As the 400th anniversary year of the Mayflower sailing from Rotherhithe gets under way, there’s another chance for local groups to apply for funds to support related projects.
The Southwark Mayflower 400 Grants Fund – set up by Southwark Council, British Land and United St Saviour’s Charity – has a budget of £25,000 for its third round of grants.
Applications for this round close on 31 January. More details here.
Tesco shoppers in Southwark can help Surrey Docks Farm restore their wildlife pond by putting their blue tokens in the designated slot.
Surrey Docks Farm is one of three projects in the borough which will share funds from this quarter’s allocation of funds from the sale of reusable ‘bags for life’.
Customers’ votes are used to decide which project gets the largest share of the money.
Surrey Docks Farm says: “We need help restoring the farm’s wildlife pond for our outdoor learning projects with children and young people.
“The restoration will involve children and benefit local wildlife!”
You can vote for Surrey Docks Farm in any Tesco store in Southwark till the end of March.
A charity which runs regular soft play sessions for under 5s at the Salmon Centre in Bermondsey is raising funds to keep the sessions running.
Riverside Parents and Carers is hoping to raise £5,000 via Justgiving – and has already reached more than £1,500.
The charity needs the cash so that it can meet rising costs to run the four sessions a week.
Surrey Docks Farm has launched a fundraising appeal for £32,000 so that it can carry out electrical works to allow its much-missed cafe to reopen.
As the farm explains on its website:
“As most of our supporters will know, we’ve been without a cafe this year. We’ve greatly missed the warm friendly space for our visitors and the much needed rental income which contributes to the Farm’s running costs.
“The good news is we have found some wonderful tenants to take on the cafe at the Farm. They will provide a welcoming space serving drinks, tasty cakes and delicious meals.
“However before the cafe is back in action the tenants will need to invest and install a kitchen and we need to carry out a significant upgrade to our electrics. We need to bring a new three-phase line into the Farm to meet a modern kitchen’s needs and to keep up with the demand of our growing Farm projects.
“We’ve now had quotes for this essential work from UK Power Network who will bring a supply to our boundary and from an electrician who will connect this new supply to the Farm’s Segal building and cafe.
“The total cost for this work will be £32,000.
“This is not something we have budgeted for, nor do we have enough reserves to cover this, so we urgently need your help to raise enough money to complete this work and bring back a Farm cafe.”
Find out more at www.surreydocksfarm.org.uk/cafe
The second round of The Southwark Mayflower 400 Grants Fund is open to online application until 30 June.
The fund supports events and activities that celebrate the 400th anniversary of The Mayflower sailing and the themes around its historic voyage: migration, tolerance, enterprise and community.
People working on smaller activities and events can bid for up to £1,000, while bigger projects and events will be eligible of over £1,000. All initiatives must include a live event or activity to take place in the lead up to the anniversary of the Mayflower sailing in November 2020. They should also take place within the SE16 area or areas of Mayflower significance in the wider SE1 area.
You can find the application criteria and apply for Mayflower 400 funding at www.ustsc.org.uk/mayflower-400-grants-fund
This month Surrey Docks Farm started work on Phase 1 of its Riverfront Development, thanks to funding allocated by Southwark Council from levies on local developments. By the end of the year the farm will be offering a range of new and enhanced community facilities with stunning riverfront views looking across to Canary Wharf, providing new activity spaces, lettable rooms and outdoor areas all year round.
Architects PUP have designed the development and act as contract administrator; John Perkins Projects is the contractor; and Hollybrook Homes have kindly funded two cabins for the duration so the Farm can continue to run its education programmes and classes.
The farm’s River Room is being re-designed, upgraded, refitted and extended with a glass orangery to provide a quality, flexible, multi-use space for a wide range of uses – for schools’ programmes, classes, meetings, conferences, birthday parties and events. The adjacent three storey tower, burnt out in an arson attack over a decade ago, is being converted. On the ground floor: a Farm Kitchen providing a training resource for all ages promoting cooking with fresh produce, good diets and healthy eating and a catering resource for events held in the River Room. On the first floor: an office to accommodate the farm’s growing staff team. On the top floor: a calm, flexible activity space with a fine view overlooking the Thames – for meetings, arts and crafts and therapeutic sessions.
To complete the development, the farm is currently fundraising for Phase 2 to open up its river frontage in its unique setting by the Thames. Its new main entrance will then be through the gates onto the Thames Path where the public will be led along widened, paved entrances into the Farm and its new riverfront facilities. There will be new paving, landscaping and gardens providing a special space for sitting out and socialising and for community events. Gates and a retractable trellis fence will be installed to enable all the new riverfront facilities provided in Phase 1 to be available for evening classes as well as day time use by securing the rest of the Farm and its animals.
Cllr Johnson Situ, cabinet Member for growth, development and planning commented: “This is really good news for the borough’s only city farm. Here in Southwark Council we are delighted to have awarded the Farm one of the earliest Community Infrastructure Levy (CILs) amounts to enable them to make all these superb improvements. This award is a great example of the council’s refreshed approach to local CIL which will see the development of Community Investment Plans to support growth across the borough. As part of the award, the Farm will also contribute to Southwark being an Age Friendly borough with further opportunities for older and younger people alike as well as new inter-generational projects”.
Cllr Jasmin Ali, Cabinet Member for children’s and adult services commented: “Speaking personally, I cannot wait to bring my family down there to see the transformation. We have also granted the Farm a new 35 year lease at a charitable rent so that these new education and community resources are secured for the long term and the Farm can enhance and develop its special offers for residents”.
