Call: 0121 472 8000 • email: info@westhillendowment.org
What's Happening
Restored Beacon Network
Dear God...
“Hardly anyone can ever find God because God is right at the end of your mind after all the background thoughts are gone.”
Maisie Satchwell-Hust
Project In Progress
Community Threads

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Libya, and Syria. These are just four of the dozen or so nationalities represented at King’s Arms Project’s English Club. The ladies from English Club have asked us over the years to facilitate a sewing group for them to socialise, sew, speak English, and improve their job prospects.

King’s Arms Project, along with Westhill’s generous funding, has launched Community Threads to fulfil this dream. Community Threads will be a group where community development and skills training come together to help refugees and migrants stand on their own two feet in their new home country.
Project In Progress
JERICHO is a Birmingham-based charity giving people who need it most, the break they need to feel and be more employable. Our seven social enterprises across Birmingham provide work opportunities and individualised support for people who face real and significant challenges in getting a job.

Equiano Art provides art therapy sessions to female survivors of modern slavery engaged in JERICHO’s Equiano project. Sessions enable women to explore trauma, emotions, wellbeing, faith, identity and aspects of recovery through different creative media and within a safe environment.
Project In Progress
Toc H will deliver a programme of inclusive and reflective wellbeing support sessions to homeless and vulnerably housed adults in Blackpool South Shore. This work will be offered in partnership with St Peter’s Church and we hope will be the beginning of long and meaningful programme of work in the area. Blackpool South Shore has a limited number of free-to-access support services for adults experiencing homelessness and addiction, despite the high need in the area. These sessions will offer welcome and hope to those who need it most.
Project In Progress
Building bridges through restorative practice

The Mint House was formed from a collaboration involving academics, practitioners, faith groups and others. Our ‘Building bridges’ project will bring together restorative practitioners, academics and leaders from across sectors and specialists in areas such as culture change, organisational development and community engagement in a series of ‘research and practice dialogues’ during which participants will explore the challenges and creative opportunities for embedding restorative practice.
Project In Progress
Life Youth Hub Wirral offer a drop-in cafe three days a week, where young people from 4 local secondary schools can come to a safe space to play games, have a snack and chat to Youth Workers. Over five years they have developed great relationships with the schools and the local police. The Youth Hub currently have 190 young people on their books and regularly get 30 attending sessions. The Youth Hub also visit schools to offer 1:1 mentoring with some of the most vulnerable young people.
Project In Progress
Stories of Hope and Home is a small Birmingham-based charity with dual complementary aims: to create safe space for people seeking sanctuary to find support, build community and creatively explore their stories and experiences; and to create opportunities for their stories to be shared and heard through facilitating encounters, especially in schools.

We believe in the transformative power of these encounters to share the realities faced by people seeking sanctuary in order to break down barriers, to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions, and to change the narrative around the subject of forced migration and help to develop empathy and compassion.
Project Completed
Doorstep Carnival

ACE Dance and Music are deeply grateful to Westhill Endowment for their support of the Doorstep Carnival, which we delivered with Black Voices at Grosvenor Road Studios on 26 August 2023.  We welcomed over a thousand people to enjoy a street Carnival procession, a new photographic exhibition by local photographer, Rob Bailey, and music and spoken work performances by local artists and musicians in the Community Garden. Our event was themed around Windrush 75 and we welcomed many Elders – our Windrush Pioneers – to celebrate with us. Despite the rain showers, everyone had a wonderful time and we are already looking forward to next year’s Doorstep Carnival!

 
Project In Progress
Ignite ‘Detached’ is based in Attleborough, Norfolk.  It is one of seven projects run by The Ignite Youth Project.  ‘Detached’ is Friday Night Street Work - on the street support that’s ‘all about relationship’. It’s ‘A safe presence, support and free hot chocolate to any young person’.

Through 'Detached' young people are given time to build relationships of trust, and access advice and support on a wide range of issues.  It’s open to all local young people. We aim to create ‘A space where young people can experience meaningful connection, a greater sense of their significance and value within the community’.
Project In Progress
Caritas Aspire Education

Aspire Education is a project of Caritas Diocese of Salford, a social action charity based in the North West of England. Aspire Education works with refugees and asylum seekers to help the reach their education and career goals. This is done through English classes, mentoring, and wrap-around wellbeing support. 

We are incredibly grateful to Westhill Endowment for their generous grant towards the transportation and resource aspects on the project.  This will ensure that refugees are able to access lessons and are able to make use of quality resources during their time in the project.
Project In Progress
Interfaith Harmony, Encounter and Action

Our project aims at building strong, integrative relationships between minority and majority communities. It runs in several areas of the UK.

Celebrating Diversity – bringing together majority, minority, interfaith and multi-ethnic communities through the arts. We aim to build lasting positive community relationships using the skills of our artists, musicians, storytellers and community-builders. We invite local artistes to participate to foster equal cultural exchange and understanding in each locality.

Oxford Three Faiths Encounter – Spirit of Peace is part of this team, which delivers residential conferences and online events, bringing together Jews, Christians and Muslims for study, encounter, understanding, and lasting partnerships.
Project In Progress
Asylum seekers welcome and love project

Trinity Church Central London has grown from 1 to 88 Asylum seekers (+123 online with a significant presence in a Middle Eastern Country) in the last 18 months.

We help with clothes, a simple cooked meal on Sunday, transport to Church where needed and money for emergency food (where Children cannot eat the hotel food which is different from the food they are used to). We also offer help to process trauma for Asylum seekers and a safe space for friendship and community.  

