This is a specially commissioned article written by The Churches Trust.
The Community Relations Council supports The Churches Trust through its Core Funding Scheme.
The last few months have been fantastically busy for the team here at The Churches Trust.
The Youth Department at The Churches Trust continue to do amazing work out in the community within several projects including our ‘Celebrating Commonality Schools Project’ which brings together three local primary schools on a cross-community basis. Approximate 90 ten- and eleven-year-olds are currently working together to produce a play on interfaith commonalities and will be performed in early June – not too early to say, ‘Break a leg!’
Our City Our Story
Along with this our Youth team are just completing an innovative project utilising various media, including animated video focusing on ‘Our City Our Story’ – this explores the history of the City from its early foundations as a monastery through the different key events including the Troubles and the journey to a lasting peace using a range of creative pathways.
Thrive
Thrive is another tailored project nearing completion where we targeted young people on the fringes of formal education. Incorporating the 5 Ways to Wellbeing and using art as a means of exploring and expressing emotions creatively and safely. Using art and creating a wall mural the young people depict that they have a choice, and that it is okay to explore what okay means. Their wall mural explores ways of connecting with family and friends, mindfulness and the importance of family life.
One to one support is provided through our bespoke youth project which provides mentoring, advocacy, support and guidance, training, skills development, resilience, and signposting. The person-centered project targets young people at risk of becoming involved with the justice system.
Social Super Market
Addressing food poverty, as we all know, has become an everyday issue for so many with the ongoing rise in the cost of living. Our team of workers and volunteers continue to meet these needs through emergency food support for those living in the City. Demand for our Waterside based Social Super Market, where we provide affordable food, continues to grow. This service is complemented with one-to-one supports and signposting, workshops on healthy cooking, health and wellbeing and weekly recipes and ingredients for healthy family meals.
Moor Developing Women’s Group
Finally, a wee update with our Developing Women’s groups. The Moor Developing Women’s Group has now ended and the last six months saw the women explore human development, and how early experiences impact on the health of the individual across their lifespan. They also explored conflict management and what that means in both family and community life. They completed a social action that resulted in a donation to the Adult Care Centre in Creggan that will facilitate the short-term provision of live music for service users. The Moor Women are huge advocates of the positive impact music has on health and wellbeing and are now in the process of forming a community choir so they can provide live music on an ongoing basis to the Adult Care Centre and similar services across the city. So, as the saying goes: ‘Watch this space!’
Our second Developing Women’s project has just begun and welcomes women from across the city of Derry/Londonderry. This project will explore all aspects of life and how that impacts on us, our families and our communities. Below is a photo of a recent trip to Belfast where we are just about to embark on a ‘History of Terror Walk’ that explores the human cost of the Troubles. This project will run until March 2024, and we are still enrolling women for this wonderful programme. You can contact Mary or Laura at 028 7131 1322.
