nurture

Cooking For Life

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Coming together to grow, prepare and share food is second nature to many, and because every person needs it, food-sharing plays a big role in the life of the Abergavenny Community Centre, where simple things in life still matter. 

In a small way we are doing what we can to foster sustainable behaviour: the kitchen team cooks from scratch using produce that’s grown or raised nearby, and puts to good use any excess produce coming our way. Also, the community kitchen, itself, is creating new possibilities for more of us to benefit from the rich source of goodwill and skills present in fellow residents.  The combination of existing skills and a need for basic skills has inspired a series of hands-on cooking activities next year, aimed at keeping skills and knowhow in action through the hands of ordinary people. Could your skills and passion for your craft, help bring our aspirations to life?  

In the meantime while we get ready, if you shop in TESCO there is something that you can do to help our mission to get people cooking again. From October until the end of the year you’ll notice that the Abergavenny Community Centre is one of the three good causes which shoppers can choose to support through the blue tokens scheme.  Why not pop a token in all three and you’ll be helping residents to build more resourceful and compassionate communities into the future.  Thank you.

To find out more and to keep in touch via email, social media platforms, or visit www.localgiving.org and search for Abergavenny Community Trust.  MORE to follow about our ‘Back to Basics’ cookery sessions in the FOCUS Magazine next month – or come back to the website ‘Things To Do’ page from time to time. Thanks.


Are you the experienced Company Secretary that Abergavenny Community Centre is seeking to support its Board of Trustees?

If you share our values and have excellent administrative skills, please contact us for an informal chat.  

Marion Pearse – aber.hub@gmail.com

Co-Founder, Abergavenny Community Centre Registered Charity No. 1177133

The Charity & Us

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Friday Light Lunch

We hope you enjoy these articles and find they give some insight into the life of the old Infant’s School, since becoming a community centre in 2015.    

It may not surprise you to learn that when the Centre opened there wasn’t a plan of action – just conversation, listening and watching as things fell into place. In just a few years, this approach, made together with other residents, has created a multi-purpose, multi-use place where people can participate and engage in ways that suit them.  As it is, the Centre is a place where it’s possible for people to:- host their own activity, function or event; go to somebody else’s; or take part in something that the charity facilitates eg. lunch, coffee morning or lending a hand.  While venues share  similarities, where, perhaps, we do differ is that the community centre is run and managed by a Charity which is interested in everyday matters, and concerned that every person has what they need to thrive – basic needs – like enough food or shelter; feeling safe; being connected; and having meaningful things to do. 

 For some of us, the Centre has become our ‘third place’ which simply means that it’s not home or work.  

Like all businesses the community centre operates within a business model, and in 2016 we started the two-year long process of becoming a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission.  The Abergavenny Community Trust [Reg. 1177133] adheres to clear operating principles – reporting, monitoring, scrutiny and financial regulation which are essential when managing a building and resources, held in trust, for the benefit of others.  The Charity is overseen by a voluntary Board of Trustees, a Secretary to the Board and a Treasurer) who discharge their collective duties through the Objects (aims & purpose) of the Charity. There are three part-time, paid staff who cook, clean and manage the building together with a small army of people who undertake diverse roles and duties vital for the Centre to open and remain viable. These gifts of time and skills form the beating heart of the charity and make all the difference on the ground.   

While still in lock-down, unable to meet people in ways that we are accustomed to, our focus has returned to the building and grounds and the task of managing their safe-keeping, until such time that our lives return to something more familiar.  In the meantime we’re decorating again, so if you are in a position to help and don’t mind working alone, you are welcome. Thank you.

For this, and anything else please call 07751666481 or  aber.hub@gmail.com [February 2021]