 
Project In Progress
The Ladywood Interfaith Education Project (LIEP) is based in inner-city Birmingham. Initiated by St John & St Peter’s Parish Church, it is a partnership between four local places of faith and schools in the Birmingham area since 1999. Please see our page to find out more.
Project In Progress
That’s how it really is

With over five decades of global experience in conflict zones, CHIPS is dedicated to fostering peace and reconciliation. We empower communities to instigate enduring grassroots transformations for restored peace. Since 2014, we've been actively engaged in Brixton, UK, focusing on countering youth violence through constructive avenues for young people. Filmmaking has proven to be a powerful avenue for Brixton's youth, teaching teamwork, collaboration, unity through the art of storytelling.

In 2021-2022, our youth crafted the poignant short film, "That's How It Really Is," shedding light on subjects like young carers, self-harm, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and child molestation. With support from Westhill Endowment, we are able to orchestrate eight screening events nationwide, encouraging dialogue, support, and proactive engagement among young people. These screenings provide an opportunity for the youth involved in the film to shape, develop, and facilitate critical conversations on these complex subjects, ultimately offering a platform for vulnerable exploration of the contemporary youth experience.
Project In Progress
Peace at the Heart of Scottish Schools: Travelling Peace Education Exhibition

We are creating an exhibition, ‘Peace at the Heart of Scottish Schools’ to demonstrate the value of peace education and the power of children to bring peace and justice to the world.
Project In Progress
Boy’s Mentoring and Advocacy

The Door’s mission is to bring hope into the lives of young people and their families by unlocking potential and opening opportunities so that their past does not define their future. We exist because every young person and their parents need to feel safe, happy, and valued, with the best possible opportunity to reach their potential. This pilot project aims to provide bespoke mentoring and advocacy services for boys. It aims to support the needs specifically of those who are notably absent from education and display a rise in behavioural issues resulting in ASB. Primarily working with individuals who are referred to The Door, this project will creatively support boys via digital platforms, mentoring, and produce engaging activities to both increase their constructive participation and their self-esteem.
Project In Progress
Restored is a Christian charity with a mission to speak up about the realities of violence against women and girls, and to equip the Church to stand against domestic abuse and support survivors. We’re building a network of Restored Beacon churches: churches that never tolerate abuse, but instead provide a safe refuge for survivors, journey with them on their road to recovery, and demonstrate God’s deep love for them.
Project In Progress
Campus Leadership Programme

The Campus Leadership Programme run by the Council of Christians and Jews equips university students from different faith backgrounds to run interfaith events on their campuses. We offer in-depth training, mentors and small subsidies for students to run their events.

Through the programme students learn how to run effective interfaith events by discussing ground rules to create brave spaces. They also gain understanding about people’s individual faith journeys through ‘speed faithing’.

A student’s response to our recent residential training was- “I feel much more confident now approaching interfaith spaces, and I feel ready to run my own programme on campus”.
Project In Progress
Lichfield Cathedral is undertaking a year-long project to restore its central spire and increase engagement with its heritage. To do this, we are creating a community theatre project bringing to life the stories of the people connected with the founding of the Cathedral, including St Chad and Bishop Headda, and countless of pilgrims who have visited the Cathedral from AD700 to the present day.
Project In Progress
Spiritual care in the community at end of life

At end of life, spiritual support helps people to explore and connect with what matters most to them and work through difficult existential questions about life and death. The Hospice of St Francis’s spiritual advisory team supports patients admitted to the Hospice’s Inpatient Unit to address these issues.

Thanks to this grant, the team will be able to extend this support to people receiving care at home ensuring 40 more people find peace and acceptance as they approach the end of life.
Project In Progress
ACCEPT is a small charity whose vision is improved mental health for those experiencing difficulties and good mental health for the wider population, whose activities mostly take place at a community wellbeing garden in Barwell, Leicestershire.

Westhill’s kind provision includes the support of a weekly wellbeing gardening group and the production of permanent outdoor sculptures, alongside the loan of Westhill’s sculptures, to assist in working through the grieving process, as part of the Bereavement Support Project.
Project In Progress
Empowering the church to safely help offenders live crime free lives

Sixty-One helps prisoners and ex-prisoners lead meaningful crime-free lives within Greater Bristol. We do this by inspiring, enabling and supporting the local community to provide the relational and practical support offenders need.

Much of our activity is partnership based, particularly with churches. Westhill’s' funding will be used to fund our work supporting church-based Hubs. These provide regular community-based support to small groups of ex-prisoners. This support, combined with a local community connection, can make a profound impact on the offender’s life, and chance of reoffending.
Project In Progress
Graduate Project at Greenbelt 2023

The Student Christian Movement is a community of students, past and present, deeply committed to an inclusive, progressive and radical approach to the Christian faith. Our vision is of SCM as a generous community, expressing a lived faith in Jesus Christ where social action meets prayerful devotion. We seek to be both a radical voice for equality and justice, and a safe home for progressive Christian students.
Project In Progress
Coventry & Warwickshire Worldviews: Images That Speak

Our project aims to create a professional photograph pack which will reflect the diverse nature of our local communities as a rich resource for the teaching of RE in this area.

