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BITS AND BOBS<br />
TRINITY AND HOMELESSNESS IN LEWES<br />
REV JULES MIDDLETON<br />
I’m a Sussex girl,<br />
originally from<br />
Hurstpierpoint. I was<br />
ordained at Chichester<br />
Cathedral June 2016,<br />
and now I’m Assistant<br />
Curate for TRIN-<br />
ITY Church. Not<br />
something I’d thought<br />
I’d be. I had a misspent<br />
youth, and dabbled in<br />
everything.<br />
TRINITY is now<br />
one church which<br />
offers five or six services, varying from traditional to<br />
modern, every Sunday across three locations - Southover,<br />
St John sub Castro and South Malling.<br />
In terms of supporting the community, we run a<br />
number of projects: Southover Community Care,<br />
a care agency; Southover Counselling; lots of<br />
children’s and youth groups; the Monday Club for<br />
older people, helping address loneliness, and the<br />
TRINITY Voices choir of older people. We’ve just<br />
completed transforming the interior of TRINITY<br />
St John sub Castro into a multiple-use community<br />
venue, with a café space, office space, meeting<br />
rooms and crèche.<br />
And we are involved with Re-homing <strong>Lewes</strong>, a<br />
temporary day centre for homeless people. I know<br />
of three rough sleepers who sleep on the streets<br />
of <strong>Lewes</strong> at the moment, but there are a lot more<br />
who don’t have permanent housing. They might<br />
be sofa surfing, sleeping in a car or tent. Some have<br />
problems related to addiction or mental ill-health.<br />
Mental health support and rehab options are<br />
severely under-resourced and can be hard to access<br />
if you don’t have a permanent address, which<br />
creates a vicious circle. Welfare cuts and Universal<br />
Credit mean the problem is only getting worse. It<br />
doesn’t take much for people to drop off the radar.<br />
Re-homing <strong>Lewes</strong><br />
was the brainchild<br />
of Thomas Schorr-<br />
Kon, with the help<br />
of Subud and others.<br />
It’s a drop-in, offering<br />
food, warmth and<br />
somewhere to wash<br />
at 26a Station Street<br />
(part of Subud, up the<br />
steps on the road entrance),<br />
currently open<br />
every day, 1-3pm. It’s<br />
funded by donations<br />
and run by volunteers. We’re open until the end of<br />
<strong>March</strong>, when Subud are having building work done.<br />
We’re looking for premises to use after that. We’d<br />
love more volunteers. And any contributions via the<br />
Facebook page or church would be brilliant.<br />
If people wonder what they can do to help someone<br />
on the streets - perhaps ask? Drying out a wet<br />
sleeping bag could be most useful. Or point them to<br />
SWEP provision. This is short for Severe Weather<br />
Emergency Protocol, normally triggered when the<br />
temperature has been forecast to be zero degrees or<br />
below for three days. <strong>Lewes</strong> District Council makes<br />
accommodation available to those sleeping rough.<br />
Support can be accessed via Southover House,<br />
01273 471600 or housingneeds@lewes.gov.uk. Also<br />
Re-homing <strong>Lewes</strong> drop-in or Landport Community<br />
Café. The café offers a nutritious meal (donation<br />
only, Fridays 5-7pm, Landport Community Room,<br />
2A Horsfield Road).<br />
We’re hoping to put together an information<br />
leaflet. The local PCSOs (police community support<br />
officers) are great at letting people in need<br />
know where they can get help. Emma Chaplin<br />
Find Re-homing <strong>Lewes</strong> on Facebook. Sat 3rd, TRIN-<br />
ITY Centre Open Day at St John sub Castro. Tours,<br />
café, kids’ activities, meet the vicar. trinitylewes.org<br />
Photo by Emma Chaplin<br />
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