As the borough’s only city farm, with its gates open seven days a week and free entrance, the farm will provide its 50,000 visitors a year with an enhanced visitor experience and renewed opportunities to learn about and engage with all aspects of a working farm.
Environmental expert and bee-keeping specialist Clare Street has won the TCV Star of the Future Award at Year at TCV, the community volunteering charity’s, Annual Awards.
Clare, who shares her time between working as a Volunteer Officer at Stave Hill in Rotherhithe, Dulwich Upper Woods and Railway Fields in Haringey, received her award in a celebration of TCV Heroes at the Barbican on Tuesday .
The Star of the Future Award recognises the achievements and future potential of TCV projects and staff, who have helped other people improve their confidence, skills, and prospects, through learning inspired by the outdoors.
During her time as a Volunteer Officer at Stave Hill Ecology Park, Clare has trained as a beekeeper and raised funds for an observational beehive to teach all she’s learned to the next generation of apian enthusiasts. Claire has also revamped the centre’s ‘bee classroom’, decorating it with her very own bee-themed artwork.
When she’s not helping to care for some of the planet’s most prolific pollinators, Claire works hard to engage young minds through the environment. She has designed and built two Vegetable Teepees for children to play and grow food in, one at Stave Hill and the other at St John’s Primary School in Rotherhithe. St John’s Primary School now has an extensive food growing site and hosts regular vegetable club get-togethers, where pupils can enjoy the fruits of their labour.
TCV teams across London love working with Clare and have been impressed by the substantial improvements she has brought to every site she’s worked at – she’s even earned the nickname of “Super Clare” amongst her fellow environmentalists.
TCV has received £400,000 from players of People’s Postcode Lottery as part of their Postcode Green Trust. With this money, TCV will be able to extend their work connecting people and green spaces to benefit both the environment and the health and wellbeing of the local community.
Rebeka Clark, Site Manager at Stave Hill Ecology Park said:
“I can’t think of anybody better suited to this work than Clare – you need to be precise, calm, and orderly, and that’s her all over. She goes about her work beautifully, and no little detail is ever missed. Working with Clare, nothing is ever about her, but instead it’s all about the project itself and how she can move things forward.”
Clare Street, TCV Star of the Future Award Winner, said:
“People need their green spaces. It’s really important to me that children are getting out and involved in looking after the natural world around them, and reaping both the physical and mental rewards.”
Professor Tony Crook CBE, Chair of the Conservation Volunteers, said:
“These awards reflect the core of what TCV does. Our staff and volunteers not only help create and enhance green spaces but through this work help to build more human and social capital, thus supporting the communities involved in looking after these spaces. The need to improve spaces and enhance communities is immense which is why I and my fellow Trustees are keen to engage with more partners to work together on these challenges.”
Darren York, Chief Executive of TCV, said:
“At TCV we’re passionate about creating healthier and happier communities for everyone and we’re immensely grateful to our stars of the future like Clare for their hard work and creativity.”
The London Masons and the Masonic Charitable Foundation has donated £10,000 to Bede House, for those suffering from domestic abuse in South London to receive help from a
nationally recognised programme.
The grant to the Bede House charity’s Starfish Domestic Violence Project in Bermondsey will help to support hundreds of women through advocacy, counselling, legal advice, support with police and court visits and the biannual Freedom Programme peer support group.
The Freedom Programme is a nationally-recognised, 16 week group programme which uses a structured framework to educate women about patterns of male-perpetrated abuse. The course supports women to understand past experiences and identify warning signs of
abusive relationships, empowering them to safeguard themselves and their families in the future. The demand for Bede’s service is ever-increasing: in 2016/17 the Starfish Project supported 229 clients, a huge increase on 156 clients the previous year.
Southwark has one of the highest levels of domestic abuse in London, with an average of 2,200 -2,400 recorded incidents a year.
Bernadette, who has suffered from domestic abuse and has benefitted from working with Bede House (see photograph) said: “Bede gave me the confidence to leave my abusive partner, without their support I wouldn’t have had the strength to leave. I am glad the Masons are supporting Bede. Thank you.”
Bede House Director Nick Dunne said: “We’re very grateful to London Freemasons for their generous grant, which will help us to deliver a future free from fear to women who have suffered domestic abuse. Most of our clients have endured domestic abuse for at least five years, during which time they have suffered in silence.”
Adrian Fox from London Freemasons said: “We’re very pleased to be able to help Bede House with their hugely important work providing practical and emotional support to women who have been abused, often for years. The Bede House team provide life-changing help to some of the most vulnerable people in our community.”
Southwark Council is looking for a community/voluntary sector organisation to take on the youth centre at The Blue. Details here.
Could you transform this space into something special for the community in #Bermondsey?
Southwark Council is looking for a voluntary or community sector organisation to lease the Blue Youth Centre, Southwark Park Rd.
Get all the details here: https://t.co/oHB7ru3wzd pic.twitter.com/JA6wos39Ar— Southwark Presents (@SouthwarkEvents) June 29, 2018
At the Southwark Civic Awards on Monday night the Honorary Liberty of the Old Metropolitan Borough of Bermondsey was awarded to Patrick Kingwell, latterly secretary of the Friends of Southwark Park. The same honour was bestowed on the team behind the restoration of the Queen’s Wedding Cake.
Here are the citations:
