UNITED REFORMED CHURCH

NORTH WESTERN PROVINCE

SOUTH WEST MANCHESTER DISTRICT

DISTRICT VISITATION TO CRCW POST IN HULME

November 24th 1993

Visitors: Rev Bob Day, Alistair Cox, Niall Cooper

 Simon Loveitt has been working as the Church Related Community Worker attached to Hulme URC for five years. He worships at the church with his wife Marion and their son Thomas. Simon assists with the Junior Church and his close relationship with the church helps to underpin his work. Regular reports to Church Meeting and the Group Council ensure that development of understanding in church related community work continues. The Management Committee also meets regularly and was well informed about the work. Simon meets his support person Brian O’Neill every six weeks. This works well.

 The visitors would like to thank the CRCW, Hulme URC, the Management Committee and the Users for their full and thorough reports submitted in advance. These, together with an informative visit round the area conducted by two members of the Management Committee, gave the visitors a good introduction to the work. Space does not permit the inclusion of this wealth of detailed information in this report. The problems affecting the Hulme area are well known and do not need to be outlined again here.

 It was very clear from our discussions that Simon's work on the St. George's estate and wider afield was going very well. He had been able to involve himself and work with local people on issues of concern to them. The responses include: -

Work with young teenagers. Not building based; meets round the minibus.

Summer play schemes (This year run by local volunteers)

Establishing a Play Forum. (Simon is the Chair)

Working with the Housing Department and tenants on the Park Estate.

Campaigning to provide more shops and facilities in the area.

Establishing a Savings Club with a view to forming a Credit Union.

Church Drop In and support from an Advice Worker one morning a week.

Net working with other community workers

Strengthening links with other churches.

Providing a training base for community workers from Finland and for

theological students from Manchester.

Forming a community Prayer Meeting. (Use of Prayer Fellowship Handbook)

Supporting the St. George's Good Neighbour Scheme and Friendly Club.

Distribution of EEC butter.

 There have been disappointments and set backs such as the loss of a possible Lunch Club because of lack of good kitchen facilities and the failure of St. George's Church Co-operative to get more good quality shopping. Work continues in these areas.

 It is clear that Simon enjoys good relationships with both local and city council workers. E.g. Pierre West Hulme Sports Programme) helps to run the young people's activities. The church has benefited from this networking as it has enabled its understanding to grow. The involvement at the drop in of an Advice Worker once a week is an example of this linking up and extending of services to local people.

 We found as visitors a clear partnership between the church and the community. Over the first period of this post the church has become steadily more involved in community issues. The improvement of local homes through the estate management bid is what matters to local people. The butter provided the opportunity to make new contacts! It was also evident that St.George's felt that they were often forgotten and that Simon's work has helped to give them a voice, both by their own contributions and by the wider work Simon was able to do and the contacts he had made. Thus people felt that they had more control over the decisions made about their own community.

 We wondered why the work had gone so well? The following observations were made. Simon has showed a down to earth realism and idealism. In calm serenity he is able to live with the pain and not become frustrated by the difficulties. His listening and responding' method has been helpful. This has enabled him to get the feel of the place and its important issues. His worshipping and living close by to the area with his family has a good psychological impact. A well thought out balance has been maintained between the 'micro', on the ground grass roots contact which gives greater credibility, and the 'macro', the wider issue based work and networks. The approach of the worker, sitting with people in their groups, has been to encourage patient, steady growth. This has been appreciated and caused people to identity with Simon's work. People found it hard to separate the project from the person. Generous support from his family, the Church, the Community, other workers and his support person have also made a significant contribution to the good feel of this work.

 This is all a solid base on which to build. It was recognised by the Management Committee that the work was entering a new phase. The present work should continue to be developed especially in making plans for the use of the church building for community groups, the registering of the Credit Union and the support of housing work. A need to encourage more local volunteers and to develop leadership was spoken about, especially in the youth work. 'We aren't getting any younger!' showed concern about the need to involve younger people in the work. Thus the need for training.

 There was some reluctance to set clear long-term aims and objectives because of the important need to respond to opportunities as they arose in the community. The visitors felt that these two points could be integrated as long as a flexible attitude by all was maintained. Setting alms and objectives for each piece of work could help to clarify the overall new direction of the project and on which areas work should be concentrated. It would also help in the monitoring and evaluation of the project, and the personal development of the worker.

 Simon attends Network Northwest and is a member of the planning group. This is an ecumenical group of church related community workers, largely from Liverpool, Manchester and Wigan, who come together every few months to discuss issues related to the work of the church in the community. Here common interests can be shared, new ideas for projects considered in a wider setting and good practice discussed.

 There was a recognition that initiatives undertaken should be self supporting and fully owned by the church, with the leadership in the hands of local people, if this next phase of the project was to be fully effective. Hence the need for a clear 'exit policy' for the worker during the second period of five years in which these strategies could be put in place.

 Hulme URC is the only Church-in-Community on the patch. Thus it has a unique opportunity to respond to local needs in partnership with the community. This it has attempted to do by being an effective Christian witness, providing meeting space and working with local people. Much confidence building and empowerment has taken place. New people have been welcomed into the life of the church. Simon and his work are very well respected. Both he and the church are to be congratulated on the expertise they have developed together in the field of church related community work. Further underpinning of the project with theological reflection to establish the theological principles of the work and the telling of Hulme URC’s experience would be a valuable asset to church related community work in the URC as a whole. The Central Management Committee (of which Simon is now a member) should take note of the work here and endorse its contribution to the wider understanding in this field. In order to provide continuity and support, and the development of the existing work and opportunities, the visitors are pleased to recommend that this project (which is financially sound) should be continued for a further term of five years.

 RECOMMENDATIONS

 1.   District Council commends the members of Hulme URC. the CRCW and the people in the community of St. George's on the development of Church Related Community Work in the area.

 2.   District Council congratulates the project for all the initiative taken during the last five years and for the developing partnership between church and community.

 3.    Acknowledging the need for more local leadership, District Council requests the Management Committee to explore ways in which this might be achieved.

 4.    As the project enters this new phase, District Council requests the Management Committee to further clarify its priorities in the light of local issues and resources.

 5.    District Council urges the wider telling of the Hulme experience as a model of good practice from which others might develop insights into Church Related Community Work.

 December 1993.