The Friendship Cafe

From activities for young people to getting people from different faiths to meet regularly, we arrange a whole range of activities and services, using Friendship Cafe and GymNation as a base.

We are a registered charity since 2000. However, our origins go back to the mid eighties when we were a very small group of young people training in various venues ranging from garages to old church halls until we set up the gym in our current base at City Works in Alfred St in 1998.

Amongst our previous venues are Bismillah Butchers in Upton St, the site of the Masjid-e-Omar (Mosque) in Conduit St, changing rooms in Colwell Community Centre (Derby Rd), the Anglo-Asian Centre/Church in Charles St opposite GL1, and the old Widden School in Sinope St (now the Islamic Girls Secondary School).

Visit the following link to learn more: www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/untold_stories/asian/gymnation.shtml

Our History

benefitting the community...

Having established the Gym and registered as a charity in 2000, the following year we took up the opportunity of taking on the lease of the former Working Men's Club in Barton St to form a welcoming youth and community centre to fill a much needed gap in provision of activities. Although established to cater for the needs of Muslims in the area, like the Gym, we have a philosophy to support and be of benefit to the wider community of Barton & Tredworth, which is why we work with and support a number of other groups at the same time.

Note - we try to ensure that any of our staff or volunteers who have regular contact with children or young people have undergone a Criminal Record Bureau check and references. In line with the advice of the Gloucestershire Children's Safeguarding Board, we try to ensure staff and volunteers have training on Child Protection, and are aware of our own policies and procedures.

First Aid training course for volunteers

'Sunni Gym' was what the original gym was known as in the 80s, followed by 'Gymkhana', and then 'GymnAsian' to our present name since 2000, 'GymNation'.