The Sumac Centre is a

self-managed social centre Self-managed social centers, also known as autonomous social centers, are self-organized community centers in which anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venues affiliated with anarchi ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, UK. It provides resources, meeting spaces and workshops for groups and individuals, and supports

campaigning Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme *Bli ...

for

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

, the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

, and

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

. It is part of the

UK Social Centre Network Self-managed social centres in the United Kingdom can be found in squatted, rented, mortgaged and fully owned buildings. These self-managed social centres differ from community centres in that they are self-organised under anti-authoritarian pr ...

and the radical catering group

Veggies Veggies may refer to: * Vegetables, often called veggies * Veggies, the characters in ''VeggieTales'', an American series of children's films * Veggies of Nottingham, a catering company based in Nottingham, UK * Casey Veggies Casey Joseph Jon ...

is based at the centre. It receives no regular

funding Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses ...

, the core groups each pay rent that goes toward the mortgage and running costs. Some of the groups are run by

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

s. Its origins can to traced to the Rainbow Centre, which was established in 1984.

History

Rainbow Centre

In April 1984,a group of people based in Nottingham associated with the Environmental Fact Shop,

Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 73 countries. The organization was founded in 1969 in San Francisco by David Brower, Donald Aitken and Gary Soucie after Brower's split with ...

(FoE) and the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

(CND) founded the Rainbow Centre Co-operative. The following year in September the

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

rented premises at 180 Mansfield Road and set up the Rainbow Centre which was focused on peace and environmental issues. In 1988, the FoE shop next door to the Rainbow Centre closed. The Rainbow Centre inherited some of the FoE literature and stock, which was added to the centre's library and shop. Veggies moved into the closed shop. They had started out by working from their members' homes, moving in meant they had their own

kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a ...

. Veggies and the Rainbow Centre worked together, later Veggies took on the day-to-day running of the Rainbow Centre. In 1989, as the lease for the next door premises at Mansfield Road became available, the Rainbow Centre expanded its

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, and once again opened a shop.

Sumac Centre

The Rainbow Centre was in a row of buildings that was poorly maintained by the landlord. The rent and building condition were a drain on the collective's finances and enthusiasm. To resolve these problems, in Autumn 2000, the members of the Rainbow Centre and Veggies began to researching the possibility of buying a building of their own. In June 2001 they purchased, via a mortgage, a former

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

social club in the

Forest Fields Forest Fields is an inner-city area of the City of Nottingham, in the county of Nottinghamshire, England. Geography Forest Fields is slightly north of the city centre, just past the Forest Recreation Ground. The area includes 31 streets from ...

, Nottingham. A year later, in June 2002, the renovation of the building was complete and the centre was reopened, having adopted the new name of the Sumac Centre. The Sumac centre is home to a garden maintained by volunteers. The garden is a low budget venture and has been put together using recycled materials and donated plants, containers, pots etc.

Activities

The Sumac Centre supports

for

, the

, and

. It is a

secondary co-operative A co-operative federation or secondary co-operative is a cooperative, co-operative in which all members are, in turn, co-operatives. Historically, co-operative federations have predominantly come in the form of Co-operative wholesale society, co-ope ...

and a member of

Radical Routes Radical Routes is a UK-based network of housing co-ops. The organisation supports new and established co-ops through loan finance, training workshops, practical support, and national gatherings. History Radical Routes emerged in 1986 from a ne ...

. The Sumac Centre was one of the many organisations that undercover police officer Mark Kennedy infiltrated, between 2003 and 2010. The NG7 Foodbank was based at the centre from mid 2012 until it closed at end of 2014. It closed partly due to NG7 feeling that the

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

were using

foodbank A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food direct ...

s as a long term strategy to avoid providing funds for welfare assistance.

References

External links