The digital photo pack will include professional photographs, taken by Mark Pemberton, which collate the places of worship in our locality and will also document local themes of ‘peace’ and ‘reconciliation’.
Project In Progress
Faiths, Neighbours, Changemakers

The Smethwick Places of Worship Heritage Trail will be a chance for people to visit Smethwick, explore the diverse faith communities and learn about the history and current life of the different places of worship. There will be 3 trails of varying lengths that will incorporate Churches, Mosques, Gurdwaras and Mandirs, they will reveal something of the rich industrial history of the area and the way faith impacts daily life for people today. The trail will be launched in spring 2024 when people will be able to join organised walks or download maps and details and take the walk themselves.
Project In Progress
Providing Specialist Support in Prisons

Cruse has a long history of supporting grieving prisoners. Over the past three years our ‘Grief Inside’ project, funded by The Ministry of Justice, developed a framework of support to help meet the needs of prisoners with varying levels of grief complexity.

The project learned that prisoners benefit greatly from having someone to listen to their experiences and support them to learn healthier ways of coping and how to build stronger social support mechanisms.
Project In Progress
Learning about good community relations in South Asian Heritage Faith Communities.

There have been tensions in Leicester between members of different communities during the past eighteen months. We have been working with a wide range of community groups and individuals to develop a clearer understanding of the issues and enable people of differing perspectives to encounter each other in a safe and supportive environment.

Thanks to funding from Westhill, we will develop this work further through a focused study day. We will hear in turn Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and Christian perspectives on the situation, before facilitating a reflective discussion amongst participants as to how to maintain strong community relations.
Project In Progress
Imago Dei is a Christian charity founded in 2016, working in the Criminal Justice Sector to provide courses for women in prison and continuing ongoing support once they leave prison. 

Working through the Chaplaincy departments of the prisons, our Christian values of showing compassion and support to those in need, underpin all our work with those who have had contact with the Criminal Justice System.  Our courses, through-the-gate, and community support work are accessible and welcome women of all faiths and none.
Project In Progress
The Avon Indian Community Association (AICA) is an umbrella organisation for Indian communities living in the Bristol area. Our vision is to provide a platform for promoting social cohesiveness within the current and new generations of people of Indian origin and the wider community.

The AICA also strives to create better understanding and awareness of Indian culture, heritage and values to encourage and promote cross and inter-cultural communication. One of the ways we achieve this is by running and celebrating important social events - bringing communities together to celebrate Indian history and culture. The Diwali Festival of Lights is scheduled to take place on the 10th November 2023.
Project In Progress
Faith in Birmingham: Street Photography

Peter Vale is a street photographer passionate about capturing the colour and diversity of the city of Birmingham’s religious landscape.  Using Peter’s photography, this project explores the different ways in which faith (of different kinds) is expressed within the public square.

This project will seek to develop two interlinked resources around a selection of Peter’s photos: 1) an online RE classroom resource on the diversity of public expressions of faith in the city; 2) a portable exhibition, which can be used to support RE/RS teaching about the diversity of faith in contemporary Britain, which can be used by schools, places of worship, libraries and museums.  The project is jointly funded by Westhill Endowment and St Peter’s Saltley Trust.
Project In Progress
The Natashas Project “What will Farah do?” Primary school educational theatre piece.

Thanks to Westhill Endowment’s generous grant, we have begun the early stages of creating an interactive theatre production using visual language, dance, puppetry & British Sign Language to communicate the issue of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) to KS2 children. Sharing how to spot the signs and the links to modern slavery.

The aim is to create something all children can understand regardless of language or hearing barriers and empower a child to speak up if something is wrong. We hope in the future to develop this into a touring production that can be rolled out to primary schools across the country.
Project In Progress
Diverse Voices

Bolton Lads and Girls Club (BLGC) is an innovative and progressive young people’s charity based in Bolton, Greater Manchester. Established in 1889, our mission is to enable children and young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to live healthier, happier, and safer lives. We believe that every child deserves the best start in life and chance to fulfil their potential.
Project In Progress
Faces (Faiths Against Child Sexual Exploitation) are a Christian-Muslim charity with a mission to build resilience within faith communities against child sexual exploitation and other forms of harm. We view faith as contributing positively towards safeguarding, rather than being a risk factor as it’s often framed.

We offer training to faith communities and external organisations, including schools, police and local authority. Supported by our own research into young people’s experiences of Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) in schools, we’re providing training for educators to equip them to shape and deliver faith literate RSE.
Project Completed
Encountering and Understanding Different Faiths

Leeds SACRE are making a film of an Orthodox Synagogue so that schools which are unable to visit will be able to access a professionally made film which shows and explains the interior of the Synagogue.

This resource could also be used prior to, (or following) a Synagogue visit to prepare children for what they might expect to see. This film will be suitable for KS2 and KS3 pupils to explore the interior of a Synagogue with a comprehensive explanation of the various parts of the Synagogue and the artefacts contained within and how they are used.
Project In Progress
Transforming culture through relationships education in Primary Schools

Thanks to Westhill Endowment’s generous grant, we will be developing a new relationships curriculum in primary schools. Our acclaimed Esteem programme has a significant impact in secondary schools, and following demand from both teachers and children, we are excited to be able to expand our work into primary schools.

We will pilot the new resources with 500 children in London in the first year, and then roll it out to 1000 children in the second year. We will train 108 primary school teachers to enable them to deliver the sessions confidently and effectively.
Project In Progress
Shieldfield Art Works is an arts organisation based in Shieldfield, Newcastle upon Tyne. SAW believes art and creativity are integral parts of human life, and with art’s unique ability to articulate, question and enquire, we can enact positive change in our communities and the world.

