Project news

The Wild Goose cafe, part of Bristol's Crisis Centre Ministries, was one of three projects featured in the episode of Channel 4's Secret Millionaire screened on Monday 1 March at 9 pm.

Church Urban Fund has supported the cafe's development, and you can read about its work and the people it helps on our website.

Secret Millionaire follows wealthy philanthropists as they live undercover lives in deprived communities. Each programme follows them as the volunteer with various community-run projects and shows the issues that confront them as they adjust to life on a low income in environments that they never knew existed.

In last Monday's programme, multi-millionaire Dawn Gibbins visited Bristol and spent time at One25, an outreach project working with women involved in street sex work, Hartcliffe and Withywood Teenage Parents Project that mentors and supports young parents, and the Wild Goose cafe, which befriends and helps homeless people.

You can read more about the series and watch the episode on 4OD, Channel 4's watch-again service, where it will be available until the end of March.

Charity shop and advice centre to open on Strood High Street.

Strood Community Project has taken on a premises on Strood High Street which will become a charity shop and drop-in advice centre. Work is under way with plans to open at the beginning of March. This project will be a welcome addition to an area that currently needs somewhere for residents to seek help and advice.

Research undertaken by the project in 2008 revealed that several issues in the local community could be addressed by the availability of more information and advice. In addition, 50% of the local area is in the worst 20% for living environment, the worst 20% for crime and disorder and the worst 25% for education and skills. The new centre will work to meet these needs.

Strood Community Project is best suited to fulfil this provision as it is the only organisation created by people from the area, for the benefit of the local people. The heart of its constitution is ‘to empower the local community and help improve fundamental issues such as education, safety, increased employment, life skills and lower crime.’

Paul Robinson, Manager of Strood Community Centre says, ‘this will be a centre for the local community and local people.’ The project will offer advice on a range of topics including employment, finance, welfare benefits and relationships, information on local facilities and onward referrals.

The project has received funding from ‘Awards for All’ and a Mustard Seed grant from the ‘Church Urban Fund’. The Church Urban Fund supports churches and individuals, working to bring about change in their local communities, by providing financial and practical support. Paul sees that the heart of the Mustard Seed programme ‘is about putting some money in which then sets something in motion, and in time enables it to become sustainable.’

‘The centre is a really exciting new development, which will be accessible to all people across the whole of Strood. People will no longer have to travel as far as Chatham to receive the advice they need.’