and next

and this from Blackheath Hockey Club

and last, but not least.

The Lewisham Central Ward has been allocated £33,910, over 4 years, to support local organisations. In year one the funds allocated is £5,624.  A Community First Panel has been established to recommend organisations to the Community Development  foundation, who ultimately decided on where the funds will be allocated.

The Lewisham Central Ward priorities

1. Improve the health and well-being of inhabitants in Lewisham Central Ward. The funding needs to contribute towards addressing one or more of the low/below average health and well-being indicators in Lewisham Central Ward.
2. Improve the appearance and use of the environment in Lewisham Central Ward. The funding needs to improve the appearance of, or increase the use of, an existing green space, create a new green space, or improve the appearance and use of a currently un-environmental/un-attractive space for the benefit of inhabitants in Lewisham Central Ward.
3. Increase the support, activities and facilities for young people in Lewisham Central Ward. The funding needs to improve young people’s skills, learning and/or community participation, particularly in areas of the ward where activities and facilities for young people are low.
4. Increase employment opportunities for inhabitants of Lewisham Central Ward. The funding needs to contribute towards increasing employment opportunities for inhabitants in the ward, through provision of skills, training, education or employment-related experience, particularly where this is not being provided by JCP or work programme providers.
5. To increase community cohesion and engagement in community activities in Lewisham Central Ward. The funding needs to bring together different communities within the ward closer together and/or increase the engagement of inhabitants in community activities to improve their local area. (‘Community’ may relate to certain geographical areas in the ward or certain groups eg. ethnic, faith-based, age-related etc.)

Who is on the Lewisham Central panel

• Chair: Jo Honeybone, Chair of Hither Green Community Association
• Bobby Mizen, Manager- Cafe of Good Hope, part of the Jimmy Mizen Foundation
• Cllr Stella Jeffrey, Local Councillor for Lewisham Central Ward
• Honesty Kachidza, Pastor from Hither Green Baptist Church
• Jane Kustner, Vicar from St Swithun’s Church
• Alison Munro, Lewisham Park resident

 To apply

Grants. If you are a  local non-profit organisation and have projects/services that meet the priorities, you can apply for a grant. Grants are between £250-£2,500. Organisations are allowed to make one application only.

Eligibility. To be eligible you must

• Be a not-for-profit, third sector voluntary or community group
• Be connected with and/or meeting the needs of the local community
• Have a bank account with 2 signatories OR nominate an organisation which has a bank account with 2 signatories to hold funds on its behalf
• Have a governing document that has as a minimum the name, aim/purpose, objects, a dissolution clause for the organisation, a list of trustees/committee members, and trustees/committee member signatures. New groups are not required to have this in place but should agree to develop one.
• Provide evidence of significant community participation in their application through the group’s matched element to the project
• Show that the project is in line with the priorities identified for the ward

Applications will need to show that organisations can match the funding applied for with their own funds or an equivilent amount of volunteer labour.

Process. To apply, you must complete the application form  and submit it to Lewisham Central panel by 5pm June 5th 2012. Please make sure you read the guidance notes.  Completed application forms should be emailed to bobby@ourhithergreen.com

FULL LISTINGS ARE NOW AVAILABLE on our Hither Green Week 2012 page.

Most events are free, but some require pre-booking or purchased tickets. Tickets will be available at local venues very soon. For further information on all events, contact HGCA and follow us on Twitter @HGWeek.

We’re pleased to announce that the Hither Green Community Association has agreed to provide webspace for the Lewisham Central Ward Community First Panel. You’ll shortly be able to find information about the panel at http://ourhithergreen.com/community-first/

If you’d like to keep up to date with the work of the panel, including details of the projects which are awarded funding then why not subscribe to the Community First RSS Feed?

Find out about local issues and make your contribution. Some of the topics to be addressed at this meeting are:

• The Station Pub
• New Housing Developments
• Community First Funding
• Network Rail
• Local Transport
• Crime and Disorder
• Hither Green Week 2012
• Community Garden
• Embankment

Everyone’s welcome!

Spring is here (we hope)! Time to get back to the Station Embankment and Community Garden.

Many thanks to all of you who have helped at the Embankment and Garden previously and to those who have expressed an interest in helping out this year. I hope you noticed that the garden won a Merit award from the Council recently too?

Our first session of the year will be on Saturday 24th March, 11am-2pm. We will be tidying, weeding, planting in the new food bed and de-littering. For the Embankment we meet at the steps to Platform 1 Hither Green Station on Springbank Rd. The community garden is just a few meters up the road, by the 225 Bus Stop. Tools and refreshments provided.

Please let me know if you can make it! We hope to see you there.

Plans are already underway for the fourth annual Hither Green Week! Nine days of festivities – music, arts, film, dance, comedy, food, literature, circus, open gardens, local history and more! And all on our doorstep here in Hither Green. Details about the Week’s events will be revealed soon, so keep a look out on our HGCA website, noticeboards and follow us on Twitter @HGWeek

Can I Be Involved?

Certainly! There are several things you might like to contribute to.

• Arts & Crafts Fayre, Sat 19th May: If you are a local arts, crafts or food trader and are interested in having a stall at the Fayre, then please complete and return the booking form. Places are limited and go fast!
• Local entertainers, musicians and dancers are also invited to participate in the Week’s events. Please contact us if you are interested.
• Tell us your favourite song, for a surprise singing finale event… email us with your song, why you like it and your name.
• Tell us why you love Hither Green or a story or memory about Hither Green, for the first ever Hither Green exhibition. Email us with ‘I love Hither Green because……’ or ‘I remember in Hither Green when…’
• Open Gardens, this popular event will again take place on Sun 20th May. If you are interested in ‘opening’ your garden, please get in touch.

Volunteers are needed to help us with the Week’s events, so please let us know if you’d like to get involved.

For information or assistance with regard to Hither Green Week, please drop us an email.

We may be late but we have been busy. Since our last update quite a bit has changed, we’ve attended the FUSS Christmas Fayre, added a swathe of new content to the website and plans for this year’s Hither Green Week have been drawn together. Here’s some of what we’ve been doing.

Galleries

We’ve added four galleries to the site with plans for more. If you’d like to take a look at our community garden, see what happened during the early days of the embankment project or what happened at last year’s Hither Green Week then there’s a gallery for you.

Information

We’ve also added more information about the association itself. There are links to our constitution and last annual report under the ‘About’ section in the main menu. We’ve also uploaded the committee biographies contributed by our committee members at the last open meeting.

More on the way

We’ve fleshed out the menu, adding space for information about this year’s Hither Green Week and our community Resources section. We’ll be working on these over the coming days and weeks.