Where The Rainbow Ends Appeal
History
The 'Where the Rainbow Ends' Café was the brainchild of General GM Jackson, owner of the railway and the Clay Cross Company, who hit upon the idea to build a café at Ashover intending to provide facilities for the many tourists that were using the new railway as an escape from the noise and pollution of Clay Cross.
Where The Rainbow Ends Cafe 1926. (click to enlarge)
The whole building was constructed out of wood, prepared at the Clay Cross Works. Work was completed in time for the 1926 summer season. The building was easily recognisable as the roof was finished with multi-coloured tiles laid in the colours of the rainbow.
Presently
The society has been given the blessing of the Parish Council and support of current owners Maximus, to pursue our scheme to move the building back to its original site at Ashover Butts, so long as it is eventually restored to use as a caf´ for the villagers and visitors to enjoy. The society is proud to announce that the building was dismantled in November and is currently in storage awaiting its return to the Butts.
The restored building would be a key asset to the society; providing a useful source of revenue, and an interpretation point for the railway. The owners of Ashover Butts are supporting this plan.
View from a postcard of the cafe. (click to enlarge)
What We Are Doing
Unfortunately finances are our first stumbling block.
The cost of moving the café back to Ashover has been estimated in the region of £100,000, although the building's basic wooden fabric and simple construction mean that the costs could be a lot lower. However the cost of storage is currently draining the ALRS revenue so the sooner we can move forward with this project the less revenue will be expended!
Naturally we are looking at various sources of grant aid. However the short time scale means that we would be unlikely to hear if we were successful by the time work must commence in October. Therefore we need to raise as much money as possible ourselves, or carry out as much work as we can for no or as little cost as possible.
Below is a donations form that can be downloaded should you wish to make a financial contribution. Should you wish to donate, a list of incentives is also listed below!
Donors will receive the following, depending on the amount donated:
- £25 or over : a special certificate designed by Eric Leslie.
- £50 or over : framed copy of the Eric Leslie certificate.
- £100 or over : certificate and signed limited edition print featuring the café
- £250 or over : framed certificate and framed print
- £500 or over : All the above and donor's name will go on a special commemorative plaque inside the rebuilt café
- £1000 or over : the above plus an invite to the official reopening celebrations.
Download The Donations Form
Download the form in MS Word Format (*.doc, 24K)
Download the form in Adobe PDF Format (*.pdf, 37K)