The United Reformed Church

Church Related Community Work students Felicity (Fliss) Tunnard and Alice Gilbert reflect on what they have been able to achieve despite lockdown restrictions and remind us that showing love, kindness and compassion is what we need at this time.

On a bright, autumnal day in October, just before the second lockdown began, I had the pleasure of visiting one of our CRCW projects in Peckham, London. The informal meeting took place at Copleston Church and Centre and a small group of us sat and listened (at a suitable distance) to how the Church had responded to the needs of the community during the last eight months.

In the first of this month’s reflections, Church Related Community Worker Jo Patterson reminds us that as we embrace technology to reach out to people during lockdown, we must be careful not to exclude those who don’t have access to the internet. 

We are delighted to share the second in a series of Church Related Community Work (CRCW) interviews, featured in Reform magazine.

In the December/January issue, Editor Stephen Tomkins talks to CRCW Rosie Buxton. Rosie, who is the CRCW for the New Life Project, which includes Moldgreen, Waverley, Brackenhall and Stainland & Holywell Green United Reformed Churches, tells the story of creating financial inclusion in Huddersfield. Rosie says:

'During lockdown, we’ve found people who have never been on a benefit in their lives have lost their job overnight and are having to negotiate universal credit. The fact that that system is centralised now and not local, makes things really difficult and uncomfortable. There are also people who don’t manage very well with money at the best of times, through no fault of their own. And we’ve got a lot of problems with loan sharks. It seemed to me a shame that the loan sharks were the one’s saying: ‘If you've got a problem, I can help you,’ so we are looking at enabling people to be mentors in the area of financial inclusion.'