The Village Centre is a Methodist Church located on Victoria Street in Englefield Green. In 2010 it was converted from an operational Church into a community building.
We pride ourselves in being an integral part of the Englefield Green community and endeavour to offer as many community services as possible.
Our community cafe is the heartbeat of the Village Centre and a warm welcome to everyone is always guaranteed. Our staff are friendly and approachable and we pride ourselves in knowing the majority of our customers by first name. For those coming in alone, we are more than happy to chat with you and introduce you to others – many friends have been made in our Cafe! We have a children’s play area including a ball pit which is free to use and no booking is needed to attend. Please feel free to log onto our free WiFi and indeed many people come in to work whilst their child plays or whilst enjoying a hot cuppa. We have a varied adult and child menu as well as barista coffee and speciality teas. Our cakes are homemade and donated from a selection of local cakemakers and all menu items, including our hot specials are freshly made on site. A takeaway option is also available. You will find baby changing facilities on site as well as high chairs.
We have many regular activities running in our Hall, from Pilates & ballet classes to children’s music sessions and sensory classes. Please take a look at our Weekly Activities to find out more information on class descriptions and times.
Englefield Green Child Contact Centre – The Centre provides facilities for children to meet with the parent with whom they no longer live due to family break down. The aim is to provide a warm, friendly, toy-filled neutral meeting place where contact can take place during what can be a very emotional period. Please see our Child Contact Centre tab for more info.
Baby Basics project – Baby Basics provides the basics needed in life for vulnerable women or families with a newborn. We work with midwives, health visitors and other local organisations to provide starter packs for those in need. We can help vulnerable groups such as teenage mums, families on low incomes, and women fleeing domestic abuse and trafficking. For further information, please see our Baby Basics tab.
Village Centre Community Fridge & Kitchen – Our Community Fridge is a social site of food education and sharing. It is housed at the back of the Village Centre building and we make fresh food that would otherwise be wasted, freely available to the community. Surplus perishable food is donated by local businesses or members of the public, and collected by people who need it. Our Community Fridge exists to reduce food waste and foster a spirit of sharing and mutual support within our community. A Community Fridge is open to EVERYONE! Volunteers within our Community Kitchen cook some of the surplus food items to make tasty homemade meals. These meals are portioned and made available to everyone via the Community Fridge, as well as being delivered to vulnerable members of our community. Please see our Community Fridge tab for more information.
In the early 1800’s Methodists, led by the Pocock family, prayed in the Salvation Army Hall in South Road. Increasing numbers led them to buy a small piece of land in Alexandra Road and build a chapel called the Wesleyan Chapel. As its popularity continued to grow, the Pocock family bought a large plot of land in Victoria Street, where another chapel was built. This chapel, also known as the Wesleyan Chapel, was added to in 1904, thanks again to the Pocock family, when the present church was built.
The cottages behind the building were a gift to the church from the Pocock family and the sale of one of these cottages helped to finance the refurbishment of the Methodist Church building as the Village Centre, which opened in September 2010.
Today, The Village Centre is part of an ecumenical partnership with the Anglican Church, St Jude’s in Englefield Green and the Staines & Feltham Methodist Circuit and is the main community outreach for these two churches. We share a charity number 1169401 with St Jude’s Church, however the Village Centre manages its own finances and is governed by an independent Management Team. The Village Centre is a non-profit organisation and all funds raised through grant making bodies, donations, cafe income and hall rental is fed back to support the ongoing community work at the Centre.
To help financially support our building and the community work undertaken, we set up the Friend of the Village Centre scheme. In return for a monthly donation by standing order of £10 or more, you will receive a loyalty card which will entitle you to 10 free teas & coffees in a month at our community cafe. You will also receive regular updates by email about our work at the Centre and an invitation to our annual Staff & Volunteer evening.
Every donation given will make a difference.
Your regular donations will help finance:
To become a Friend please click on the link below to complete the standing order form. If you are a UK tax payer please also complete the gift aid section. We will then be able to reclaim tax back on every donation made (25p in every pound) making your gift go further.
Friend of the Village Centre application form
Completed forms should be returned to The Village Centre, Victoria Street, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0QX.
Please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you…
Contact:
Email – Manager@villagecentre.org.uk
Phone – 01784 471110
Address –
The Village Centre,
Victoria Street,
Englefield Green,
Egham,
Surrey,
TW20 0QX
Socials:
You can follow or get in touch with us via Instagram or Facebook – see homepage.
Carparking is available on Victoria Street, free of charge for up to two hours. Alternatively, there is a carpark at the top of Victoria Street, or all other local roads can be parked in free of charge with no time restriction.
Charitable donations are a huge part of making the work we do at The Village Centre come alive.
Every pound you donate allows us to enrich the services we provide to babies, children and young people, the elderly & isolated, vulnerable families and the hungry.
You can donate at any time to our community work through the DONATE button on our Home Page or you may wish to make a more regular donation to support us:
Would you like to help support our community work by becoming a Friend of the Village Centre?
