A new Assembly Hall was built for ‘Save the Family’, a charitable trust that provides emergency temporary accommodation to homeless families and vital administrative support, to enable families to stay together and be rehabilitated into the community.

‘Save the Family’ was founded in 1985 by Edna Speed MBE and her late husband George Speed, who were able to raise funds to purchase Plas Bellin Hall and then dedicated their lives to recreating it into a refuge for homeless families.

An existing Barn on site, was converted as a multi – purpose Assembly Hall for Plas Bellin, accommodating facilities for group activities, drama, singing, sport and recreation, for residents and for the wider community. The building was opened by Her Grace The Duchess of Westminster, who is a patron of the Charity.

Plas Bellin Hall, the large 17th century farm house on site, was refurbished to provide bedroom suites at first floor level and shared facilities at ground floor level, which included a large well equipped kitchen, a dining room, a lounge and television room and a Chapel space, served on Sundays, by priests at Chester Cathedral. The Bishop is also a patron of the Charity.

The farm’s outbuildings were converted as an Adult Training Centre, providing daily courses, for parents, in human relationship skills, literacy, computer use, cookery skills and crafts.

A new outbuilding was built as a Children’s Learning Centre, with classrooms for lessons, a quiet room for reading and doing homework, a nursery for infant care and an outside play area.

The new outbuilding was sited to form a new ‘square’ at the heart of Plas Bellin, eventually named ‘Dream Square’ by residents, in remembrance of the life changing refuge the charity had provided for them.

With Arrol and Snell 2003.