The Sumac Centre is a

self-managed social centre A self-managed social center, also known as an autonomous social center, is a self-organized community center in which Anti-authoritarianism, anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venue ...

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 south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

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

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

, the environment, and

peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

. It is part of the UK Social Centre Network and the radical catering group Veggies 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 use ...

, the core groups each pay rent that goes toward the mortgage and running costs. Some of the groups are run by volunteers. 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 grassroots environmental organizations in 73 countries. About half of the member groups call themselves "Friends of the Earth" in their own languages; the others use other ...

(FoE) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) founded the Rainbow Centre Co-operative. The following year in September the

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, 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 democr ...

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. 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 Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

, 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 social club in the Forest Fields, 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 centre has a garden maintained by volunteers, a low budget venture which has been put together using recycled materials and donated plants, containers, pots etc. In April 2024, the Sumac Centre celebrated its fortieth year (including Rainbow Centre) with a festival weekend.

Activities

The Sumac Centre supports campaigning for

, the environment, and

. It is a secondary co-operative and a member of Radical Routes. 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 Foodbank 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 foodbanks as a long term strategy to avoid providing funds for welfare assistance.

References

External links