Burnside Community Centre was established in 1969 as part of the Church outreach as was run, at first, by two monks. The Centre has had charitable status since 1996 as is situated on Langley Estate.

Based in an area of Greater Manchester that has suffered from a cycle of social deprivation, high numbers of unemployment, low educational grades and has been stigmatised as an area of social deprivation.

Langley Estate is ranked the 66th most deprived ward in the county, 72% of pupils have free school meals and 18% of the population are in receipt of Income Support. The Centre itself is a large building with various rooms suitable for a variety of activities and events.

Burnside Centre has always provided services, support and guidance to the inhabitants of Langley Estate. There has never been any limitation on the amount of people and sections of society the Centre has reached by holding events, hiring out rooms for different organisations, and being a place of training/work experience. The Centre often has trainee placements for people gaining their youth work qualifications.

Burnside Centre’s aim is to support and help sustain a cohesive community in Langley Estate, and surrounding area by providing a place where agencies and professional organisations can provide the community with the information they need to better themselves and their surroundings. These targets are constantly being achieved through the following objectives:

• Providing relevant information based services to the local community, for example the Centre has a Citizens Advice Bureau session every Tuesday.
• Providing educational based support for local youths with various youth clubs throughout the week.
• Linking with outside organisations to run, for example, self improvement courses at the Centre
• · Being involved with local initiatives that benefit the community at large, such as fun days and local initiatives.
• Maintaining a high level of local volunteers and work experience placements to “give back” to the community. One of the current volunteers is on the introductory youth worker course.
• Providing support for local families by holding weekly toddler groups, youth clubs and day trips.
• Enabling local businesses to promote their services to the local community
• Being an active member of relevant local committee groups and attend meetings to keep abreast of local matters.
• Having an open dialogue with other local Community Centres to help provide a broad spectrum of services and support.

The Burnside Centre is fully established and is widely used by over 600 people per week.

The Centre has a high standing in the local community and is often in the local press promoting community work that goes on within the Centre.

It is hired regularly by various professional organisations for a variety of activities.

There is a pre school playgroup, which is funded by Early Years and Big Lottery at present and is widely used and dependant upon the local community.

The nature of the community centre is such that it is constantly evolving and Burnside Centre is required to be flexible and have the ability for continued growth and development.