Kennington Association blog: KA NEWSLETTER

WINTER 2011

Dear Neighbours

A new year and new challenges for the Kennington Association. Looking back over 2010, we have a lot to be proud of. Our Secret Santa fund provided Tesco vouchers to 100 local families to make their holiday a bit brighter. And a new initiative, we call Grey Power, provided a Christmas Day lunch for some older people in our community who might otherwise have spent the day alone. We also came to the rescue of the Tai Chi classes which unfortunately ran out of grants. Funds for these programs were raised through Bazaars and the Annual Charity Auction that cleared nearly £2000. For all of these activities we received very generous support from local businesses. And, of course, all required a lot of work from our volunteers. A heart-felt thanks to you all! In the following News items you’ll find more about the work we’ve done along with, for members, our financial statement for the year ending at our AGM in October.

As we start 2011, the KA wants to be even more successful in raising funds for local causes and also to try to streamline the work involved. Of course, we can always use more volunteers. I can’t stress enough that all the work of the KA – from running Bazaars to getting out this newsletter – is done by volunteers and we’d like to hear from you. Right now, we especially need a Volunteer Coordinator for the Charity Auction (more below). But we also need volunteers to do one-off jobs like stuff envelopes for mailings or deliver our letters in the neighbourhood. Please use the membership form to indicate how you’d like to get involved

Thanks to all for your continuing support.

Anna Tapsell

NEWS

Annual Charity Auction

The KA Annual Charity Auction was held on 16 September at the City & Guilds of London Art School. Once again, auctioneer Angus Aagaard entertained everyone with his patter and some truly beautiful pieces were auctioned from the very generous donations we received. We also got very valuable vouchers supplied by local firms for meals or services that together cleared nearly £2000 for KA causes Secret Santa and Grey Power (see below).

Our thanks to all the local businesses who made this possible, especially Nash Govani, owner of the Belgrave Hotel, near the Oval, who underwrote the Auction for £500 and whose staff handled the registration on Auction night.

This year’s Auction was coordinated by Pauline Amphlett, a local artist, who gave a tremendous amount of time procuring and displaying the works. She also took all the photos for the catalogue. This was a truly mammoth task, and planning is already underway to split this job up so the burden is not so great. Volunteers needed!!

In addition, several pieces of work by the students were auctioned to raise money for the school’s hardship fund that provides grants to students who suddenly find themselves short of money and might otherwise be forced to give up their studies. We received a very grateful letter of thanks from Magnus von Wistinghausen, deputy director of the school, for handling the student works that brought them over £2000 for their bursary. In turn, we thank Magnus for his help in putting on the Auction! Next year’s Auction is already on the Calendar for Thursday, 22 September with a preview the night before.

November Bazaar

In spite of a rather dreary day, the November 2010 Bazaar raised over £400, which was used to help sponsor our local Tai Chi classes. Once again, thanks to all our volunteers who collected donations and managed the stalls and the kitchen. To make our Bazaars even more successful, we need more volunteers to help before, during and after the Bazaar. We are looking especially for a few strong people to help collect and carry the more bulky items. We also need a van and driver to help pick up items from homes. We especially need help Friday evening. The next Bazaar is scheduled for Saturday, 12 March, from 11am to 1.30pm at St. Anselm’s Church Hall at Kennington Cross. Donations can be dropped off at the Hall on Friday evening between 6 and 8 pm and Saturday morning from 9 to10 am.

How much money we make is directly tied to how much is donated and how many people turn up, so please come along and help us. We hope to use the proceeds from the March Bazaar to fund Tai Chi classes, free to all our community!

Secret Santa

Thanks to donations plus money raised at the above functions, KA once again was able to provide £4000 in £40 supermarket vouchers to local families. As before, distribution was coordinated by Charmaine Clarke, Outreach Worker at Ethelred Children’s Centre. An Early Intervention Health Visitor, who was among those directly distributing the vouchers, wrote to let us know how pleased the recipients were. “I distributed the vouchers to seven vulnerable families I visit (one of whom had recently delivered twins) and they were all really surprised, thrilled and grateful.”

