Church Action on Poverty North East Annual Report Jan 2013 Oct 2014
Church Action on Poverty North East Annual Report Jan uary 2013-Oct ober 2014 The first event after our AGM at the beginning of 2013 was Poverty Action Sunday 2013 The annual event for CAPNE s participation for Poverty Action Week in 2013 was held at St Bede s Bedlington. The theme of the week and event was Can you throw the first stone? The theme is taken from the story of Jesus we read in John s Gospel 8:1-11 where Jesus is faced with the woman who is about to be put to death by stoning and asks If there is one among you who has not sinned let him be the first to throw the first stone. The context of the theme Can you cast the first stone was to highlight an increasingly common mind-set that people in poverty were being blamed for being poor. Poverty was deemed to be their fault. In the service we had a witness from Anne Pilcher who was the victim of disability hatred; from Mike Clark who helps to run the local food bank in Bedlington, the Matthew Project; and finally from Paul Robertson from Citizens Advice Bureau. They all told powerful stories of people who were facing great difficulties and clearly they were not to blame. The stories of cancer victims who faced hard financial choices while fighting cancer, I found to be particularly poignant. The event was attended by around eighty people with a good representation from the local Churches Together group. The local MP for the Wansbeck constituency, Ian Lavery, also attended and spoke about the theme of the event. The feedback to the event was positive. What particularly stood out was the good representation of the local churches together group which meant that CAPNE was addressing many who had not been at a CAPNE event before. Chris Hughes At our first meeting after the AGM we reviewed possible areas of work for the coming year which included: Welfare Reform and Benefit Reductions; Poverty Truth Commission for the North East and Poverty Premium. Largely because national CAP had identified the Poverty Premium on food, fuel, finance and funerals as a priority, we agreed to make this our top priority for the year. We attended meetings at Durham university, convened by national CAP with a view to partnership working on the Poverty Premium, but unfortunately funding bids for this work were not successful, so we were only able to proceed with the following local events: Poverty Premium as experienced in our most disadvantaged communities On the 1st October 2013 Church Action on Poverty (NE) hosted a meal and discussion to bring grassroots community members together to develop strategies for challenging the Poverty Premium. The event was organised at the Cedarwood Trust building in North Shields where over 20 people attended to discuss ways to combat the effects of the Poverty Premium in practical and appropriate ways. The event took as its focus the statement that low income households are paying an average of 1,280 per year more than higher income households for basic goods and services. The event was based around a shared meal, prepared by volunteers from the Cedarwood Trust and had inputs from Cedarwood Trust and the Churches Regional Commission North East who guided the conversation and led the group. at Cedarwood. The attendance was made up of community members, workers and volunteers and the discussion centred around the kind of supports needed. Fear and poor communications were generally experienced as problems. Fuel poverty and payment options; benefit suspensions and the responsibilities of Job Centre Plus; young people sofa surfing were particular problems highlighted. It was felt that this event was a good starting point for a potential Poverty Premium Campaign. Phil McGrath
Credit Unions.A Key Role Church Action on Poverty North East has had a long association with the Credit Union movement, but in the light of the following: Poverty Premium focus on finance New challenges faced by Credit Unions due to changes in legislation governing their administration The Archbishop of Canterbury s pledge of support for Credit Unions We agreed to work in partnership with North East Churches Together (NECCT) to organise an event in November when we considered the impact of new financial legislation on credit unions and the challenges facing them relating to the financial exclusion of the most needy. Sixty people attended this event from across the region, coming from credit unions and churches with strong representation from the Faith in the Community project An outcome was that information about the credit unions and key resource people in the region was made available. Bernadette Askins As a group we have always supported members particular perspectives and involvements in poverty issues. Two of our members are involved in work in prisons and young offenders institutions and a third with a background in adult education was already engaged, through the Churches Regional Commission with prison chaplains and others with an interest in this area of work. As a group we agreed to support some development work in this area Inside and Outside Inside and Outside is a project that consists of members of CAPNE and others who are seeking to develop the relationship of people who are or have been in prison with faith based communities. There have been a number of meetings including a 24 hour meeting at Shepherds Dene in June 2013. The group has benefited from having on it someone who has been recently in prison, whose insights and experiences have been especially helpful In the light of various discussions the project is currently working on three strands: o To encourage and facilitate, in co-operation with governors and chaplains, some people in a few prisons in doing peer research into what needs there are that might be met by faith communities. The group has been in touch with the Governor of Deerbolt Young Offenders Institution to explore this possibility. o To create and pilot an adult education programme for Church groups to raise awareness about people in prisons, the working of the criminal justice system and to explore possible responses from Church groups o To organise a conference in that will take place on 6 th December at Newcastle Civic Centre. This will bring together different groups who work with people who are or have been in prison and church groups to explore the strengths and weaknesses of the criminal justice system and prison life at the current time and to promote ideas to improve their effectiveness. Chris Hughes National Church Action on Poverty & The Council of Management As the National AGM drew near last November Pat MacDonald and Phil McGrath agreed to share a place on the Council of Management to facilitate communications and make a link between our work at local level and national priorities. We look forward to hearing from them at our AGM
