Ray Gray Community Centre

WHO WE ARE

Some of this is no doubt due to it being nestled between Milecastle House and housing on Stotts Road at the front (well set back from the road) and between Finchley Court and Finchley Crescent at the back – easily overlooked.  

The Ray Gray Community Centre is situated in the heart of Daisy Hill and Walker, on Stotts Road across the way from our famous neighbour – Newcastle East End Football Club. There aren’t many people who haven’t heard of the Football Club and their fantastic contribution to the community but it’s quite surprising that many people have never visited or even heard of the Ray Gray – despite the fact that it has been on this site for quite some time.  

But we are here and we now have lovely signage to let you all know!

We have 4 main areas of hire in the centre and these are made available to businesses as well as the community.  The income generated from the businesses means that we are able to put money back into the centre by way of improvements and subsidised activities by other charities.

And we mustn’t forget the addition of a new boiler and central heating radiators in the office suite and surround – we can now quite literally offer you a very warm welcome. Many thanks to young Jim McIver of Heating Solutions for that. Electric radiators are being fitted to the kitchen - which will be welcomed by many who have experienced the bone chilling cold in there!

We have utilised funds from the charity to replace the hall floor, install a new kitchen, new flooring throughout the centre and too many other things to mention here. All in all, these improvements will provide a safer, cleaner and more comfortable environment for all centre users.

In recent times we have benefitted from improvements by our landlords, Your Homes Newcastle who carried out lots of major works - a full re-wire and a new fire alarm and lots of minor repairs and decoration, just to mention a few.

The Centre was registered as a charity in its present form in July 2015 and is now looking to the future to provide an improved and more available facility for use by all members of the community. 

The Ray Gray has been part of the landscape in Daisy Hill for a very long time, providing many and varied services/facilities/activities to the local residents.

The Office Suite consists of the office and its own toilet and hand wash area. The office can seat a small number, maybe up about up to a dozen and is now often used for counselling sessions on a 1 – 1 basis.

The Main Hall, which has been opened up with the removal of the concertina blinds, is great for children’s parties, exercise classes and training sessions. There is enough room to include a bouncy castle, disco, face-paints and a candy floss stall all at the same time. The carpeted area at the top is ideal for a relaxing adult escape area and for small group sessions.

Then we have the Function Room.  This is a carpeted, decorated, heated area which is more suited to a smaller social setting such as a family afternoon tea or small family party event.

We also benefit from a lovely grassed area at the back of the centre and this has been used in the past for bbqs by various charities for fund raising activities.

All areas are serviced by our lovely kitchen, complete with range cooker, fridges and microwave which will all be available to applicable bookings. There is also the toilet block which provides unisex toilets for all.

These areas are all available to hire and prices are available on request, including details of everything which is included in the hire price.

At the moment we have a number of activities normally on offer.

These include many different types of exercise – from dance to Boogie bounce; our weekly toddler group; Kids Kabin during the winter months and baby groups. We have others which we will host, including the National Childbirth Trust who are hoping to again offer their face-to-face courses.  

And of course, there are the regular Walkergate Ward Councillors Surgeries every third Thursday in the month (10 - 11 am) except August and December. They also hold their annual AGM in September - there’s something for everyone so come on over and have a look!!!

We will provide more information and contact details on all of these activities on our facebook page. We are hoping to increase the types of activities and make them available to a wider variety of users.

If you have any suggestions for something you think we should offer, please get in touch and we will look into it.

Please look at our facebook page for updates and information on everything which happens at the centre.

And don’t forget – there are always jobs which we would love some volunteers to do –

from painting the fences to weeding the gardens.

Tea and biscuits available!