As a project of the Methodist Church, we are built upon Christian foundations of seeking truth, challenging injustice, social activism and operating for the common good. Our broad programme includes developing high quality art exhibitions, events, workshops, conferences, gardening and publications. Anyone, of any faith or none, is welcome to participate in our programme. (Photo credit: Adam Dixon)
Project In Progress
11+ Free Tuition Bursaries

Grammar Schools were always designed to improve social mobility….. So what has happened…?

Fairview Education provides Free Tuition Bursaries to disadvantaged children in Gloucestershire who qualify for Free School Meals (FSM) so that they have a better chance of passing the 11+ Grammar school entry examination.

Gloucestershire grammar schools are state funded but have a very low FSM intake (4.5%) compared with other secondary schools (16%). This is because the entry examination is so difficult that many parents employ private tutors to help their children prepare. This is simply unaffordable for FSM families and so we provide weekly face to face tutoring for free during the year before the examination.
Project In Progress
Creative Green RE in Luton

This project gives Luton pupils the chance to be artistic in RE about climate change and justice issues, informed by a multi-faith panel of speakers. Beginning with a conference in Nov 2022, 6-8 Luton secondary schools are leading the project and sharing creative RE ideas on green issues across the town. At the next stage, primary pupils will also be involved and there are plans for an exhibition of pupils’ green spiritual art in the town’s public gallery.
Project In Progress
Prayer Spaces
 
The Christian Education Project is based in the London Borough of Redbridge, with the aim of: “Serving schools; Inspiring Minds & Exploring Faith”.  They provide a variety of free services to schools, including Prayer Spaces.

Prayer Spaces are set up in a hall or other large space where pupils and staff of all faiths and beliefs can come to consider and respond to the key questions of life. Pupils move in a carousel between a number of tactile, interactive bases set around different themes.  Students are included in the planning stage, when possible, to help shape their school’s space.
Project In Progress
Tales of Wonder, Wisdom and Humour

Religious Education in many schools is not seen as a priority and some non-muslim parents feel concerned when it has anything to do with Islam. Using multi-faith storytelling, with professional award-winning Khayaal Theatre, we hope to build bridges in the primary schools and generate a better understanding of not just Islamic but of other faiths and cultures too, highlighting mutual links and crossover between all traditions. Means of storytelling does not confront orthodoxy of religion; it rather seeks to inform participants in a culturally acceptable manner.
Project In Progress
Equipping for Change

The Praxis Centre exists to help Christians bring hope and justice in their local communities and our society.  Our Hopeful Activists Podcast aims to inspire you with bold stories and deep discussion from a huge range of activists.

Our Praxis Labs online training creates space for would-be and existing change-makers to reflect, think and dream, as well as to learn practical skills for campaigning and community projects.
Project In Progress
Religion, Values and Ethics

Working with a wide range of stakeholders, this project seeks to develop teaching and learning resources to support and embed Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) firmly within the Curriculum for Wales.

The project will offer strategy and leadership together with curriculum and pedagogical support to allow RVE to flourish as it takes on its new position within the Humanities Area of Learning, and support learners as they become religiously literate, ethical informed citizens ready to take their role within our multi-cultural, multi religious, multi secular world.

 
Project In Progress
Interfaith learning

Christian and Muslim colleges in the UK produce many of our future religious leaders. They are also vital sites of influence for students’ engagement with, and attitudes towards, religion and worldview diversity. Yet the UK higher education sector is faced with barriers to student cohesion; research has uncovered prejudice towards students from minority backgrounds, and disputes around freedom of speech are widespread.

This project meets the urgent need to understand how students at UK theological colleges make sense of religious diversity. It is the first research of its kind to examine how college climates enable or impede positive attitudes towards those of different faiths and worldview perspectives.
Project In Progress
St Faith’s Centre Wall Hanging

We, the Ringlestone Community Centre Development Group, are very excited to be in the finishing phase now of our church and community centre called St Faith's Centre in Maidstone. Our excitement is increased by the fact that we have commissioned Juliet Hemingway, a renowned  Christian artist and embroiderer, to design and make a huge hanging for the focal wall of the main hall.
Project In Progress
RE Matters is a Newham business that seeks to support, inspire, and transform learning in schools. Student RE Matters is a group of young people interested in moral and religious issues from different backgrounds and cultures who get together each half term from different Newham secondary schools. It gives an opportunity for these students to discuss spiritual and moral issues that are important to them.
Project In Progress
SparkFish is a local collaborative Christian organisation that aims to inspire and encourage young people in faith, hope and love. We engage with young people in schools across Reigate, Redhill and Merstham, East Surrey.
Project In Progress
Church Engagement

The Cinnamon Network makes it as easy as possible for local churches to set up sustainable social action projects, find funding and get the right support and training to make a positive impact.

To achieve this, they collaborate with a network of 37 grass-roots social action charities – known as the Cinnamon Recommended Projects. They are investing in the growth of this network, and together unlock the potential of churches of all denominations across the UK to make a difference in their communities. Please read on to find out more.
Project In Progress
Peace Feasts in Bristol
Bridges for Communities is a small, innovative charity that seeks to help make Bristol a more welcoming, inclusive and fair city.  Our projects connect people of different cultures and faiths, in order to challenge stereotypes and prejudice and promote friendship and understanding.  A major part of our work is focused on helping refugees and asylum seekers to feel welcome and part of the community here.
Project In Progress
Leicester Schools Peace Project

The Leicester Schools Peace Project is supporting the flourishing of our superdiverse city by creating a scheme of work for Peace Education from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4.  This project is in partnership with Leicester SACRE and will be part of the New Agreed Syllabus for Leicester. 
Project In Progress
The Hildegard Project

The Hildegard Project, builds on the work of the community, facing a rapidly changing world. We find ourselves in our 30th Anniversary Year and continue our dedication to the healing ministry.  Holy Rood House supports people of all ages in their physical, mental and spiritual health through recognising the interface between the gardens, arts, spirituality and justice, which get to the heart of this project.

