Agenda and draft minutes

1.   Welcome from Cllr Brenda Dacres, Chair of the New Cross Assembly

1.1     Cllr Brenda Dacres welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that Cllr Maslin and Cllr Dromey sent apologies.

1.2     Cllr Dacres drew everyone’s attention to the three consultations which were being undertaken about

~ Poverty Commission

~ Deptford Neighbourhood Plan

~ Proposed changes to NHS Drop-In Services

and encourage people to respond to these during the evening.

2. London Borough of Culture

2.1    Cllr Dacres told the Assembly that The London Mayor, Sadiq Khan has introduced a fund for there to be a Borough of Culture each year from 2019. She introduced Andy Thomas from the Cultural Development Team to tell us more.

2.2    Andy explained that this is similar to the City of Culture programme which has shown that the winning city is changed by the experience and that this is the inspiration for the Borough of Culture Programme.

2.3    The bidding round was launched this summer for two boroughs to be awarded, one for 2019 & one for 2020. Lewisham is seeking to be the first in 2019. Each selected boroughs will get £1.5m plus other support.

2.4    In addition there will be smaller awards of £200,000 to two other boroughs for outstanding projects.

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2.5    The Mayor is looking for bids that put culture at the heart of the community, not for elitist projects so we need input on grass roots, community led ideas that showcase the creativity.

2.6    We know that there is a lot of this type of activity already in Lewisham and we want to highlight this secret culture.

2.7    At this stage we don’t know what the bid will look like; the community and arts organisation will lead the development.

2.8    Please go on to the website www.lovitlewisham.co.uk to tell us about your secret Lewisham. This will go live on Thursday 7^th September.

2.9    For those on twitter, you can also tweet using #loveitlewisham & #mylocalculture

2.10Ideas included arts, gardens & the environment, celebrating the ethnic diversity of stories, music & food

Q.   What chance do we have realistically?

A.   Andy replied that he had asked this at the meeting to launch the fund and the panel are not looking for the obvious; what will sway it for the winning bidders is demonstrating how they will use culture for change.

Q.   Is this annual?

A.   Initially they will select two boroughs fro this round but it is intended that it would continue subject to who is elected.

Comments  Would it help to hang this on a anniversary of some sort, or perhaps celebrity endorsement help.

2.11    Jude Law has agreed to support our bid.

2.12    Cllr Dacres encouraged residents to alk to as many people as possible, get tweeting and put up ideas on the website.

3. Deptford X Festival 2017

3.1    Cllr Dacres introduced Patrick Henry to tell us about this year’s Deptford X Festival.

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3.2    Patrick told the Assembly that the countdown has begun, to Deptford X 2018, which is the 20^th year of the festival which was set up by a group of local artists to showcase the wealth of artist working in the area.

3.3    It is a 10 day festival which will run from 22^nd September to 10^th October.

3.4    There are 5 new commissioned pieces by emerging local artists together with an ever growing rage of fringe events.

3.5    The website is about to go live with this year’s programme which is www.deptfordx.org 

3.6    In addition Patrick put out a plea for volunteers for varied roles such as looking after the works, social media, welcoming visitors and more

3.7    The launch for the main festival is Friday 22^nd September 6-8pm at 9 Brookmill Road and the fringe programme will run from 21^st September.

3.8    Cllr Dacres thanked Patrick and encouraged residents to get involved either as volunteers or by visiting art works and open studios.

4. Feedback for Assembly Funded Projects

4.1    Cllr Dacres introduced Jill Mountford from the New Cross Gate Trust who were jointly funded by the Telegraph Hill & New Cross Assembly funds to create a project in response to the serious youth violence incidents that had occurred in the two wards.

4.2    Jill said the New Cross Gate Trust worked with Somerville Youth & Play Provision to design and deliver the project that worked with children to raise awareness of the impact of knife crime together with the causes & the effect on the community.

4.3    They covered

~ understanding of the vital organs

~ impact of stabbing on the lives of the people affected

~ what happens to the community

4.4    They worked with primary schools who engaged very quickly and delivered the activities to 210 children in years 5 & 6

4.5    Content was age appropriate but was hard hitting and interactive with humour too.

4.6.   This was a pilot and they are now working on a bid to Big Lottery Fund to extend the project.   

4. 7   Cllr Dacres thanked Jill for the feedback and expressed support for further sessions if the bid is successful.

5. Assembly Fund Launch & Tideway Tunnel Fund

5.1    Cllr Dacres explained that each year the Assembly is allocated £12,500 to spend on local projects which meet the Assembly priorities. She introducedSarah Lang, the Assembly Co-ordinator to introduce this year’s Assembly Fund.