Advent Reflection It is so easy to immerse oneself in facts and action plans without nourishing the vision that originally captivated our interest. Yet, it is the individual vision, and the shared values, that provide the motivation to act. With this in mind we decided some years ago to have an annual Advent Reflection. In December 2013, we met together at St Anthony's Priory in Durham for our Advent reflection. On this occasion we each revisited moments or people in our life that had inspired us, using tangible objects that represented the event or person. Our reflections were drawn together in simple service in the chapel with others using the building. Those of us who manage to get to these Advent reflections come away enriched by the insights of others." Karen Schofield Our first event in 2014 was: Poverty and Homelessness Action Week January 25 th - February 1 st Display boards were set up in St. Thomas s church in Newcastle for the week. Organisations that stand alongside the poor and marginalised, which was this year s theme provided the displays e.g. Cedarwood Trust, People s Kitchen, De-Paul UK Safe & Sound, Key Project South Tyneside Churches, Cornerstone, Shiremoor Credit Union, Nightstop, Justice &Peace Newcastle and Hexham Diocese and CAPNE. The displays were good with people coming in to St. Thomas s during the week to view them. On Saturday 1 st February a service took place. Old Testament and New Testament plays were acted out. The New Testament scenes being taken from the parable of the good Samaritan, Representatives of Shiremoor Credit Union and Nightstop spoke about the work followed by group discussion and feedback At the end of the service pledge cards were handed out and completed by the congregation. Good cooperation was received by CAPNE from St. Thomas s staff in setting up the displays and event. To some extent the event was preaching to the converted rather than to members of the general public a familiar dilemma Tony Woods Advocacy Project This year, CAPNE has become increasingly aware of the hardships being experienced by the most vulnerable people in the north east and believing that many church members have no idea of what is actually happening, we have collected some shocking real-life stories of the real effects of the cuts on individuals. Many people are being denied benefits to which they are entitled and they do not have the confidence and skills to fight their case. CAPNE will be seeking out church members willing to be trained as advocates, who can help claimants prepare their case and accompany them to a tribunal. Bernadette Askins
TTIP Campaigning against? Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership Treaty The TTIP is not in the public eye at the moment but this treaty that is currently being negotiated between the USA and the European Union is causing grave concern. The treaty will seek to give rights to multi-national companies in International Law. So, if governments bring in legislation that may re-nationalise part of the NHS or significantly increase the minimum wage, multi-national companies can sue the governments for any loss in profits this legislation may incur. The TTIP is seen as triumph for globalisation but will restrain democratically elected government and compromise national sovereignty. With so much emphasis in recent weeks on the nature of the United Kingdom and the power of the European Union, this apparent cloak-covered handing over of powers to multinational companies is ironic. CAPNE thinks that this weakening of the rights and powers of elected government in favour of multinational companies is more likely to be detrimental to the poorest, weakest and most vulnerable in our society. On August 30 th Chris Hughes campaigned with members of 38 degrees in Morpeth to bring attention to the public re TTIP. No-one approached was aware of the TTIP but once made aware of it many expressed their concern Chris Hughes 2014 has seen a number of new members joining the group, bringing new energy and broadening our interests. The above issue is a good example of this and led to our focussing on the NHS for this AGM Exhibition boards For many years CAPNE has had a display of photographs, posters, statistics, contact information and such for use independently or in conjunction with particular events. The current version has benefited greatly from being partly put together with help given by Liam Purcell, one of the staff of the national Church Action on Poverty organisation. In the nature of things, bits of any such display can easily become outdated, so ours deals more in generalities than in specifics, while still giving a good and fairly comprehensive impression of the evil, destructive and corrosive effects of poverty in the UK. CAPNE members have used the display to accompany several events, including the half day on credit unions, CAPNE s Poverty Action Week, the SPRITUS event in Durham, David Peel Three current members of CAPNE led workshops on Poverty & Justices at this Festival of Spirituality, using material from the Education Pack prepared some years ago by former members of the CAPNE group. Starting from people s personal experience of poverty we explored some of the causes of poverty. We then reflected on what we can learn from the Exodus story and from how Jesus related to the different social and religious groups of his time. We concluded by sharing Matza, the bread of affliction as a sign of our willingness to share our time, our talents and ourselves with people who are eating the bread of affliction in our society today Pat Devlin
FUTURE PLANS The General Election and A Good Society 2015 is likely to be dominated by the General Election. Church Action on Poverty nationally together with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland are promoting the debate around what makes a good society A Good Society?... imagining the North East s Future as we prepare for the upcoming General Election November 4th 10.30-1.15pm St James URC Church Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle NE1 Organised by CAPNE, North East Churches Acting Together & Faith In Our Community People from our regional churches will be coming together to discuss their vision for a good society ; how our churches are facing up to the challenges facing people in the North East and proposals for practical ways to respond. We hope that following this event, local churches will arrange one in their own areas and later, immediately before the General Election, organise a hustings and question parliamentary candidates about their values and their plans for the next Parliament. Inside and Outside - People and Prisons This work will continue with a conference with the above title at Newcastle Civic Centre, Collingwood Room, Saturday 6th December, 2014 11.00am 4.00pm Church Action on Poverty Sunday February 15th CAPNE are planning to work with Hexham Justice and Peace group to organise a Saturday evening Emmaus meal, based on the CAFOD idea but using the existence of a Foodbank even in Hexham to highlight growing Poverty in Britain and to link this with an Ecumenical Service in St Mary s Church on Sunday February 15th Journey to Justice April 2015 CAPNE will be participating in this celebration of 50 years for the American Civil Rights movement, when it comes to Newcastle in April The aim is to to inspire people to take action for social justice by learning from past and present human rights struggles through exhibitions, arts events and workshops Monthly Meetings We continue to meet on the last Friday of the month at 2pm in St Lawrence s Church Hall Byker NE6 1JT If you have other ideas about what we should be focussing on and are willing to help to make things happen Do join us at our meeting on November 28th