Transformation is the most appropriate word one can apply to such a dramatic change seen in our project over the past few years. There are days when I walk around St Paul’s Centre and ask myself ‘how did we get here’? There are some complex answers, Business Plans, funding applications, thousands of hours of physical work and countless other forms of input.

However I am unashamed to say there is one other answer which comes before the rest. God. At Christian Concern we owe our vision, tenacity and passion to our collective sense of Christian duty. I am personally committed to a belief that St. Paul’s is as much an expression of how personal, practical and present God is today in 2004 as He was in 1869 when St. Paul’s was built.
Rob Wykes, Director

“You need to try 3C’s” was the response I had from someone at the new church we had begun attending. We were fresh in Crewe, via North Yorkshire where Rob had been studying at St Andrew’s Bible College. He’d taken up his new post as Railway Chaplain to the Northwest and we were in need of a cooker.

‘3C’s’ was housed in St. Paul’s – an old disused Anglican church, near to the town centre. The first impression for me was of a large jumble of furniture, with every type of household item imaginable and more. The staff were eager to help the new Chaplain, and quickly led us to the cookers. (Incidentally, we don’t deal in electrical goods any more). We made our choice and left.

Three years later in September 1996, Rob joined the ‘3C’s’ as Pastoral Director. Six months later he was asked to take over as Director, by which time the charity was at crisis point with an option to close.

Not long after this I began voluntary work in the office, inputting data for the furniture scheme. As the Railway Chaplain’s wife, I’d made cakes, visited families with Rob and played my guitar in services. This was a new challenge! I was also volunteered to help with the Annual Christmas Party, and Chips & Carols was born. During this time I began to explore the centre and started to tidy up the donated curtains and bedding. My friend’s son was due to start secondary school that September. She was a single parent and having a real struggle. There had been no grants towards the cost of school uniform for almost 11 years in Cheshire. This sparked a fire… ‘Why not recycle school uniforms as well as furniture?’

It sounds easy but there was a lot of planning and fundraising. Rob did a sponsored bike ride from St Paul’s Cathedral, London, to St Paul’s here in Crewe. We received various grants from Trusts to equip the laundry, which is situated in the organ loft. Here, uniforms were sorted, and washed and ironed by a group of volunteers. The intention was they’d be made available ready to wear. A seamstress offered her time on Fridays to staff a small shop, dealing with the public and repairing clothes.

Our School Uniform Recycling Project, and On Trak shop, was opened by the Bishop of Stockport on May 13th 1998. Kings Grove, a local Secondary School, was invited to take part. Rob often went into this school to speak to the Christian Union there and they’d done a sponsored walk in support of the project. Later that year, Christian Concern employed me part-time as its project worker.

There was a steady stream of clients to On Trak. For a £1 registration fee a child could have enough clothes for that one year. It was a time of mixed emotions - joy and tears. A social worker came into reception one day asking for shoes for two children. She couldn’t bring them in to try them on, as they had no shoes to come in, and it was frosty outside. Another woman came to us, having escaped domestic violence. She’d left everything; She and her son both needed clothes. Over the following months, this lady visited us often; you could see the change in her as she gained her self-respect and health again. Eventually, she came with the news she’d been given a house. We were able to furnish it. She occasionally calls in now to buy odd pieces of furniture and bric-a-brac. There are many more cases like these, each with their own sad story to tell. I believe we helped relieve their plight, giving them hope and dignity, boosting their confidence and giving them the opportunity to escape the various traps of financial hardship they found themselves in.

I had a group of six lady volunteers and a placement from Total People to supervise. We went further. The curtains and bedding were now in order; On Trak was running smoothly with the help of a retired headmistress. The laundry was also now used for washing donated bedding. When a client requested a bed, we were able to supply fresh bedding to go with it, along with a towel bale. The bric-a-brac was my next target!

With the aesthetic eye of ‘my ladies’ we created a shop within a shop - a section dedicated to the smaller items donated, or anything that wasn’t furniture! Kitchenware was separated off and made into packs, normally to suit a family of six. The volunteers who make up these packs will pray over each one, which include saucepans, cutlery, crockery and utensils.

Early in 2000 a lady came into On Trak quite distressed and seemingly at the end of herself. She had one of her daughters with her, who was very much pregnant. They were in need of a cot and anything else to help with the imminent birth of her baby. What increased the sadness of this situation was that her daughter was only 15 years old and her younger daughter, aged 14, was also 4 months pregnant. We were able to supply a cot, pushchair, baby clothes and nappies. Thoughts of creating the Whole Child Project were born. Baby items were added to our referral forms, with baby clothes and bedding now also being washed in our laundry.

In November 2000 my role at Christian Concern changed and I am now more office-based, working on the finances, whilst still overseeing the staff of our various projects.

Rob’s involvement continued with Kings Grove Secondary School. Early in 2001 when news broke about the high rates of teenage pregnancies in the Crewe area, the Christian Union decided that monies raised from their annual sponsored walk should go towards Baby Boxes - literally a box full of items suitable for the newborn babies of under-16 year olds. They raised enough money for 10 boxes, which included a pack of disposable nappies, antiseptic cream, baby wash, nappy sacks, wipes, cotton wool, a New Testament and a first Bible Book. The cost of each box then was £21. The box itself was chosen to be of use afterwards for storage of some kind.

Today I’m still on the finances but am now branching out into Staff Development. I’ve taken my Initial Certificate in Basic Skills Teaching and offer support to tutors from South Cheshire College who we work in partnership with. In particular, we deliver computer training, focussing on the needs of individuals. These classes are great fun and are great for team building.

I so enjoy seeing people change, as they become a part of us at Christian Concern; whether it’s for a few weeks or years. They’re each precious in God’s sight, each valuable, each has something to offer. When a member of staff leaves, they feel they’re leaving a family not a work place. What a blessing! But there’s more to come - much more - and it’s all because of Jesus.
Cheryl Wykes