Connecting across Eltham Town and Avery Hill
Whilst I have been on maternity leave from my “day job”, I wanted to ensure that I had met and established good lines of communication with a variety of key community leaders and groups across Eltham Town and Avery Hill. You will have seen that in July, Sammy Backon and I met the headteachers of our four primary schools and that over the summer I started to meet with various faith leaders. It is important to me that I consistently speak to a variety of people across the ward, from all different backgrounds, so that I can understand their concerns and priorities in order to better represent them. So far these meetings have gone well, with casework referrals coming in from both headteachers and faith leaders and the mutual sharing of key information to help our residents.
This month I continued making connections across ward, sitting down individually with: James, the Leader of New Community Church; Pastor Jonathan from the Avery Hill Christian Fellowship; Patrick, the manager of St Mary’s Community Centre; and visiting the Avery Hill Youth Club with my fellow ward councillor, Sammy.
We were so impressed with what we saw at Avery Hill Youth club, in particular seeing their music studio and the variety of events and activities that they provide. We both agree that it is so important that we continue to invest in places like this.
In a similar vein, this month I have also had meetings with:
Safer Families, to discuss the early intervention work they have been undertaking with families across Greenwich;
The Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency to discuss the logistics of setting up a community space from scratch ( a very long-term project, but watch this space!);
The University of Greenwich and Friends of Avery Hill Park, to discuss some potential biodiversity initiatives (wildflower meadows and hedgerows);
M’arks Skybar, to discuss the measures they have been taking to reduce any noise disturbance to neighbouring properties.
Various community groups who are planning to apply to the Greenwich Neighbourhood Growth Fund, to help support their applications.
If you are part of an organisation (charitable or business) in Eltham Town and Avery Hill, please do get in touch – I would love to meet you.
Family Life in Eltham Town and Avery Hill
November is a lovely month for witnessing the changes of the seasons and the transition from Halloween into Christmas.
My family and I started the month at the Roots4Life Pumpkin Smash (a brilliant way to save pumpkins from landfill!) and ended it by attending the Christ Church Christmas Fete and helping to celebrate turning on the Christmas Lights in Eltham Town Centre.
Hope you all have a lovely Advent!
P.S. If you didn't have chance to see it, I was also featured in SEnine Magazine - take a look!
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