This morning I had the joy of attending the official opening of the Woking Community Grocery, based in our Church Gate building. We’ve been working towards this moment, in partnership with The Message Trust, for a few years, so today was a cause for real celebration.
Alongside many from Welcome Church, there was a great gathering of community and business leaders. Representatives attended from The Message Trust, Woking Borough Council, Surrey County Council, BBC Radio Surrey, Woking Mosque, and a number of local businesses and charities. These included Nomad Foods (who have stocked our freezers with their Birds Eye brand), Porky Whites (providing sausages), and Boz’s Fruit and Veg (our fruit and veg supplier).
We were also joined by representatives from Jobcentre Plus, The Lighthouse, Barnardo’s Family Centre, Woking Chamber of Commerce, Ilford Community Grocery, and many other valued supporters. It was especially good to welcome the Mayor, Cllr Amanda Boote, the Leader of the Council, Cllr Ann-Marie Barker, and our local MP, Will Forster, who continues to be a great encouragement to us.
We’ve been featured several times today on BBC Radio Surrey and also made it onto the BBC News website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgrel6e6evo
There were four short speeches:
- Dub, our Outreach Pastor, shared the heart behind the project and the journey to get here
- Will Forster MP spoke warmly about the work we do as a church to support those in need
- Darren Green, our Grocery Manager, shared his passion for the project (he spoke brilliantly)
- Juliea Morris, Team Manager from Barnardo’s Woking Family Centre, spoke about some families already benefiting and the impact being seen after just one week
After this, Will Forster cut the ribbon and the Community Grocery was officially declared ‘open’
Why are we doing this?
Rising living costs are putting increasing pressure on households across Woking, making it harder for many families to make ends meet. Two wards in Woking are now among the 20% most deprived in the UK, with one ranked as the most deprived in Surrey. The growing queues at the door each morning are clear evidence of this need.
Woking Community Grocery has been established to provide long-term, reliable access to affordable food for those experiencing food insecurity. Alongside discounted grocery shopping, members can access the wider support available through Welcome Church, including job clubs, life skills courses, debt counselling, the Money Course, Kintsugi Hope, and more.
As Christians, we believe we are called to care for those in need, and this is one practical way we can put that into action in our community.
If you’d like to find out more, you can visit the grocery webpage here: https://www.welcomechurch.uk/communitygrocery
Or read more about the heart behind this project here: https://stevepetch.blog/2025/11/24/welcome-church-community-grocery-latest-news/
After the official opening, the Grocery returned to business as usual, with many new people signing up to join. We have welcomed over 100 new families today, taking our total to over 350 members in less than 2 weeks. Sign-ups have already far exceeded our expectation, and the team has been working hard to keep up. Seeing it all in action was quite emotional 🥲
Church Gate Open Day
Church Gate is about much more than just the Community Grocery. The space will now be used for a wide range of social action courses and events, and it’s also already well used by our children and youth—especially on Sunday mornings. It’s their space too!
With this in mind, we’re renaming Church Gate (which, if we’re honest, does sound a bit like a church-related scandal!)
Going forward, the building will be known as:
The Welcome Church Community Hub
Or simply:
‘The Community Hub’
The majority of the funding for this has come from sacrificial giving within Welcome Church, and this Sunday afternoon (26th April) we’re hosting an Open Day for everyone who is part of Welcome Church. This is an opportunity to look around the building and see what has been achieved now that the redevelopment is complete.
If you’d like to attend the open day, you can book a slot for between 1:30pm and 4pm here: https://welcome.churchsuite.com/events/hvlhs3ee
There may even be a cup of tea or coffee waiting for you.
Steve Petch's Blog 
Sent from my iPad