The Parish of St Matthew, Triangle and All Saints, Ipswich

CONTACT DETAILS

Rector

Revd Nick Atkins

Ordained local minister

Revd Ruth Best

Minister in charge of Triangle Church

Revd Jackie Sears

Parish Administrator

Heather Gooding

Parish Office

(01473) 251630

Triangle Church Office

(01473) 219407

email Triangle office

webmaster

The Fletcher Centre is across the road from St. Matthew's and is our Church Centre. It contains the Church Office and rooms, as well as housing Counselling and Pregnancy Advice Centres.

The Fletcher Centre is a large old Victorian building, adjacent to the church, which is used for a variety of activities. It was bought from the diocese in 1985, partly in response to a prophesy that the church had at the time, with the aim of providing:

• A place of refuge
• A hostel
• A place where those in trouble could be helped
• A base for the parish office

Over the years it has also been used for a number of purposes, including a drop-in centre, a crèche, for teaching seminars and so on. However, there are now three main areas of activity:

• A base for parish activities
• A hostel
• A counselling centre

The building operates as a charity, under the auspices of St. Matthew's PCC, and is run on a day to day basis by a small committee representing the main users.

There are three telephone lines into the Centre, as follows:

St. Matthew's Church Office 251630

Inspire Christian Counselling 217694

Perspectives Pregnancy Crisis 255115

The Fletcher Centre

More about Inspire.

More about Perspectives.

• A base for Parish Activities. This building houses the church office, run by the the parish administrator. Various church groups also operate from here. These include youth groups, the Seniors club, home groups, and other formal and informal committees

• A hostel for up to 4 young people  (this meets the requirements of the Girls Friendly Society who partly funded the purchase of the building).

• A counselling centre.

Inspire Christian Counselling, a local organisation representing many churches across the town, is based in the building and operates on Tuesdays from 09.00 to 17.00 and on Thursdays from 09.00 to 21.00. This work provides professional, Christian based, counselling as a service to all churches in the area. Their phone number is 01473-217694. In addition, Perspectives Pregnancy Crisis Centre, which is linked to Care Trust, uses the building on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10.00 to 17.00. This offers a pregnancy testing and support service to all that need help. Perspectives is led by Chris Matthews of Capel St. Mary.

2 Crescent Road, Ipswich, Suffolk

Heather Gooding, the parish administrator