In June 1991 Buttershaw Baptist Church started The Family Centre as a way of expressing the Christian faith in practical ways that supports life on Buttershaw. Under the leadership of Rev Arthur Tuffy the family centre started a program to help people into work. There were 2 part time Community Development workers from Spurgeons and a Volunteer Co-ordinator soon after that. Ever since then, there has been a particular focus on supporting families with activities like play sessions.
In March 2004, the then ‘management committee’ decided to formalise the Family Centre into a charitable limited company called ‘Buttershaw Christian Family Centre Ltd’. That is when the Family Centre got its own charitable status and became a company. The Family Centre became independent of Spurgeons and has continued to grow particularly in its work with Childcare after it took over Beacon Enterprise Nursery.
The Nursery needed a new name and a member of staff chose ‘Footprints’ because of the encouragement the famous poem had been to her. Footprints has eventually become the name we are known by for all of our activities across Buttershaw.