Oasis Centre

Pat Walton

How many of us have thought something should be done about disparate communities, loneliness and the lack of opportunities for connecting people, hoping that ‘something’ would be done by someone else. One of those ‘someone else’s’ is Pat Walton. And the 42 volunteers who work together to do their best to ensure that everyone feels valued in their community.

“We just started with a coffee morning, and two volunteers,” says Pat, “and it grew from there.”

What grew was the Oasis Centre in St Columb Major, a pastoral and outreach hub at the centre of the community that has been recognised for its work with a Civic Award for Pat and a team nomination by the Joseph Rank Trust for the Christian Funders Forum ‘Best Rural Project’.

Today, the Oasis Centre runs a huge range of activities and resources  from memory cafes to chill spaces for young parents and toddlers, well-being cafes to a foodbank outlet, craft gatherings to excursions, puzzles at home to men-sheds on an allotment, and everything in between.

How many of us have thought something should be done about disparate communities, loneliness and the lack of opportunities for connecting people, hoping that ‘something’ would be done by someone else. One of those ‘someone else’s’ is Pat. And the 42 volunteers who work together to do their best to ensure that everyone feels valued in their community.

Pat’s Civic Award for work at the Oasis Centre

Oasis Centre

Pat receiving the Civic Award, nominated by the Mayor of St Columb, presented by the Leader of Cornwall Council.

Pat’s work with the Oasis Centre, that began in 2010, has recently been recognised with a nomination for a Civic Award by the Mayor of St Columb, presented by the Leader of Cornwall Council. But Pat is very keen to point out that everything they have achieved is due to the help and support of all the volunteers who have helped to make the centre grow into the cherished heart of the community.

“It’s what care in the community is really about,” says Pat. “Finding out what people would like to do to feel more connected, then finding ways to make that happen.”

“It’s what care in the community is really about,” says Pat. “Finding out what people would like to do to feel more connected, then finding ways to make that happen.” It’s about asking and really listening, Pat says. It really did all start with a coffee morning because that was the most obvious way of getting people together.

“Donna Birrell has been a great supporter. We couldn’t very well advertise a coffee morning asking people to come along if they were lonely (as many of us are), but we could say, ‘Come and meet Donna.’ From that, people talked, shared, offered and a support network began to grow. It began as a chance to chat, then someone asked if we could have papers, board games, knitting…nothing outlandish or demanding, just small ways that people could share a common interest.”

Short-listed for ‘Best Rural Project’

Not only has Pat’s work been recognised, but the Oasis Centre itself has recently been nominated by one of their funders, the Joseph Rank Trust, for the Best Rural Project. The team have been invited to the ceremony in November to ‘celebrate the very best in Christian social action provision from across the country.’

Community spirit breeds more community spirit

With so little funding around and day centres stopping, it can seem daunting to set something up from nothing, but not for the volunteer team. “Community spirit breeds more community spirit,” says Pat. “A local landlord in Mawgan Porth supplies all our tea, coffee and biscuits and the local Co-op recently gave us trolley-loads of roast chicken for Foodbank at Christmas.”

Also, in the background, Transformation Cornwall, the ecumenical joint venture that supports faith-based community social action and anti-poverty work in Cornwall, has worked with the leaders and trustees of the Oasis Centre, helping them to develop a funding strategy. This has been invaluable and has helped to lead to various initiatives and outreach activities that have grown as the group have been successful in securing grants, including funding from the Joseph Rank Trust, the Rotary Club and help from the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro.

Memory Boxes

“The Museum have been great. They have put together Memory Boxes, focusing on different things from the past, like World War II, which really gets people chatting as they share their memories. Likewise, the Rotary Club funded items like our books of pictures of family holidays on the beaches in the fifties, which evokes so many positive memories.”

Because the various groups are now so visible, people let them know if they are concerned about anyone, or of someone is unwell or in hospital or just in need of a cup of tea. “The postman might say he was worried about so-and-so, or the local shop could ask if anyone has seen someone recently. Or the police and community officers might call in to chat to folk. It all helps to reinforce the sense that we are all looking after and out for each other.”

The Oasis Centre rooted itself in the early days in the Lann Pydar Benefice of St Columb, St Ervan, St Eval and St Mawgan, but today the volunteers come from all walks of life, offering different gifts and roles. Some can administer Communion at home, others do pastoral visits and others help with the practical elements of running so many activities and programmes including the monthly Citizens Advice Bureau, and the foodbank which is an offshoot of Newquay Foodbank.

Bringing the Oasis Centre to the housebound

“We’re working on a new development to ensure that people who are housebound have the same opportunities as those attending our cafes. Our volunteers will spend time with people at home, doing something that interests them – from talking about gardening to doing a puzzle. We also try to link people to other organisations who can help with specific needs. Last year we held a community healthcare day, inviting as many care providers as possible to try to de-mystify how and where to get help.”

If you look at everything the Oasis Centre does, and the strength of the community it has built up, it might seem more intimidating than inspiring. But as Pat insists, “Don’t see it as one lump, just lots of small and relatively easy ways to help people out of loneliness. You think you can’t do any more, then someone suggests something else and off you go again.”

Men-sheds

One such thing is the idea of Men-Sheds! With so many activities dominated by women, men sometimes need a space that they can just be around men. “We’ve put ourselves on the waiting list for an allotment and we’re hoping to raise funds for a shed. Hopefully, as well as being a comfortable space for men, it will also create produce for our cafes!”

From a coffee to man-sheds, the Oasis Centre is a fantastic example of what can be done if you just get up and do it. If you are interested in Pat or another member of the team coming to speak to your church about how it’s possible to do something similar, please click on the tree for further information.