Church wins award for its community outreach

THE Upper Killay Congregational Church in Swansea has received a Serving the Community Award for the outstanding work it did while reconnecting with the local community after the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Church deacon Mair Woolston and children’s worker Sumi (Esther) Heo accepted the £2,000 cash prize on May 14 at the awards ceremony in Birmingham.

The Serving the Community Awards seek to recognise and reward churches that make a real difference within their community.

In this 50th anniversary year celebration for the Congregational Federation, Upper Killay Church stood out for its approach. Led by prayer and listening, members investigated the specific needs of their community and identified the people most in need of support.

The church then went the extra mile to pull together the specialised resources needed to fill those gaps.

Deacon Sonia James said: “It became obvious to us that there were two groups who were really struggling during lockdown – the older generation, with most of them having to isolate and shield; the other group was new mothers, their babies and young children.

“Children were parted from their friends, they weren’t able to go to playgrounds to play. New parents were not able to access support from their families or to meet other new mums.”

For young families, they developed a mums and toddlers group. Breakfast is served, followed by a variety of fun activities for the children. These include stories, songs and action songs. The popularity of this group has meant it now meets two mornings a week.

The church has been a great resource for school-age children as well. It ran a winter wellbeing scheme with art and craft and dance and drama teachers funded by Swansea Council. With an art class on Tuesdays, and dance and drama on Wednesdays, local children were able to enjoy a range of enriching creative activities.

The church runs an after-school club every Thursday.

The older people of the village were another one of the groups identified by the church as needing support. In response, it began a programme of afternoon teas and coffee mornings, the only organised activity for older people in Upper Killay.

“This is a wonderful example of how a relatively small church can have such an immense impact in its community, making a real difference to local residents,” said Margaret Slater, head of marketing for Congregational Insurance.

Formed in 1911, the Upper Killay Congregational Church on Gower Road has been “a beacon of light to the local community”, said deacon Mair Woolston.