Snap Shot : Winn Gardens

My model of ministry is that if people are in pain, they’re not going to hear the good news – no matter how loud you shout about it. Help their need first then their ears and hearts are able to open to hear the good news of God’s salvation.

Community Pioneer Suzanne Morton shares with us the work that takes place at Winn Gardens to help the community – and to share the gospel.

The Winn Gardens estate can be found in the north of the Hillsborough ward of Sheffield, and is described as ‘economically challenged, ethnically diverse, multicultural and strongly linked commmnity’.   Suzanne Morton is employed by St John’s Church in Owlerton as the Community Pioneer for Winn Gardens. She’s been in post for two and a half years, and lives and works on the estate:

I’m completely integrated into the community and support any households with virtually any issue they have. It could be immigration issues; financial issues; household bills; domestic violence, food poverty, spiritual exploration, faith needs, mental / physical wellbeing and much more. My work on the estate reaches everybody from cradle to grave and everything in between.

The work that Suzanne carries out includes managing a foodbank,  a recycling centre for household clothes and items,  a creative arts café to combat loneliness, drop in youth sessions, a toddler group, Messy Church, adult worship nights plus many one off celebrations and events. As well as this she also pastorally cares on a one to one basis for many residents on a daily basis. She says she’s often stopped and asked for help whenever she takes a walk :

When I came on to the estate the foodbank worked out of a shoe cupboard in another building serving four to five families a week, so on average around twenty to twenty-five people.

When Covid hit we couldn’t use the building anymore (it’s a shared building with a private nursery), so we were allocated to Hillsborough Baptist Church before being reallocated again to Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. The problem is that if you’ve got a family and you’re carrying four or five carrier bags of tins, the walk back from Penistone Road is horrendous. There are no trams there, even if people had money for the tram.

Suzanne worked really closely with the Tenants’ and Residents’ Association on Winn Gardens and the Sheffield City council councillors, the S6 foodbank and Hillsborough Morrisons to build what the community now has today.  Working with the above partners Suzanne and her team were allocated to derelict store spaces (about the size of a garage) under one of the blocks of maisonettes. As a team they moved the foodbank in during September 2020 and the need has exploded since then. One of the fantastic team Suzanne works with is a retired builder /painter and using his skills he erected shelving for the foodbank as well as painting both store areas.

Over the next few months different people came along to volunteer and quickly Suzanne built a core team of around nine volunteers who help week on week with the foodbank. Some people are church members, some local residents and some recipients of the foodbank. Today the foodbank is supporting up to an average of thirty-five to forty households per week; if you multiply that by six or eight in a family you’re looking at feeding two to three hundred people.

However the work and support they offer goes well beyond just feeding people. At the session the team also for free clothing, household goods, books, shoes and much more. The clothing and household bank is free for anyone to attend and all items are free to take away. Suzanne often recalls the well known song “I was hungry and thirsty were you there? Were you there?” and steeps her ministry in this ethos. 

Another key thing for Suzanne and her team at Winn Gardens encourage is the building of an inclusive community, especially with such a diverse range of people. This has not always been easy and has had challenges along the way. One such challenge has been for Suzanne to act as a mediator between the long established British community on the estate and the influx of different cultures.

In both cases people from both groups were suspicious of each other and on many occasions could not understand / appreciate their cultural differences. One such issue particularly that Suzanne recalls is around the disposal of rubbish. For many of the people from different cultures their previous way of disposing of rubbish in their home country was to bag it up and leave it on the doorstep of their home where workers ( council / community) etc would then collect and dispose of.

Now living in maisonette blocks they still carried on this way of disposing rubbish. This led to complaints from other residents about rubbish blocking walkways and encouraging vermin. Working with both the incoming community and long standing residents Suzanne explained the cultural differences and although not fully resolved has seen and improvement in some areas. 

Another way that Suzanne has also built bridges is in this way : 

We’ve got a group of men in sheltered accommodation nearby – the majority of whom are asylum seekers – and they help us set up in the morning. We’ve nicknamed them ‘The Men’s Breakfast Club’, and there’s around six or seven of them who have formed a little community. We buy newspapers for them and they sit together and chat (often offering each other informal emotional support); my prayer is that eventually we’ll get a form of men’s ministry that can support them.

