Citizens UK
Citizens UK – in Somerset
Working for Justice through Community Action
Citizens UK is an organisation committed to working with local people, to hear their concerns about their community and take action to put them right. It describes itself as the “Home of Community Organising in the United Kingdom” and has been behind many successful campaigns, including being the driving force behind the introduction of the Real Living Wage (which the Methodist Church and many other employers have now adopted). It is concerned with real world issues of how society works but it is strictly non-party political.
Citizens UK has a number of branches – called Chapters – in London, Wales and many major cities across the country. And now the movement has come to the South West with the establishment of a local chapter “Citizens Somerset” which was formally launched at a Founding Assembly in Taunton in March 2019. It is the first to be set up in a mainly rural area.
The Methodist Circuit of Taunton Deane and South Sedgemoor has formally joined Citizens Somerset as a Founding Member Organisation, joining the Diocese of Bath & Wells, the United Reformed Church in Taunton and the Quakers, together with non-faith organisations like local schools and colleges and a number of committed individuals. The Circuit has taken the view that the goals of Citizens UK are very much in line with the Mission of the Methodist Church, to tackle issues of social justice and unfairness in our society and assist anybody who is affected by them.
It is early days for Citizens Somerset but the Circuit is looking forward to working with others to address issues which concern our membership. For a link to the Citizens Somerset website and to keep up to date with campaigns on the areas chosen as initial priorities, please click on the link below
Citizens Somerset Update
Community Safety
The main focus for our campaigning work continues to be around the theme of Community Safety. The large listening programme last year, which was well supported by people across the Circuit, has been followed up recently with some more targeted action around our local parks in Taunton.
Elaine Banks has written about these community walks in detail below, and describes how representatives from Taunton Town Council and the Police, the Mayor and Councillors from Somerset Council also took part and committed to take action to improve the situation.
Accountability Assembly
On a wider level it is planned to bring this topic to an Accountability Assembly in the run-up to the next elections for the post of Police & Crime Commissioner in May. As we know, elections offer a great opportunity to get commitments from politicians to action and all the candidates standing for election will be invited to attend.
The Commissioner’s role covers the whole of the Avon & Somerset Policing area and the plan is to hold a joint event with friends in Bristol and North Somerset who are in the early stages of setting up their own Citizens organisations. The Assembly will be held in Bristol at the City Academy and we hope to fill its 400 seats for maximum effect. We know that it won’t be easy for some people from our area to attend an event in Bristol but we hope that a few people from the Circuit will be able to get there and support the many young people from our local schools and colleges who will be going.
Please put the date in your diary – Monday 29th April, in the late afternoon.
Growing the Somerset Alliance Locally
Another date for the diary is Monday 26th February when we will be holding an event, incorporating what we have to do for our Annual General Meeting but with a focus on looking forward to how we are working to grow our Citizens Alliance in the coming year. This will be held locally in Taunton (venue to be confirmed) and take place between 17.30 and 19.30 with refreshments available from 17.00.
Other Work
We continue to work closely with Somerset Council on our other campaigns. It is well known that the Council is facing a really difficult financial position and implementation of the commitments made by the Council Leaders is slower than we had hoped. Despite this the Council remains very supportive of our goals and is keen to continue working with us.
And Finally
Deborah has previously written in the Link about the Methodist Church’s initiative to offer training in ‘Faith Rooted Community Organising’ and we are delighted to be sending a team of 7 people to the programme taking place in early April. This really shows the commitment of the Circuit to the goal of tacking social injustice.
John Haines
Community Safety: ‘Walks in the Parks’
‘Community Safety’ is one of the local Citizens projects, and I am privileged to be part of it.
After we listened to over 1400 people in the area last year, in our ‘Love2Listen’ Campaign, we have been following up with work in schools on the theme, and a very chilly time at the Victoria Park Underpass, talking to people about their experiences.
One thing that came out clearly from the children is the fears they feel in the local parks. Unlike older people, who mentioned littering, dog mess, noisy youths, etc, the children’s concerns centred much more around crime and violence – having bikes wrestled from them; being intimidated to give up money; being chased by gangs or by children wielding knives or (in one case) a machete; being faced with drunkenness or drug-taking; seeing their park play equipment being smashed beyond use.
As adults, this is a world we may not recognise – but for children in parts of Taunton, it is all too real.
Over the last couple of weeks, we have made banners with groups of pupils from two primary schools, and marched to their local parks (Victoria and Lyngford), where the children have presented their concerns to the mayor, police, Friends of the Parks, Taunton Town Councillors and officers, County Councillors, Street Pastors, and other concerned groups and individuals. The power of the stories, told directly by the children affected, was immense. On both occasions, the mayor spoke of the difference between ‘knowing what goes on’, and then hearing the children’s own stories and ‘feeling it’.
So far so good – but what came out of our ‘walks in the parks’?
What the children asked for was a meeting with the Town Council – and this was agreed to by the Leader of TTC; we will go to a Council Meeting with our stories and our banners, and take this forward.
Other things that we might not have expected also happened –
• Parents who came along and told us that they didn’t allow their children to use the parks, were keen to set up a parallel meeting, to see how we can work together – so that is now on the agenda as well!
• The Town Council attenders spoke to us of the problems with vandalism of play equipment, and told us that hearing the children’s stories had made them realise that their priority in future must be ‘embedded’ play equipment, to deter breakages [we were able to point them towards a play space that uses this sort of equipment, which they will now visit]
• Street pastors in the area said they will change their patrol times to be around the park after school on certain days, to support the children’s free use of the space.
So – although it was cold and windy, being in the parks in the twilight in January, we gave the children a voice; we spoke to a lot of people; we had some positive results; and we confirmed our belief that everyone is on the same side – nobody made excuses, everyone just asked, ‘what can we do to make this better’? Best of all was realising the passion the children have to make their world a better place.
Working with Citizens is clearly Faith in Action – and that’s why we as Methodists are involved.
Elaine
Faith Rooted Community Organising
An introductory weekend course to its core practices.
Who is it for? People who want to develop or are already nurturing a new Christian community within their circuit or district. Ideally, we would like people to come as a team (at least two people from each team with a maximum of four).
What's it about? Faith rooted organising offers a way to resource and enable people to find out where God is at work in their communities, and join in. What is distinctive about (Christian) faith rooted organising is that it is grounded in who we are as a people of Christian faith; rooted and centred in God, in our practices of prayer and worship, and in the way we live out and share our faith. The weekend will be held at Cliff College, beginning at 1pm with lunch on the Friday afternoon and ending after lunch on the Sunday. For further information or to book a place on this FREE course (various choices of dates) please contact Julian Bond, bondj@methodistchurch.org.uk or look at this page on the Methodist website Faith Rooted Community Organising (methodist.org.uk) He will confirm your place (which includes accommodation at Cliff College) within a couple of days. [Please let Deborah know you intend to book.]
• February 23rd - 25th, 2024
• April 5th - 7th, 2024
• November 8th -10th, 2024
Travel costs to be paid by attendees (if this is prohibitive, please contact us).
Deborah