Grey Power

This year, KA launched a new initiative for older people we call Grey Power. Our inaugural event was a Christmas Day dinner at Brasserie Toulouse Lautrec. Working with Kim Connell, Community Services Manager at Age UK Lambeth, local older people were identified who live alone and usually spend Christmas Day alone. KA organised and paid for transportation provided by the Lambeth and Southwark Community Transport. Kim wrote to us afterwards saying. “Everyone had a really good day. One lady said ‘It was excellent from start to finish.’ The food was excellent and the staff at the restaurant made everyone feel special. It was enjoyed by all who attended. I know you must have all worked hard all year in your fund-raising efforts to have achieved all that you did for the families and older people in the Kennington area to celebrate Christmas.”

A special thanks to Cathy Preece who came up with the idea and did all the scheduling and coordination. KA hopes to do more to reach older people who may be isolated in our midst. If you have ideas of how we can identify and work with older people who would appreciate more involvement in our community, please volunteer to work with us.

UPDATES

Tai Chi

It’s good to be able to report that the free Tai Chi classes, which bring together so many people of different ages and backgrounds in our community, are continuing. Unfortunately, it’s becoming ever more difficult to find funding for both the instructor and the venue. We’re young and old, very athletic and less able-bodied and come from various economic and ethnic backgrounds – which we think is one of our greatest strengths. However, the very diversity in class members means they don’t fit into the ever-narrowing profiles that many funding groups want to support. As a result, the KA is stepping up to make sure these classes can meet while we continue to pursue new sources of funding. Our thanks to Christine Eames-Jones for her tireless work on funding applications. We will keep you posted on our success. In the meantime, please feel free to join us on Thursdays 2 pm at the Kennington Park Community Centre and Saturdays at 11 am at the Oval Cricket Ground . Beginners are always welcome.

Friends of Lollard Street Adventure Playground

As we all know, local government cutbacks are coming and play programmes are likely targets – Lambeth Council has indicated already it may cut opening hours of adventure playgrounds and turn over responsibility to a Cooperative Development Trust. In spite of this, the FOLSAP have received some good news. Sarah Warman, head of Community Children’s Services at Lambeth has found some money from the BIG Lottery to provide funding to develop a new structure on the site. She has told us the Council is funding the purchase of materials and will release staff resource to support further development at the site. These should enable some improvements and development at the playground. Once again, thanks to Chris Eames-Jones who has been dogged in pursuing this funding from the Council.

This summer, KA sponsored 6 weekly classes of Karate for Kids, free to local children during the summer holidays. These were held at the Playground, and made up an important part of some children’s holiday activities. To volunteer to work with us to keep this important facility open, please email us at kenningtonassociation@gmail.com.

Planning

The KA Planning Forum is continuing to monitor plans by Lambeth Council and the Mayor’s office for a number of huge residential high-rises along the river. These blocks will increase our population density astronomically, but, unfortunately, the plans are being developed without providing for infrastructure of transport, schools and other amenities that are so essential! The KA Planning Forum is busy studying proposals and voicing local concerns.

HELP NEEDED – CHARITY AUCTION VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR

The Kennington Association is made up entirely of volunteers, and we could use a special person to step forward right now. We are looking for a Volunteer Coordinator for the Charity Auction. This person works with the Auction Coordinator to schedule volunteers for specific tasks. Newcomers can be assured they’ll have a lot of help and be part of a team, not working in isolation. We have a list of volunteers and your job will be to learn how we put together the Charity Auction (we’ve done it half a dozen times already!) and schedule volunteers for the various tasks we’ve defined. If you’d like to get to know more people in the community, this would be a good way to start! You’ll be part of the KA Committee and asked to attend monthly committee meetings, important because it’s the only time we get together so we all know what’s going on. Committee meetings are held the last Monday of each month near Kennington Cross. (Of course, we realise that everyone has many commitments so can’t always be available.) But we’re a group who enjoy ourselves, too, and have regular lunches and social outings as well as committee meetings! To learn more or to volunteer, please send an email to kenningtonassociation@gmail.com.

Big thanks to all our volunteers, anonymous donors and the following organisations for all their help and support:

· Abel & Cole

· Amici Restaurant

· Beefeater Gin Distillery

· BodyStyles

· Coversure Insurance Services

· D K Darlington

· Exstatic Hair Design

· Heart of Kennington Residents Association

· His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwall

· Kate Hoey MP

· Kennington Tandoori