CIRENCESTER ASHCROFT WORK & WIFI CLUB

WEEKLY UPDATE - UPDATED AT 18TH MARCH 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 middle of AUGUST 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 24th March 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 25th March 12.00 - 2.00 (AT ASHCROFT CENTRE)

Monday 31st March 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 1st April 12.00 - 2.00 (AT ASHCROFT CENTRE)

Monday 7th April 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 8th April 12.00 - 2.00 (AT ASHCROFT CENTRE)

Monday 14th April 9.00 - 11.00 (AT ST LAWRENCE’S CENTRE)
Tuesday 15th April 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 2027. 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

Hmm. This looks like good news in that some research will be done to investigate the sources of pollution in the River Wye, and is to be welcomed. However it replaces a previous commitment to spend a lot more money on actively doing something about it. This sounds a bit like an example of government finding a way to publicise that they are doing something about a known environmental problem, whilst at the same time not doing as much about it as they previously promised, because they have other financial priorities. So we pray for environmental issues to be properly tackled in our county. We pray for those who have democratic responsibility for tackling environmental issues to not be distracted by other priorities, nor find a way to pretend they are doing something to deflect criticism. And we pray for all of us to hold our democratic leaders responsible for doing their jobs properly when it comes to environmental issues. Every blessing, Andy Rickell, Circuit Social Justice Officer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30m64ge8g9o?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2w0qYLJkHh3CrYk57nk9u2HR3j4xDsByOnIBmsskZVNZqmoGrKB2DFPeQ_aem_0p42_BaxPm6VcQmHHVILtA

A prayer to mark the fifth anniversary since the start of the pandemic. Every blessing, Andy Rickell, Circuit Social Justice Officer

https://www.methodist.org.uk/about/5-years-on-from-covid/a-prayer-to-mark-five-years-since-the-start-of-the-pandemic/?

This article focuses on the secrets of success for entrepreneurs, but many of them could also equally apply to success in an employment career. If you wonder how some of these ideas might help you but are not sure, then please talk to 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/z74xqp3?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0ibEyC2MAcmqkX7CwcSUs7U_KOaIsU4KeEreLSpUVwLcCfNx6vwXHWHmA_aem_aEHoMxyau65_DaXG7tGOXA

Good to hear. Every blessing, Andy Rickell