Our therapeutic and theological work inform each other, challenging the community to respond to the health needs of individuals, especially children and young people, whose lives have been shattered due to the pandemic and who are struggling with the fears of climate change, war, and anxieties building up in their family lives. We are also seeking through this project to respond to the healing of communities and to the earth.
Project In Progress
The CARE Project

The Parish Trust is a registered charity based in Trethomas, Caerphilly. The charity was established in 2019 and is founded on Christian principles. There are many projects that come under The Parish Trust, one being ‘The CARE Project’.

The CARE Project helps alleviate food poverty by providing care packages of food and non-food essentials to users that are struggling financially, elderly or vulnerable individuals who are unable to leave their homes to purchase food from the shops. The CARE Project also offers a prescription collection service, a listening ear and pastoral care.
Project In Progress
Westhill Endowment’s grant will allow Transforming Lives for Good (TLG) to open 47 new Early Intervention centres across the UK from 2023-2024 in partnership with local churches. This will train 235 new volunteer coaches to get alongside 230 children in school, who are facing a variety of difficulties.

By letting them know someone cares and encouraging them to reengage with their education, we are able to combat the devastating impact of COVID-19 lockdowns and the cost-of-living crisis on these already-disadvantaged children’s emotional and mental wellbeing.
Project In Progress
Christian RE in schools

Working with 60 schools across Bristol and the South West, we visit classrooms to deliver high-quality, interactive and engaging RE workshops. As qualified teachers we design professional resources for each lesson, to increase the engagement of pupils and inspire school staff in their own RE lesson planning.

Many of our primary workshops involve a craft element to consolidate the learning of pupils and to take home as a reminder of the Bible story they've heard.
Project In Progress
The Lighthouse Creative Projects

The Lighthouse is a vibrant community hub that hosts a range of creative projects to support and empower those who find themselves on the margins.
Project In Progress
Relational Hub Collective

Relational Hub supports youth workers and their organisations to create sustainable youth work projects that provide a home away from home for the young people who need one most.
Project In Progress
Boro Cereal is an exciting initiative, designed to equip and empower Primary School aged children to engage with and improve their local culture, making a big difference in Middlesbrough.  Working with schools and churches, BiG KIDS will deliver a series of creative lessons, focussing on servant leadership, entrepreneurial and presentation skills, giving children opportunities to innovate social action community projects; inspiring them to change the negative cycles they often find themselves in. We believe that God has placed each of us in our localities and situations for a purpose – we hope to allow the children to find theirs.
Project In Progress
Hand to Mouth work in schools predominantly in West Yorkshire and Lancashire.  Much of our work is part of an HTM RE day, where collective worship may begin the day, with our popular puppet tales. 

Our puppets have been telling Bible stories now for over 20 years!  We then go on to lead lessons and Godly Play, allowing the children the opportunity to think about world issues and the life they lead.
Project In Progress
Supporting Parents Bereaved by Suicide

Peer support to parents bereaved by suicide offering the compassion, empathy, understanding, friendship, and hope that only other bereaved parents can give. The Compassionate Friends provides in-person support, either one-to[1]one, or in groups, including those dedicated solely to parents bereaved by suicide, and at weekend retreats for parents bereaved by suicide; online via Facebook or the community forum, or in online support groups for parents bereaved by suicide; on the phone or by email via our national helpline or through a Grief Companion; in print via our leaflets, including ‘After Suicide’, and our postal bereavement library.
Project In Progress
Bristol SACRE aims to bring together people from various worldviews and communities with its Bristol Minds project. This will introduce KS3 students from ten secondary schools to ‘Bristol Minds’ (BMs), who are adults of diverse worldviews working in creative, intellectual, scientific, non-profit or professional fields. 

The students will interview their BM, asking how their worldview informs their professional lives and day-to-day activities and experiences. The students will create a range of visual resources to share understanding of the BMs and what they have learned through their direct interaction. In Spring 2023, a conference will bring together all the participants to share outcomes.
Project In Progress
We work with asylum seeker and refugee families in Holbeck and Beeston which is an inner-city area in South Leeds.  We teach English to adults which is embedded in “getting to know and make relationships with the local community”. 

We also sign post them to other organizations who are able to assist them and go out to events. We run activities for the children of parents who are learning with us.  We feel that this is important as children so often have better English than their parents and by necessity become their parents’ helpers as the family tries to navigate their way through a system in a new language.
Project In Progress
The Social Integration Project aims to bring a diverse community together.

The town of Midsomer Norton in Somerset has changed over the years. Previously a buzzing market town, more opportunities are needed for its increasingly diverse cultural groups to mix and interact with each other. A sizable Muslim community now meets weekly in the Town Hall for prayer, and the local Hindu community has just opened the area’s first ever Hindu temple. 

The Social Integration Project aims to engage with all religious groups, hoping to create links for members to engage with wider civic society. We also want to create an environment where people of all backgrounds feel a sense of pride in the town.
Project In Progress
Gospel 2023

With seven years of experience, our next Festival: GOSPEL April 2023 aims to celebrate ‘Christianity and Creativity’ in a mixed arts festival. An invitation for everyone to engage with the expressive arts whether of different faiths or none, to explore and discover more of life in many vibrant ways.

