Revd Simon Woodman of Bloomsbury Baptist Church shares some reflections about why his institution and others are coming together to rebuild Westminster Citizens - and what their hopes for the future are.

The tools of community organising have had such a positive impact on how I fulfil my role as churchwarden. In fact, I’ve felt a real calling to share our experiences with other Anglican churches in the Ealing Deanery. With the support of our area bishop, Pete Broadbent, and our area dean, Steve Newbold, Fr Justin Dodd, St Barnabas Pitshanger and I convened a local clergy and lay leaders’ roundtable to share stories and listen. Read more to find out what we learnt from one another.

Westminster Quaker Meeting, Bloomsbury Baptist Church and LSE's Faith Centre are working together to jointly welcome a Syrian family to the heart of the city in 2019. Read more about our journey.

Last year, we announced the fantastic decision by Heathrow Airport to become the world’s first Living Wage airport, a decision taken by management that ensures the business is doing the right thing and its workers can live in dignity.

I wanted to tell you a bit about the story of how West London Citizens got there, after years of painstaking organising work, in the hope that others can take inspiration from this story in their own Living Wage organising.

In the summer of 2016 West London Citizens (WLC) was campaigning to get Heathrow airport to sign up as a Living Wage employer. The campaign had already been running for two years but needed a boost.

West London Churches holding a living wage mass in support of workers

 Lydia Rye, Senior Organiser for West London Citizens.  

Lydia Rye is the new Senior Organiser for West London Citizens. Before this she worked as the Senior Organiser for Nottingham & Maun Valley Citizens, and worked on dozens of campaigns to see real change on issues from hate crime to homelessness and mental health.  She is particularly proud of the work which led to Nottingham becoming the first place in the country to introduce misogyny as a category of hate crime, and of supporting Nottingham Citizens to hold the largest single event in the 2015 general election, bringing together 2,300 people in the city's Royal Concert Hall.  

Before working for Citizens UK Lydia worked for a local charity, overseeing outreach services to sex workers, and is particularly passionate about supporting women to engage in public life. In her spare time she loves to test recipes she's never tried before on groups of unsuspecting friends and to binge watch really bad TV.

Contact: Lydia.Rye@citizensuk.org.uk