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Yes ,a strong pathway onto other volunteering opportunities (or paid employment) would be good

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Context: Despite the predominance of tired looking 1950’s architecture, Sidwell Street has a rich history, dating back more than 2000 years. Our 2016/17 Heritage Lottery Fund project Reviving Lost History and Building Community was very successful and established St Sidwell’s as a Heritage Hub for the Eastern Quarter of the city centre.

With significant change taking place in the area, including the new St Sidwell’s Point leisure centre, it is important that we pick up on this work again and make sure that new developments take full account of local heritage

Staffing/finances: Maintenance of our heritage displays is minimal and we are lucky enough to have several volunteers who are heritage enthusiasts and are happy to offer guided tours to visitors. We will be applying for funding for a new HLF project before the end of 2021

Rebuilding: The centre is now fully open for any visitors asking for a tour and/or to see the “lost treasures” of St Sidwell’s.

Plans for the future:

1.      Finalise and submit another application to Heritage Lottery Fund for a project focusing on the history of the whole of Sidwell Street. The Road to Sidwell Street: A history of the people, the buildings and the businesses of a single street

2.      Continue to welcome visitors looking to see our collection of heritage artefacts

3.      Review and update the Heritage pages on our website

4.      Work with Exeter Diocese, St Matthew’s Church and YMCA to take down the existing bell-tower and relocate the historic bell into the front garden

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Context: We are lucky enough to have one of the few green spaces in the centre of Exeter, the only gardens opening directly onto the High Street or Sidwell Street. Our grounds are enjoyed by members of the public and are a key part of our marketing. The grounds are actually owned by Exeter Diocese but are entirely maintained by our volunteer gardeners.

Gardening provides a range of opportunities for volunteers and work-placements to learn new skills and share existing ones, meet people, get fresh air and exercise and contribute to the improvement of the local environment. It is the 2nd most popular choice of activity (after working in the Café)  for volunteers and work-placements

In addition, to looking after our own gardens we also hold the lease to 16 allotments at St James Station and our Garden Services project sends volunteers out to help local people with their gardens.

Staffing/finances: Periodically, we secure grant funding for gardening related work which pays for equipment, new plants and training and support for volunteers. The volunteering gardening work in our grounds at St Sid’s continues irrespective of funding

Rebuilding: In fact, our gardening work-strand has been thriving throughout Covid. Our grounds proved their worth during lockdown – providing a large and relatively safe space for local people to come together, to overcome social isolation and to get fresh air and exercise.

Plans for the future:

1.      Secure a new lease with NR for the St James Garden Allotments

2.       Secure further funding to enable us to continue paying a professional gardener to train, mentor and organise the volunteer gardeners.

3.       Continue reaching out and extending our gardening offer to work with local residents and with other organisations. For the rest of 2021 and much of 2022, we will be working closely with Exeter Mosque, helping them to create a multi-functional and beautiful garden behind the mosque.

4.       Build a 30 ft greenhouse in our Veg garden so that we can offer volunteering and training opportunities all year round

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Context: Our Community Café is open to all from 9am to 3pm from Monday to Friday, serving hot and cold drinks, breakfasts, lunches and cakes. We also offer external catering. Everything is homemade.

It has been through lots of changes over the years but since the Centre first opened in 2001, the Café has been both the physical centre of St Sidwell’s and a key resource that has helped us to respond to local needs; help build a healthier community; bring people from diverse backgrounds together. The café has also been a launching pad for new ideas and initiatives

Staffing/finances: Some years, the Café was run entirely by volunteers but the current model, in place since 2013, is to have one or two paid staff each day supervising and working alongside volunteers. The Volunteer rota changes every day.

Prior to Covid, Café takings covered core staffing and the cost of sales. Most of this trading income has been lost throughout the pandemic but thanks to the government’s furlough scheme and to Covid emergency funding we have not needed to make any Café staff redundant

Rebuilding: Covid safety measures are in place and the Café has been growing steadily busier since we reopened in May.

Plans for the future:

1.      Continue and extend marketing of Café through signage and social media

2.      Further develop a sustainable, week-to-week working relationship with our Bakehouse and our Cookery School – sharing resources, experimenting with new products/menu items, supporting production, providing opportunities for both staff and volunteers to try out different roles and swap jobs

3.      Develop the external catering side of the Café business

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Context: Our ESOL provision is a central component of our offer to minority ethnic communities. St Sidwell’s is the largest 3rd sector ESOL provider in Devon (excluding Plymouth) and  has been offering free ESOL classes, taught by volunteer teachers, for more than 10 years. Classes are open to all – including migrant workers, refugees, students. Currently, we offer 7 free classes every week during school term-time

In addition, we have a contract with Devon County Council to coordinate access to ESOL for some 35 refugee families across Devon under the VPRS (Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme)

Staffing/finances: The VPRS contract covers the cost of a full-time ESOL Coordinator. The cost of running the free classes is minimal but learners are encouraged to make donations to help cover volunteer expenses and photocopying

Rebuilding: Covid forced us to close our face-to-face classes but several of our volunteer teachers successfully switched to running online classes. Face-to-face classes were relaunched in April 2021 and we are currently offering 7 free classes every week

Plans for the future:

1.      Secure funding for ESOL Coordinator role before Spring 2022 when the VPRS contract will come to an end

2.      Integrate ESOL offer/classes and Volunteering Programme so that all ESOL learners are offered opportunities to volunteer, to support English language learning, participation and integration into the community. This is key to our recognition that career paths in Devon for people from minority ethnic communities are severely limited.

