VOLUNTEER BLOG: Newmains Community Centre – A Modern Visceral Template for Community Hubs Across Scotland

The last 3 months volunteering at NCT has been both a profound and deeply insightful experience and provided me with fresh and genuine modern inspiration in the form of human connection.  In truth, I learnt more than I could have wished for on my community wellness journey in the small town of Newmains not too far from Wishaw. Where, for myself at least, wellbeing meant everything.

For example, I remember the first time I entered NCT, from reception to the library to the café - each space I entered into I felt at home. I remember saying to the librarian as I patiently waited to meet Mary-Anne McCafferty (NCT’s Development Manager and founder of WOW! Project), that this space simply has that “community feeling”. It was an environment that I wanted to be in, importantly I felt safe and welcomed, a space that provided me with clarity and peace of mind (high-quality modern up-to-date information and services). Put simply, it was a very different space than the refuge shelter from my childhood experience in example.

Without coincidence, the building and its people were as healthy on the inside as they were on the outside. You could see the careful thought that had gone into the architecture, original community aesthetic was all there in the modern design, from the multi-coloured church glass pane inspired windows, allotments and flower beds and the simplistic comfortable interior - that in the end, only compassion and human connections could thrive here and essentially for the people that live and work around this community centre – a history that is historical and still in representation of present struggles, life itself.

More importantly and equally NCT is a community centre that lives and thrives at the edge of a major city, Glasgow. A city, already a century long past our Industrial Revolution and yet equally today at the beginning of something new, a new kind of social promise. Beyond solidarity, a mark of permanence in a reality of constant social and economic uncertainty. The existence of this community centre therefore I think exemplifies a deeper commitment, one that goes beyond economic growth in reward. It is the commitment to one another, regardless of personal situation or circumstance in judgement. Surpassing sectors. Crucially, we must ask the question - is this community centre now at the epicentre of a wellness revolution? And, essentially wellness as a form of sound economics in representation? Finely tuned, our happiness - across Scotland as a basic template for human wellbeing?

Whatever your answer, the real question is what will it take for us to stop exacerbating our own human condition - that we have all found ourselves in? It is no longer a question of politics or power economics in wealth, it is about something much deeper. Human essence, essence of who we are. Reframed, a cause for celebration, a much-needed part of the human experience today.

Through mindfulness, I also became aware, that nearly everyone I met, whom worked or volunteered at NCT, represented some aspect of who I was on the inside. They uniquely, assisted me in knowing who I really am (especially after a significant traumatic life event) a few years ago in my own community.

Equally and importantly, my reasons for volunteering at NCT were more than just about employability - it was about contributing (in what has today become a privilege) and the wellbeing that is felt from such an intrinsic act. I’m sure many of us, are tired of the word “community” but it is essential for many good reasons. Furthermore, it was also an opportunity for myself to take a much-needed healthy leap from Killin to Newmains, where I had hoped before the pandemic to start a community hub. It was about making up for lost experiences and time. I feel therefore I have achieved what I needed to achieve and got as close as I could, to a dream that didn’t work out as I’d hoped in the Scottish Highlands. I learnt above all else, that it does take a community to create one.

Also, when I consider my volunteering journey across the Lowlands of Scotland, from Stirling to Glasgow and Edinburgh, most of the charities I interacted with were under immense financial pressure and could not provide a volunteering opportunity as much as they would have liked. Change within the third sector has occurred but with no clear vision as of yet about how services will be of quality in service in the near future? Crucially NCT is more than just surviving, it is thriving and providing an all-out community service in the face of modern-day challenges. It is a place of real compassionate treasures and one that embraces new ideas without fear.

Mary-Anne’s passion for NCT (and of course Newmains itself) is clear, including the café team led by Martin Reilly and Centre Manager Jane Wood, they provided me with an opportunity that I am deeply grateful for. For I knew from the moment I saw WOW! Project online that NCT was looking for volunteers, that I had to be involved. Equally, the intriguing part about this wellness project, is the range of activities on offer each week for both carers and those needing care, from music and movement classes, WOW! Chat café, gardening club, walking group, art classes and CBT therapy. And more recently in addition, boccia, access carers advice, digital inclusion support and employability service. What more, could any community member ask for within their own community?

Volunteering for this wellness project, provided some element of care and compassion for myself, for as I have learned being in therapy, my role as a Carer started at the age of 4 (in psychology this is known as ‘parentification’) in the face of both domestic violence and deep poverty of which I suffered, which only exacerbated my childhood situation further, my caring for others has in fact expanded over four decades since. Volunteering therefore with other carers has helped me to rethink and value more what the role of a carer really is, that in the face of my own childhood exploitation, whether the state, political party, primary caregiver, absent father (financially also), a stranger the value of what it really means to care for another human being – no one can take that away from me.  

Fundamentally my experience of volunteering helped me realise, it’s about love, human love and profoundly I realised that a community lives within all of us, whatever stage or circumstance you might be in life.

Patrick Phillips

Patrick Phillips is a professional operations administrator with over ten years of experience in PA, office management and entrepreneurial ventures. Having spent 5 years living and working in the Scottish Highlands he succeeded in providing a high level of customer service and tailored visitor experiences to all ages and nationalities from around Europe in exemplification. Through his experience and expertise of working within different sectors and industries, his passion for creativity, innovation and strong community engagement has therefore not waivered, contributing in the form of lasting client relationships that are built upon strong foundations, are memorable, of value and impactful in the long-term. In his spare time, he enjoys walking, drawing and painting in nature.’