Helston Old Chapel
Our home
In October 2024, we signed a thirty-year lease on an empty building:
Helston Old Chapel, Meneage Road, TR13 8BH.
In our new home, we create a welcoming space to share and develop high-quality, aspirational creative arts and community engagement projects. We are a venue that presents a diverse range of live events—including theatre, music, talks, screenings, and storytelling—while helping people develop their creative work.
We're at the start of our journey; bring on the adventure.
Taking on the building
These photos were taken when we viewed the chapel in early 2024. The building had problems with the roof; some windows were boarded up, and most were hastily repaired with mismatched perspex; there was only one single electrical socket; the flooring was badly damaged and the number of flies (alive and dead) was frightening...
Propelled by naive enthusiasm we couldn't wait to sign our lease and begin transforming the chapel into a new creative space for Helston.
We threw the doors open in May 2024 and asked our community, what do you think we should do here?
Since then we have hosted over forty events ranging from a feminist cabaret to a Vivaldi Cello Concerto; from a candlelit concert to a children's Halloween show - it's been busy! We've also played host to theatre company and band rehearsals and commissioned five artists to develop new creative work.
We've done all of this with the support of a newly formed volunteer pool who serve the drinks, sweep the floors and make everything possible.
Our first major grant
In November Trevow Helston CIC were,
"... thrilled to announce that Trevow Helston CIC has been awarded £101,208.25 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This generous support will enable us to begin transforming Helston Old Chapel into a vibrant community space for Helston and The Lizard Peninsula. We are deeply grateful for this funding, which represents a crucial first step in bringing new creative opportunities to our community. The grant will allow us to undertake essential renovations, helping us realize our vision of creating an inspiring space for everyone in our town."
This grant enabled: roof & gutter repairs, new windows & internal shutters, refurbished front doors, a new floor, new electrics, reporting and a series of events and consultation events to make sure we were getting things right for our community.
This funding has been allocated from Cornwall Council's Community Levelling Up Programme. The Community Levelling Up Programme is part of the Good Growth Programme, which is delivering the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly.
Next steps...
We're so pleased that, thanks to the Community Levelling Up Programme, the chapel is now a safe, sealed and useable space for us to share with our community. Our next major capital project will be to build a toilet (we are currently reliant on a portaloo), we've made progress with this thanks to the Community Capacity Fund and have begun conversations around planning permission and the practicality of water supply to the site. More on this soon!
Trevow Helston has two main aims for the chapel. The first is to regularly share events with our community in Helston and the second is to make it easy for artists to use our space to explore and develop work.
We hope there will be lots of reasons for you to come and visit us now and in the future.