Yahoo News The Club at Tuffley Park to reopen as 'venue for all' as One Church sets out vision for community site
One Church wants to run a community venue for all at The Club at Tuffley Park as they look set to be granted a ten year lease for the building. Gloucester City Council leaders are considering granting a new tenancy for the building which they retook possession of last August.
The authority is expected to invest around £50,000 in repairing the club’s roof, making the building watertight and ensuring it is compliant when they hand it over. They expect the lease will generate an income of £10,000 per year for the council.
Lisa Daniels, who leads the church with her husband in Podsmead, told the overview and scrutiny committee last night (July 1) of One Church's plans for the site. She said the church is celebrating their tenth anniversary in Podsmead in September.
For the last decade they have been doing their best to serve the community in whichever way they can, she said. “We are a Christian organisation but definitely not exclusively,” she said.
“Far from existing just for Christians our priority as it has been over the last ten years has really been about serving our community, their needs and celebrating the amazing strengths in our community as well. Firstly, we want to really make sure we continue to help around the issue of food poverty in our community.
"One of the first things we did when we arrived in the community was wanting to serve people who were finding themselves in that really difficult gap. We run a really successful pop up cafe at the moment and it is amazing to be able to serve people through that way.
"We would love to continue to do that on a greater scale. We run free breakfast at the moment, weekly and the community meals as well. We would like to increase that by looking at the possibility of running a food bank or social supermarket.”
She said they are aware of the need for a resource bank to support the community there. And they want to build a “fun, strong and healthy” community in the area. And use the building to upskill people and teach them “how to hold down a job”.
“The way we would love to do that is increasing our ability to serve the kids of our community through kids and parents programmes. As well as running debt counselling services that would really help those trying to do their best but are just stuck.”
They also want to work well and celebrate the strong sporting community in Tuffley Park. One Church has also run many large scale community events and they want to continue to do that while tackling loneliness.
“By using this wonderful building to be able to be a touch point for people to make real human connections with people. We would like to do that by creating and maintaining a safe and approachable building that has a great welcome every time you walk through the doors.
“A cafe that doesn’t just serve drinks but gives people a real human connection and possibly help them take next steps in being more confident in being part of the community.”
The City Council’s cabinet is expected to make a decision on granting the lease later this month.
