St Mary’s Community Room has become the most recent space where YOU works from to help the local community. The community building is managed and owned by VIVID, with their charity arm VIVID PLUS driving the initiative.
The official launch was opened by Derek Steek, Head of Communities, Standards and Partnerships at VIVID. Derek said that one of VIVID’s aims is to bring community centres back into use. Especially since COVID saw the closure of so many. The opening of this beautiful building followed its refurbishment and is the first in a line of community buildings VIVID PLUS plans on investing in.
YOU Trustees joined the opening along with Home Instead Portsmouth, Portsmouth Carers Centre, Martyn Reah from Hayling College, Counsellor Chris Atwell, Portsmouth South Coast PCN and Hayling Island & Emsworth PCN. Some of the attendees also got to enjoy a trike ride from our Cycling Without Age service. Thanks Floyd!
St Mary’s upgrade
Anne-Marie Mountfield, Chair of the VIVID Plus board, said:
It is hugely rewarding and exciting to see the outcome of this refurbishment and partnership work to reach those in greatest need. Inspired by the great success YOU Trust is already bringing to St Mary’s, we will continue to work hard to create spaces that communities can build around, providing services that address local challenges at the heart of them.
VIVID PLUS works closely with multiple community organisations to help identify areas of deprivation that can benefit from rehabilitation that will most benefit the community.
This newly refurnished space allows YOU’s social prescribing team to collaborate more efficiently by working together. Before this the team worked separately and remotely.
Karen Hobbs, Community Services and Business Development Manager at YOU said:
Access to this incredible new space at St Mary’s has been life changing for our team. It gives us the space to have a wider team working together; able to collaborate on complex cases and ensure an even stronger service.
The new community space in St Mary’s wouldn’t have happened without VIVID, thank you!
