BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION In 1982 as the foundries, textile and engineering industries started their decline; unemployment began to arise alarmingly in Bradford. The Local Authority gave a grant of £27,000 to the Karmand Association to purchase St Clements Church Hall and the Management Committee began its humble work for the local community which was at the time a huge challenge. Literacy classes, vocational and skills courses were provided to the unemployed, youths and women in the community. An Advice service was offered to provide essential benefits information to those affected by the recession and unemployment. The Centre was started from a small building with the aims and objectives of meeting the needs of the local community (from the three local wards of Bradford Moor, Bowling and Undercliffe) in the areas of educational, vocational training and social needs, irrespective of colour, race or creed. As time passed, the needs of the community kept changing and increasing and so has the Centre, it has continued to expand in line with the demands. In 1992 the completion of the multi-purpose Sports/Community Hall assisted in catering for a much wider scope of indoor leisure activities for the youth and to promote culture and tradition. In 1995 the Elderly Day Care Unit extension enabled us to start providing a much needed service to our local elderly community. The needs and demands for our users exceeded the Centre’s limits and the extension work to create more training/education rooms with money from the National Lottery Charities Board commenced in early 1997. Read more
