A 40TH year anniversary exhibition has been set up to celebrate a charity which helps residents

The Resource Centre, which supports over 900 local community groups every year, launched the exhibition at the Jubilee Library yesterday.

The centre at Tilbury Place has spent four decades helping volunteers to run activities and events for their own communities.

Kate Page, who has worked at the centre since 1982, said “Small groups create support networks and give people a sense of belonging, which cannot be matched by any top-down large organisation.

For example, a street party run by a group of neighbours is much more than just a day’s entertainment. It gives people a sense of pride in their neighbourhood, and a feeling of achievement at having organised an event for their families to enjoy. It also helps residents build friendships with one another, which reduces isolation.”

Beryl Tucknott, a trustee, has been using the Resource Centre for 25 years.

She said: “I first came to the Resource Centre in 1991, when we set up Robert Lodge Tenants Association with the help of Mary Mears. Tenants didn’t have a voice, and we set up the Association to represent tenants’ interests. We managed to get community rooms and a laundry. The Resource Centre helped us with minute taking, bookkeeping and publicity. We wouldn’t have been able to set up the association without them.”

The exhibition was opened by the mayor, councillor Pete West. The exhibition will be on display in the lobby of the Jubilee Library until next Sunday.