Spotlight on George Road Community Church

1)  Tell us what you do.
We are a Community Church based at George Road, Oldbury who run community activities and several groups that encourage members of our local community to be more active and meeting new people.

We currently offer ‘Extend’ (fitness classes for over 50’s Tuesday/Friday), ‘Thrive’ youth club (for 9-13’s Thursday evening), Knit and chatter (all welcome Thursday morning), ‘Come Together’ (a social group for the over 50’s on a Monday afternoon), Garden group (all welcome Wednesday morning). We also run a coffee morning on Wednesdays 10.00am for all comers.

We also have a number of rooms and Hope House, which are available for hire by other community groups and organisations.

2)  What is your proudest achievement?
We are really proud of the way our community feels they can be part of what we do here at George Road and get involved with us via our volunteer opportunities. It’s great to know that people feel welcome and able to participate in our activities.

3)  What is your experience of support received from SCVO?
It has been good to work with the SCVO team. They are a really useful resource and help us stay connected with life in Sandwell. Libby has been brilliant with helping our church try to improve the work we do. We have attended several courses that SCVO has organised and have come away with lots of advice and new contacts from attending these courses.

4)  What is the most valuable lesson you have learnt about working with people in Sandwell?
We are constantly amazed and pleased with the way in which the local people of Sandwell remain friendly, open to new ideas and, are willing to help with the things we do.

We held a Summer Fun Day last year and several local people volunteered to help us on the day and the run up to the day which really helped to make the Fun Day a great success.

5)  What are your plans for the future and some of the challenges you face?
Part of our future plans include trying to increase the use of Hope House, which is a property we own within the church grounds. It has several small meeting rooms for hire that we are keen to work in partnership with others to increase their use for the benefit of our community. We would love to see more groups within Sandwell using this great facility.

6)  How can SCVO help to support your organisation in the future?
SCVO has been a great help to us and we hope to continue working with SCVO staff moving forward to help us to develop new partnerships, projects and supporting us to build our local contacts.

If you’d like to find out more about how you can get involved with George Road Community Church or for more information on their current activities please call Karen Palmer on 0121 423 3822.