The theme of GOSPEL 2023 will spark curiosity with the Gospel story and introduce or reacquaint people with Gospel meaning, purpose and hope. We strive to eradicate misconceptions about the Christian faith to encourage unchurched people to engage with the Christian faith especially young people, the future of our faith and church.
Project In Progress
Finding Common Ground Through Calligraphy

Muslim Women’s Council is a registered charity based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Our vision is ‘for every woman, life with all its opportunities’, and our mission is to empower women for the benefit of society. Our project, ‘Finding common ground through calligraphy’, is about using the beautiful art of calligraphy to bring together women of different faiths living in the same city, ensuring more women feel their stories are heard and valued. We will create an exhibition that encourages communities to converge and reflect on shared heritage living in Bradford regardless of faith.
Project In Progress
Kids Alive International is a Christian charity serving some of the world’s most vulnerable children through a number of projects. This includes Hall Mead School, a Christian primary school for 500 impoverished children from challenging backgrounds in one of the poorest regions of Kenya.  But the school has had no library and very little Christian literature. Thanks to Westhill Endowment, we can refurbish one of the classrooms into a library, where children can go to read Christian literature and classroom study materials (none of them have any book or toys at their home!). Thank you Westhill Endowment!
Project In Progress
REQM Sparklers

The RE Council’s RE Quality Mark is pleased to announce this new project 'REQM Sparklers'.  Working with Westhill Endowment, we are compiling case studies of schools that benefited from grant support from Westhill between 2016 and 2019.

Interviews with teachers, pupils and students will be published here in 2022.  During the remainder of 2021, we will be organising events bringing teachers together online, and in local areas where feasible, to celebrate the REQM and to share the ‘fizz’ with others! If your school was involved in achieving an award during this period we would love to hear from you…..
Project In Progress
Love Weoley Castle (in South Birmingham) seeks to undertake community driven projects.  It gathers people together who live and/or work on the estate to share and create good news stories.  The projects evolve from these gatherings and can be as simple as planting flowers in public spaces to sending Santa letters at Christmas to running larger community events.  These all seek to promote the gifts and talents of our neighbourhood in an increasingly diverse area.
Project In Progress
The Small House: Art Installation

Each year a monumental artwork of museum quality is installed as part of Southwark Cathedral’s annual art installation series. The artwork is intended to give people new access points to the Cathedral, through an exploration of unconventional materials and mediums.

The 2022 installation is entitled “The Small House”, and sees artist Richard Woods work with a 2D cartoon depiction of a terraced house, constructed out of wood, with themes including housing, homelessness, the cost of living crisis, and environmental sustainability.
Project In Progress
The REC is working with Birmingham-based RE Today on a project to support the RE Syllabus writers, and curriculum developers, in their work on interpreting a Religion and Worldviews approach.  The Westhill grant will help fund the cost of an Expert Advisory Group.
Project In Progress
Jubilee Events is a social enterprise on a mission to bring positive change to the events industry. For us, jubilee is all about the joyful celebration of life, and the radical opportunity for a new beginning.

As a Grace Enterprises business, all employees are paid the real Living Wage and given the support they need to flourish in their job. We provide marquee hire services for weddings, parties and corporate events. This creates amazing side-by-side jobs where colleagues can be trained, supported and encouraged. We also offer events management and consultation services which enable us to provide an all-inclusive events package.
Project In Progress
Hope in Recovery

The Recovery Foundation exists to pass on the hope that we have by encouraging growth and recovery and positively impacting our community. We are a charity based in Birmingham with a focus on providing support to those recovering from a mental illness.

We offer a 12-month support package which includes Peer Support Groups, workshops, training and 1:1 support. Our main focus is to demonstrate that a mental illness isn’t a life sentence – there is hope. We teach people through our programme to find, grow and sustain hope throughout life’s ups and downs.
Project In Progress
As part of the church's ongoing support of our local community we established a network of little libraries around 7 years ago which has expanded most years and now totals 9 libraries in a mixture of public spaces and primary school settings.

3 years ago we set up a network of little pantries with the simple idea that people could place food in them or take as needed, we have discovered these to be a real blessing to our local community.
Project In Progress
Change Makers: Next Steps

Seedbeds runs Change Makers to bring together small groups of adults nominated from their local communities because they are seen to have the potential to become community leaders. This 5 month emerging community leaders programme culminates with the Change Maker pitching their idea for change to a Resource Panel. Scholarships are provided to make the programmes as accessible as possible.

Through Westhill’s support a new version of Change Makers will be offered at a Level III NCFE qualification in ‘Sustainable Community Leadership’. As many of our participants have no qualifications, we hope this recognised qualification could further a pathway of educational and vocational growth.
Project In Progress
Enabling Encounter Project

Stories of Hope and Home’s Enabling Encounter Project has two interdependent aspects. First, to create safe, welcoming and mutually supportive space for people with lived experience of seeking asylum to come together to build community and to explore and process their experiences. And second, to bring them together with others, facilitating encounters particularly with children and young people and those who work with them. Story-sharing and first-hand encounter have the power to transform understanding, to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions, and to develop empathy and compassion, which are the foundations for building relationships across diverse cultures and experiences.
Project In Progress
Festivals - Come and Celebrate.

