Supporting our Community: Meet Lucille

Hi I’m Lucille.  I’ve just started working as the Community Development Lead at the Southmead Development Trust.  My background is in community development across the city in social housing and also Community Development with Older People.  In the past I have supported an over 50s art group, gardening projects, clean up days, fun days, a film club, residents associations, clean air projects, and heritage art projects – to name just a few things!

I work in an asset based way which means not focussing too much on what is wrong, but supporting people to share and access what the community already has and to help to create new offerings.  I believe everyone has something to contribute and everyone should be able to make use of the amazing resource that is their community.

My first priority is to support people to get back together after all our time apart in the recent year or so.  I know this is daunting for some people and others can’t wait to see each other.   I’m supporting groups to start meeting again or to get online and new groups to form.   If you have a skill you would like to share or learn, or a project you would like to set up, then I can support you to do that.  If you have an idea for something and you don’t know if it’s possible then please contact me, I would love to hear it. If you already go to a group I might not know please tell me.  Also if you’d like to get involved in something but you don’t know what it might be, do get in touch.

For now you can mainly find me on the end of the phone or on email, but as the weather improves and we are allowed to be together again I will be out and about trying to chat to as many residents as possible.

I’m helping to organise The Southmead Celebration – a week of community fun from Monday 16th to Sunday 22nd August.  You may have heard that everyone is invited to put something on or set something up for other residents to enjoy.  All the info is here > The Southmead Celebration

So do let me know how you’d like to be involved – ring me for a chat on the phone or we can arrange to meet up for a cuppa at Greenway.  I really look forward to hearing from you.

How to contact me:

email: lucillesmith@southmead.org

tel: 0117 950 3335 (do leave me a message here at the Greenway Centre and I’ll call you back)