Bellingham Assembly

3 November 2011

7.00pm – 9.00pm

The Bridge Leisure Centre,

Kangley Bridge Road, SE26 5AQ

Meeting notes

1. / Welcome and introduction to the meeting.
Councillor Ami Ibitson welcomed everyone to the meeting, and introduced Cllr Allan Hall and Cllr Jacqui Paschoud
2. / Bellingham Festival Presentations
HomePark Family Fun Day- Anthony Scully presented the assembly with an update on the success of the family fun day which took place on July 3 2011. He had a number of pictures which highlighted the fun and interactive event. There was diverse mix of attendees and a number of workshops were offered such as drumming and zumba. Anthony continued by explaining that they wanted to encourage communities to use the park and help people to recognise that it is in fact a nice park. He concluded by thanking the councillors for their support and other contributors such as the Safer Neighbourhood Team, community groups, faith groups and other service providers from Lewisham. It was described as “a great day”.
Q) How did you publicise the event
A) We did a number of leaflet drops to local schools and the local roads surrounding the park and we also used forums.
Bellingham Festival – Gary Buswell from Bellingham Festival presented a PowerPoint presentation on the achievement of the event which took place in the summer of 2011. The number of attendees was approximately 2000. It was a diverse event with a nice mix of both young and elderly people from a range of different ethnic backgrounds. Over 30 schools participated alongside a number of community groups. It was a fun day filled with activities, music and food. Hundreds of pounds were raised for local groups and charities. Gary thanked the assembly and councillors for their support and confirmed that the date for next years festival will be on Saturday 30 June 2012 from 12-4pm.
Churches Together Carol Concert – Rev Raymond Singh spoke about the success of last year’s carol concert. This project has been ongoing for eight years and brings people of all ages out together. SedgehillSchool participated and enjoyed the event tremendously. Rev Raymond Singh showed the assembly pictures of everyone getting involved and having a good time. Rev. Singh continued by thanking all those who contributed to the event especially Bellingham Assembly. This years carol concert will take place on Monday 5 December 2011 at 4pm.
3. / Remainder of the funding
Cllr Jacqui Paschoud explained to the assembly that there is a small pot of money left over from the budget which needs to be distributed before the end of the year. The councillors and coordinating group have decided to split the money among all three festivals which will help them with next years event. The breakdown is:
  • The Bellingham Carol Concert - £750
  • The Bellingham Festival - £2490
  • The HomePark Festival - £1400
  • Total = £4640

4. / Parks and green spaces
  • Rivers and people project – Chris McGawfrom the Rivers and People project spoke to the assembly about what projects and workshops are available including river walks with schools, workshops for teachers and children’s activities. Through these walks and watches they have found a number of species which are very rare. He explained that he has been running activities for eighteen months now and are funded by the big lottery. Chris provided the assembly with a full list of events which were distributed around the tables.

  • Farmstead Road Community Garden – the assembly listened to a presentation explaining what the community garden is currently doing which involves trying to develop a nature trail particularly for schools to interact with the garden. They aim to make it a nice social meeting place and would appreciate any feedback.

  • Friends of HomePark – members of Friends of Home Park contacted key agencies in order to address the issue and concerns of parks and had a number of consultation sessions including the youth council of HazeltineSchool where they had input from young people. To date two schools are using the community garden as a tool for supporting the education of their young people.

  • Phoenix Community Housing – Eddie Worrell from Phoenix spoke about the success work in SouthendPark, which has seen new equipment being introduced and a new play area. Equipment includes outdoor gym, table tennis and permanent goals. Since this improvement the level of anti-social behaviour has also decreased.
Q) How often will the park be maintained?
A) Regularly, Glendale are responsible for this role
Q) Why are the swings taken out?
A) All equipment went through a change process however have all now been updated
Q Will the park have any Cherry trees?
A) Currently no, however trees are still in the pipeline and we appreciate any comments or recommendations
5. / Festive activities
The African Family Project invites the assembly to Eid Ul-Adha celebration at Bellingham North Community Centre on Monday 7 November 2011 from 1pm to 6pm.
Churches together in Bellingham also invite Bellingham assembly to Christmas Day Dinner 2011, this event is open is open to all and will take place on Sunday 25 December at St Dunstan’s Church Parish Centre, Bellingham Green from 1pm.
6. / Sing Out Choir
Lisa Powell spoke about the new Sing Out initiative which Lewisham is hosting with the aim to have at least one choir in every ward. At the end the whole assembly took part in an interactive session singing ‘Moondance’. It was a great and fun ending to the meeting.
7. / Close
Councillor Ami Ibitson thanked everyone for attending the meeting and the meeting closed at 8.45pm.
No declarations of interest were made at the meeting.