Sherwood Community Centre in Nottingham is one of many community centres facing closure due to the city council's proposed cuts to subsidies. The centre provides vital services to over 1,000 people weekly, including support for survivors of abuse, adults with learning differences, and a decades-old playgroup.
Nottinghamshire Live and the Nottingham Post are campaigning for the city council to protect our vital community centres. Backed by an open letter to the council signed by more than 100 people, each week we are highlighting the crucial work of some of these centres, continuing with the Sherwood Community Centre. Nottingham City Council has been urged to show 'compassion' to a lifeline service used by around 1,000 people every single week.
Survivors of rape and abuse and adults with learning differences are among the scores of people who have come to rely on the Sherwood Community Centre. A decades-old playgroup and a café supporting people with the cost of living crisis are also among the plethora of services housed in the Mansfield Road building. Despite its vitality, the centre is one of several across Nottingham threatened by the city council's current approach to the future of its community centre network. The claim of 1,000 people passing through the centre's doors every week is immediately borne out by the bustling atmosphere that greets Nottinghamshire Live when we visit on Wednesday (January 29). In the top floor of the listed building, a room is filled with those attending the Open Wings group. Open Wings aims to boost the confidence and mental health of adults with learning differences and a variety of other support needs. Its services include securing work experience with local employers and delivering sessions on topics ranging from budgeting to meal planning. The group has become a vital part of life for its users, including Amy, who had a strong message for Nottingham City Council. Speaking directly to the council, Amy said: 'If you have any compassion for disabled people, you will keep this place open. 'If you close this place down, then me and a lot of other people will have nowhere to go.' Anna Rossi, who runs Open Wings, said: 'We can really boost mental health by just giving people the support that they need. When people don't attend for a while, their mental health does decline, so it's really important that we're able to continue here.' The city council currently provides a subsidy of more than £600,000 a year to its network of community centres, covering things including staffing, repairs and maintenance. Faced with multimillion-pound budget gaps in the coming years, the authority now wants to reduce this subsidy to zero by April 2025. It means the council will be attempting to agree new leases with the centres, which would see them move off their current peppercorn rents and onto a market-level fee. For the Sherwood Community Centre, the situation is one that has currently left its dedicated team of staff and volunteers 'in limbo'. Those running the centre already face many of the extortionate costs that come with maintaining such an old and expansive building, particularly utility bills. Yet if the city council were to start charging a commercial rent too, managers fear their costs could end up as high as £80,000 a year. Asked how long the centre could sustain such costs, Louise Holland, a trustee at the Sherwood Community Centre, said: 'It depends how long all the groups were able to go on for. 'We manage as we are and we keep our rents low to be as accessible as possible. With the commercial rent, we would have to double what we charge and groups like Open Wings and the Sherwood Playgroup that has been here since 1964 wouldn't be able to afford that.' It is the Sherwood Playgroup that provides the centre with most of its bustling atmosphere during our visit. Linda Cousins, 67, brought her daughter to the centre and now brings her granddaughter. Mrs Cousins said: 'I brought my daughter here 33 years ago to the playgroup and to the dance classes here, now my granddaughter comes to both. It's just amazing. It's a really important place for families and if the centre wasn't here, I don't know where all these people using the playgroup would go. 'A lot of families need places like this to enable the parents to work.' Next to the playgroup is a community café, offering affordable home-cooked meals to all and free hot drinks to those who need them. The café is a chance for all those using the Sherwood Community Centre to come together, with the Open Wings group sat at a table next to many parents and grandparents from the playgroup and their little ones. 'It's so beneficial for the children to be in an environment where there is such a mix of different people and ages', Mrs Cousins added. The scale of services and groups all housed at the Sherwood Community Centre is truly breath taking. Zephyr's offers counselling to families who have been through a pregnancy loss or the death of a baby or child, with the charity currently holding a waiting list of between three and four months. Support for Survivors helps hundreds of rape and abuse victims every year
COMMUNITY CENTRES NOTTINGHAM SHERWOOD CITY COUNCIL FUNDING SUPPORT GROUPS ABUSE SURVIVORS LEARNING DIFFERE NCES PLAYGROUP
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