Empowering communities to improve well-being and quality of life are the key factors at Grand Junction.
“I am very pleased to be here, I am very pleased to be taking part with the wonderful MP [Westminster North MP Karen Buck] in formally declaring the new project Grand Junction open!” The words of the Lord Mayor of Westminster Councillor Ruth Bush sound full of considerable pleasure during her speech on the occasion of the Grand Junction Opening Festival. This took place last October the 12th, on the premises of St Mary Magdalene Church, which was resonating of shouts of joy coming from a multitude of children present at the event. Indeed, kids and adults enjoyed the festival to the full while taking part in craft activities, picturing with Victorian costumes, listening to storytelling and many more.
Surprisingly, many activities were tailored on both children and parents with the purpose of connecting each other. Nowadays’ issue is lack of time, indeed, parents are always rushing here and there to make their families’ life better and better, and often this affects the time they have left to play with children. Moreover, it is well known that kids’ natural way to learn is through play, consequently, if they play with parents, or loved adults, they do not only develop skills such as creativity and mental flexibility, but also special skills as social interaction and emotions’ regulation, which adds resilience to parent-child relationship and heals ‘resentments, disagreements and hurt’.
Grand Junction’s staff is truly committed to make its community feel good and leave with a deep sense of contentment. This emotional state is very beneficial for the ‘immune system, and fights stress and pain’. (link it) as a result, parents and kids feel bonded to each other, fostering a sense of security and positive self-esteem.
“There’s so much knowledge to celebrate” a parent relates to the history of the Christian Evangelic church St. Mary Magdalene, which, besides events, meets regularly for worship and prayer. The parent adds “I do think the history of the church matters a lot because when they set it up it was about serving people, it was about, you know, experiencing God in the way the church understands, and that’s just as important, we can’t disconnect the two [the building and the history related to it]…the past builds up the future.” Indeed, the future is built on the past by the youth, which has been recently celebrated at Grand Junction’s TakeOver the Future Festival, where young people participated in screen-printing, boxing workshops and a few more.
The strength of Grand Junction is, indeed, its team of highly dedicated volunteers like Teresa, Julie, Simon, Paul, Shane, Harriet and many, many more, some of which also deliver a high level range of workshops available at free of charge or easily affordable. Actually, besides for families and the youngest, they organise activities for anyone who wants to experience new subjects or to deepen a topic of interests. So, cheer yourself up at Grand Junction!
