‘The catalyst for all of this was Big Local’
In Windmill Hill in Runcorn, Nikki and Carole connected over their vision for the redevelopment of St Bert’s church and community hub – which is just one of the legacies their Big Local is leaving for its residents.
When Nikki entered St Bert’s Church in Windmill Hill back in 2017, it was a life-changing experience.
Nikki moved to Windmill Hill from nearby Murdishaw in 2000, where she had been living with her mum. “To be honest, I was a little bit unsure at first about moving to Windmill Hill,” she recalls. “You hear negative stories about a place.”
Around 12 years later, Nikki started having panic attacks, which led to chronic agoraphobia. She didn’t leave the house for four and a half years. Somehow, she had to find a way to confront her anxiety and do everyday things, like taking her young child to school.
Nikki had read a story in the Windmill Hill Big Local newsletter about the appointment of a new vicar at St Bert’s and the opening of a community café inside the church.
“It took me a long time to pick up the courage to go to the church. Going into St Bert’s for the first time I felt accepted. It’s my relationship with St Bert’s that has made me who I am today,” she says.
Nikki, chair of Windmill Hill Big Local, speaks to attendees at the opening of their community hub.
A shared vision for St Bert’s
Nikki started volunteering at events that were being supported by Windmill Hill Big Local but was reluctant to get more involved at a time when the partnership was struggling.
“I used to take my mum to a community lunch regularly held at St Bert’s, but there was talk that it could close down. So I thought, ‘You’ve got to get in there, to try and make a difference.’
“But I also felt there was so much we could do with the church. My opinion, as a resident, is that if you come here regularly then you want a say on how it will be used.”
It was through St Bert’s that Nikki first met Carole Lewis, a parishioner and retired social worker who had been coming to the church since 2012. It turned out that they shared a similar view about the role it should play within Windmill Hill.
We were all working together very collaboratively, with different voices, including the church, putting ideas on the table.”
Carole Lewis
“I don’t believe a church is just about Sundays. It should be in use seven days a week,” says Carole. “It also felt very remote from the community. I had a conviction, if you like, to change that and probably ruffled some feathers and made a lots of people’s lives quite difficult in the process!” she laughs.
“The café was the first big step. Then things started to happen around 2016/17, soon after it opened. Suddenly, it was as if we all had a shared vision. We were all working together very collaboratively, with different voices, including the church, putting ideas on the table. And the catalyst for all of this was Big Local.”
Driving the redevelopment project
The church had been central to Windmill Hill Big Local’s plan for many years, but it required people to drive the project, to redevelop the building, create a community hub and turn talk into action – especially when, in 2020, the vicar decided to move on.
As Carole explains, “He put his cards on the table and said, ‘if you want this project to go anywhere, somebody has to take over’. So I said, ‘I’m not letting this die’.”
Yet, when the plans were first announced, the initial challenge was to counter objections being voiced among some residents, including fears that the hub would increase noise and create parking problems.
“The biggest thing was this idea that we were simply handing the money over to the church. It’s simply not true,” Carole says.
So how did they counter the negativity?
“I like to get out into the community, talk to people, hear what they have to say. We had to be positive but more importantly, tell residents the truth and be straight with them,” says Nikki. And since the hub opened earlier this year, those negative voices have gone silent.
Volunteers pack up food bags for attendees of the community hub opening.
Increasing social cohesion
Carole could be described as a force of nature. “She runs the café and organises a ‘grab and go’ service here, where she collects free food from supermarkets that people can take home, no questions asked. She’s also a fundraising genius!” says Dan Ellis.
Dan is the development manager at Groundwork Cheshire Lancashire and Merseyside, Windmill Hill Big Local’s locally trusted organisation (the organisation chosen by a Big Local partnership to administer and account for the spending of Big Local funding on their behalf).
I’ve gone from not being able to get out of the house and now I’m talking to anybody and everybody.”
Nikki
Indeed, if Carole has made anyone’s life difficult, then it’s her own. Plenty of people would have walked away from this project – especially when you understand how many moving parts there are, with seven different external funders involved, alongside Windmill Hill Big Local.
“You don’t just get £100,000 to go ahead and do a lovely project,” says Carole. “They will have time limits to get something completed.
“Just like any other new building project, the costs were continuing to go up, so we were having to get more money in, and the process of getting that money can take months, while you’re also trying to juggle all the other funders who will say, ‘Well, you know, you’ve got to finish this within three months.’ So, we were under tremendous pressure.”
In the weeks leading up to the hub opening, the project would give Nikki sleepless nights. What if it didn’t encourage more people to use the church? And while the official opening took place in February this year, Carole and Nikki’s work is far from done.
“We’ve got youth groups coming in, dance groups, scouts. There is a lot going on here for youths which didn’t happen before, but I’d like to see more variety. We want to increase social cohesion,” Carole says.
“We have also started thinking about community projects connected to the church’s garden. We want to use it for environmental projects but also for growing food. There’s a lot of evidence around gardening and how it can improve mental health. Then I thought, well maybe we can go further and bring in therapeutic (gardening) workers.”
Creating positive mental health impacts
Redeveloping the church is the obvious legacy of Windmill Hill Big Local. Yet creating positive mental health impacts could be viewed as another important legacy, not least when considering the journey that Nikki has been on.
“It’s just been such a positive experience,” she says. “I’ve loved getting involved with Big Local and I love being part of this community.
“I’ve gone from not being able to get out of the house and now I’m talking to anybody and everybody. So, yeah, it’s meant a lot, not just to me but also my family to see the positive change in me.”
By Ryan Herman
Photos: Celebrating Windmill Hill community hub opening. (credit: Local Trust/Danyelle Rolla)
Find out more about Windmill Hill Big Local’s journey, the big wins they’ve been celebrating, and their commitment to creating a better future for the next generation.
