Minutes:
Cllr Walsh introduced the NCIL update section of the meeting and gave a reminder to attendees what NCIL funding was and how the funding was meant to make improvements to the local area.
Holbeach Primary School – Feasibility study and irrigation system – Friends of Holbeach Primary School, Hannah Williams.
Hannah Williams introduced herself as one of the members of the Friends of Holbeach which is parent teacher association for Holbeach Primary School on Doggett Road.
Ms Williams outlined the bid for funding to include a feasibility study for a shelter in the playground to improve use of the playground in both rainy and hot weather and other playground improvements, she was glad to be able to show off some of the great artwork done by the school children as part of her presentation. The feasibility study was completed in January of this year and will help the school and friends to be in a stronger position to raise capital funds to carry out the improvement works in the future. The other part of the funding was for an irrigation system for plants and trees at the school and for water butts and gardening equipment which will be installed over the summer – working with children and parents and to create an outdoor classroom environment. The school and Friends group are working in conjunction with Opal, which is an organisation that helps advise schools about how they should use their social spaces and play areas and are working closely with them. Everything the school is doing with this funding is actually going to have even more of an impact than they first imagined.
Councillor Walsh thanked Ms Williams and commented that it is really great to see that they're investing in green educational spaces for our young people to grow up with.
Catford Saturday Food Projects Together – Lewisham Local - Mel Shakespeare / Simone Riddle.
Ms Riddle introduced the Lewisham Local project and stated that they had put in an NCIL funding bid for Saturday food projects together that brought together several food including Catford Fridge, Food Cycle and The Catford Soup Kitchen, projects and the funding meant that they were able to employ a project coordinator.
The coordinator, Mel Shakespeare highlighted that food cycle essentially exists to support those who may be in need of a meal and may be hungry and lonely. She provided national and Lewisham based statistics around level of need. Foodcycle collects surplus food and creates a culturally inclusive three course vegetarian meal for those who are hungry or lonely. The project encourages friendships by creating a space for people to come sit down and talk to each other. Lots of guests have said that they've met new people from different walks of life. The project improves nutrition and reduces hunger by cooking healthy meals for those who need it and try to change attitudes to food in the environment by cooking the surplus ingredients destined for landfill. In 2022, the project saved 5398 kilos of food from going to waste by cooking it and serving 2406 meals to our guests in our community. They do this every Saturday. There was a brief look at how people can support the project through volunteering and donations etc.
Cllr Walsh asked If people wanted to help out with the Food Project, of there were volunteering spaces and what sorts of skills people needed
Ms Shakespeare confirmed there are many ways people can help and there are volunteering vacancies available. People can sign up to volunteer using the foodcycle website. https://volunteer.foodcycle.org.uk/organization/0012400000yD6cCAAS these roles are varied, for instance recently they worked with some volunteer photographers to take pictures for the newsletter, they also highlighted a need for kitchen cooks and for people to help us fundraise.
Cllr Walsh thanked the team for their work for the lonely and hungry of Lewisham.
Reclaiming Catford’s Corners – Ringstead Road Community group – Lewis Hayler
Lewis introduced himself as Chair of the Ringstead Road Community group he gave background about how the group was formed and that initially it was a way for neighbours to get to know each other. The group would meet up every month to do a litter pick but was predominantly social.
Cllr Walsh stated that this was one of the best examples of NCIL local people making local change. Very real neighbours working together to make things better.
The have several strands over the next 2 years and a programme for the next year, they will be creating a green corridor surveying the road aim to get planning schemes and putting in drought tolerant trees, we will be getting planters on the street corners to get the suitable locations and managing planning permission. The group is trying to ensure that it is as inclusive as possible to tackle isolation. They will also be holding street events in the coming year. They are also trying to expand into surrounding roads. They also have aspirations to work with the council around other neglected aspects of land. And they are also hoping to record stories about how people feel about their road and their area and create an archive of stories for the area.
Cllr Walsh highlighted the greening fund and highlighted the community fundraising.
Another resident from Casslee road asked to make contact with the Ringstead road group.
Every Rushey Green Resident deserves a voice – Elisha Roberts / Ron Bourne – Lewisham Local
Elisha Roberts from Lewisham Local gave an update on the every Rushey Green Resident Deserves a voice project. The projects aims are connecting with everyone that's within the ward, supporting you to build connections and relationships with other people, develop local groups and learn from each other and help people be aware of what's happening in the ward, to connect residents to resources that are available and also work towards local solutions around community issues and to have someone central who can support to connect you with those resources.
Other aims are aims to increase awareness of community assets and needs, increase collaborative working, financial resources generation to address the needs that that arise. Ultimately the project hopes to create A stronger voice for seldom heard voices and stronger, more resilient and responsive community infrastructure.
Elisha fed back on the work she has bene doing over the last 4 months since the start of the project and updated the audience on upcoming work, including community talk events to hear directly from people on their issues and their ideas for their area. She is also working to develop a steering group for the project and hopes that some of the community groups represented at the meeting would consider getting involved.
She encouraged attendees to contact her to talk more about how she can support their community efforts and find out more about how they can be involved.
Contact Elisha via email elisha@lewishamlocal.com