Sanctuary Group - Community Breakfast
Taking place every Tuesday morning at the Hall at Peat Road in Glasgow’s Priesthill area, the Hall Breakfast Club is a community project run by volunteers and supported by Sanctuary Scotland and the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership. Although only initially planned to run for 10 weeks, the Breakfast Club celebrated its second birthday on Tuesday 26 March 2019 with volunteers, members of the local community, and children from the local primary school attending the celebrations.
The Breakfast Club started as a short-term, 10-week initiative through the area’s Thriving Places plan to improve the local area. Over 30 people attended the first breakfast, and numbers kept growing from week to week. By the end of the 10 weeks, it was clear that the breakfasts should continue.
Since it began, the club has gone from strength to strength and has become a busy community hub. A number of agencies, from the health improvement team to community police officers, attend the breakfasts. Thriving Places meetings also take place after the breakfasts in order to give more local people a chance to attend.
However, although they receive visits from a lot of organisations, local volunteers run every aspect of the breakfast. The volunteers buy the food and prepare breakfast for everyone every week, and also organise a range of additional activities, including musical performances and arts and crafts. The volunteer-driven nature of the breakfasts reflects Sanctuary Scotland’s approach of Asset-Based Community Development.
Asset-Based Community Development is about bringing people together to achieve positive change using their own skills, knowledge and lived experience. An important feature of the club is that it is not run by any organisation or agency; rather, it provides a space for people to create connections and relationships.
The volunteers who started the breakfast are still involved. The breakfast club is sustainable and able to run with a budget of just £1,000 per year and minimal involvement from agency staff.
““The breakfast is simply people coming together, having a laugh and building long term friendships. It’s also a welcoming space for people on the fringe to enter and get involved with community activity.
“In turn, this can act as a starting point for people to connect, share, and grow while building a life of their own choosing. The positive stories that have started with a chat at the breakfast are abundant.”
Kieran Renshaw, Community Development Officer
Want to find out more?
Anthony Morrow
Community Development Officer
Sanctuary Group
Sanctuary House
7 Freeland Drive
Glasgow
G53 6PG
Tel: 0141 8764945 Glasgow
Email: anthony.morrow@sanctuary-housing.co.uk