A CHURCH that has called Wokingham Youth and Community Centre home for a year will shortly be uprooted as its space is repurposed by the council.
Foundation Church urgently needs a new home and is very keen to hear from anyone who might know of suitable premises.
Wokingham Borough Council plans to refurbish and redevelop the Reading Road building (where Foundation currently meets) to create a new Care Leavers Support Hub.
The council says it aims to repurpose the centre in a way that causes minimal disruption while enabling greater community use in the future.
Once complete, the new hub will have its own dedicated entrance, and exclusive use of around a third of the building.
While Foundation agrees the plan is an exciting development for Wokingham, an unintended consequence of the project is the displacement of the church.
In 12 months the church has grown from 80 to 120 people, of whom more than 50 are children and teenagers.
This makes it one of the largest regular users of the Youth and Community Centre, yet it was not consulted during the planning stage of the redevelopment, and now has just a few weeks to find a new home.
Foundation pastor Owen Hayward said: “We fully support the council’s plans to create a support hub for care leavers in Wokingham to improve on the existing provision in the borough.
“We are, however, disappointed not to have been consulted, or at least considered in their decision making process.
“It seems a decision was made in February this year, but we were not informed until the 24th June.
“We have loved meeting at the centre over the past year.
“It has been a fantastic space for us and has enabled many new people to access and engage with the church.
“The council’s plans leave us with very little time and very few options.
“Before moving into the Youth and Community Centre, we contacted numerous potential venues, including most of the schools in Wokingham, in search of a suitable place to gather.
“Unfortunately, school facilities were either unavailable or unsuitable, and there were no other community hall-type venues capable of accommodating us.
“We have also invested considerable time and effort in trying to find property in Wokingham that we could either purchase or lease as a base from which, in addition to Sunday worship, we could serve the people of Wokingham throughout the week.
“To date, that search has been unsuccessful, with properties proving unsuitable, unavailable, or simply unaffordable.”
If anyone knows of suitable premises that could accommodate a growing church community, Foundation Church would very much like to hear from them.
Meetings are currently held at Wokingham’s Youth and Community Centre on Sunday mornings at 10am.
For information, and to contact the church, visit: foundationchurch.org.uk or email: hello@foundationchurch.org.uk
