Trubys Garden Tea Room (Trubys) based in Milton Keynes has been recognised for the prestigious Kings Award for Voluntary Service for 2023, one of the highest awards given to voluntary groups.
Trubys has been running for nearly 10 years with the aim of building and fostering positive relationships between the local Muslim and wider communities within Milton Keynes, initiating and encouraging interfaith dialogue, working in partnership with other organisations to tackle wide-ranging issues within local communities and fundraising to support local, national and global community projects, initiatives and activities.
Trubys began as an interfaith community café run by mainly British Muslim women who live in Milton Keynes. The café was founded in 2014 as an outreach project to stimulate dialogue between Muslims and the wider community. The café management team and volunteers now include individuals from different faiths and backgrounds and its work covers a wide range of activities from hardship support to facilitating a choir for women and girls to working with LEAP to increase activity and movement to enable wellbeing and wellness within our communities.
“It is an honour and a privilege to receive the Kings Award for Voluntary Services for all our team of volunteers serving their community, creating opportunities for positive dialogue between our Muslim and the wider communities. We are looking forward to sharing this great recognition with all members of our community” said Kurshida Mirza, Chair and Founder of Trubys Garden Tea Room.
Julie Dawes, Events and Community Engagement Manager at the Parks Trust who has worked with Trubys since 2017 said “This recognition is so richly deserved for everyone involved. The volunteers of Trubys Garden Tea Room are all extremely inspirational and volunteer their time so tirelessly for the benefit of our communities. Congratulations to all!”
Trubys is built on partnership and collaborative working to increase impact and outreach within the communities of Milton Keynes. Laxman Kastala, Founder and Chairman of Dreamsai said “ We have been working in collaboration with Trubys for the last few years in supporting the interfaith communities in hardship. Trubys has earned phenomenal respect and support from across the communities for their inclusive and impactful contribution to Milton Keynes Community. Kings Award for Voluntary Service is a great honour and truly well deserved. Many congratulations to Kurshida and all the volunteers”.
For press enquiries contact:
Kurshida Mirza, Chair, 07702894940 Kurshidabmirza@gmail.com
Pictures available from: https://www.facebook.com/trubysgardentearoom/photos_albums
Website: https://trubysgarden.org/
MORE ABOUT TRUBYS GARDEN TEA ROOM
Community Cohesion
Trubys café is a safe place to engage in dialogue with others from all faiths (Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Sikh as well as people with no faith), to understand and appreciate each other’s backgrounds, while finding a common thread to everyone’s life experience. This contributes to communities working better together, maximising cohesion and building social capital. To date Trubys has held one interfaith café every month during the period 2014 until 2016 and one every two months to the present (except during the pandemic).
Partnership working
- To facilitate dialogue theTrubys Great Get Together Iftaar (GGTI) brings together a range of partners, businesses and community groups who do not normally mix. Through this intermingling the event seeks to emphasise that “we have far more in common than that which divides us”. It enables communities around Milton Keynes to experience and observe the spirit of Ramadan alongside Muslims offering dialogue and illustrations of worship to enhance understanding. It offers an opportunity to organisations and community groups to promote their services to people and start discussion and exchange of ideas. Since its inception in 2017 the GGTI has grown from 300, 600 to over 800 attendees in 2019. During the pandemic, the event went online in 2021 returning to a very successful in person event in 2022.
To facilitate dialogue the GGTI brings together a range of partners, businesses and community groups who do not normally mix. Through this intermingling the event seeks to emphasise that “we have far more in common than that which divides us”.
- The Iftaar programme is themed to enable a conversation on issues of importance to our communities, eg, climate change, celebration of women’s strength through sound. This year the theme is ‘Linking Mind, Body and Soul (focusing on the importance of healthy mind and body’).
- Food hampers: A successful partnership developed in 2020 with Dreamsai and Morrisons PLC in distributing hampers for Eid, Christmas and other occasions and is run annualy. This was particularly useful during the pandemic and after, as it benefitted vulnerable individuals and families. To date, a total of 300 hampers have been distributed. The project is run entirely by volunteers, who fund raise, organise, pack and distribute the hampers to individuals residing in Milton Keynes and surrounding villages.
Reaching out to vulnerable individuals and families
- Trubys offers continued support to refugees and new communities to enable settlement in Milton Keynes, and has supported Syrian (31 families) and Afghani (65 families) from arrival in Milton Keynes to settlement were new arrivals to MK.
- Trubys Hardship fund has helped many individuals and families in Milton Keynes. Some need help with a crisis of the moment and others may require longer term assistance.
Trubys volunteers – from all walks of life and all faiths
Trubys committee members are all volunteers – several work full time and have family and caring commitments.
The best way to imagine Trubys is as a doughnut. A small team of dedicated committee members who work tirelessly to manage Trubys, fundraise and build connections, push the boundaries outside the norm and, seek opportunities for dialogue between the Muslim and the wider communities of Milton Keynes. They are assisted by a huge army of supporters who make monetary or in-kind donations or, actively participate to make each project a resounding success. These hail from all faiths, genders and ages ranging from young people to those who are retired.
For younger individuals volunteering at our events starts an appreciation of charity work and how rewarding it can be. In addition, they are provided with an opportunity to build up their experience for their CVs, university applications and so on. A number have benefited by volunteering with Trubys as part of their Duke of Edinburgh award requirements.
The café is an opportunity to put the circular economy into practice. It enables some individuals (particularly newly arrived refugees) to showcase their culinary skills while being compensated for their materials, giving them pride in sharing their cuisine and the dignity of labour.
Trubys has become known for its wide and varied connections within the grassroots communities and works with many local organisations. More recently, Trubys has brought together a choir comprising women from Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities to share their voices through singing / recitation of worship songs and scriptures. This has created a shared understanding of each other’s faith. Alongside this Trubys has successfully won its bid to become a community connector (a project funded by LEAP) to undertake a four-year programme to increase activity and movement within the Muslim community in particular women and girls. This will be important in combatting mental health and increasing wellness and wellbeing.
Trubys Garden Tea Room 