Photo credits @ Khali Ackford

From tapestry to pews, to the ornate floor and ceiling tiles - woodcarving, clay, textiles and stained glass all highly featured both inside and outside the Holy Trinity Church (now the Trinity Centre) when it opened in 1832. Whilst many of these features are no longer with us, you can still see the remains of the artisan crafted features if you look up in the Fyfe Hall or, walk past the beautiful stained glass windows. As part of our Heart & Soul project, we want to give residents the opportunity to find out more about the heritage of Trinity, through learning the traditional crafts and skills used in building the centre.

“Loved it! Best way to spend a Saturday hands-down. Learning new skills, meeting new people – fab!!”

Our first block of workshops started on Saturday 10 Feb, delivered by stained glass artist Liz Barton, ceramicist Joanna Espiner, textile artist Ruth Ramsey and woodcarver Daniel Bendel. They will be working with participants, across two blocks of workshops, to create collaborative artwork to display across Trinity.

In these initial workshops participants explored Trinity’s features, looking at how the crafts were originally used across the building. Using this as inspiration, participants spent the morning designing their artwork and the afternoon learning the basics of the traditional crafts.

Missed out on these workshops? Our second block of workshops starts in April, sign up here! Please note we have limited spaces and that you will need to complete all sessions (this are not taster workshops).

While you are here, we have a big favour to ask, we need your help.

The Trinity Centre is at risk, and you can help to safeguard it’s future.

Adesola Akinleye & the Ila Dance project, Trinity's Garden Party 2017, image by Jessica Bartolini

“We are delighted to support the proposed improvements to Trinity – a very significant and important Grade II* listed Georgian building. For many years, Trinity Centre has been an excellent example of a building where the local community has been involved in its ongoing improvement and in the provision of an ever increasing range of activities and initiatives. This work continues to the present day and into the future. We wish Trinity Centre our ongoing support in securing the funds necessary to secure the future of both the building and of the important activities which it accommodates.” Bristol Civic Society

We are excited to announce Trinity Centre has been granted National Lottery funding to carry out essential repairs to the building. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) have pledged £362,800 towards our Capital Repairs project that will include fixing the iconic towers, North aisle roof, stained glass windows and Bath stonework.  Historic England have also shown their support for the capital works, with a grant of £106,099.

A further £97k has also been raised from other supporters including Bristol City Council, Cory Environmental Trust Britain, the Pilgrim Trust, and ​Nisbets Trust​ as well as support through individual donations and a Crowdfunder appeal.  Other trusts who have supported the capital works to take place include The Sylvia Waddilove Foundation, The Bramble Trust and local heritage foundation The Gibbs Trust.  

Bristol Ageing Better and The Swire Charitable Trust are also supporting towards costs of activities, to include workshops in traditional heritage trades, a series of talks and a range of activities for children and families including heritage trails and quests to find out more about local history.

We are now looking to raise the remaining raise remaining £140k match-funding needed to cover the total costs of the project.

We still need help in raising the remaining 20% needed to complete the repairs. You can pledge your support via Trinity’s Just Giving page: visit ​www.3ca.org.uk/donate for more info, donate by Text Giving with ROOF 31 and your donation amount to 70070,  download the Trinity Anthem or buy some of our merch from our marketplace.

Children's Adventures in Nature

Mon, Wed & Thu from 27 Jul to 31 Aug, 2pm-4pm

Children aged 6-12 can join the fun at the Trinity Community Garden, where they can connect with nature through all weather activities, like forest school, bushcraft and play. Free  - suggested donation £5. Contact Lisa: lisat@3ca.org.uk / 07791 140 916

Outdoor Adventure Youth Group

Mondays, 6pm-8pm

12-18 year olds can join us every week to learn about bush-craft, fire-lighting, shelter building, foraging, food growing and cooking at the Trinity Garden. No need to book, just come along, its free! Contact Lisa: lisat@3ca.org.uk / 07791 140 916

Holiday Lunch Clubs

Wednesdays: 29 July, 12 & 26 Aug, 10am-12pm

A cookery club for parents and children of all ages. Come and enjoy cooking with other local families, and enjoy your creations in our beautiful garden. Free (donations welcome) - Booking essential, contact Helen: helenw@3ca.org.uk / 0117 935 1200

World's Largest Samba Dance!

Wednesdays 29 Jul; 5, 12 & 19 Aug, 5.30pm-6pm

Help us beat the current Guinness World Record for the World's Largest Samba Dance at the Stapleton Rd Make Sunday Special event on Sunday 23 August. Join the free dance workshop sessions and learn the simple routine created by World Jungle Samba Dancers. Contact Ripley: ripley@3ca.org.uk / 0117 935 1200

Hype Dance Street Dance

Wednesdays, 6pm-7pm and 7pm-8pm

Exciting and vibrant street dance training, which is not only fun but a good way of keeping fit! for ages 5 to 11 and 12 to 25 yrs old. £5 per session (please arrive 10 minutes early to sign in). Contact Natasha: thype@hotmail.co.uk / 0117 935 1200

Little Green Warriors

Fridays, 12.30-2.30pm

A weekly meet for parents, carers & their preschoolers to enjoy seasonal activities and the urban outdoors in our beautiful community garden – Free! Contact Helen: helenw@3ca.org.uk / 0117 935 1200

Music Open Day!

