Bede

To Bede House in Southwark Park Rd to meet with their director, Nick, and to find out about their community work amongst people with learning disabilities, young people, and the victims of domestic violence.

Bede arises from the settlement movement - groups of mainly Christian students who came from the universities of Oxford and Canbridge to live in areas of social deprivation and to serve their local communities in a variety of community projects.

Several such settlements still exist in the Bermondsey area and Bede is one of them.

Most of the settlements are now secular in orientation (the Salmon Youth Centre being the notable exception) although links continue with local churches in a variety of ways, the Bishop of Southwark, for example, is president of Bede and takes a close interest in its work.

It was good to gain an insight into the work of a local organisation, serving the local community here in Bermondsey. You can visit their website here