About Us
Oblong are a development charity, established in 1996.
Our charitable aims are:
to develop the capacity and skills of people living in socially and economically disadvantaged areas in such a way that they are better able to identify, and help meet, their needs and to create active, flourishing communities, and to run a community centre, primarily for the benefit of the Woodhouse, Little London, and Hyde Park areas.
Oblong has run Woodhouse Community Centre since 2011.
Our values
- Respect and care – how we relate to each other and the people we work with.
- Empowerment – people feeling able to change their community for the better
- Collectivism – making decisions together as equals
- Sustainability – caring for the future of the community and the environment
- Community led (directed by people) – focusing on people’s ideas and needs
- Equality – ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents
Flat Structure
Oblong work together as a collective. Unlike most other organisations, we don’t have a hierarchy with a ‘boss’ or ‘manager’ at the top. We have a flat structure, and make decisions together as equals.
Our Trustee board also work together as a collective.
History of Woodhouse Community Centre
Our beautiful old building was once a Wesleyan Methodist Church. It was first built in 1770, and was used by the Wesleyan Methodists until the mid twentieth-century.
The Methodists added an extension to the building in 1840, using it as a Sunday School and Library. From the 1870s onwards it was used by Leeds School Board to offer education, while the Methodists also continued to use the building, adding foundation stones for a Sunday School in the 1890s.
Around 1972, the building was used to house ‘The Reception Centre for Immigrant Children’, which was probably part of Quarry Mount School.
In the 1970s, the building faced the threat of being demolished, and was taken on by a management committee to prevent this.
In 2011 Oblong acquired a long term lease from Leeds City Council to run the building, and we continue to run it to this day.
We run a wide range events and activities at Woodhouse Community Centre for the local community.