Victoria Park Community Centre was built by the community, for the community and was the result of hard work to bring together a range of partners and agencies to make it happen.
Victoria Park Community Centre is a unique place created to help build and support all your community needs. Whether old or young we welcome all to join in and be part of our special community.
Our community centre came from the Victoria Building Communities Project and from identifying that the area had high crime levels, lack of community facilities and lack of any real community engagement.
Through workshops with the council, other agencies and residents we looked at how this could be addressed and what funding and support was available. In 2002 Victoria Park was chosen as one of four regional ‘pathfinder’ projects.
In 2004 using public meetings and a questionnaire to residents, which together with deprivation statistics, was used to produce a ”Needs Analysis”.
This analysis was used to develop the brief for the new centre and, with the recent completion of the fit-out of the community cafe, the centre is addressing all the key needs and aspirations identified within the needs analysis.
There was further consultation during the design stages of the project, including consultation meetings held by the design team and an open day held in August 2004 in Victoria Park to consult on access arrangements and the proposed facilities within the centre. There were 89 written responses from residents during this event.
Two workshops were also held during the development process with partner agencies and local residents to look at how the centre should operate once the buildings were completed. These were held in 2004 and 2007. The Council is working in partnership with Newtown and Victoria Springboard Ltd, which will take over the running of the Centre. The Board of the Company comprises agency and resident directors, with the majority being residents of the area.
In 2007 we opened Victoria Park Community Centre and since that time have provided a range of facilities, events and services.
We continue to provide these and much more, and with the help of partners, agencies and residents are proud to be a proactive community centre that cares.
Our Partners
Victoria Park Community Centre would not be possible without the help, hard work, funding, vision and perseverance of the local community and the following partners:-
NHS Somerset was responsible for commissioning healthcare services for the population of Somerset. NHS Somerset aims were be an innovative and dynamic leader of quality within the local health and social care community.
As part of the Needs Analysis it was identified that the area was in need of a Medical Centre to help address significant health inequalities. At the same time Church Street Surgery were looking for new premises having after 90 years out grown their premises. NHS Somerset therefor brought to two needs together and invested in the Victoria Park Medical Centre.
Their assistance, support and programme’s within Victoria Park Community Centre have been instrumental in making the centre a success.
The South West RDA (Regional Development Agency) was a government-funded public body set up in 1999 and led the development of a sustainable economy in South West England, creating the conditions for business and communities to thrive. RDA’s were set up to help improve the quality of life and economic prosperity in the English regions. Their aims were to achieve this through driving economic development and regeneration, developing business competitiveness and improving the skills base.
Sedgemoor District Council was formed in 1974 and is an important partner of the centre. The council is committed to communities and development for its residents and recognises the contribution that such investment can make to quality of life. Various departments and staff of the council have assisted the various roles needed to make the centre a success and have committed to realising the potential of the centre.
Visit Sedgemoor District Council website.
Our Aims
- To provide a fully accessible, integrated community centre for the local community in an environmentally empathic Building
- To provide a range of facilities and rooms for diverse services, activities and community functions
- To provide all age groups with opportunities for health and well-being and cultural experiences in their immediate community
- To provide educational opportunities in both structured and non-structured settings in the community centre
- To provide access and learning to numeracy and literacy and language
- To provide soft learning and creative learning through informal ways in the centre
- To encourage community participation and community ownership of the centre-Aiming to become the centre for the community
- To hold regular meetings of the board which are open to the public and to develop the board for full leadership and stewardship of the centre
- To create employment, volunteering and training opportunities throughout the centre and workshop spaces
- To develop areas for volunteering and employment alongside of service development for the community and on behalf of statutory bodies at the centre and in the workshops
- To develop formal and informal training opportunities that may provide templates for other centre’s.
- To provide a Community Cafe, a Pharmacy and a Medical Centre
- To promote healthy eating and enjoyable/educational eating experiences for the community
- To provide a diverse, social experience for the community
- To provide an informal and relaxed space for 1st step sign-posting and individualised assessment of needs for those seeking ‘soft support’ from the community
- To be a showcase centre providing template design for roll out to other community sites
- To develop responsive services and innovative service designs that meet both statutory bodies development needs and those of the community
- To share knowledge farther afield, when appropriate
- To encourage community resilience in a time of fast economic and environmental change
- To operate as a skills development and knowledge exchange centre
- To support a variety of ways to assist and support the community to adapt to issues such as:
- Climate change
- Credit crisis
- Unemployment
- Aging population
- Fossil fuel dependency etc.