Wall art at Leonard Stocks Centre

Wall art at Leonard Stocks Centre

Leonard Stocks Centre is managed by Chapter 1 in partnership with Shekinah Mission.

More than a 100 people have been helped to turn their lives around since the new homeless hostel opened 18 months ago.

The Friends of Factory Row was founded to support the old hostel, which now has new modern facilities, and they now help by volunteering and raising money.

It was their idea to invite local photographers to submit pictures to decorate the walls.

Four themes were suggested: Lost and Found; Faith; Home; and Recovery. One picture from each theme was to be selected from 50 pictures submitted.

The hostel residents prepared a shortlist of 12 and then the Friends chose a winner in each of the categories.

 A photograph of a bee by K T Hemmings was chosen for the Lost and Found category.

 A photograph of ‘The road less travelled’ by Anna Goodchild from the category Found.

 A photograph of Thatcher Rock by David Blakeley from the category Home.

‘Flowers in a vase’ by Clive Figes was chosen from the category Recovery

 Nick Pannell, chair of the Friends said:’We were thrilled by the public’s engagement and the thoughtful reasons why they chose to submit a particular image. The choice was left to residents as it is their home, not ours. Our thanks to everyone who send in their pictures—there’s a lot of talent out there.’

On the 1st of June the photographers were invited to see their work in situ, and meet some of the residents a the hostel who helped select the pictures as well as representatives from Chapter 1 and Shekinah.

The Shekinah Mission, based in Plymouth and South Devon, is an agency that supports people who are homeless, have substance misuse issues, are ex-offenders or feel socially excluded. As well as seeing to people's physical needs - food, clothing and washing facilities - Shekinah offers advice and support, accommodation for rough sleepers, an outreach service, as well as recreational activities and  meaningful accredited training for those wanting to deal with their issues and move on.

Since 1992, Shekinah has grown and evolved into several projects - a Drop-In Centre, a Temporary Rough Sleepers' Hostel (The Gates), a Charity Shop, a two-tiered Training Initiative (re:solve training), a Social Enterprise (Shekinah Trading), a Supported Employability Programme (PSEP), an Organic Fruit and Vegetable Farm (Growing for Life), as well as an Education, Training and Employment Initiative based in Torbay and a partnership project with Chapter 1  (the Leonard Stocks Centre).

 The Friends of Factory Row – is a Torbay based support group which advocates, and fundraisers for, homeless people in South Devon. The Friends form a link between the wider community and the 24 men and women who live at the Leonard Stocks Centre. Membership is £5 a year and members receive regular newsletters.