From a Foodbank to a writer's group, community law to counselling services, a genealogy group to a men's group, the list of organisations and groups making use of the space at Stratford Community House is large, and trustee Kelvin Squire says it has potential to expand even more.
"We have 12 rooms, plus a boardroom, all of which can be hired out for individual meetings, regular clinics or one-off presentations. It would be great to see more groups making use of the facilities, reducing their own overheads while benefiting from a type of collaboration, where tenants are sharing the costs of keeping rent reasonable and having a reception area."
Kelvin says the trustees are working hard to ensure the costs of running the not for profit organisation are self-sustaining.
If we were to allow ourselves to be completely reliant on external benefactors then we would be in trouble the minute that funding was reduced.
"I volunteer as a reliever here occasionally and it is certainly always busy. There is clearly a need for this central base," says Kelvin, who sees a clear benefit from groups having a shared space