Part of the grounds of Woodbrooke, a former Quaker study centre in Bournville, have been transformed into a wellbeing space for families of premature babies.
Bournville Village Trust has provided the space to Noah’s Star, a charity that supports families of premature and sick babies, providing emotional, practical and sibling-focused care.
The charity is a tenant at Woodbrooke, which was handed back to Bournville Village Trust in 2023 following a decision by the then Study Centre’s trustees to close it and focus on its founding purpose.
The garden space is providing families and their children with a safe, welcoming space to meet and support one another. It features a newly refurbished summer house, furniture and a pergola.
Jo-Anne Shellum, Founder of Noah’s Star, said: “For families who have been through neonatal care, finding a place where they can feel safe, breathe and simply be together can mean more than people realise. When you have spent weeks or months surrounded by monitors, alarms and uncertainty, having somewhere peaceful to come back to can be incredibly powerful.
“For me personally, Noah’s Star was born from our own experience of neonatal care and loss, so I know how important it is to have somewhere that feels like a safe haven. We are incredibly grateful to Bournville Village Trust for helping us create that for other families.
“We also have to give a huge shout-out to Scott, the Site Supervisor at Woodbrooke, who has been absolutely wonderful. Scott has gone above and beyond to make us feel welcome and to help us turn this space into something really special for families.”
Scott Bird, Site Supervisor at Woodbrooke, said: “It’s fantastic to be able to take a space that wasn’t being used and give it a new lease of life for families using the services of Noah’s Star. We were delighted to refurnish the space and build new equipment for it. Woodbrooke is surrounded by beautiful gardens, and we often hear how beneficial and therapeutic they are for both the tenants of Woodbrooke and their clients.”
Bournville Village Trust pledged to secure the best future for Woodbrooke for the benefit of the whole community when it was handed back in 2023 and it re-opened in 2024.
Since then, all the spaces it’s made available for small businesses, organisations and health services to hire have now been let. And some of Woodbrooke’s existing accommodation, including 21 ensuite rooms, has opened under a guardianship model, catering mainly to nurses looking for short term accommodation.
Recently, Bournville Village Trust transformed Woodbrooke’s garden room into a useable space once again after it was damaged by a leaking roof. Bournville Village Trust would like to thank Abbey Maintenance and DPM Electrical – who donated time and labour to support this work. Woodbrooke needs millions of pounds of investment to bring it up to an environmentally sustainable and accessible standard.
Bournville Village Trust’s current priority is to invest in improving its existing homes and buildings.
This includes spending millions of pounds this year on its socially rented homes. Bournville Village Trust will continue to manage Woodbrooke until it finalises a long-term investment plan for the building.
Bournville Village Trust is one of the Midlands’ longest-serving independent charitable trusts. It works within more than a dozen diverse communities in south and central Birmingham and Telford and aims to create and sustain communities where people can thrive.
It was founded by social reformer and chocolate maker George Cadbury in 1900 and provides services to over 9,000 households and 25,000 people.
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