Successful Funding Bid sets up long term plans for Grimm & Co move

Grimm & Co are thrilled to announce that their bid to the Arts Council for capital funding has been successful. The application to the Arts Council for the Small Capital Grants programme, detailed the plans for transforming a 250-year-old Methodist church into an ‘apothecary for the magical’ as part of a £1.5 million redevelopment.

The unique gift shop from Grimm & Co’s current home will be recreated within a new huge story destination for families, including an independent bookshop and café with magical and mortal menu options. Three new classrooms created will provide the opportunity to reach more schools and children.

CEO Deborah Bullivant states “We are booked months in advance for our storymaking sessions, and at the moment, we cannot meet that demand. This magnificent building will allow us to deliver workshops to three school classes at a time, with far more scope to reach children and young people across the county and beyond. These are very exciting times and we can’t wait to show everyone our plans for the building. They are stratospheric!”

Grimm & Co have been awarded £499,999 in funding, allowing Grimm & Co to purchase the building on Talbot Lane in Rotherham, which closed earlier this year due to dwindling congregation numbers. Plans to transform the building in a sensitive way, preserving the history and heritage of the building, have already been approved by the council.

Leader of Rotherham Council, Cllr Chris Read said: “Grimm & Co provides a wonderful environment to nurture the imaginations and the writing skills of children in the heart of Rotherham, helping to grow the hearts and minds of our young people. This investment will make a massive difference to a much-loved and well renowned Rotherham institution.”

Chair of the board, Sarah Dunwell said “I am delighted that our charity can now forge ahead with our exciting plans for this wonderful, magical and rather large, story destination for this region’s families!”

Grimm & Co are looking forward to working with their design team, Side by Side, architects Halliday and Clark and range of other agencies to realise the plans. “We hope to develop stage one of the plans as soon as possible, and aim to have a grand opening in October 2020.” (Deborah Bullivant)

Arts Council England is the national development body for arts and culture across England, working to enrich people’s lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to visual art, reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2018 and 2022, we will invest £1.45 billion of public money from government and an estimated £860 million from the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country. www.artscouncil.org.uk

Grimm & Co’s story destination is fronted by Yorkshire’s Apothecary to the Magical, based in the heart of Rotherham and online at www.grimmandco.co.uk, selling bottles of Condensed Enthusiasm, Grandma’s Scabs, Disenchanted Wood and tins of Disappointment. Every purchase supports the children’s writing charity. Hidden behind a secret door, children’s imaginations are unleashed and confidences built through creative writing programmes where they aim to change lives, one story at a time.

Grimm & Co’s story destination opened in February 2014 to help to support children across Yorkshire and Humberside and the charity has already worked with thousands of children and young people. Grimm & Co showcase the children’s work from published books through to professional performances, championing the writer in every child.

For further information about Grimm & Co visit www.grimmandco.co.uk