St Sidwell’s is all about bringing people and organisations together. There is much that we can learn from each other and we can all benefit from a society where differences are valued and people given opportunities to grow and develop.
Cooking, eating, gardening, arts & crafts, researching local history – nearly everything that happens at St Sidwell’s is open to everybody. One of our charitable aims is to promote inclusion and we believe that we can do this by providing opportunities for people of all abilities and ages, for people from all sorts of backgrounds, to meet and work together.
We aim to extend a warm welcome to everyone – from refugees needing to learn English to small community groups wanting an affordable venue for meetings; from city centre shoppers after a latte and a slice of homemade cake to the long term unemployed looking to gain work experience and new skills; from local office workers looking for a peaceful place to eat lunch to those experiencing mental health problems enjoying therapeutic gardening in our city-centre vegetable garden.We also have a strong sense of place: we are conscious of both the weaknesses and the strengths of Sidwell Street and the local area and we do our best to be a good neighbour and to make the area a better place to live in or to visit. We are conscious of the needs of local people and organisations in a rapidly changing world and try to run activities that are dynamic and relevant. And we are conscious of the rich history of the site we work from and seek to share and enhance this heritage.
Although based in a building that was once a church, we have no religious affiliation. We welcome people and groups of all faiths and none.