OPERATING for over 23 years, Colin Sure Start has provided a lifeline for parents and children in the Colin area since its inception.
Sure Start helps parents from pregnancy until their child is four years old with a range of programmes in a supportive and non-stigmatised environment.
Free of charge, Colin Sure Start now operates across the BT17 postcode, serving the communities of throughout Poleglass, Twinbrook, Lagmore, Mount Eagles and Glengoland.
Roger Winter, Project Manager at Colin Sure Start, said: “We work with children from anti-natal right through until they are four years old and their parents. We do this through a wide range of programmes that focus on early education, health, family support and play development.
“Our motto is simple – we offer programmes located within a pram-pushing distance. We have people who attended Sure Start as children who are now bringing their own children and grandchildren to the programmes. Involving families and their children in those early years has huge benefits down the line.”
One of Colin Sure Start’s unique programmes is for grandparents and grandchildren, which takes place once a fortnight.
“We noticed grandparents were attending many of our standard programmes and we decided to form a unique group for them,” added Roger.
“It means that grandparents can be with other grandparents. It is a real social thing for many of them who would be stuck in the house otherwise with their grandchildren.”
One grandparent, Julie Clarke, brings her granddaughter and new grandson to the programme. “It’s great being with other grandparents,” she explained.
“We talk about what we have been doing, what stuff is on in the community and share our own experiences with each other of being a grandparent. I absolutely love it. It is a real sociable thing for me.”
Colin Sure Start have also recently teamed up with Footprints Women’s Centre who are running their social supermarket in Mount Eagles Community Centre. Open every Tuesday morning, it caters for parents at the weekly Sure Start rhythm and rhyme session before it opens to local families from 11am to midday.
The social supermarket offers food, cleaning products and toiletries at discounted prices.
Eileen Wilson from Footprints Women’s Centre, who runs the social supermarket in Mount Eagles Community Centre, explained: “We are delighted to partner with Sure Start to bring our social supermarket to Mount Eagles and Lagmore Community Hall every Tuesday morning.
“Sure Start run a rhythm and rhyme programme and then the parents can come in and pick up some essential groceries at a subsidised price.
“From 11am until midday we are also open to the wider public for any families in the local area who would like to call in who aren’t part of the Sure Start group. We are finding with the cost of living crisis that even working families are struggling with bills. The social supermarket is our way of supporting families.”
To find out more about Colin Sure Start, visit their website at www.colinsurestart.com or call 028 9060 1417.
Colin Sure Start, Unit 21,
Dairy Farm Shopping Centre,
Stewartstown Road, Belfast BT17 0AW
