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Sometimes a reference site visit can turn into so much more.
In the course of our investigations into booking systems software, we were directed towards Swaffham Community Centre, which has just starting using the package we're examining.
Five of the team went to visit, and were delighted to discover that we're not going mad: community enterprises can and do work!
Swaffham Community Centre is fantastic - run by a couple of paid staff (including, Vicky, an unbelievably competent and capable 23 year old assistant manager who started out as a volunteer), managed by a board of voluntary trustees, it's full of life and making a great contribution to the local community.
Run by the Iceni Partnership, the Community Centre has rooms leased to various local bodies, such as Adult Education, Norfolk Homestart, West Norfolk MIND. This provides a useful income stream that unfortuntely we won't be able to replicate at Pennoyer's.
What it does have, however, is a lovely community cafe serving simple food to local people. It has an internet cafe used by young and old. A businessman was sitting in the cafe working on his laptop, using the wifi access in the building. Adult education courses run there regularly. It has award-winning Youth services. The partnership supports local people in applying for grants to deliver services and facilities locally. Volunteers from Swaffham and surrounding villages have many ways to become involved, and get great enjoyment from doing so.
And the Partnership is solvent, with a rosy future.
If Pennoyer's can achieve half of what the Iceni Partnership does, it will be a huge success.
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