Keynsham Girls’ Brigade is planning a series of displays at Victoria Methodist Church and Key Centre - Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, Fair Trade, Harvest and the Environmental importance of gardens. They will be informative, multi-sensory, thought provoking and accessible to different ages and abilities. They will also produce smaller displays in the Baptist Church garden which opens onto Keynsham High Street.
Project In Progress
B: Music

Community Spirit is Symphony Hall’s annual mass singing programme that has brought together Birmingham’s diverse communities since 2009 to celebrate the City; enhance social inclusion, connectedness and friendships; support local residents’ skills development; and to increase positivity and well-being. In 2022, after a series of singing workshops with Black Voices, one of B:Music’s Associate Artists and the UK’s leading black acapella group, some 300 individuals from up to ten choirs will celebrate their collective voice and the vital contribution that they make to the cultural life of Birmingham, by performing a very special showcase event at Symphony Hall in July.
Project In Progress
Our Community Connect Programme aims to equip and empower churches and charities with the practical tools needed to connect with their communities: bridging gaps in service provision and overcoming divides.

Providing an opportunity for community leaders nationally to access essential training and support, we are enabling them to develop and deliver effective specialist mentoring and outreach projects: these projects aim to address complex social issues, including homelessness, poverty, and abuse; encompassing the holistic needs of the individuals they serve while increasing awareness and understanding of mental health within their wider community.
Project In Progress
What is Life?’ Science Spectacular Sound and Light Show

A Son-et-Lumiere experience transforming the internal space of Worcester Cathedral.

Visitors to the event are immersed in the soundscapes they hear and walk through the light artworks that are all around them. On an explorative journey they can contemplate the contributions of science and human understanding of the physical world around us. The event offers reflection on the ways in which science and religion neither prove nor disprove the other; exploring how wisdom and beauty both serve to kindle our imaginations and enlarge our capacity for wonder.
Project In Progress
The Ripple Effect

RJ Working is a Cornish charity that uses Restorative Practice to support young people to build their social and community connections, reduce loneliness and conflict and to take the lead in addressing social injustice issues in their lives and communities.

The Ripple Effect Programme enables young people to learn Restorative principles and language and develop their communication and problem solving skills. Westhill’s funding will enable over 70 young people from areas experiencing social and economic disadvantage in West Cornwall to have increased community connection, reduce their risk of social and school exclusion and empower them as leaders.
Project In Progress
Through replacing out-dated technology with new digital and wi-fi resources, we aim to enrich the experiences of children within our Sunday School, and the young people in our Youth Club. As a congregation, we hope to transform our ability to present the gospel in contemporary ways, both within our church and beyond its doors.

Our hope is to evolve into a ‘hybrid church’, as we continue with our ‘live’ activities whilst also utilising broadcasts of church services and celebrations via social media platforms. We will also explore the potential for collaborative worship with other Welsh language churches, both locally and nationally.
Project In Progress
Support of Afghan Refugees

Entraide was set up to support asylum seekers, refugees and other vulnerable migrants in Solihull and the surrounding area to facilitate their integration into society.

The project funded by Westhill aims to facilitate the integration of Afghan refugees resettled in Solihull and the surrounding area through befriending, leisure and recreational activities and employment support.
Project In Progress
XLP’s nationally recognised mentoring programme matches an at-risk young person with a trained mentor who encourages them to make positive life choices. Meeting every week for 30 weeks of the year, our mentoring focuses on ensuring young people aged 11-18 stay in education, aren’t involved in gang culture or antisocial behaviour, and work hard to achieve the goals they set.  XLP’s mission statement is: ‘To engage in long-term relationships that empower young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to complete their education, avoid anti-social behaviour and ultimately become independent and confident contributors within their communities.’

 
Project In Progress
 The Centre

‘The Centre’ provides safe, inclusive and welcoming provision for young people in Nottingham. It is an opportunity for young people to take part in weekly activities and access support in a holistic programme of creative and skill-building activities that include drama, dance, beatboxing and spoken word, enabling participants to catch a break in a supportive environment. (Photo: Owen Harvey)
Project In Progress
Connecting Communities

Combatting poverty and preventing homelessness has been our leading mission for more than 25 years. Embedded in communities of deprivation, we exist because chronic poverty, extreme inequality, and severe disadvantage exist in Greater Manchester.

Our Connecting Communities project focuses on the work we do with refugees and asylum seekers. We create an aspirational space for people to develop their English language skills, get involved with holistic activities and build a community.
 
Project In Progress
The Faith & Belief Forum exists to create a connected and supportive society where people of different faiths, beliefs and cultures have strong, productive and lasting relations. We work towards our vision by implementing three interconnected and strategic goals. Equipping Learners, Building Movement, and Projecting Voice.

Our Encountering Faiths & Beliefs workshops model interfaith dialogue and co-operation in action, whilst avoiding essentialisation through contextualising personal identity, faith and culture.
Project In Progress
The Bell Tower Youth Drop-in provide daily after school youth provision for all secondary school students. Our project launched in 2014 after previous government funded youth centres had to close due to the cut backs to the statutory youth services.

Our primary goal is to provide all young people in our city with a safe place, with opportunities to volunteer, learn and thrive through our various off-shoot projects.
Project In Progress
Gardening for Recovery

For over 55 years SCT has been supporting people in East London affected by homelessness and addiction.  Our projects provide stepping-stones towards recovery and a positive life.

Gardening is one of the activities offered in our Training & Development Centre, where SCT residents and members of the wider recovery community can learn new skills, make friends and have fun.

Our community gardens are in the grounds of St. Leonard’s Church at the heart of Shoreditch, and are carefully maintained by our students and volunteers throughout the year.
Project In Progress
Recourse to Refuge

Beauty for Ashes Refuges was set up in response to the plight of women and children fleeing domestic abuse who were being turned away from refuges due to their immigration status.  We envision a world free from domestic abuse. But until then we want to ensure that all women fleeing domestic abuse, regardless of their immigration status, are able to access refuge provision.

