St Vincent’s Centre Brixton, which sits on Talma Road, is a safe space and creative environment which hosts a range of activities for the local community and beyond.
The arts-oriented centre is open-for-all and ensures that families who need help the most have a safe place to seek help. Families on low-income, refugees and asylum seekers, young carers and older adults join in the activities on offer which help focus on improving mental health and wellbeing with creative stimulation and reducing isolation through social participation.
A sewing bee for over-18s, arts and crafts for children, storytelling sessions for under-5s, drama classes for teens and drumming for wellbeing to name just a few of the activities taking place over the coming month.
Over three weeks of August, the centre is putting on an array of activities, with three partnerships with:
The National Literacy Trust delivering their 'Early Words Together' programme for refugee families with children aged 0-5
Shamha Vibration delivering 'Drumming for Wellbeing' for all ages
RAW Material delivering one intensive week of vocal workshops ending in a showcase
The centre is also delivering their funded You Are You programme with their three creative activities Drama, Hip-Hop dance and Arts and Cooking, providing a social safe space for the young people during the school holidays, offering food provision.
A few new activities are being offered in the form of Canva Creations workshops, and Children's Printmaking, and a Sewing Bee for adults.
The Sewing Bee, being delivered by the facilitator of their past Woven Stories programme is targeted at beginners with interest in learning how to mend and embellish clothes. This is a free 4-hour weekly workshop with refreshments provided, in a creative environment.
For all who are interested in signing up to all activities can email the Activities Coordinator at LeanneT@svp.org.uk for the online registration form.
Centre Manager at St Vincent’s, Brixton, Faith Mall, explains how important the centre is to the community and how no one is ever turned away.
“Our main goal is the provide a warm and safe space to support the Brixton community by providing food provision, mental health and wellbeing services alongside a diverse and culture rich range of diverse activities to give people to opportunity to learn new skills and have a safe environment to do so.
“This summer is set to be our busiest yet, with an immense interest in our summer activities programmes, people are urged to get in touch and sign up for something they like soon as space on most course are getting limited.”
For anyone wishing to know more about the thriving summer programmes, please visit St Vincent’s Brixton’s webpage on https://svp.org.uk/st-vincents-brixton for full details and to contact the centre.
St Vincent’s, Brixton is part of the wider St Vincent de Paul Society (England and Wales) which aims to tackle poverty in all its forms through person-to-person contact and befriending regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion or any other factors.