Southsea's Spark Community Space named finalist in national competition

The Southsea charity has been named finalist for the Ansell Lighting’s Shine A Light competition and is in the running to win a £5,000 light installation. The contest rewards charities that do work for the community.

Spark Community Space, which was set up by Becki Simmons, offers support to people in the community who feel like they do not fit in and want to come together with like-minded people.

The charity, which is about to move into the Pompey Centre, Portsmouth, has beaten competition to be in the remaining four and Becki hopes that winning the competition will help make the new space a good one.

She said: ‘During Covid I launched some online coffee mornings and in May 2021 moved to a bar in the town and Spark was born. By July this year we had more than 160 people a week visiting us over the two days we opened and it has helped so many people.

‘We’ve now secured a permanent home and would love to be able to use lighting to create different areas and zones that will suit the various groups of people who visit us. It will be a safe space for others who are fighting their own personal battles to reintegrate into society and to find their ‘spark’.’

The new space will be open three days a week for people to attend and on the other days charities can hire the space out.

The voting closes on October 14 and to place your vote go to: https://shinealight.anselluk.com/