Grimm and Co eyes switch to Talbot Lane Methodist Church

GRIMM and Co has revealed ambitious plans to move up the hill into Talbot Lane Methodist Church.

A planning application has gone in to Rotherham Borough Council for the literacy charity, currently based on Doncaster Gate, to make the switch to the 258-year-old church, which is now up to sale.

The large-scale expansion plans, expected to run to over £1.3 million, would give Grimm and Co — whose innovative storytelling workshops for children are booked up for the rest of the year — scope to offer even more interactive sessions across three classrooms instead of one.

The new base would recreate the “magical apothercary” gift shop of their current HQ while adding a bookshop and cafe experience dubbed The Book and Broomstick.

Trustees for the charity, which employs nine people and relies on an army of 120 volunteers, hope aim to expand their fundraising operations to allow them to add to the total of 9,300 children who have been able to take advantage of its imagination-fueling workshops over the past three years.

Talbot Lane is Grade II-listed, which restricts what renovations can be made, but planning documents reveal the proposed revamp would including adding a new floor and retaining the historic organ and other period features.

The plans hinge on approval for a bid to the Arts Council, which is due to be submitted by the end of the week.

See this Friday’s Advertiser for an exclusive interview with Grimm founder Deborah Bullivant on the thinking behind the move — and her vision for a “magical” expansion of the charity’s work.