New initiative between Garrison Church and those with Learning Disabilities
Regular visits from Riverwood Centre, part of Greenwich Mencap & Brighter Futures
For some years the Church has had a good relationship with Shooters Hill 6th Form College. Every Tuesday in the summer term a group of students between 13 and 18 years attend the Church for an hour and half with Ruth McCulloch their teacher and some support staff. All the students have learning difficulties , some more profound than others. They enjoy their visits to the Church where they can do work, if they are so minded, such as watering the flower beds, picking up litter or raking the gravel.
This year we decided to increase our profile with groups dealing with learning disabled teenagers and adults, and have established a link with the Brighter Futures Group under Kemi Madumere and the Riverwood Centre where our link is with their Arts and Craft Leader Samuel Kenny. We are planning fortnightly drop-in events at the Church on alternate Tuesdays during the summer months for members of both those groups as well as those from Shooters Hill 6th Form College.
The first of these events occurred on Tuesday 29th April 29 and involved about 50 people in all . Ruth, Jane and I were on hand to help with the refreshments; (we are hoping that Tescos will sponsor these fortnightly events as the summer progresses). The event on 29th April went off very well. It was a lovely sunny day. Some of the students wanted to dance around, some wanted to sit In the garden and do very little, others did some light gardening and those from the Riverwood Centre went over to Barrack Field to kick a football around with Samuel. There were some new friends from Shooters Hill 6th Form College and the event was enjoyed by everyone.
We hope that the initiative will continue as it brings the Garrison Church into contact with a group in the community who have their fair share of problems but are enthusiastic and interested.
