Sunflowers Stay and Play (0-4's)

First Saturday

Upcoming dates

The Comfort Trust

Serving and Supporting Families in East Oxford since 2005

Magdalen Road Church has always wanted to be at the heart of the community, to love and serve those around them, and to dedicate time and resources to supporting local families. Rather than being exclusively a place of worship, the Church has striven to be a place where the whole community can feel welcome and served. About 15 years ago, our previous pastor, Peter Comont, and church member, Nicola Carpenter, started to think and pray about launching a Toddlers group, given the number of young families in the community, and a growing need to provide a space of encouragement, support, and play for both parents, carers and children.

Nicola was keen to dedicate her working week to preparing and running these sessions, but the church had no resources to pay her. The Comfort Trust charity was initially created specifically to pay and support Nicola to run these sessions. The Trust took its name from Mr. B Comfort, a leading figure at the Magdalen Road Mission Hall during the 1870s, who built a workmen’s hall on the site of what later became a chapel and appointed the first full-time pastor, Mr. Trotman. Since the charitable Trust was being
established to care for the local community, and to provide a source of nurture and companionship for local families, the name felt like a perfect fit! Karen Avery, who still attends the Church, was also a founding trustee and was fundamental to the establishment of the Trust.

Funding initially came from the local council via the Network Funding Trust, which was a wonderful win-win scenario – the council was directly investing in the support of young families, parents and carers, and Nicola, supported by a raft of volunteers from the Church, was able to harness those resources to support the local community. A wider vision of the Trust was to serve and support vulnerable families in East Oxford over and above those with young families. Funding wasn’t available at that to time to develop the vision, but this is something we actively want to pursue now that we have moved from the chapel to the Old Schoolhouse (formerly the Irving Building) in Essex Street.

Within the first couple of years of being established almost 400 families had used the Comfort Trust sessions – Sunflowers, Buttercups, and First Saturday. The Comfort Trust continues to run Sunflowers and First Saturday, with the addition of Daisies, a group for mothers and babies under 18 months. It remains hugely valued by local people, both young and old. Almost every time any of our Church members talk to local families, they will have used (or know about) these sessions as a time of relaxation, comfort, support, and play.

The Comfort Trust is a central part in the life of Magdalen Road Church and is crucial in developing our core remit to open our doors to love and serve those around us. It’s been a fundamental part of our development and relationship with the local community. We would love to see the Comfort Trust continue to be a charity and a structure whereby we can increasingly serve the community, particularly those in vulnerable or marginalized positions.

Church members Ruth Currie, Hazel Anderson, Phoebe Gibson-Watt and Chris Taylor form the current Trustee Board, and there’s a large and committed band of volunteers, who are always ready with toys, cakes and cuppas to help make your week that little bit easier! The Comfort Trust is a registered charity (1116495) set up by Magdalen Road Church.