Experience a sense of warmth and calm
■ What does your role entail?
Engaging and working with local organisations and charities, enabling them to use the trust’s spaces to deliver activities and services for the community. We have our own projects too, but we’re a small team and by engaging with others we can offer more.
■ The trust is based at Graylingwell. As well as the Pavilion, Community Hall, Lodge and Water Tower, you also have the newly opened Graylingwell Chapel. What can you tell me about this building?
The chapel was originally a space of sanctuary for patients and staff for the 100 years that Graylingwell was a hospital. It was never consecrated; it formed part of the therapeutic support for patients. It’s been custom-designed by an amazing Bosham architect and is now a space for people to come together and to feel better about themselves. It includes a café, children’s play area and meeting rooms, but it is also somewhere to just meet friends or to read a book. The themes of storytelling and connections are at the heart of the chapel. In the evenings it will be an event space. We have famous people telling their stories, live comedy and folk music and also performances by the University’s students. We’ll also offer things like story time. And there are many stories about Graylingwell itself. These have been woven through the building with displays, oral histories and art. Ultimately it’s a space for people of all ages to come and wander and wonder.
■ Willyou tell me more about Graylingwell’s history?
It was opened as the West Sussex County Asylum in the 1890s and remained so up until the First World War when it was renamed the Graylingwell Mental Health Hospital. It cared for some 1,400 patients at a time, and was used as a convalescent space for service personnel during both wars. Within The Chapel the history of mental healthcare is also told. We are really trying to bring those conversations forward and to signpost to organisations that offer help. There’s no real space in Chichester that you can go and just ‘be.’ Here you are welcome to sit in a beautiful space and experience a sense of warmth and calm. We are really looking forward to sharing that.
■ Have people shared their memories of Graylingwell with you?
Yes, and we’re really keen to document these stories. We’ve also been given amazing things – a lady turned up with original scripts of the Second World War war reviews that they did at Christmases here! We’re working with a group that will record these and bring them to life.
■ So the trust is for everybody?
Absolutely. With spaces to explore and lots of free and affordable events, come and visit; come and find your own story. And if there is something not happening that you would like to see or do, tell us. Or if you have a skill that you would like to share through workshops or classes, please get in touch.
For more information visit www.graylingwellchapel.com