Agenda and draft minutes

Visit the stalls and vote for your preferred projects

Eleven projects were applying for funding and represented at the marketplace.  Following counting of votes, the following projects were funded:

Carers Lewisham – Carers Keep Well

Forest Hill School – Samba Band

Kilmorie School – Girls Football

Bloom Bakery – Employment Support Scheme

Seniors – Make a Scene drama group

Rockbourne Youth Club – Be Active Say Healthy

Young Lewisham – Security Upgrade

Forest Hill School were part-funded from the Assembly.  Cllr Wise announced that councillors were agreed to make up the shortfall from Councillors Discretionary Funds.

Liz Stone, Head Teacher (tbc)

Liz Stone, Head of Kilmorie School, welcomed everyone, and mentioned the school’s latest Ofsted assessment as “Outstanding” and its strong relationship with the local community.

Cllr Wise thanked Liz for hosting the event, and introduced the funding marketplace stalls, and invited people to visit the Borough of Culture Selfie stand and enjoy the food provided.

PC Richard Bailey

Sgt Biddle spoke about the planned Police station closures.  The nearest station with a customer service counter will now be Lewisham Central. A new base will be created for the south Lewisham SNT teams.  The reason for the closures was the reduction in use by the public as most crime is now reported online.

Q: How will the closures affect the team members?

A: All staff will be retained and stay in the same ward, the Sgt will manage three wards.

Gilliam Pearce spoke about the ward promises.  One of these is working on moped crime – where they have been busy identifying local criminals.  Stolen mopeds have been retrieved and returned to their owners.  Twitter is used to educate the public on crime prevention, together with leaflet drops.

On begging, another ward promise, there have been problems centred on Forest Hill and also in Perry Vale ward.  They have been working in partnership with the Co-op to resolve this situation.  Gillian asked people to please not give to beggars as begging is an offence.  She advised that the SNT always refer beggars to appropriate sources of help and advice, and that they can issue a community protection notice if necessary.

SNT also handed out information sheets on firework safety and the law, and on burglary prevention where they are advocating a 3 step scheme.

Q: Speeding, what is being done?

A: Using speed cameras, also working with Community Roadwatch.   Local people are invited to join with Community Roadwatch to carry out periodic speed checks in their area.

Lewisham could stand to gain an award of up to £1.5 million in 2019.  Tell us about your Perry Vale cultural secrets, and what you think should go into the bid.  Speaker tbc

Nancy Stridgen from Culture and Community Team spoke about Lewisham’s bid to be Borough of Culture and asked people to discuss in small groups ideas on what to include in the bid and what are the local cultural secrets.  A number of great suggestions were put forward which were collected by Nancy. A photograph was taken to record Perry Vale Assembly’s support for the Borough of Culture bid.  You can see all the brilliant ideas and suggestions that have been made across the borough at www.loveitlewisham.co.uk and follow LoveitLewisham on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Reports from projects funded in 2016/17

Seniors Memory Café project

Seniors were awarded a £2130 local assembly grant in October 2016 to run a ‘memory café’ for people with early onset dementia and their carers twice a month.

The project started in January 2017 with an average of 8 people per session

Project partners include Community Connections and Mindcare

The funding has been used to: purchase refreshments, Games and materials for warm ups , A Hi Fi System to play memory-jogging music, and to enable the coordinator to complete dementia-awareness training at the Age Exchange in Blackheath.

What the beneficiaries say:

“It has been a great experience for all of us”

“Our sessions have been a journey”

Thank you to the Perry Vale Assembly for making this project possible through your kind generosity -  Tina Aranda, Project Coordinator.

Young Lewisham

Young Lewisham used the funding to replace the very old and worn floor surfaces in the workshops.  The project fully involved the young people who were part of the team clearing the space before work could start, and laying the new floor.  The young people found a sense of pride in their work and the new floors have given a new lease of life to the workshops.

Rockbourne Youth Club

Rockbourne Youth Club is a self-funded youth club open to all young people aged 8 – 18 year.  Last year it was funded by Perry Vale Assembly to deliver  a healthy living and eating programme, including drama, cooking etc. 

Dom Eliot, STFL

Ole Baxter and Lucy Allen, volunteers with Street Trees for Living, explained the street trees scheme.  Street Trees for Living started in Brockley and are working across the borough, in partnership with the council to significantly increase the number of street trees.  So far in 2017 they have planted 230 trees. There is a procedure that needs to be followed but STFL can give a lot of support and Lucy expressed how satisfying it had been to see numbers of trees planted in her area.

Q: What can be done where a large property owner on a street does not want the trees?

A: Start by speaking to STFL and we will try to help overcome any barriers.  We have found that planting new trees has neighbours get to know one another and brought people together.   It is a benefit to children to see things growing in their street.  A scheme that can be helpful is Sponsor a leaf.

Q: We planted a tree in Lee Green Ward and got Assembly Funding to help with it.  Assembly funding can help where the people in the relevant street cannot afford to pay for the trees but would like to have some planted and are willing to look after them.

There is an up to date map being produced showing where there are trees already, and where spaces for new trees exist.

Q: How many trees are being planted this year? And why is this relying on small groups of residents rather than a London-wide scheme?

A: Unfortunately central funding for street trees has been reduced as it’s not seen as a priority.

Q: What trees do you plant?

A: STFL can help advise on those threes that are most suitable.  See the website for more information.

If you are interested in getting involved, please visit the website at: https://brockleystreettrees.blogspot.co.uk/

Speaker tbc

David Ford from Lee Green Assembly Co-ordinating Group spoke about the opportunity to be involved with supporting your local Assembly.  He praised the enthusiasm and engagement of those attending the Assembly.  He explained how the Co-group in Lee Green had been able to make positive changes in their ward, such as changing CPZ zones that local people were unhappy about.  This was changed allowing local people more access to the parking spaces.  David said that getting involved does not commit you to attending large numbers of meetings and can be very rewarding in terms of the difference you can make in your community.

He advised anyone interested in becoming involved to make contact with Laura Luckhurst, Development Officer at laura.luckhurst@lewisham.gov.uk or by calling 020 8314 3830.

Chair, Cllr Susan Wise

See above item no. 1

The meeting closed at 9.00 pm.

Date of next meeting: 27^th February, 7 – 9 pm at Perry Rise Baptist Church.