St John’s Waterloo is delighted to announce the appointment of Abigail Tripp as its new Outreach and Engagement Coordinator. Abigail will be developing links and enhancing connections between St John’s and the communities it serves. She will also make sure that projects run by St John’s charity The Bridge at Waterloo address local needs and engage local people.

Abigail, who started in January, is currently helping local people find their way to Here for Work, the employment training run by St John’s in partnership with Big Local Bermondsey and in spring she will be helping the community make the most of the opportunities offered by St John’s therapeutic gardening team.

Abigail has worked in community development in and around Lambeth for nearly 20 years with Coin Street Community Builders, Disability Advice Service Lambeth, Wheels for Wellbeing, The Cinema Museum, Archbishop’s Park, Vauxhall City Farm and others.  She was the first chair of SE1 United youth charity, a founder Director of Waterloo Community Coalition (now part of South Bank and Waterloo Neighbours SoWN) and has lived in a Waterloo housing co-operative for 25 years.

Abigail arrives at St John’s ahead of the church’s major re-opening in summer. The £5 million restoration project currently underway will make St John’s a place where everyone, regardless of faith or background, can come together to address local needs, develop their potential and experience a sense of community.

Abigail said: “Bringing people together and coming up with a solution, getting the right people in the room. Eventually doing yourself out of a job because the community can just get on with it…that’s what really excites me about my work. There’s a good, solid community in Waterloo and lots of talent to draw on.”

Having recently worked as Acting Director of Disability Advice Service Lambeth, Abigail is particularly excited by the fact that she will have two completely accessible buildings to welcome people to. St John’s sister church, St Andrew’s Short Street, is already an accessible building and after its restoration, St John’s will be fully accessible too.

“Working at Disability Advice Service Lambeth opened my eyes to the importance of access – so you’ll hear me banging on about it! It will be wonderful to work with two buildings that everyone enters through the same door. You exclude one in four people if you don’t take access seriously.”

Abigail is also passionate about women’s rights. She is a member of the Women’s Equality Party and an owner of Lewes FC the first football club to pay women and men equally. She loves being outdoors, sketching and taking photos, walking and running, cycling and swimming, exploring London’s museums and galleries, streets, parks and lidos.  She is also an experienced community radio presenter and podcaster on Morley Radio and Resonance FM and is studying Advanced Radio Production and Radio Drama at Morley College.

To find out more about St John’s community projects and to discuss ideas for new ones, please email Abigail Tripp, Outreach and Engagement Co-ordinator outreach@stjohnswaterloo.org