The Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Community Centre
The Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Community Centre first opened its doors to the whole Community on 19 June 2005. 3,000 people of all ages attended its first open day, and over 1,000 joined the Centre in the first month. It has already become a Centre for the whole Leeds Jewish Community and its neighbours.
This Centre has been built by the Leeds Jewish Welfare Board, in partnership with the Leeds Jewish Housing Association. It replaces the offices of these two organisations, and the previous much smaller Community Centre which provided a venue for a range of activities both for local residents and for service users of LJWB.
The Marjorie & Arnold Ziff Community Centre has been built next to 40 new flats for people needing support, Thea and Heinz Skyte House. The flats join the Centre through a 'one' way door. An existing development, Queenshill Lawn, will also shortly be joined up via a link corridor, giving residents of both developments internal access to meals and social activities in a safe environment.
However, the Centre is not geared just for older people or for those who have traditionally used the services of the two organisations. The vision has been to build for the future of the whole community. We provide a high quality environment with a wide-ranging programme of activities and events for all ages and tastes.
A vibrant community needs a viable permanent kosher restaurant which to date has not been available in Leeds. This has now been achieved. The community also had no meeting spaces of its own to use for community events other than the synagogue halls and Brodetsky Jewish Primary School. Until now, there has not been a building which could properly be referred to as a meeting-place for the entire Jewish community, whatever their age, income or religious affiliations.
The Centre also provides an opportunity for a variety of community organisations to enjoy the benefits of being housed together in one location. The Centre now provides a home for Makor Jewish Culture and Resource Centre, the shaliach, JNF, WIZO.uk and the Leeds Jewish Representative Council as well as LJHA and LJWB.
For more information see: http://www.mazcc.co.uk