On the estate itself we have around eighteen to nineteen different cultures and languages. We used to do pre-packed bags at the foodbank, but last Christmas we had a real think about giving and the fact that we had such a diverse cultural base coming. What we have adopted is a policy of packing everything into a crate, the crate goes outside to the customer and they can decide what to get. It means we don’t just give something that could be thrown away.

In addition to all the work done at the foodbank Suzanne also organises and delivers a variety of  community programme with events put on for people of all ages and from all backgrounds. Suzanne explains how they work : 

On a Monday we run a creative café, which is a drop-in session group to offer tea, cake, conversation and crafts. We’re supporting people in their mental health and helping them to try something new. The crafts are not simply there to give people something to do but also to build skills but more importantly to build self- confidence.

Many of the people Suzanne works with, particularly during the daytime programmes, are or have been long term unemployed. Often this unemployment is due to poor mental health, disability, poor educational standards or simply the difficulty of gaining work particularly for those new into the county. Suzanne realises there is no quick fix or magic wand to cure this but instead tries to build people up, gain their own individual value and to be seen for the unique and godly created being they are within the community.  

On a Tuesday we run a stay and play session for toddlers and on a Thursday evening we have a youth drop in.

One of the challenges Suzanne has faced recently is combatting anti- social behaviour on the estate. Many of the young people don’t have access to activities outside of school due to lack of disposable income and so leads to many children and young people just hanging around the estate.  Working alongside other partners however Suzanne has now built a provision that spans over four week day nights plus Sunday afternoons. 

We’ve got a small team, so I’ve been working on getting partners in such as Sheffield Wednesday coming in on a Monday with a programme, and Zest coming in on a Tuesday night in aid of a youth drop in, the local council youth team offering detached youth work and the local PCSO,s also now supporting the children and young people with detached youth conversations.

One of the biggest challenges Suzanne faces with the young people when she first began her ministry was lockdown. Having started the post in January 2020 Suzanne had barely landed when the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the country. Challenged by groups being closed down and no access to community buildings Suzanne felt extremely challenged how she would a) integrate into this new community but also b) build those much needed and now valued relationships.  

Working with the youth minister from the church, Suzanne’s little dog, nicknamed now “Pastor Poppy”,  and bucket loads of hot chocolate and treats Suzanne took the “ministry out the box”. Knowing that people could not gather but seeing the children and young people still hanging around the estate Suzanne and her small team took themselves to the local park and play area and “Covid guidance applied” slowly over time built up friendships with the children , young people and their families. It is now that the fruit of this humble mission is now being seen in fruit with over 85 young people and children registered at the youth drop in and 28 children and parents regularly sharing in Messy Church. 

When asked to describe her role Suzanne describes herself as ‘a Christian social worker’, intent on modelling her ministry and the ministry of those who support her on Jesus Christ.  She says  :

Yes, Jesus did spend some time preaching when He was around; He did go in the synagogue at times. However, if you look at the majority of His ministry it was asking ‘are you hungry? Let me feed you. Are you blind? Let me help you see’.

Then He told them the good news.

My model of ministry is thinking if people are in pain, they’re not going to hear the good news – no matter how loud you shout about it. If you help their need first, it opens up their ears to be able to hear the other stuff. That’s how I try to model the Lord’s work.

Suzanne and other partners carry out this work on a day to day basis, but demand for help is increasing. Larger facilities would help to meet that need, and Suzanne says pushing for more space is very much the plan for the future : 

We are expanding out of the premises hand over fist. I’ve had to turn kids away because the premises that I run the youth club in isn’t big enough. There’s so much more work that we could do with the foodbank, but we haven’t got another office. I would like a space so that when we have customers come with particular issues i.e. domestic abuse, immigration issues, debt, we can address their needs in a quiet and confidential space.

My dream would be for Winn Gardens to have its own building. 

Until then however Suzanne is committed to working with what she has and praying daily for more of God’s provision to see more outreach and mission done within the community she has grown not only to work with but love, cherish and find as her own. 

You can find out more about the work that Suzanne and the team at Winn Gardens do here: WINN (stjb.org.uk) Alternatively, you can contact Suzanne: suzanne@stjb.org.uk