Support. Connect. Empower. These are the principles that Merstham’s community facility trust works by. In the centre of Merstham, the community centre is providing its residents with a range of services and activities to be beneficial for all.
Merstham Community Facility Trust (MCFT) was established in 2006, by a group of local people (including professional Community Development Worker and local Councillor) who believed that the community needed a facility/property at which they could come together for shared opportunities – social, educational, skills, etc.
The community hub is run by some amazing employees and volunteers, they equated 1400 volunteer hours in 2020. The organisation has roots in distinctive values – participation, self-help, solidarity, transparency, caring, and enjoyment. Diverse in nature, they are generating solutions across many sectors through a range of projects including wellness clinics, social enterprises, and others. Constantly listening, learning, and adapting to respond to local needs, they are cooperative and collaborative – sharing learning through peer-to-peer networks and building momentum for sustainability and bettering individuals’ lifestyles and situations on a local level.
I met with MaryAnn Parish, the Community Centre Manager where she talked through the various projects which the organisation has run. One she wanted to particularly highlight is one of the new projects. MCFT has partnered up with the local GP for social prescribing.
Social prescribing, also known as community referral, is a method for health practitioners to refer patients to a variety of non-clinical services in their community. Considering that people’s health is largely affected by a variety of social, economic, and environmental aspects, social prescribing attempts to satisfy people’s needs completely. It also tries to help people have more control over their own health. Another way that MCFT helps people’s physical health is via their homemade honey. Which can be prescribed to residents who suffer from hay fever to help them build up a tolerance to the local pollen.
Another great project is their food club and community fridge. The food club is intended to help families that have endured financial hardship because of COVID-19. And help to ease the pressure on food banks. The concept employs FareShare food delivery to generate bags of food worth £15 each, and by being a member of the club, they just pay £2 every week. This membership not only provides them accessibility to the food bag, but also features culinary demonstrations and healthy living advice. The community fridge has been running for two years and is still developing and welcoming more volunteers to its devoted friendly team. The initiative promotes sustainability and decreases the significant quantity of food wastage. It gathers food from local supermarkets that might otherwise go to waste and distributes it to members of the community.
The centre also has The Mix café inside which is a hub of activity with friends and family having a lovely time and the café promotes healthy eating. The freshly baked gingerbread cake was amazing. Also, within the building is the local library, adding to the diversity of the activities available.
Merstham community centre truly lives by its motto Support. Connect. Empower. They bring their community together in so many different ways. Do check out the website: https://mcft.org.uk/ All their projects, and the whole team members are truly inspiring, and happy to help those around them and to promote well-being and sustainability. I was so impressed and would encourage anyone in Merstham to pop in, enjoy a delicious treat at the café and see for themselves. Perhaps even join the friendly team of volunteers!
For all the latest Education News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
