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Aldar Community Centre
0161 000 0000

About Aldar

Aldar means home. We are a community centre in Greater Manchester, rooted in the Sudanese and Muslim community and open to everyone who lives here.

Our story

“Aldar” means home. For families who have settled in Greater Manchester from somewhere else, the centre is a home away from the homeland — and for everyone who lives nearby, it is simply the place down the road where something is always on.

The centre grew out of the Sudanese and Muslim community, and it is open to people of all backgrounds and faiths. More than 600 members come through the door for classes, sport, health sessions, faith and cultural activities, and time together as families.

It runs on donations, fundraising and the income we earn by hiring out our spaces, and it is held together by around twenty volunteers who give their evenings and weekends to it.

Volunteers and members outside the centre with their hands raised
  • 600+members
  • 20volunteers
  • 2017here since
  • 29programmes
Families seated together in the centre's hall

The charity was registered with the Charity Commission in July 2019, and it has been active since 2017. In that time it has run programmes for more than 200 families.

For many people who have had to leave their country because of conflict, Aldar is a home away from the homeland. It is a safe space: no one who comes here should face discrimination, criticism, or harassment. The centre helps people settle into life in Britain while still celebrating their heritage.

Greater Manchester is home to one of the oldest and largest Sudanese communities in the western world, and to a heritage that stretches back more than 4,500 years. The centre is a place to share that heritage, from literature and art to medicine, mathematics, and the sciences.

Alongside that, Aldar offers education, skills, literacy, and numeracy for younger and older people, and works with the council, voluntary groups, faith groups, and residents so the whole neighbourhood can use the centre.

A message from the Chair

We started Aldar because people needed somewhere to belong. A place where a child can be tutored after school, a young person has something to do on a Friday night, a mother can learn English with people who understand her, and an older neighbour is not spending the day alone.

That is what a community centre is for. Our door is open to everyone in this city, whatever their background or faith, and we intend to keep it open.

Hisham H. M. Hamdalla
Chair of Trustees

Trustees

Aldar is led by a board of trustees. Further trustees will be listed here as they are confirmed.

  • Hisham H. M. Hamdalla

    Chair

Governance

How the centre is run, and the policies that sit behind every session.

  • A Charitable Incorporated Organisation

    Aldar is a CIO registered with the Charity Commission under number 1184519. Everything the centre raises goes back into its programmes and the building they run in.

  • Led by a board of trustees

    The board is responsible for the centre's direction, its finances and the safety of everyone who uses it. Trustees give their time voluntarily.

  • Safeguarding

    We have a safeguarding policy covering children, young people and adults at risk, and it applies to every session we run.

  • Equality and diversity

    The centre is open to people of every background and faith. Our equality and diversity policy sets out how we keep it that way.

  • Health and safety

    A health and safety policy covers the building, our activities and the volunteers and staff who deliver them.

  • How we are funded

    Donations, fundraising, grants and income from hiring our spaces pay for the programmes. Volunteers make most of them possible.