Restoration hope for historic hall

By Camilla Goodman

An online campaign has been launched to restore an 18^th century hall and have it reused by the public.

Braunstone Hall has been empty since the school within it was closed in 1996 and is said to be the target of graffiti and fire damage.

Campaigners Lee and Wendy Clarke took it upon themselves to contact an independent developer interested in restoring the hall, who is currently in an ongoing discussion with Leicester City Council.

Lee Clarke, creator of the Facebook group ‘Restore Braunstone Hall’, said: “The current state of the hall is terrible. It makes me angry and sad because the Leicester City Council seems happy to lay back and let the hall fall deeper and deeper into disrepair.

“The hall can’t speak for itself so people need to speak for it. We need to fight for our heritage and our children’s heritage and make these politicians and councillors take notice and see we mean business.”

Lee and his wife met with Cllr Cook and Cllr Naylor of the Braunstone Park Ward but didn’t feel like they got any positive answers.

The council has refused to comment on the situation.

The hall has many memories for the Clarke family as Lee, Wendy and their son Lee all attended the school there.

Many people are outraged that none of the £49.5million awarded to regenerate Braunstone has been spent on restoring the hall.

There are currently 704 members in the Facebook group including residents of Braunstone and former pupils of the school.

Louise Marlow wrote on the page: “I went to school there in the 80s it holds a lot of good memories. It’s a shame the council have let it go to waste, they should have spent that cash on restoring the building back to its prime and make it the heart of Braunstone.”

Sarah Biddle wrote: “I went to Braunstone Hall and I absolutely loved it. It really does break my heart that it has been left to wrack and ruin and if I had the money I would love to be able to restore it to its natural beauty.”

Lee Clarke added: “We need to stand up and be counted for what we believe is rightfully ours, not sit back and let the council walk all over us.”

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