Cardinal Hume Centre hosts celebration to mark completion of new hub

Bishop Nicholas Hudson adds his name to welcome message

Supporters of the Cardinal Hume Centre headed to the charity on 28 February for a special event, celebrating the successful completion of the Centre's £1m rebuild project. As part of the celebrations, guests heard directly from clients about how the Centre transformed their lives, before joining Centre trustee Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Auxiliary Bishop for the Diocese of Westminster, as he blessed the revamped building.

With the party taking place in the Centre's brand new hub - an attractive, accessible and welcoming space which brings services teams closer each other and their clients - guests were able to see the remarkable transformation of some 400m2 of internal and 150m2 of external areas.

The redesigned building aims to reflect the Benedictine ethos of welcome, sanctuary and support which was so important to the Centre's founder, Cardinal Basil Hume, and underpins the vital work of the charity to this day. Major improvements include: a new welcome and assessment centre; an attractive family area; better working space for our housing, welfare rights and immigration advice teams; extra interview rooms; an upgraded play space for children and families; and enhanced and extended training facilities - all to help those most in need locally. The hub also provides a more flexible space for those at the Centre to adapt and grow their services in future in response to emerging need.

Speaking at the event, Bishop Nicholas Hudson said: "I'm very proud to see the Cardinal Hume Centre make this statement - in bricks and mortar - of our belief in the importance of everyone whose life has been and is being turned around by the charity. I know Cardinal Hume would have felt the same. I know he would be so proud to see what the Cardinal Hume Centre has become; so proud of everyone who works here for continuing this work. Never would he have called it his work. No, he was absolutely clear: it was God's work."

Mags Tierney, Director of Fundraising at the Centre, said: "When we set out on this project, we wanted to ensure that our new space would reflect the Benedictine ethos that underpins all that we do. I'm delighted that we've achieved this. Today is a fantastic opportunity to say an enormous thank you to our supporters and to show them that, because of this wonderful new space, we are even better equipped to continue our vital work well into the future."

For more information on the Cardinal Hume Centre and to donate to their work see: www.cardinalhumecentre.org.uk