To help financially support our building and the community work undertaken, we set up the Friend of the Village Centre scheme. In return for a monthly donation by standing order of £10 or more, you will receive a loyalty card which will entitle you to 10 free teas & coffees in a month at our community cafe. You will also receive regular updates by email about our work at the Centre and an invitation to our annual Staff & Volunteer evening.
Every donation given will make a difference.
Your regular donations will help finance:
To become a Friend please click on the link below to complete the standing order form. If you are a UK tax payer please also complete the gift aid section. We will then be able to reclaim tax back on every donation made (25p in every pound) making your gift go further.
Friend of the Village Centre application form
Completed forms should be returned to The Village Centre, Victoria Street, Englefield Green, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0QX.
Maybe:
Get in touch so we can tell you all about how you can get involved at The Village Centre. We have opportunities in our Community Cafe, Child Contact Centre and Community Fridge!
Contact: manager@villagecentre.org.uk or 01784 471110
LUNCH CLUB
Food, glorious food. This Monday at lunch club our guests enjoyed a meatball pasta bake followed by ice cream with raspberry coulis 🤤❤️🤤.
Book your place by Friday lunchtime and join us on Monday. Over 55s welcome 🍽️ To book, call us on 01784 471110 or email manager@villagecentre.org.uk
CAFE OPENING HOURS
School holiday season is upon us! We will be opening 10am-2pm from next week, 22nd July till 30th August. We will also be closing at 2pm rather than 5pm this Thursday.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Our next FREE adult’s cooking class is on Friday July 19th!
For this class, we’ll be continuing our study of the Mediterranean diet, and cooking some Greek dishes that are light and perfect for summer eating (I know, WHAT summer?! 😑)
If you’d like to learn how to make chicken souvlaki pitas, as well as some tasty little honey cakes, please email communityfridge@villagecentre.org.uk, and let us know if you have any allergies or dietary requirements.
See you there!
LUNCH CLUB 🍲
This Monday at Lunch Club, our guests enjoyed Chicken & Leek pie followed by raspberry Eton mess!
We’re always happy to see new faces at Lunch Club. Over 55s are welcome 🍽️ Book your place by Friday lunchtime to join us on the Monday. To book, call 01784 471110 or email manager@villagecentre.org.uk
FREE Jazz concert next Monday, 15th July! Come down to the Village Centre and listen to what we’ve been working on at the Woods Shed Jazz Workshop! Starts 8.00pm-9pm
If you’re interested in joining in at the Jazz workshops on a Monday evening, contact Tony on 07979 805454.
We’re all working together to ensure the community bus keeps running, and we’re delighted to tell you that we have a date in the diary for a special one off Community Bus trip booked for 8 August. Councillor Trevor Gates has kindly contacted the Chertsey Museum and arranged free entry for our group of 8. The museum is running a 1940’s fashion exhibition at that time, which should be really interesting and enjoyable. Complimentary teas, coffees and sandwiches will be served in the garden (weather dependent).
Pickup locations and times are the same as usual, with the bus calling Hanover Close, The Hub, Schroeder Court and The Village Centre.
Here is the link to the relevant page on the museum website so you can read about the exhibition.
https://chertseymuseum.org/costume-exhibition
Be sure to book your seat without delay by calling us on 01784 471110 or emailing manager@villagecentre.org.uk
We’re ‘buzzing’ 🐝 following the success of our Green Week children’s event last week. A fantastic turn out of over twenty children learned from Richard Emmett about bees within his display beehive, followed by a fun time making honey based cereal bars. A wonderful time was had by all. We’d like to say a big thank you to Mayor Elaine Gill for supporting and getting involved in the event
BARN DANCE
What a jolly old time we had at our Barn Dance earlier this month. We ate, drank and danced our boots off. £1669.36 was raised for our outreach projects! What an incredible amount – the hard work was worth it!
Many thanks to our caller Barry Bullimore and to our Village Centre team, not forgetting to mention Jared Rogers for supplying the hay bales that set the tone for the dancing and, of course, thanks to our guests.
A huge thank you to F Harrison & Son Funeral Directors and Nevin & Wells for sponsoring the event and to the local businesses who donated raffle prizes.
THE CHILD CONTACT CENTRE
Here are some photos from our latest Child Contact Centre session. We provide a safe, neutral and fun environment for children to spend time with family members they wouldn’t normally be able to see at home, through supported contact sessions and handovers. There are no charges for any of these services.
Sessions run on the first and third Saturday of each month at 2pm-4pm.
We accept self referrals as well as referrals from professional organisations, and currently have vacancies for families to join. Referrals should be directed to coordinator@villagecentre.org.uk and you can download a referral form from our website https://www.villagecentre.org.uk/group/child-contact-centre/
Citizens Advice visits the Food Bank once a month for you to speak with their staff and seek expert advice. They will be here at the Village Centre 1pm-3pm on 10th July and 14th August.
