There is a new after-school meal and craft club called Grub’s Up, ‘for children and their grown-ups’, at St Mary’s Church, Bridgwater. Children and their parents or carers can come along and enjoy craft-making, food and conversation in a lively and welcoming community atmosphere.
Revd Suse Osmond, the vicar at St Mary’s, told us how Grub’s Up came about and the effect it is having on the local community. “We’re a Magnificat parish. At our local school, in this cost-of-living crisis, there were parents who were trying to make decisions about whether they chose to feed their children over themselves. We decided to start an after-school drop-in for families that were not able to give their children hot food in the evening, or families that were struggling financially to provide throughout the week. It would give them a night off from cooking, as well as ease the financial burden, and the children would have the experience of sitting down at a table with other children and adults. It’s a way of showing God’s love in the community. At the end of Grub’s Up last week, four children asked if we could baptise them, and two adults as well. This all came out of the conversations.”
Grub’s Up is run by volunteers. It takes place from 3.30 to 5 pm on Thursdays, and adults can’t attend without a child. Children come from several local schools and their ages range from toddlers to early teens (they are mostly of primary school age, but siblings can come along too). Suse said, “When the children arrive, there are three or four craft activities going on. While the children do crafts together, the parents and carers can do crafts with their children or sit and chat with the other adults over tea, coffee and hot chocolate. At around 4.15 pm everyone sits down to eat together. Grub’s Up will continue through the summer holidays and if families want to come in earlier on a Thursday they can come and eat at the church café at lunchtime as well.”
Suse spoke about the response of the people who have attended the first few events. “It's based on shared hospitality, recognising that everyone has value and has something to give. We have great conversations with children and their parents. Families are really loving coming along, it’s given them a real point of connection. They feel welcome here, and in turn they want to volunteer in other things that we do. The conversation’s really open. We talked last week with them about the loss of family members who have died and their experience of that and offered to pray. It’s just living out the gospel, being present with people and letting them know they’re valued and loved, and that there is hope and a future, and God’s got a path for them.”
The church has a toddler group on Tuesday mornings, where young families and carers can connect with others. Suse said, “Now there are volunteers at the toddler group that have come from the families of Grub’s Up.” The church also runs a café where they offer lunches on a Thursday, and tea and coffee the rest of the week. In addition, there is Café Church at the beginning of each month.
Suse talked about how Grub’s Up is funded. “We’ve managed to partner with some of the local supermarkets, they’re giving us bits of food that they’ve got a surplus of. Also, the local food bank regularly gets a surplus of supplies like pasta. Each week we give them a call and if they’ve got stuff that can help us they’ll send it our way. We’ve signed up for something called FareShare. You pay a small amount of money every week and you get food that’s been shared among agencies and providers around the area.” The toddler group has received charitable funding and the church is applying for funding to help with its other community projects. Regarding funding, Suse said, “We’re people of faith and we feel called to do this. So whilst we know we might have to make many painstaking funding applications, we also think that where God’s call is to do something, there will be ways the funding will come in.”
St Mary’s Church is inclusive. Suse said, "What we’re developing is that we’re a positive mental health space for everyone. Everything we do is measured against our vision statement, which is to ‘to love, serve and welcome all, as a nourishing community, passionate and energised by our faith.' How do you make worship accessible, so people feel it’s an expression of who we are and of the whole community?”