - £4million bid submitted

After successfully submitting an Expression of Interest in early 2023, our charity then submitted a joint funding bid with Bolton Council, re-applying for the £4million bid in May 2023.

September 2023 - £4m bid accepted

On 14th September 2023 our charity received the news that we had been working hard for (for almost 4 years). The NLHF said yes to our funding bid and awarded the first phase funding (Development Phase) of £466,662. Once that phase is completed we can ask NLHF for the Delivery phase amount of £3.2million.

February 2024 - Permission to start given by The Heritage Fund

Permission to start the Rock Hall Revival project was given in February 2024 and the charity began delivering the project working in partnership with Bolton Council and various suppliers/project partners. The charity had delivered many of the Lottery’s Approved purposes by October 2024, but there’s still work to be done which is not always in the charity’s control.