Column: Angela jones, Connecting ripon - A small church with a very big heart

​The corps has progressed from an operation out of a living room to owning a building on Lead Lane. There are meetings some Sunday mornings at 10am for praise and prayer.

Many people only think of the Salvation Army as a charity, being aware of its reputation of compassionate community involvement.

In Ripon, the corps tries to live up to that reputation with limited resources.

The hall is open Monday to Wednesday from 9.30am-3pm. Visitors are welcome to call with queries, requests for assistance and also to bring donations of food or offer to help.

The main weekly activity is a Tuesday warm space and drop-in. The drop-in has been open for employment and general advice, and friendship for several years.

When the problems caused by rising energy and other costs were realised a decision was made to open up the drop-in to all who would welcome being in a warm and social space.

During opening hours hot drinks and biscuits are available; with a soup and sandwich lunch at noon. There is no fixed charge but donations are welcome, for those who can.

The room is set out café-style to encourage friendship. Activities are available for people staying longer. These include board games, quizzes and a ‘swap box’ where a book or jigsaw can be found at no cost.

A popular women’s group, Uplift, runs on one Wednesday evening each month. The emphasis is on self-care. There are relaxing craft and drawing activities around the theme for the meeting.

The food bank is used by social care services and other agencies for emergency provision.

The shelves are currently almost empty following Christmas when about 300 bags of food were assembled for local families in need. About 250 family gift bags were also packed.

Planning is already underway for next Christmas. The team has to stockpile non-perishable goods for the massive effort at the end of the year.

You can visit https://www.facebook.com/SARiponUK to keep up to date with the activities taking place.

If you are interested in volunteering, the corps would love to hear from you on 01765 692657, as everything is run by volunteers.

There are a range of different ways you be involved, as well as helping out with maintenance tasks such as cleaning.

All volunteers are treated as members of the friendly corps family.

Young people are the future of volunteering and our city and there are many different opportunities to get involved.

If you know any young people looking for new experiences, to do something to make their CV shine and ideas as to how they can help out in their community, there will be inspiration and people to chat to at Ripon Library on Wednesday, February 15 2-5pm, as well as free food!

You can also find opportunities at https://hadca.org.uk/Volunteer/roles-young-people