This amazing little place is a total hive of activities, education and information services for the…read morelocal area. It's truly staggering the diverse range of stuff that goes on here. Courses vary from Improving Maths and English, Preparing for Higher Education, Languages, Computing, Counselling and Creativity, DIY, gardening and Reiki. There really is something for everyone. Family groups are also included with a crèche, parent groups, youth club and Pediatric first aid. At the other end of the scale, the Over 50's club provides a lunch club, shopping bus and keep fit as well as valuable health and social information. The Settlement is also involved with The Peoples Hive which runs a volunteer unit and time bank to help out in the local community and CAAAD, a service for people to get help with drug and alcohol problems. I've also attended special events here like the celebration of International Women's Day which was well attended, offered great workshops and a fabulous free lunch.

Closed for redevelopment!read more

You wouldn't think looking at the urban front of the Adamsdown Resource Centre that there is a…read moresecret paradise of willow arches and fresh fruit, veg and flowers within, but there is and it's beautiful. This community garden is just one of the resources the Centre offers you as well as the chance to become involved in maintaining it. If you live in Adamsdown then you are lucky to have such a fantastic resource on your doorstep. Out of the Centre's offices come walks and workshops, classes, meetings, training, festivals and fun days. Their windows are plastered with posters offering a 'free homework club', 'summer woodwork project', the chance to 'sing in a community choir'. ...And they're open to other suggestions, this is a community space, this is your space. If you live in Adamsdown and want to get to know your neighbours, knock on this door, grab a cup of tea and get involved.

Oh how times have changed as there's a new religion - rampant consumerism - with western society…read morepre occupied with the acquisition of consumer goods indifferent to the consequences. St Peter's best days are likely behind it, but it has an impressive history and it's going nowhere any time soon. It has been in Marlborough from 1100. It was built as a Roman Catholic chapel to serve the needs of those who worked in the Norman castle, which had been built nearby, but who lived outside its walls. It originally contained two chapels for the occupants of the castle. The castle grew to prominence in the thirteenth century, but after the death of Henry III in November 1272 the castle ceased to be occupied so frequently, and by the end of the fourteenth century it was already beginning to fall into ruin. There are no records for the construction of the church that is there today, but the trustees believe it would have been begun around 1460. The basic structure was as it is now, though the south porch with the priest's room above it and the door on the south of the chancel were all added in about 1500. The stone vaulting of the chancel is unusual in a small parish church, and it was here that Thomas Wolsey, later Cardinal, Archbishop of York and Chancellor of the Kingdom, was ordained priest in 1498. The Wolsey connection is its lasting claim to ecclesiastical fame. At that time there were three chantries or side-altars - for the Jesus Fraternity, the Blessed Trinity, and St Katherine. There was also a chapel to "Our Lady of Pity". We are all short on pity these days. In 1627 a gallery was constructed at the west end of the church, and an organ was installed there in 1776.  A few hundred years and two world wars later St Peter's today is a community hub, offering a venue for events, exhibitions and activities. There are few if any church services annually and it is de consecrated. The religious way of decommissioning. We were warmly welcomed and treated to a fabulous tour by some genteel trustees, including them telling us a story about a local bishop and a crocodile; there aren't many crocodiles in village England, there's also a small wooden engraving of a crocodile that one would just walk past and miss. They clearly enjoyed re telling the story to us. Visitors can still walk up the 139 steps of the Church Tower and reach one of the highest points in Marlborough for a splendid 360 degree view of the area. It's so hard to grasp that a 1000 years of history and wars, hundreds of generations now gone, is overhead and underfoot as we walked around. Worth a visit if you are nearby you'll be made graciously welcome.