Moving Home - Background

Yesterday

It was back in the winter of 1988 when a group of concerned citizens got together to run a Christmas drop-in in the St Giles Parish Rooms. At that time none of the projects in Oxford working with homeless people were open from 4.00pm to 7.00pm. There was nowhere to escape from the rain, the cold or the blazing sun.

They said: "Someone ought to do something!" and then agreed they would have to do the job themselves. Without previous experience, but fired by a naive optimism, they created a social space for those on the edge and proceeded to make lots of sandwiches and cups of tea.

Today
Having moved to the Northgate Hall in St Michael's Street in 1991 (and acquired the name The Gatehouse) the project still has many of the same features: an open door to anyone in need, a non-judgemental and supportive attitude, and a volunter-led team. A community has been created in which people of all ages and backgrounds have learned to trust each other and work for the common good.

We see an average of 75 people each evening that we're open - on a busy session this can rise to over 100. About a third of these are sleeping rough, while others are in temporary accommodation. A further third have moved into a place of their own but are still looking for support. Newspapers, a library, the regular art group and computer club, a clothes store and creative writing make this much more than a soup kitchen: a community centre for those with no community of their own. And there is no charge for any of this.

As many of our supporters will know, there has been a question for sometime about the future of the Gatehouse's current venue at Northgate Hall. In January 2011, Oxford City Council issued a Press Release confirming that they had taken the decision to issue notice for the return of Northgate Hall. They still offered their support to the Gatehouse and said they "would carry out our best endeavours to help the Gatehouse find alternative premises".

For the full text of the Press Release see here.

Tomorrow
And our future has now been assured, with the generous offer to move back to the Parish Rooms at St Giles' Church, where it all began.