Sowing Seeds…
The Thornbury Centre has continued to be established under the Thornbury Charity and in partnership with St Margaret's Church to restore the centre as a thriving hub for the whole community. Our vision is to grow community together; and everybody knows that growing starts with planting seeds.
As I reflect on almost 6 months of community work at the Thornbury centre, I wonder, ‘Where have I seen peace growing in our community?’
Our Community Food Pantry has been open every Thursday afternoon 12-2pm. It has served over 120 lovely customers, trained up volunteers, saved many many crates of food from landfill and fed families across BD3. I have loved seeing our volunteers step up and kindly serve our community in this way, and look forward to seeing how food and sustainability can be part of our ongoing community life.
I have been incredibly privileged to meet so many people of peace, already working in the field of community work in Bradford and West Yorkshire. In May, we hosted our first multi-agency meeting on community engagement. With over 20 organisations represented, there was plenty of wisdom in the room, as well as an openness to connection and partnership. I’m looking forward to hosting more of these kinds of collective conversations around different topics at the heart of our community.
I am most grateful to our amazing volunteers who have shown such passion, enthusiasm, and commitment. It was great to come together to celebrate our team, and to prepare for the autumn term filled with new opportunities, at our staff and volunteer garden party in July. Staff, volunteers and their families enjoyed an afternoon of fun, games and food! Our volunteers represent all the different groups we have running and starting at the centre - Thornbury Tots, Food Pantry, Community Library, Youth, and Women’s Groups - we are united in our vision of growing community together.
As we look to September, I am excited about our upcoming groups and events to spread the word and bring more people into the Thornbury Centre.
Our Community Library as part of Bradford Libraries has finally been reopened! Our launching ceremony will be on September 18th with the presence of MP Imran Hussain. Our Community Library is run by fantastic volunteers and hopes to work with local schools to offer a place of learning and creative imagination to children and families.
Our Women’s Support Group is a place for women to support each other, build friendships and be empowered to learn new skills. We are excited to partner with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust as they work alongside our amazing women to restore our community garden and grow food for the community. We also have opportunities for women to learn employment skills such as CV writing and computer skills.
Finally, in partnership with PeaceJam UK and Bradford youth service, we are opening a new youth group on Wednesday evenings for young people aged 11-14, BD3 Youth for Peace. We will be running a fun, safe, welcoming and interactive youth group which encourages young people to be people of peace in their schools and communities. The youth group will include social space, group games, sports, crafts and more fun activities for young people to get to know each other and the team. The team will also lead group discussions and activities framed around building a peaceful society and engaging with social action.
My hope is that as we move into the autumn term, the Thornbury Centre can continue to sow seeds of peace, which can grow into strong community networks, in Thornbury, BD3 and beyond.