Fri 14 Aug, 10am-4pm

Are you 13-21 yrs old? Try something new for free! Drums, Guitar, DJ, MC, Vocals, Production; followed by a BBQ and your chance to perform on our stage!

Contact Karina: info@3ca.org.uk / 0117 935 1200

Anita O'Flynn, one of our Volunteer Garden Coordinators, was one of the lucky winners to receive Vodafone's World of Difference UK Programme Funding. The programme gives 500 people the chance to work for a UK charity of their choice and get paid!

The award received will allow Anita to deliver 2 weekly sessions of organic gardening and cooking workshops in the Spring and Summer of 2013. One day dedicated to women and children and the other under the wide umbrella of grounding mental health.

With Anita's help we hope to create a safe space where people can learn about herbs and their uses in the morning, have lunch prepared by those interested and follow it by a workshop in gardening, that will include sowing seeds, creating compost, weed identification and so forth. Anita's role will be to help co-ordinate the volunteers during the day and help run the workshops.

The activities funded by Awards for All in 2012 demonstrated a real need for a space in which people can access a food producing garden and gain skills for free in a friendly caring environment.

Participants will include women from minority ethnic communities (BME) who have experienced domestic violence and people who are affected by mental health issues. Groups of participants will include Awaz Utaoh Asian's Women group, Wild Goose, Rethink & Terrence Higgins service users.

Workshops will be held between April-June 2013

How to get involved

To register your interest in the project contact Anita: anita@3ca.org.uk / 0117 9351200

To read more about the garden and Anita's work, visit her blog: Anita's blog

Our polytunnel has given us the gift of gardening outdoors/indoors, with crops and flowers growing faster and stronger when sheltered from winds, warmed by the sun and protected from frosts. It has also provided us with an ideal space for sowing earlier, harvesting later and hugely improving the growing potential of every square foot of soil in the community garden.

After many years of service, our old polytunnel had seen better days and the GL Hearn team agreed to take on the challenge of replacing the polytunnel plastic as part of their volunteer action day in July.

The team did a wonderful job and this improvement has give our garden groups the opportunity to grow a whole variety of plants and develop their skills further in years to come!

Here's what the team had to say about their day:

“The centre needed help renewing the polytunnel material in the community garden...7 volunteers from the Bristol office took part on what was one of the hottest days of the year so far. The day really tested the strength and endurance of the staff involved! Under the guidance of the centre’s Garden Coordinator, the GL Hearn volunteers carried out weeding, digging a trench, renewing the polytunnel material and then filling in the trench to hold the new material in place. It was extremely satisfying to see the end result of all the hard work and knowing it would make a big difference to the centre.”

Since the repairs, our polytunnel has provided an ideal space for sowing earlier, harvesting later and hugely improving the growing potential of every square foot of soil in the community garden. It has meant that there are more activities throughout the year for volunteers and participants to get involved in, giving people the opportunity to grow a whole variety of plants and develop their skills further for years to come.

Click here if you are interested in having your company's team-building day at Trinity.

After 3 years of running volunteer drop-ins The Trinity Community Garden is now running an inclusive programme of workshops that will respond to the needs of our diverse communities. We believe the project will have a positive focus creating a sense of well-being, achievement and cohesion in the community.

The Big Lottery Fund distributes half of the National Lottery good cause funding across the UK. The support for the this project comes from the Awards for All programme which aims to enable others to make real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need.

The award received will allow us to deliver a series of weekly organic gardening and cooking sessions, providing a safe controlled space where a variety of local groups will gain hands-on experience in the garden. The workshops will include: cooking a variety of dishes from the veg growing in a simple outdoor kitchen (to be built); learn about the benefits of wild plants and herbal first aid; seed sowing and saving; companion planting; how to tend and care for fruit and vegetables; crop rotation and soil fertility.

Participants will include women from minority ethnic communities (BME) who have experienced domestic violence and people who are affected by mental health issues. Groups of participants will include Awaz Utaoh Asian's Women group, Wild Goose, Rethink & Terrence Higgins service users.

We have been collecting feedback from some of these groups regarding the need for the project and RETHINK said: “there has been a clear need displayed by our clients for an outdoor gardening group that focuses on developing skills, widening social networks and encouragement towards volunteer opportunities”. It's Awaz Utaoh's opinion that gardens bring different cultures and generations together, improving individual and community confidence, bridging the divide between ethnic, political and socio-economic groups. Terrance Higgings Trust said that "it's important for HIV positive people to have a healthy diet; this project will benefit their health and social outlook".

Workshops will be held between May-November 2012. When the project is over, the participants will be confident enough to take ownership of the space and make it a welcoming place for the local community.

Sustainable building

In addition to the gardening workshops Trinity are seeking people interested in sustainable building to initiate the outdoor kitchen that will complement this project.

The building of the outdoor kitchen will run as separate workshops, 3 days a week for 6 weeks. We have selected an experienced workshop leader to run this workshops who has successfully run similar projects in other areas. These sessions will provide open, drop-in access for the wider community and will be appropriate for all levels, with the aim of encouraging people to become more active in their community.

How to get involved

To register your interest in the project or sustainable building workshops, contact Charlie or Pete info@3ca.org.uk 0117 9351200 or join the volunteer drop-in days on Wednesdays from 12pm to 5pm, May to November 2012.