Faith in the community: Exhibition will tell stories of poverty
by the Rev Jackie Twine, vicar, St Simon's Church, Southsea
There is no denying that St Simon’s, the church with all the red doors in Waverley Road Southsea, has a particular passion for hospitality.
We currently invite people who are waiting to hear whether their applications for asylum have been approved to have cake and coffee with us once a week.
And we also host a generous Sunday Supper to which all who need a hot dinner and some companionship are invited to every Sunday evening. We regularly have between 50 and 70 guests, some of whom are homeless or struggle with addictions or mental health issues.
We are delighted to be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Sunday Suppers this year. Think what that means – volunteers here have provided a meal every Sunday night of the year for three decades!
We’ll be celebrating those who have been our guests over that time, and all those who have volunteered with us, who offer funding and who contribute food. And we’ll also host an exhibition in October focusing on poverty.
It is called ‘Dreams and Realities’, and will feature portraits painted by a Sheffield artist, Stephen Martin, of himself and other people in Sheffield who have been living in poverty. The exhibition seeks to highlight not just the challenges facing people living in these challenging situations, but also their hopes and aspirations.
The paintings will be accompanied by photos of some of our guests who share Sunday Suppers with us each week, taken by the enthusiastic amateur photographer Beena Takhar. And we hope that our own Supper guests will be sharing some of their stories and their hopes and aspirations too.
The exhibition is being promoted by Lets End Poverty and has been shown in several locations across the UK. We’ll launch it on the evening of October 19, when we’ll hear stories from some of our guests and listen to live music over our meal.
The exhibition will then be on display at St Simon’s the following week and we hope that many people who live in Portsmouth will drop by to have a look. There will be no charge – just come and see and there are bound to be tea and biscuits available too. We look forward to welcoming you!
ST SIMON’S CHURCH, Waverley Road, Southsea, PO5 2PW www.st-simons.church