Royal visit to Soul church in Norwich 

HRH Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, paid a visit to SOUL Church on Heartsease Lane on March 13, to see their new building which opened this month to find out about many of the community outreach activities and projects that take place in the church.
 

Accompanied by Lady Dannatt, Lord Lieutenant for Norfolk, HRH The Duke of Gloucester met David Kean of the architects, Fielden & Mawson, and took a tour of the building. He spoke with various members of the church staff and volunteers, before seeing the Changing Spaces area and meeting representatives from The Clare School, a school for differently-abled children in Norwich that is supported by the church.

He also visited SOUL Nursery to see the new 100 place childcare facilities, where some of the children presented him with a gift. He was given the chance to meet representatives from various outreach programmes, including feeding the homeless, a job club, a group supporting women who’ve experienced pregnancy loss, and various international ventures, among others.

The church’s long established wellbeing group were in their weekly meeting, so while the Duke was in attendance he was able to join them for part of their gathering. This is a group where people who suffer with poor mental health, struggle with addictions, face loneliness and isolation and other challenges can find community, share a meal and have access to support and practical resources.

The Duke spoke with church members involved in children’s work, the community café, and the social supermarket, before receiving a gift from Pastors Jon and Chantel Norman. Chantel said, "It was an honour and privilege to be able to share some of the work we do within the community and to highlight many of the support services and groups we offer. We’d love to welcome more people into our church home and we hope this visit will help make more people aware of what we offer and how we can help.”


SOUL Church
55 Heartsease Lane
Norwich
NR7 9NT
www.soulchurch.com