CIRENCESTER ASHCROFT WORK CLUB

WEEKLY UPDATE - UPDATED AT 8TH OCTOBER 2024 (with updated next 4 weeks’ sessions)

(Written as usual from home in Stratton, Cirencester)

**NEWSFLASH**

Monday sessions have moved to St Lawrence’s Church, Chesterton, Cirencester from 4th March 2024 as part of building Cirencester Ashcroft Church’s partnership with St Lawrence’s. The Tuesday sessions will continue at Cirencester Ashcroft Church, Ashcroft Road, Cirencester, as usual.

The work club will continue to operate on most

Mondays - 9.00am to 11.00am at St Lawrence’s Church Centre
and
Tuesdays – 12.00pm to 2.00pm at Cirencester Ashcroft Church & Centre
(but not on Bank Holidays).

We are now usually open for confidential one-to-one face-to-face support at these times. We also provide one-to-one phone and online support at these times too.

We also work in partnership with Cirencester Jobcentre to support referred jobseekers who would like some extra assistance.

You can contact me at the usual work club times by :-
- Face-to-face;
- Email : workclub@ashcroftchurch.org.uk;
- Phone or text : 07951439302;
- Sending a message through the Cirencester Ashcroft Work Club Facebook page.

We can then have a chat face-to-face, by phone, by message, or by video link if we can set one up, and I will do my best to help you.

You can also contact me at other times and we will then agree an appointment time to have a proper conversation.

Specific opening times over the next few weeks are below. Later opening times for the period up to the end of MAY 2025 are in the Events section (which is itself sometimes in the About section) of the Cirencester Ashcroft Work Club and Cirencester Ashcroft Church and Centre Facebook pages. To access those later times, you will now need to be signed in to Facebook yourself, as Facebook recently “upgraded” so that Events data cannot be accessed by internet search alone (at least that seems to be what’s happened). Also Facebook only lets us select a maximum of about 50 future dates for an event at the time it is first published, hence why it appears to stop at a random date.

Monday 14th October 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 15th October 12.00 - 2.00 (AT ASHCROFT CENTRE)

Monday 21st October 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 22nd October 12.00 - 2.00 (AT ASHCROFT CENTRE)

Monday 28th October 9.00 - 11.00 (CLOSED - VOLUNTEER ON LEAVE)
Tuesday 29th October 12.00 - 2.00 (CLOSED - VOLUNTEER ON LEAVE)

Monday 4th November 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 5th November 12.00 - 2.00 (AT ASHCROFT CENTRE)

(For those who are interested, I normally highlight the opening times for the next 4 weeks. However sometimes I increase this when they include a break, in part to make sure that the last week I show is one when we are open. This is to emphasise that any closure is only temporary. The work club is a key part of Ashcroft’s mission and outreach project until at least June 2027. After that date I intend to continue to run the work club indefinitely, whether or not part of a larger project.)

Andy Rickell, Cirencester Ashcroft Work Club Manager

TUESDAY PRAYERS FOR GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Identifying Assets of Community Value is a great piece of law in order to try and save socially valuable property from redevelopment. A building or other land is an asset of community value if its main use has recently been or is presently used to further the social wellbeing or social interests of the local community and could do so in the future. It is great to read this story of a community organisation successfully buying some land in the county from a sympathetic owner to save it for future generations. So we pray for all those community groups trying to save valuable social assets for future generations. We pray for all those current owners of valuable social assets who are willing to work with the people who benefit from them to find secure futures for those assets. And we pray for all of us to be willing to join in campaigns to safeguard local assets that support the quality of life in our county. Every blessing, Andy Rickell, Circuit Social Justice Officer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0490v29w79o?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1CTUHnjs1b6Q5X6xtDMKVyEKFTznjpQOkq7i-GUB9-i2lZKnQIU5JDu6M_aem_qCkejpWAl3rWENpGKUbNZg

A rare anniversary for a non-Conformist church building that continues to be a church building. A great opportunity to pay them a visit. Every blessing, Andy Rickell

Confidence is something that can be learned. It doesn’t feel like that when you lack it, as you think it can only come from experience and competence. However if you think about it more like “being positive about the future”, then it’s no longer about previous success but about the way you approach everything, including the need and willingness to learn and improve. This article offers some suggested strategies, and so can we at Cirencester Ashcroft Work Club. Our contact details are on the Cirencester Ashcroft Work Club Facebook page. Andy Rickell, Cirencester Ashcroft Work Club Manager

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdr37nb?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2FqV8v5qXlrgmiXWo6SD8pekloGQAOEvW7ULocjuunnWDIR6v9lEFGq30_aem_iLlMxBkrhny1PXjp1aHTCQ