Church Related Community Work Student (CRCW) student, Fliss Tunnard has been on placement at St Columba’s URC in Billingham since October. Despite the many limitations of lockdown life, Fliss and CRCW, Ann Honey have thought of creative ways to fill their time and have managed to raise an impressive £10,000 for a new community kitchen.

While some aspects at the placement have been frustrating, with limited opportunity to run coffee mornings and groups, Fliss has learned how to be more adaptable during her time at the project, under such unusual circumstances.

This pandemic has taught me that you can plan and plan and plan some more, but sometimes the plan isn’t always going to happen. Some tasks such as a new youth group, a toddler group, coffee mornings and lunch clubs have all had to wait.

Setting a Goal

One of the more positive aspects of my placement is our new kitchen project. Ann and I set a target of just over £10,000 to re-develop the kitchen at St Columba’s and our aim is to provide meals to children during school holidays, to our older members at weekly friendship groups, as well as during regular BBQ’s, fun days, and seasonal events.

We will seek a food license from the council and aim to create a functional, safe kitchen, which will enable all of our Beavers, Brownies, Girl Guides, Rangers, Cubs and Scout groups to make food together and also achieve their cookery badges.

While some aspects have been frustrating, with limited opportunity to run coffee mornings and groups, Fliss has learned how to be more adaptable during her time at the project, under such unusual circumstances.

Together, we planned out our strategy, and I taught Ann all about the wonders of excel! We relentlessly sent out letters and I had several phone conversations with the national lottery, explaining how worthwhile our cause was.

It’s been incredibly exciting to receive letters from organisations who see the value of our project and who wish to fund us. We’ve received help from The National Lottery, Tees Valley Foundation, Rothley Trust, Catherine Cookson Trust, Garfield and Weston and EC Graham. We’ve established relationships with these funders and will be reporting back to them on a regular basis so that they can see how their money will impact the local community.

We’ve established relationships with these funders and will be reporting back to them on a regular basis so that they can see how their money will impact the local community.

What Next?

Ann and I are both eager to get going and now we’ve reached our goal and consulted with the Elders, work can begin very soon. Watch this space for further developments!

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If you would like to find out more about Church Related Community Work and how you can become an agent of social change, contact the CRCW office by email for more information.