The House on the Hill is a youth and community project based in Felling, which is a very deprived area of Gateshead,  in the North East of England.

The Project’s aims are to help people in the community develop computer skills and to encourage and enable personal development in both adults and especially young people.

We are based in what is known as the House on the Hill, This used to be known as Christ Church Hall on Sunderland Road and is just across the road from the old Felling Police Station.

The area we work in falls within the top 10% of the most deprived areas in England and Wales.

The community of Felling is on the Eastern side of the borough of Gateshead.

The last 30 years have been a period of continuous economic decline for Felling as its staple industries – shipbuilding and heavy engineering – have struggled to survive. The result is a level of unemployment of 10.9%, which is substantially higher than the national average (5.2%). This is particularly the case among men.

Many of the problems traditionally associated with large-scale unemployment are found in Felling:

• 42% of families are Lone Parent (compared with 16% in Gateshead as a whole).
• 19.5% of the population of Felling have a long-term limiting illness.

• The Church Urban Fund ranks the parish of Felling as the 8th most deprived parish in the Durham Diocese. (Ox-Lip deprivation rating 34.38)

• The crime rate is above the national average. The crimes solved rate (26%) for the Felling area is below the national average.

• Felling is one of the government’s 100 Health Action Zones, ranked as the 97th worst.

• There are many boarded-up residential properties, some of which the council plans to demolish.

• Property prices are significantly below the national average.

• Gateshead Council provides an above average level of services, however as a consequence, council tax rates are 28% above the national average. Collection rates are slightly below the national average.

• The main shopping street in the parish is extremely run-down with a large number of empty properties. In 1996 a council report identified that 28% of Felling’s retail stock was empty, the highest % rate of empty properties of the entire borough’s shopping areas.

• A number of estates in the area suffer from gangs of children “hanging around” with little to do. Consequently levels of vandalism are high, and there are problems with drug and substance abuse, as well as a number of cases of arson.

We work with local people of all ages, to promote their well-being and life prospects through a range of fellowship, activities and courses.