Sunderland Quakers make history with a vibrant new community hub

Working in collaboration with the Tyne and Wear Building Preservation Trust and Sunderland City Council, Sunderland Quakers successfully attracted a £ 1 million regeneration grant from Historic England to restore and repurpose the 200-year-old building, once a bank and latterly a tyre shop.

"We used to have a building in another part of Sunderland, but as a Quaker community we wanted to be closer to people who we could support," explained Matt Moore, the Resources Manager for Northumbria Area Meeting. "In 2019 we sold our building and began to look around for new premises – but then Covid came along and that put the project back by a number of years."

The new Quaker community hub is in the Sunniside area of the city, which, it turns out, sees Sunderland Friends returning to their early roots.

"In the 1650s, Friends had a meeting house literally a few hundred feet away from where the new hub and meeting house are due to open," said Matt. "It's extremely meaningful that we're returning to the place where our predecessors gathered for worship hundreds of years ago."

As well as providing meeting space for Quaker worship, there will also be sub-let workspace and retail units for social enterprises and independent businesses who are seeking to be part of the ongoing regeneration of the area.

"The hub will also provide space for local charities and organisations, and in particular we're looking forward to welcoming Space North East, a charity supporting men's mental health and suicide prevention", explained Matt.

"We want to provide a space the whole community can use and benefit from. In addition, we'll be able to raise our visibility in the city. We'll be welcoming hundreds of people a week into a place that promotes our values and informs visitors of who we are."

The work is ongoing, but it's hoped the building will be ready to open in the autumn.

Image: Before and after work started. Quakers in Britain

"The Quakers in Northumbria have worked so hard to bring their vision to fruition," said Ellie McCarthy, the Local Development Worker for Cumberland and the North East. "The hub in Sunderland is a brilliant example of how we can share our expertise, money and time to invest in a project that embeds our Quaker values in the communities we live in."

There isn't anything Matt doesn't now know about multi-agency collaboration, grant funding, and the restoration of traditional shopfronts and timber sash windows.

"It's been a steep learning opportunity," Matt said, "but one which I've relished because I know how transformational this will be for the future of Quakerism in this area and the future of the area itself. Sunderland Quakers have actively helped to regenerate the Sunniside area of the city and to provide a place where people can meet friends, make friends and become Friends all under one roof!"