St Augustine's Centre, Halifax
Recently, MESH made a visit to St Augustine’s Centre in Halifax. This amazing centre exists to provide support to refugees and those seeking asylum in the Calderdale region. Mary and John from MESH met up with Umayyah, the Learning Manager at St Augustine’s, who kindly took the time to show us round the centre. In a maze of terraced housing in Park ward, recognised in the 2019 Index of Deprivation as the most deprived ward in Calderdale and within the 2% most deprived in the country, we find this handsome Victorian building, set in lovely gardens, lush in the late April sunshine.
Public and political discourse around issues of migration and asylum have made us fairly glum in recent weeks. At MESH we don’t really see Yorkshire and Humber as a ‘region of strangers’, to coin a phrase. We see it more as a region of welcome and care, creativity and mutual support. Visiting St A’s reminded us why this is not a naive pipe dream; it is actually a reality.
The Centre delivers ESOL classes 4 days a week at different levels. It has sewing and IT workshops, a free shop for adults’ and children’s clothes, a cafe and a lovely chill out space, table tennis on the lawn and a bike renovation unit round the back. All of this fuelled by a pervasive sense of engagement, urging people to get involved, to acquire skills and acquire confidence, whilst acknowledging their right to space, and offering care and support to those traumatised by experiences past and present.
The sewing and the bike repairs, the opportunity to be part of the catering team – these are all part of a holistic provision that shows just what is possible when you embed ESOL learning in wider opportunities – the kind of thing that is offered by many providers in our region, as our Wider Learning Opportunities resource shows.
The weekend before this visit I had watched the premier of Home Ground, a film about the St A’s football team coached by Arsalan, a refugee who now helps those who turn up at St A’s to feel part of something through football. Football as care. Now there is a vision to lift our hearts! If you get a chance to see this film, take it. It shows what is possible through mutual respect and support, and it crystallises what St A’s provides in the heart of Halifax. What a vital resource! What a relief!
