From a Foodbank to a writer's group, community law to counselling services, a genealogy group to a men's group, the list of organisations and groups making use of the space at Stratford Community House is large, and trustee Kelvin Squire says it has potential to expand even more.
"We have 12 rooms, plus a boardroom, all of which can be hired out for individual meetings, regular clinics or one-off presentations. It would be great to see more groups making use of the facilities, reducing their own overheads while benefiting from a type of collaboration, where tenants are sharing the costs of keeping rent reasonable and having a reception area."
Kelvin says the trustees are working hard to ensure the costs of running the not for profit organisation are self-sustaining.
If we were to allow ourselves to be completely reliant on external benefactors then we would be in trouble the minute that funding was reduced.
"I volunteer as a reliever here occasionally and it is certainly always busy. There is clearly a need for this central base," says Kelvin, who sees a clear benefit from groups having a shared space
"Professional collaboration can be helpful, people can talk to each other, share information and refer clients to other services easily."
Visitors to the Community House receive a warm welcome from house manager Sally Dodunski.
Sally, Kelvin says, is a real asset to all who use the house, as tenants benefit from having the main reception area manned until 1pm each day.
"We are very fortunate to have Sally, her skills and warm welcome meet the needs of our tenants and their clients."
Sally says working at the Community House is "a pleasure," and she hopes more groups will start to use the facility. "We have a wonderful building here, the boardroom is well equipped with technology so users can run powerpoints, plug in their laptops and hold their meetings in comfort and privacy. Excellent Wi-Fi ensures fast internet and cloud access.
Kelvin says having more groups use the space will help the trust build a depreciation fund, "at the moment we have a wonderful new building, but new buildings get old; as trustees we plan to ensure we can meet future costs of the building, adding and replacing things as they are needed whilst guaranteeing the house continues to run smoothly now and in the future".
He explains the primary purposes of the charitable trust are to provide a support structure for social service community and voluntary organisations who serve the Stratford Community, and to promote and foster collaboration and co-operation for the benefit of people living in the community.
"Now in our fourth year I think we can be pleased that out of a need identified by the Stratford District Council, investigated by them and the Bishops Action Foundation the Stratford Community House Trust was formed. A fine example of how working together benefits our community, we have ensured more services are available locally by providing a venue that is pleasant, affordable and easily accessed," says Stratford Community House chairperson Mary Garlick.
"At the end of the day, the Community House is about tangata, tangata, tangata. People, people, people. It provides people with a place to meet, to access services and information, and that is a real taonga."