Whitehaven Community Trust
Registered Charity 1060245
Who We Are and What We Do
Whitehaven Community Trust was founded in 1990 a flexible and diverse organisation which continues to support our community and surrounding areas.
Lowther Street Hostel
Supported Accommodation for homeless young people aged 18-28
Lowther Hostel has 11 bedrooms all fully furnished, communal kitchen, lounge, 4 bathrooms and 5 toilets. Our Support Workers guide our young people to help gain confidence, self esteem and life skills to prepare for their future and independent living. We promote further education, courses, volunteer work and employment. We pride ourselves on making it a home for our young people, a safe space, we provide Wifi and Netflix, we cook meals together, eat together and enjoy movie/sports nights.
Mother and Baby Hostel
Supported Accommodation for young mothers and their babes fleeing domestic abuse
Our Mother and baby hostel consists of 6 fully furnished rooms spacious enough for little ones as well as mothers, 2 bathrooms, communal lounge, kitchen and a visitors lounge. Our Support Workers guide our young mothers into confident parenting, access to counselling, life skills, money management and the skills to maintain their own tenancy when ready to be an independent mother. We also work closely with outside agencies to ensure safeguarding on both mother and child. We have had young women come to us pregnant and staying after the birth, until they are ready to leave and start their independent journeys. We also accommodate young women who have fled from domestic abuse, our Support Workers offer guidance and signpost to professionally trained organisations.
We have had more than 1400 young homeless people stay in our Hostels since opening.
If you or someone you know needs our help please get in touch.
Move on Accommodation
When our young people are ready to transition from the safety net of the hostels to the big wide world of tenancy the thought is daunting for most, so WCT came up with transitional accommodation, not in the hostel but independent under our WCT umbrella, a taste of living alone but with staff still supporting them. We have 9 transitional flats within Whitehaven Town Centre.
The Senhouse Centre
A well-being Centre which hires out rooms for every vocation, massage, counselling, meetings, workshops, seminars, yoga, fitness, facial treatments and so much more. We offer very competitive prices and can accommodate every need. We have 7 modern rooms and a hall which holds up to 70 people.
If you are wanting to hire a room or if you would like to see what will be happening here at The Senhouse Centre please give us a call 01946 590122 or email senhousecentre@outlook.com
TIMELINE
It all began in 1990......
1990 Kerry Maxwell and Rev Jim Baker founded the Whitehaven Youth Trust
1991 The Whitehaven Youth Trust opened as a charitable concern
1993 The Café opened up in the newly renovated Market Hall which helped 16-24 year olds with employment
1997 Bakewell House opened up housing young homeless people
1998 The Whitehaven Youth Trust was appointed manager of the multi storey car park which in turn was successfully built up and sold on to to a major company but continuing to employ the existing security guards
2000 The Senhouse Centre was opened, promoting healthy living in the local community.
2001 The Whitehaven Youth Trust became the Whitehaven Community Trust as we had diversified and opened up the client base to the whole community.
2002 The Whitehaven Pottery was opened by Henry Sandon from the BBC Antiques Roadshow.
1 Lowther Street was purchased for a new accommodation project
Kerry Maxwell wins the National Social Entrepreneur of the Year award
Tall Ships Project began bringing in the Tall Ships for a 5 week study trail with the aim to have them on a permanent basis
Town Centre Wardens were introduced as a pilot scheme securing long term unemployed men with full time employment
2003 The Pottery opened and went into production
The Senhouse Centre launched an anti-bullying campaign
2004 1 Lowther street has finished it's renovation
2005 Lowther Street was opened as a hostel for 16-24yrs creating 4 new jobs and accommodation for homeless young people
Whitehaven Pottery Website goes live
2006 Kerry Maxwell wins Women of the Year Award
2007 Big Lottery Fund funding is awarded to the Trust to help improve the mental health of our community and remove stigma towards it
2008 Senhouse cellar is renovated so we can increase facilities to the community
2009 Kerry Maxwell receives n OBE in the New Years Honours
2010 The Trust celebrates it's 20th year helping the local community
2013 Purchased Smith House and converted into 'move on flats' to accommodate those who are ready to leave the hostels but still need support from the Trust
2017 Bakewell house is converted into a Mother and Baby Hostel for young mothers whom have fled domestic abuse and violence with their child
2020 We are leasing a property which contains 5 flats to extend our 'move on' project