On Saturday 20th April 2013, we were delighted to receive a special visitor to our venue for our Celebration of Age event entitled ‘Puttin on the Blitz’. We had over 120 residents (all over the age of 60), turn up for the event. One of the residents Mr John Oyston is very familiar with our venue as he was the church secretary for 40 years.
As many of you are aware the Enter Centre used to be the Ferryhill Baptist Church. Mr Oyston attended the church regularly from the age of 17 and became known locally as John The Baptist because of his strong faith and ties with the church for 60 years. At the age of 77 John’s health prevented him from continuing his work as secretary before the church formerly closed in July 2012. Everyone knew Enter CIC had been looking for a permanent base and in October 2012 we were delighted to be able to utilise the property for our community activities.
‘Puttin on the Blitz’ was a huge community activity and we knew that to ensure the project was all inclusive it would be important to provide free transport to and from the event for people with mobility issues. Tenlands, a local care home utilised the transport which enabled John to attend the event and to see first hand how Enter CIC were using the venue to benefit the local community.
Upon arrival at the Enter Centre John was greeted by members of our Upper School and formerly welcomed by Andrea Flynn (pictured above and right)
It was evident for all to see that John enjoyed the event. On the 24th April 2013, Mrs Oyston called in to our office and presented us with a thank you card. She expressed her delight that the young people in our community were benefiting from the venue. She explained that her greatest fear was that when the church closed the venue would be vandalised and left unused. She did not want this to happen as the church had played such a vital role in the community over the past 104 years.
We are delighted to receive this feedback from Mrs Oyston. Community is at the heart of our company and this clearly demonstrates that we are on the right path. Please see the feedback from Mrs Oyston below.
John & Lyn Oyston
