An invitation to support Christian Aid Week. Every blessing, Andy Rickell

CIRENCESTER ASHCROFT WORK & WIFI CLUB

WEEKLY UPDATE - UPDATED AT 13TH MAY 2025 (with updated next 4 weeks’ sessions)

(Written as usual from home in Stratton, Cirencester)

**NEWSFLASH**

The work club is now the work & wifi club! This is to emphasise that we not only help people seeking work, but also people wanting to improve their access to the internet. At both Cirencester Ashcroft Church and Centre, Ashcroft Road, and at St Lawrence’s Church, Chesterton, Cirencester we now can offer free internet access during our sessions, which you can use with or without support from the club. We have tablets we can help you use, if you don’t have your own device.

The work & wifi 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 & wifi club times by :-
- Face-to-face;
- Email : workclub@ashcroftchurch.org.uk;
- Phone or text : 07951439302;
- Sending a message through the Cirencester Ashcroft Work & Wifi 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 beginning of NOVEMBER 2025 are in the Events section (which is itself sometimes in the About section) of the Cirencester Ashcroft Work & Wifi 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 19th May 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 20th May 12.00 - 2.00 (AT ASHCROFT CENTRE)

Monday 26th May 9.00 - 11.00 (CLOSED - BANK HOLIDAY)
Tuesday 27th May 12.00 - 2.00 (AT ASHCROFT CENTRE)

Monday 2nd June 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 3rd June 12.00 - 2.00 (AT ASHCROFT CENTRE)

Monday 9th June 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 10th June 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 & wifi club is a key part of Ashcroft’s mission and outreach project until at least June 2028. After that date I intend to continue to run the work & wifi club indefinitely, whether or not part of a larger project.)

Andy Rickell, Cirencester Ashcroft Work & Wifi Club Manager

Democracy may be imperfect, but it’s the best form of government a free country can have (so implied Churchill in one of his famous quotes). Following the local elections, a new set of politicians have to get to grips with the reality of governing us, including in this county at Gloucestershire County Council. It’s a tough job (having been a county councillor myself in the early noughties). Council tax is not a particularly fair tax (remember it was the alternative to the truly unfair poll tax). The grants from central government have been substantially reduced over the last few decades, leaving the county council to deliver stretched services with stretched budgets. This leaves the main county council services - education, social services and highways - under real pressure. So we pray for all those whose lives are or will be significantly affected by stretched council services. We pray for all those politicians who stood in the elections wanting to genuinely represent and serve their constituents. And we pray for all of us to encourage our elected politicians to live up to the high standards it is reasonable to expect of those in elected office. Every blessing, Andy Rickell, Circuit Social Justice Officer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2e510knnlo?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR64-T4vrJH1hzjoyl9T0MlKdrw2o2Blwz7bZcka_hDobDudgrN3dXzD2eW9kg_aem_NvhraoVwzoaU2vRlwruGSQ

For those interested in engaging with issues of social, economic and environmental justice, here is a link to the latest edition of the Joint Public Issues Newsletter. If you have any queries, or would like support about an issue from the Circuit Social and Climate Justice Team, please contact me. Every blessing, Andy Rickell, Circuit Social Justice Officer

This week’s article focuses on Sharif’s story and the importance of teamwork. Teamwork can achieve much more than we expect when done well, using the individual and collective skills and insights of the whole group. If you struggle to work in a team, or are in a team that you wish might work better together, please do come and have a chat with us at Cirencester Ashcroft Work & Wifi Club. Our contact details are on the Cirencester Ashcroft Work & Wifi Club Facebook page. Andy Rickell, Cirencester Ashcroft Work & Wifi Club Manager

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z9nxqfr?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR43jeC0YhBJJ_food3o7hfWwP2ljt82UXAcg3Pfb3NeI1NM1XL7GD3VrVG6Yw_aem_6bh3C8QG_A-EW_Xp4zXsuQ