Open Doors in 2019

2019 will be a difficult year. We needn’t mention the ‘B’ word – we know that will affect many people. Austerity also continues to bite and is affecting many more people living locally, as the Summer Grub Clubs and the issues with crime showed only too clearly. But there will be many moments of shared happiness, joy and community too.

2019 will be the 25th year of Telegraph Hill Festival in its current form. Who’d have thought that from those early beginnings as a ‘party in the park’ 40 years ago it would turn into one of London’s largest independently produced Festivals? It’s a real testament to the community, the people who step up and enable it to happen, and of course those places across the community which open their doors.

Telegraph Hill Centre, thanks to the enduring partnership with St Catherine’s Church and so many in the community, has already embarked upon many improvements and enhancements:

• Regular visitors will have spotted (and used) the rather comfy new chairs.
• The Lounge has a brand new floor and a barre for dancers.
• The ground floor spaces have all been repainted.
• A new boules court and astroturfed ‘lawn’ has also opened up at the back, enabling use of the garden on fine days throughout the year.
• Branching Out – the joint initiative between Centre and Church to help connect with older people in the area – goes from strength to strength with plans to grow more, and do more, in 2019. Gamblers, Alcoholics, and Narcotics Anonymous benefit from free space and the Today Project receive a highly subsidised hire to ensure that the vital work they carry out to support people through various life stages and challenges continues.
• English classes and a Friendship Group for Women refugees / asylum seekers had a great response, and is something we’re doing again this year.

Partnerships with local organisations like Crisis, Goldsmiths and the 999 club continue to grow and develop, demonstrating the reach, depth and breadth of the Centre’s commitment to this community. We were delighted to start 2018, and 2019, with a book sale in aid of Crisis, which this year raised £3000. Who could forget the fundraising Panto which closed 2018, Hansel & Gretel, which raised more than £1000 for Deptford’s 999 Club for the homeless?

2019 opens with a call to the community to take up the offer to hire space at the top of the Centre for a very low rent on a shared basis – rather like a work hub or timeshare. For £1000 a year, you’ll get exclusive access for 14 eight-hour days per year (£71.50 per day).

2018 in pictures