The Sharakat Project

The Sharakat Project began in 2008 out of the church’s vision to serve the community. It initially started as gatherings, bringing together members of the local community to discuss local needs and issues. Partnerships developed, for example with local police, local community centres, libraries, mosques, synagogues and local schools. The project developed from the initial gatherings into a community project with the aim to serve and build capacity in the local community in a way that fosters well-being, includes the marginalised and encourages cross cultural and cross faith, neighbourly relationships.

The Sharakat Project has run a wide range of projects to try and achieve these aims from English classes, After School Club, Lunch Club, Knit Together, Beauty Group, Silver Club, Place of Welcome, Asylum seeker drop-in, Creative Conversations, Walking Group, Gardening Group, drumming group and our Scones and Samosas cooking group. Our projects evolve over time to meet the changing needs of the community around us.

You can see what we get up to below – you can also keep updated on our Facebook Page

Our weekly activities

Community Café (Mondays 10.30am-1pm)

Our community café is open to the whole community every Monday providing a warm safe space and a range of free activities along with tea & toast. A hot drink and conversation is always available. We offer a range of craft activities from knitting to clay modelling. We have worked on a number of community art projects together, including ‘Gathered’ which hangs in the café space. Our Community Pantry runs alongside our Place of Welcome offering a low cost shop to those who need it. Once a month a couple of people take turns to cook for the group, we all enjoy the food that is made! Good friends are made through the activities we run and the group enjoy celebrating Christmas and Eid together, often with a bring and share meal.

Exercise (Mondays 12.30-1.30)

We run a weekly seated aerobics session for women, making exercise accessible to many in the community who would otherwise struggle to attend a gym or a class. It’s harder than it looks, come and have a go!

Conversation English class (Wednesdays 10.30am-11.30am)

Our new weekly English conversation class provides an opportunity for women to practice speaking English in a safe and encouraging space. The class includes a monthly outing to practice speaking, such as ordering in a café or getting the bus together. Our trips have included Lister Park and a visit to Salts Mill.

We recently ran a Kintsugi Hope Wellbeing Course with a few members of the group, helping us to learn how to look after our own wellbeing. Click on the logo above to learn more about this impactful course.

Our most recent community-led initiative was Roots and Routes

Here are some video links to recent events :

Talking Together

Stories of Hope

Below is a collection of photos from events that we have hosted or been invited to in recent years:

Buckingham Palace visit

Celebrating Manningham

Duke & Duchess of Cambridge visit