Firefighting

The Old Fire Station in Oxford, built in 1895, stopped being a fire station in 1971. Since then its occupants have included an arts centre, a night club and a children's science museum. In 2010, in a fit of inspiration, the City Council offered the building to Crisis (the charity supporting homeless people) and an innovative community arts organisation. Before the building was refurbished the directors of the two organisations worked in a nearby cafe and decided how the organisations could cohabit to maximum mutual advantage. And for the last 12 years they have, very creatively. Homeless people are ushers for the plays that take place in the small theatre. Drama writing workshops include homeless people. Homeless people put on exhibitions of their painting, sculpture and photography in the gallery. Crisis's volunteer fundraisers put on poetry events in the theatre.

At one point the café behind the old fire engine doors trained homeless people in hospitality work but that came to an end a couple of years ago. Now it has been offered to a collective of Syrian refugees to prepare and serve their delicious food.

At the moment this country is facing a Cost of Wealth crisis as the people who have more swimming pools than they have limbs to swim in them inexplicably feel they are hard done by so extract more tax from those with less than they have and remove the basics from people who are too lazy poor to be able to pay tax at all. Of course in these circumstances ordinary people go out to arts events less and put less money in collecting tins so both homeless people and community arts suffer (alongside all who depend on state education, state healthcare and state benefits). Even so, plenty of admirable people do plenty of admirable things and for the time being this building continues to serve delicious food and drink to artists, homeless people and anyone else with the wit to come in.