Here at St Luke’s we are continually responding to the needs of the local community, which is why we are recruiting several new posts in the coming weeks and months. 

We’d like to reach out to people who are not currently coming to the Centre through a Community Engagement Officer. This is someone who can go out locally, engage new communities and groups and make them aware of the services and activities in which they can participate. It is important that we continually inform local residents about the Centre and the wonderful services on offer here. 

The second post is a Communications Officer, whose job will be to devise new ways of getting our key messages and information across to people living in the area. There is so much going on at St Luke’s that it is important that people know about what we have on offer. Some local people (even some of our neighbours) were not clear about the purpose of St Luke’s, and how it might help them or their friends and family.

The third post is a Corporate Fundraiser. We have acknowledged that some services at St Luke’s run at a loss and so our Trustees have asked us to explore ways of raising funds through corporate connections to cover those losses. The new person will be expected to raise a significant amount of money in the coming years. 

We also have four other posts to which we are recruiting. We have been trying to fill the Executive Assistant’s post for almost six months, when the post-holder decided not to return to St Luke’s after maternity leave. We are also recruiting, to cover maternity leave, a Catering Manager and a Cookery School Assistant. 

With the new posts included, we will have 49 permanent members of staff, which compares with ten years ago when we employed 14 permanent members of staff. These figures include full and part-time staff. Our income has risen proportionately with the increase in staff. It is now three and a half times larger than ten years ago.  The Centre has grown significantly in those ten years and changed dramatically with the refurbishment in 2010. Many new services and activities have been introduced to St Luke’s and all seem to be popular with our service users and local residents. 

We will continue to introduce services as the Centre evolves in order to ensure we are fulfilling the needs of the local community. It is a busy time but a hugely exciting time for the Centre and local area. We feel obliged to respond to suggestions from as many people as possible and to maintain our standards in the services we provide in response to local need.

Please do continue to join with us in reviewing our services and in suggesting ways to move forward and reach even more people in the area.