November 24, 2023

After a year of building relationships and sharing stories, members of the South Lakes Poverty Truth Commission took to the high stage of the Ladyholme Centre in Windermere, on 13 October, to share their experiences in public for the first time.

Members of the 60-strong audience, made up of individuals and organisations who have supported the project so far, included elected representatives and officers from the new Westmorland & Furness Council, Bowness & Windermere, Ulverston and Kendal Town Councils and High Sheriff Sam Scott.

Interspersed with videos they had made, featuring the voices of others who could not be at the event, the Community Commissioners – from Sedbergh, Kendal, Windermere, Grange, Ulverston and Rampside – talked powerfully about the times in their lives when they had faced financial hardship and the ways in which they had felt judged, misunderstood, unsupported and stigmatized by the systems that are supposed to support them.

By sharing the truth of life on the edge in affluent South Lakeland, the Commissioners hope to inspire real change for others in similar circumstances in the future. This second phase of the two-year project, funded by Westmorland & Furness Council, NHS Population Health and the National Lottery, has now begun.

Since the end of October the full Poverty Truth Commission, made up of 12 Community Commissioners and 12 Civic Commissioners – from the councils, the churches and services including health, housing and education – have been meeting monthly in Kendal to build new relationships ready to work together on designing better processes and changing the conversation on poverty in South Lakeland in the New Year.

For more information, contact Lois Sparling, SL PTC Coordinator, on lois.sparling@cumbriacvs.org.uk or visit the Cumbria CVS YouTube channel to watch our videos.