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Our Story
We believe The Beacon is a special place and that’s why our volunteers are so keen to look after the building and help to run it.
The building was previously the well known and much loved youth Knight Club, which sadly due to cuts was forced to close. Our neighbours, Isca Church, which meets next door at St James School, successfully bid to take over the building as a community centre, with a focus on youth. Isca Church created a separate charity called Isca Community Enterprises to lease the centre and run it. The charity exists for the public benefit, for promoting welfare and education to local residents and promoting community and belonging.
As soon as we got the lease our amazing team of volunteers got stuck in. The first big job was installing a ceiling to create a warm, cosy feel to the hall. Our Big Beacon Decorating weekends saw volunteers painting bright white walls and also painting the exterior and planting pretty flower borders; by adding large houseplants and making some pretty cushions we now have a homely feeling centre.
Our volunteers also got stuck in creating admin systems, a vast array of policies, health and safety, fire regulations, all the things needed to make a centre safe.
But, hey, the real fun began when groups started! Isca Church created two youth clubs and a toddler group and church volunteers help with a weekly lunch for older people which is run by the Rotary Club. Our most popular weekly event is our Friday Community Drop-In which sees a wide range of all ages having fun together and a toy library and the foodbank also operate during these sessions. The centre runs a popular wellbeing drop-in group on Mondays.
Various local people and organisations run courses/activities and one of our long running is a local autistic support group which enjoys the huge variety of space we offer
Join us
The Beacon is run by an energetic group of people who like to make things happen. Our volunteers start at age 17 and we have a few in their 70s.
We opened in May 2015 and we’ve already won the Pride of Exeter Best Community Centre Award!
We’ve also:
- Hosted the first ever job fair in Beacon Heath, working closely with Business in the Community
- Organised popular family fun days, working closely with local councillors
- Hosted two successful Christmas fairs, getting local people together and enabling hundreds of children to see Santa.
- Held a wonderful community drop-in Christmas party
- Worked successfully with local organisations to establish new groups at the centre
- Co-hosted two Beacon Heath Summer Fetes
We’re a busy volunteering team and are always looking for more like-minded people to join us. If you believe in community, want to make new friends, and have some spare time, then pop in for a chat.There’s always lots to do here – you won’t get bored. We’d love help with staffing reception, administration, setting up our community drop-in sessions, maintenance, IT Support and applying for grants.
If you want to get involved the best way is to come and have a chat over a drink, our Friday morning drop-in is an ideal chance to get a feel for the place, give us a call on 01392 204979 or use the contact form here.
Contact us
Policies
Click on the links below to see the Centres Policies