5.2    Sarah explained that organisations and community groups can apply for up to £2,000 from the fund for projects that address following priorities which were decided by resident vote at the February meeting.

                           ~ Unemployment & skills development

~ Activities for older people & tackling social isolation

~ Housing developments & the built environment

~ Health, wellbeing & community safety

5.3    Activities must benefit New Cross Ward residents.

5.4    The fund opens on Wednesday 6^th September and closes on Monday 30^th October 2016 at 12.00 noon.

5.6    The Coordinating Group, which is made up or local residents will then to meet to discuss all the applications to decide the following:

~ Does the application meet one or more of the priorities?

~ Is it value money and are the costs reasonable?

~ Is there a need for this project?

5.7    Bids that meet these three criteria will then be invited to the market place event in December where resident will vote for which projects they wish us to fund.

5.8    Running alongside this year’s fund is a pot of money for projects for young people. This was kindly donated by Tideway who are building the sewer.

5.9    The total pot is £30,000 so we are looking for bids of up to £3,000 per project and the money is to offset the loss off land in Deptford so projects should concentrate on activities for young people from in & around the Crossfields Estate.

6. Older People’s Activities Update

6.1    In Tamsin’s absence Sarah informed the Assembly of events for older people in Lewisham.

6.2    Lewisham Pensioners Forum will be holding their annual event for Pensioners’ Day entitle Valuing Pensioners of the World, at the Catford Theatre on Wednesday 4^th October from 1.00-4.00pm

6.3    Speakers, raffle, lunch, information & entertainment. Tickets are on sale contact 020 8690 7869 or e-mail lpforum@btconnect.com

6.4    The Positive Aging Council (POSAC) have three upcoming events.

6.5    Join them at the Civic Suite, Catford on Monday 11^th September for an entertaining consultation hosted by Tammy WhyNot which will be exploring how the local environment can be more age friendly, from 10.30am.

6.6    The next POSAC meeting will be on Thursday 14^th September again at the Civic Suite from 11.00am-2.00pm.

6.7    Finally you can join them for Silver Sunday Fun Day on 1^st October at Deptford Lounge for Thai Chi, Sewing & Crafts, Techy Teas & the tablet loan scheme as well as a light lunch and film.

7. Batavia Mews Update & Battle of Lewisham Project

7.1    Sarah showed a presentation detailing the weekend events to celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of Battle of Lewisham. Working with Goldsmiths University, these included the unveiling of the maroon plaque on Clifton Rise, films, music and various panel discussions.

7.2    As a result of the events and publicity in news & print media #Lewisham1977 was trending at No.2 on Twitter on Monday 14^th August.

7.3    Sarah explained that the work with Goldsmiths will be continuing as they are working on a mural for Batavia Mews, just off Clifton Rise. There have been two workshops with the community and an artist is working on designs which we will bring to the Assembly for consultation in early 2018.

7.4    There will also be boards on the back of the library & Iceland telling the history with Q-codes inking to on-line content.

7.5    The final stage of the project will be working with the Mayor of London’s Cultural Curriculum Team to create resources for key stages 2 & 3. 

8. Community Updates

8.1    Tidemill Wildlife Garden is celebrating 20 years on Sunday 17^th September for 2.00-7.00pm, Reginald Road SE8, bring your own picnic.

8.2    Age UK Lewisham & Southwark are looking for a handy person and staff for cutting finger/toe nails. More details www.ageukl&s.org.uk

8.3    The next LGBTQ Forum meeting is on Tuesday 19^th September 7.00pm at the Leemore Centre, 37 Clarendon Rise, London SE13 5ES

8.4    Little Nan’s in Catford hold a regular coffee morning for older LGBTQ people.

8.5    New Cross Gate Trust are holding an event on Saturday 16^th based on Doctor Seuss in the community garden. The proceeds from refreshments will go to New Cross Learning and the will also be a table sale, tables £5.00.

8.6    Cllr Dacres reminded everyone that the new waste arrangements come in on 2^nd October. This includes new bins for food waste which are being delivered.

8.7    These apply only to street properties as the services to flats will be changed later. Some street properties on red routes will not change, see details on the website https://www.lewisham.gov.uk/news/Pages/Changes-to-waste-collections.aspx

8.8    Cllr Dacres was made aware that the recycling bins on the Winslade estate have been removed.

9. Feedback sheets and close

9.1    Cllr Dacres thanked everyone for attending and reminded them complete the feedback forms.

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 8.50pm with no declarations of interest.

Note: These are not verbatim minutes therefore questions and answers have been summarised.