Nestled between St George, Fishponds and Kingswood, Speedwell can get easily forgotten. Local people often have little choice but to shop and socialise in neighbourhoods nearby, but with the opening of a new community centre, there is hope that the community will regain its sense of identity.
Last year saw the renovation of the Meadow Vale Community Centre which aims to bring the heart back into the community which once had a popular swimming pool, a medical centre and several shops and pubs which have since closed. The new centre, which cost almost £500k to build over a seven year period, has plans to open a cafe by January 2025 and has built up a programme of activities over the last year.
The new centre is the only one in Speedwell which is not within a church. The Haven, located within the Methodist Church, has also begun to offer new activities to the community and although the Crofter Coffee cafe near the Wackum Inn is very popular, it seems to be the only one within Speedwell and is too far for some of the older residents who live on the other side of the neighbourhood.
Fiona Russell, 78, is proud of the Meadow Vale reopening as a much bigger centre with big ambitions to meet the needs of the whole community and bring people together. Fiona, who has been with the community association since 1985, said: “It’s been a long hard road, but now I feel that we have achieved what those who have gone before wanted.
“We are a deprived area, but a small one, and it has been a struggle to keep things going until we could get funders to understand our needs, but we had an amazing team who were determined to succeed.”
The neighbourhood, which still has a large number of council homes, has seen additional housing developments in recent years, including the conversion of the former swimming pool into new social housing in the area. But prior to the post-war council house building programme, Speedwell was the site of a coal mine – a part of the area’s history that presented one of many of the challenges for the small group determined to transform the Meadow Vale community centre into a space that would put their neighbourhood on the map.
After completing the renovation of the existing building in 2018, the volunteers involved in transforming Meadow Vale successfully bid for £200,000 in Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). The money was used to extend the building into two separate rooms and although they were unaware of the numerous challenges ahead of them, they somehow managed to apply for various grants over the years to complete their plans.
In addition to an investigation into the risk of building above a former coal mine, the construction company set to build an extension went into administration just a month after they had completed the work. Along with the pandemic cutting through the middle of their project and the rising cost of living that came after, they ended up having to deal with soil contamination and having to amend their building plans, while constantly chasing additional funds.
The current chair, Jim Currie, who initially thought he would just volunteer in Speedwell for a year, remains an important part of the community centre. Jim, who was unfamiliar with Speedwell seven years ago, was looking to give something back to a community in Bristol after his retirement from working as a marketing director.
Jim, who lives in Westbury-on-Trym and had never been involved in a community project before, said: “I’m still here, it’s crazy, I didn’t think I would still be here seven years ago but I feel quite committed to this community now. There’s been some bad times but when you’re building it never goes to plan and it always costs more.
“There were times when we didn’t have money to pay the builder but somehow or other, if you just keep going you will come out the other end. I see myself as a bit of a transition person, if we can get it to a certain level by working together as a team I will step back and someone in the community will step in.
“We had this community fun day a few weeks ago and I stood at the gates and saw loads of kids and different people from different nationalities enjoying a bouncy castle, circus skills and all the activities we had going on and I thought to myself, ‘this is what it’s all about’. That vision of people being able to come and use this facility and for their lives to be enhanced in some way, that’s what really makes it worthwhile. I feel very attached to it.”
Venisha Duncan, who grew up in St Pauls but moved to the area 13 years ago after the birth of her first child, started volunteering a year ago when their former councillor Nicola Beech, knocked on her door while she was off work on maternity leave. As a local mum with children of different ages, she knows the area and the people very well.
Venisha said: “I found we often had to do activities outside the area and Speedwell was forgotten about. We didn’t have our own identity and the community centre is trying to bring something back and say, ‘we are here!’
“I deal a lot with the bookings and managing the day to day stuff in the centre. It is a small area but we are here and we’ve got a lot of good stuff going on which needs to be highlighted more.”