We will provide refuge in the North West of England for migrant women fleeing domestic violence, who due to the No Recourse to Public Funds Policy cannot access ‘normal refuge.’
Project In Progress
Antifreeze Homeless Centre

Off the Fence Trust works to redress the social and economic imbalances in Brighton & Hove. To achieve this we tackle both the root causes and the effects of emotional and physical poverty; walking alongside those impacted; providing practical support and taking hands and hearts to where they are most needed. Our Antifreeze project covers short-term emergency support, medium term care and long term solutions.

 
Project In Progress
Local community

Millions of families are facing not knowing where the next meal is coming from, so The Message Community Grocery is here to help. Inside a Grocery you’ll find a range of food option and families can join for £5 annual membership. This gives them access to three healthy shops per week at £3 per shop (worth £30+) as well as access to a range of support courses that are accessible to the whole family.
Project In Progress
‘Multi-faith Approaches to Diversity and Racial Equality’ is a student led project which aims to develop pupil and teacher understanding of the approaches to diversity and racial equality across different religions and world views. Through pupil/teacher conferences a bank of high quality resources for all secondary schools in Wolverhampton are being developed.
Project In Progress
Fitness and Wellbeing Programme Improvements

Mercy UK is a charity rooted in supporting young women with life-controlling issues. Our free of charge residential home, which opened in 2006, offers a faith-based holistic approach to improving the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing of women facing issues such as self-harm, eating disorders and abuse.

Developing positive mental health and wellbeing habits is key is sustaining freedom. The funding from Westhill has helped us to improve the fitness programme by covering the cost of new gym equipment, the development of workshops and purchase of Birthday gifts for our residents.
Project In Progress
The Pitch and Reel Issues Films (RIF) are committed to developing a generation of filmmakers, through supporting and presenting the creative potential of the Bible as an often-overlooked source of stories. The Pitch presents old stories in fresh, creative ways, retelling them to introduce their universal appeal to new audiences. Breaking into the film industry and funding short films is notoriously difficult.

The Pitch and RIF are a perfect meeting place for filmmakers, elevating stories, whilst commending the Bible within the industry and, culture at large. The Pitch’s supportive environment offers a ‘level playing field’ route into the industry.
Project In Progress
The festival is organised by the local church for it's surrounding community. Working with people of all ages and backgrounds, seeking to create an interaction with the church and community. The festival uses the arts, including comedy, music, dance, drama and family focussed events help in a variety of venues to achieve this task.
Project In Progress
The Platform Project

The Platform Project is a 12-month Creative Arts programme provided for young people between the ages of 5-25, giving them access to professional opportunities and training in music, dance, drama and media, whilst gaining an accredited arts award qualification.

The young people will be involved in projects designed to create an atmosphere of positive influence throughout the community.  We want to see young people embracing art in creative ways giving them a voice to express themselves. The young people will become stewards of their own gifts and help those in need within the community. Lastly, they will create professional high-quality entertainment which is affordable and accessible to everyone.
Project In Progress
Women of Faith

The Women of Faith project aims to give women the confidence they need to develop as leaders on a range of fields. The women are drawn from different faith communities and also includes those of no faith. They will be encouraged to build supportive relationships and continie these relationships beyond the scope of the programme by acting as peer-mentors for one another.
Project In Progress
The Panpsycast: Christianity Audiobook

The Panpsycast are developing an audiobook focusing on Christianity to support students and teachers of RS. The informal and informative style of the already highly successful podcast will be born-again into a Full A-Level Course. Complete with special guests, good humour and a detailed exploration of Christianity, The Panpsycast: Christianity Audiobook promises to be an essential and entertaining guide to Christian thought.
Project In Progress
Octave - Open for Discussion

Octave - Open for Discussion is a travelling art exhibition designed to stimulate conversations. It is hoped to help members of congregations to talk with each other more deeply and then to talk with members of their communities more deeply. Churches may use the exhibition in a variety of ways, including visits to it by local arts groups, artists, schools, colleges and more.

The exhibition can stimulate visits by groups in wider communities as a way to encourage dialogue on difficult personal subjects. The individual works, called Leap, Hear. Watch, Chill, Wait, Be, Fly and Call, are paintings which touch points of common human feeling. The exhibition is physically small enough to be uised in a variety of places and arrives with discussion materials.
Project In Progress
Children and young people have many questions about life, including the non-material world and the actively seek answers, meaning and identity. In order to assist their journey of discovery during 2017 we will run 'Prayer Spaces Weeks' in schools in Kent, in a safe, creative interactive and all-inclusive environment.

It will allow students to discover their own meaning and draw their own conclusions, and also encourage respect for each other. Teachers can bring their students for a subject lesson in the prayer space and students will be invited to visit it during their breaks at lunchtime and after school. It will empower them to contribute in positive ways in school, family life and in the community.
Project In Progress
The Restart Chaplian Project provide spiritual and pastoral support to homeless prison leavers. Many men and women leaving prison face prospects of homelessness, with no family or friends to support them. On top of this, the support they recieved from trained prison chaplains is lost when they walk through the prison gates. This often leads to increased chance of being led astray. Feeling desperate and alone, the risk of returning to a life of crime and poverty is highly increased.

The Restart Chaplain Project offers these people the support and companionship they need to piece their life back together. We achieved this via spiritual and pastoral care, showing individuals the way of the gospel and facilitating their connection with faith and the church community.