3.      Consolidate links and two-way referral pathways with other organisations

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Context: Cookery classes - in one form or another - have always been integral to the work of St Sidwell’s. This has often been tied to specific funding programmes, so over time the focus of classes has shifted. At its core, we want to support more people to enjoy cooking delicious meals from scratch. Sometimes we have fully funded free programmes, for example our current Cooking for Life, for Work and for Pleasure course, or children’s cookery programmes tackling holiday hunger. We also offer public classes at affordable rates.

Staffing/finances: We work with freelance tutors and existing staff to offer a range of cookery courses. This keeps costs low, as if classes are not booked we can reschedule as required. Some modest staff time is required to liaise with tutors, put classes online and sometimes support with planning sessions.

Rebuilding: We have had significant verbal interest for cookery classes, however this has been slow to translate into bookings. We will continue to plan and advertise classes and review the type of workshops and classes offered to ensure this is meeting needs and interests

Plans for the future:

1.      Continue to work with freelance chefs and trainers to provide a diverse range of public cookery classes

2.      Offer free spaces to volunteers and concessions as appropriate to support inclusive access

3.      Continue to seek funding for programmes to tackle holiday hunger, to support wellbeing, to improve diets

4.      Offer cookery classes to other organisations as team building events

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Context: Launched as an offshoot of our Community Café in 2018, the Bakehouse has expanded steadily. We took the opportunity, late in 2020, to relocate from a converted office at the community centre to a large, empty premises on Sidwell Street

Staffing/finances: Initial set-up costs for staffing and two years development were funded by Power to Change. The aim for the Bakehouse to be entirely self-financing through bread sales

Rebuilding: As Bakeries are ‘essential retail’ we have managed to keep the Bakehouse open throughout the pandemic

Plans for the future:

1.      Continue work at 178/179 Sidwell Street to optimise use of space (1st and 2nd floors in particular) and to support the development of new Sidwell Street community businesses/initiatives

2.      Expand customer base for both retail and wholesale sales

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Context: St Sidwell’s has been a registered Training Provider since 2013 and, sometimes in partnership with other organisations, we offer a wide range of both formal and informal learning opportunities – including ESOL classes, Literacy classes, Numeracy classes, Cookery workshops, Baking workshops, Gardening workshops

Staffing/finances: While some of our educational offer is core – e.g. the free ESOL classes taught by volunteer teachers or the informal learning that takes place with volunteers in the café – a significant amount each year is dependent on grant funding

Rebuilding: Until the Covid pandemic is a thing of the past, we will need to continue limiting numbers of participants in classes and workshops

Plans for the future:

1.      Reconnect and strengthen our links with partners such as Learn Devon which can provide access to free and discounted courses and to accreditation

2.      Formalise and strengthen the relationships between learning opportunities at St Sid’s and our volunteering programme. E.g. ensure that volunteers are fully aware of learning/training opportunities; encourage and support them to take up these opportunities

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Context: We have six rooms, a café space and a kitchen that are all available for groups to hire – for events, activities or meetings – and this has always been a key part of St Sidwell’s offer. Although the trading income from Room Hire is important, we will continue to offer free or discounted space to some groups as a way of supporting local the community and fulfilling our charitable aims.

Staffing/finances: Our Office Manager has the main responsibility for taking  bookings, managing the booking system, setting up rooms, looking after groups and invoicing customers. Historically, the costs of this role are mostly covered by the income from room hire but, since Covid started we have had to make use of the furlough system to support this job role

Rebuilding: In 2019, we had an average of 54 room bookings every week. In June 2021, we had an average of 5 bookings a week: anxiety levels are still high and, as yet, only a few groups have returned. We anticipate a very slow return to pre-Covid levels.

Plans for the future:

1.      Stay in touch with groups that used to use the centre regularly and monitor and respond to their needs

2.      Make it easier for customers to find out about our rooms, to check availability and to make bookings. We have started this process by installing a new Booking System which is accessible online via our website.

3.      Review, revive and relaunch our plans to build a workshop in the grounds at St Sidwell’s in order to increase our capacity to offer a sustainable functional space for Arts, Crafts and Traditional Skills activities

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Volunteering and Work Experience Programme

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Volunteering and Work Experience Programme

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Context: Our Volunteering Programme stands at the heart of everything we do, providing opportunities for local people to learn new skills and share existing ones; to improve their prospects of employment; to meet others and make friends; to keep busy; to be part of the local community. People have been volunteering and gaining work-experience at St Sid’s – helping in every aspect of our day to day work – for 20 years. In 2019 154 people volunteered with us.

Staffing/finances: Responsibility for organising, working with and supporting volunteers is shared among all our staff. Sometimes, over the years, we have had the funding to employ a dedicated Volunteer Co-ordinator but this has always been time-limited so this year (2021) we have made the decision to employ a full time Volunteer Coordinator – currently allocated to core costs.

Rebuilding: Covid has led to a significant increase in interest in volunteering and participation and we are receiving new applications for volunteering roles every week. We currently (July 2021) have more than 80 active volunteers.

Plans for the future:

1.      Make it clearer, in our publicity and communications with other organisations and agencies, that our Volunteering and Work-Experience Programme is the heart of St Sidwell’s.

2.      Ensure the long-term sustainability of the key Volunteer Coordinator role by financing the post through a mix of trading and grant income

3.      Improve and extend referral routes onto our Volunteering Programme. i.e. create stronger links and referral pathways with other organisations such as Probation, Co-lab, DRLC, etc, etc

4.      Increase our capacity to offer volunteering and work-experience opportunities by strengthening partnerships/working relationships with other businesses, charities and agencies that may be able to offer volunteering opportunities.