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and trainees from the Strawberry Field Steps to Work programme. Mission Director Major Kathy Versfeld explained the history of Strawberry Field and how the current building and programme had developed. Programme Manager Alan Triggs gave insights into Steps to Work, which provides training and work placements for 18 to 25-year-olds with learning difficulties. Several trainees spoke about their experiences and the delegates gave them an enthusiastic reception.
Guest speakers included Matt Davis, national director of Salvos Stores in Australia, and Ted Troughton, managing director of National Recycling Operations in Canada, who informed delegates about the work of their enterprises. Jenny Pattinson, director of the UKI Territory’s Older People’s Services, spoke about how the Army’s 12 care homes had managed during the Covid-19 pandemic and thanked SATCoL for obtaining vital PPE for its 550 staff members.
Charlie Green entertained delegates as they gathered for an evening meal. In his after-dinner speech Lieut-Colonel Alan Read, chair of the SATCoL board, challenged delegates to be courageous, break through barriers and reach out to others. He then presented awards including volunteer of the year to Claudia Tootle (Workington and Whitehaven shops), donation centre of the year to Braintree, shop of the year to Dudley, team of the year to the IT Department and lifetime achievement awards to Richard Judge and Roland Ralph.
In his address to conclude the conference, the TC thanked SATCoL for supporting the territory’s mission financially.
‘But it’s far more than just the money,’ he said. ‘I discern in this room and among all the people that you work with and the people that you are, that there is great hope because there is real love.’
‘There are people who desperately need to be loved,’ he continued, describing situations of desperate need in this country and abroad, including in Ukraine, where the Army is making a difference to people’s lives. ‘Thank you for being part of that by caring, loving our neighbours and daring to care for the world and the people in it.’
The TC pointed to what he called ‘the very first instance of recycling in the Old Testament’, when Ebed-Melek used ‘old rags and worn-out clothes’ to help pull the prophet Jeremiah out of a cistern (Jeremiah 38:12). He likened SATCoL’s work to that incident, by which ‘pre-worn clothes can be the means of lifting people out of a hole’.
He challenged the delegates to live up to the values of ‘Care’ – compassion, accountability, respect and equality – and concluded with a prayer ‘that God would continue to be expressed through The Salvation Army, of which SATCoL is an integral part, especially as we intentionally dare to care, compassionately giving of ourselves’.
Lieut-Colonel Alan Read presents a cheque to the TC
Strawberry Field delegates and staff members
A place to belong
George Tanton finds out how Harwich Wellbeing Lounge is caring for its community
‘A LOT of people we’ve supported feel very much on the margins of life,’ explains Lieutenant Victoria Moye.
She and her husband, Lieutenant Shawn (pictured above), are corps officers at Harwich, where they assist in the running of a Renew Wellbeing Lounge. It is a refuge for people in the community who might be facing problems that include unemployment, social deprivation, housing issues and loneliness.
Based in the Esplanade Hall, an old school building in the town centre, the lounge is organised in partnership with Dovercourt Central Church and the Church of England’s Harwich Peninsula parish. It is part of a network of wellbeing lounges across the UK managed by a Christian organisation called Renew Wellbeing. Its mission is to establish centres where individuals on the fringes of communities, who feel they have become isolated from the wider world, can reconnect.
The lounge in Harwich was set up in November 2021 and attracts a regular number of visitors. It is open one day a week, with prayer sessions usually held three times in the day. People are encouraged to join in or use the time for quiet reflection away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The idea for a wellbeing space came out of the interactions that Shawn and Victoria had during the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘We had about seven months here before the first lockdown started,’ says Shawn, ‘and we were identifying and meeting people who we knew had mental health crises or anxiety, which made their way of life challenging. But I think that has been exacerbated by the pandemic, because so many people were suddenly on their own or isolated.’
‘The people we support are known by name and valued for who they are and not because of the labels that are put on them,’ adds Victoria.
Once a thriving port, Harwich is a deprived area, with an inadequate network infrastructure that makes it hard for people to afford to travel to work.
‘Harwich dock now has only a small workforce. Places like this are not seeing the manual work they once did compared to 70 or 80 years ago and there are no other industries around,’ explains Shawn.
‘There is such a lack of opportunity for people that they’re almost stuck in a place they can’t get out of. There are people who are effectively stuck in the town because they don’t have the money to travel, or because the work they can find is so low paid that it doesn’t cover the costs of travel. So they become very reliant on benefits.
‘Some people who receive universal credit in the town live in accommodation that is not looked after by their landlords. We’ve supported one woman who’s not had an operating kitchen for a year.’
Shawn says that education is therefore seen by some in the area as futile, with the perception that ‘there’s no point going to school because there’s nothing for you afterwards’.
‘We are seeing different generations come through the doors having this same low level of aspiration,’ continues Victoria.
The Covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly exacerbated existing strains on the community, she adds: ‘Some young mums we have contact with have just had babies and are nervous to go out. This should be a happy time for them but, post-pandemic, this is not the case.
