Community Group of the Year nomination – SwanBank Methodist Church

Community Group of the Year nomination – SwanBank Methodist Church

From parent and toddler sessions to a dementia care group, SwanBank Methodist Church in Burslem reaches out to all sectors of the local community.

The church has been nominated in the Community Group of the Year category of the Your Heroes Awards by Lloyd Cooke, CEO of Saltbox.

He said: “The volunteers and small staff team at Swanbank Methodist Church provide a range of caring services for the folk in and around Burslem.

“Twice a week it provides a soup kitchen for hungry, vulnerable people. Each week it provides a foodbank, mums and toddlers group, community lounge, knit and natter for older people, a dementia care group in partnership with Dougie Mac and two youth clubs.

“Five days a week it provides a community grocery providing affordable foods plus cookery courses. It works in partnership with No 11 to support vulnerable adults, Adullum to provide a homeless shelter and CareLink to provide a Chatty Cafe for isolated older people. On Christmas Day SwanBank provides a hot cooked meal for hundreds of local people.”

Ruth Jeffries, a Minister at Swanbank Methodist Church, said: “We are honoured to have been nominated for the Your Heroes Awards but we obviously don’t do this for the recognition. We do it because we love God and we love the town.

“Our community work is very much the work of the whole church and we couldn’t do it without our volunteers.

“Outside the church there is a sign saying that our heart is with Burslem, the Mother Town, and that’s who we are.”