Helen Food Partnership Coordinator meeting Ellie Reeves Lewisham MP in the Houses of Parliament
It’s been another busy but productive month or so for GFL. The quarterly network meeting on 15th June focused on food growing in schools and young people and food more broadly. It was a success with many people attending or showing keen interest who couldn’t make it. Most people didn’t know about each other’s projects with young people. We had a great tour of St. Winifred’s school’s garden too. Thank you all and we look forward to developing this area of work.
Please see the minutes on our website here for info about all the local projects and resources for schools and young people’s projects.
The next network meeting will be in September/October.
Network Meeting at St Winifred's School
Exploring St Winifred's School's Garden
Lewisham Festivals
LL and GFL have attended a number of local festivals recently, including Downham Celebrates, Bellingham, Hilly Fields and Blythe Hill.
GFL have been collecting dozens of individual pledges from people to get people thinking about their food habits and in order to develop a GFL individual charter, a bit like our business charter. We have out free plants to people who made a pledge – sweet peas, tomatoes etc.
Pledges made at a stall
Pledge Ideas
We also created localised lists of community gardens near to the festival locations e.g. around Downham and Blythe Hill – taken from our overall list of gardens in the borough.
Giving Plants Away at Downham Celebrates
Stall at Downham Celebrates
Lewisham Local at Hilly Fields
Meeting MPs
On 14th June Sustainable Food Places went to Parliament and met their MPs about the importance of food partnerships like GFL.
We invited all three Lewisham MPs, Ellie Reeves came to meet me and the researchers/assistants of all three came down to introduce themselves. We’ll be talking soon about what they can do to support GFL.
SFP Food Partnership Coordinators and others outside Parliament on 14th June
World Refill Day on 16th June
We held a Plastic Amnesty at Lewisham Shopping centre. Shoppers parted with their single use bottles to be rewarded with a reusable cup or bottle. Over 120 people learnt to download the Refill app, pick up a reusable and learn where you can refill your water bottle or fill up your coffee cup to help stop the wave of plastic. Many thanks to the Migration Museum, Sainsbury, Lewisham Shopping centre, The Bank of Things, The Body Shop and Greggs for helping to achieve this. https://www.refill.org.uk/
Lewisham Local staff and someone from The Body Shop in Lewisham Shopping Centre
FOOD JUSTICE UPDATES FROM GFL NETWORK
Lewisham’s Summer HAF Programme: Free activities and food for school children this summer holidays
With the summer holidays right around the corner, Lewisham Council has now opened bookings for its Holiday Activities and Food Programme.
The activities are free for children who receive Free School Meals and they'll get tasty and nutritious food when they attend. There is something for everyone – from sports and drama to arts, crafts and cooking! Visit the council's website for the full list of activities and to book.
HAF summer programme applications info? HAFProgramme@lewisham.gov.uk
Free school meals eligibility checker: https://pps.lgfl.org.uk/
How the Council and Partners are Fighting Food Injustice in Lewisham
New Blog post from the council - A triple-whammy of inflation, wage stagnation and real-terms cuts to benefits is causing people to experience food injustice – meaning that they don’t have reliable access to enough affordable, nutritious and healthy food. This blog explains how we’re working with partners across the borough to tackle this head-on.
We've been working behind the scenes on food justice issues. We’ll be publicly announcing all the food justice grant recipients and their projects soon. Then Food Groups Roundtable 3 will hopefully take place in September/October - we’ll keep you posted.
Lewisham Public Health interviewed about the Food Justice Action Plan
Lewisham Public Health on Country File about the FJAP:
Food Foundation Report
The Food Foundation has just launched its report on the state of the UK food system. You can access the report here: The Broken Plate 2023 | Food Foundation
FOOD GROWING UPDATES FROM GFL NETWORK
Sabina Nessa Memorial Garden Opening
On Saturday 8th July there was the official opening of the beautiful and inspiring Sabina Nessa Memorial garden at Rushey Green Primary school in Catford. The beautifully designed and planted edible garden is now fully integrated into the school’scurriculum and meal times. The children all help grow the fruit and veg which then goes into their school kitchen to be freshly prepared by chefs for all to enjoy. This garden will be a lasting legacy in Sabina’s name.
Greener Cities: A Guide to the Plants on our Pavements
We’ve attended a number of interesting growing network events over the last few weeks, such as the Capital Growth working party and the launch of the South London branch of the SEWN growing network. There have been loads of useful resources mentioned, a highlight being this:
PAN-UK have recently Launched a plant guide to help inform councils which plants can actually damage pavements and which can’t, which is also aimed at general public. The Guide also shows what rare plants are popping up, which can be celebrated, what can help meet biodiversity targets, and what needs to be removed.
Download the Guide and watch the launch webinar here: www.pan-uk.org/pavement-plants/
Pesticide Free London Campaign - https://www.pan-uk.org/pesticide-free-london/
It would be great to organise a walk someone in Lewisham using the guide.
New grow your own project with Feed the Hill
Feed the Hill recently held a growing workshop and plant giveaway in conjunction with Charlene Henderson of Deptford and Greenwich Allotments. This will now happen monthly through the summer. Aiming to offer the people they support the opportunity to grow their own veg or windowsill herbs and chillies.
They had people who had previously been into gardening but stopped because of different reasons who were really happy to try again in a low risk way. And others who are already trying to grow in whatever space they have, who were keen to try different varieties.
They currently support Addey and Stanhope school with food, and they indicated that they would be interested in growing food on the school premises (either for us or for the students to sample). They’re hoping they can get this in place soon.
Plants to give away at Feed the Hill Social Supermarket
Wild Cat Wilderness
At their recent plant sale, WCW raised £500 and had a fun day. They’re always looking for donations and new volunteers: https://wildcatwilderness.org/
They have a summer programme of activities (see events section).
GOOD FOOD EVENTS HAPPENING SOON
RMUK Cooking on a Budget Course Starts on 14th July
Lewisham Unity Picnic and Plant Swap
Lewisham Unity is having a bring and share picnic followed by a plant swap, bring a plant to swap or donate, indoor or outdoor.
How to resolve conflicts at our food projects training
Thursday 20th July Midday – 1.30pm
Due to the cost-of-living crisis and the increasing pressures on residents, local food projects have reported an increase in conflicts and difficult situations. This session is for food projects to share techniques and advice on successfully managing conflict at their projects so we can learn from one another. FoodCycle Lewisham will share key points from the FoodCycle training sessions and we invite others to get in touch if they would like to contribute to the session.
This will be a peer-led session so if anyone has any tips and approaches they would like to share, please email simone@lewishamlocal.com
Food, Folk 'N' Fun in the Fields
Sunday 23rd July, 11am - 5pm in Ladywell Fields
Volunteers and Stall Holders wanted:
Sydenham Community Supermarket Comedy Benefit Night
Rolling Community Meals
Greater Faith Ministries Monthly Community Meal
Next one on 14th July
Mary + Martha Monthly pay-what-you-can Café at St. Peter’s Church Brockley
The next cafe will be Saturday 29 July 12-2pm. It’s usually on the last Friday of the month.
They offer a healthy three course lunch and are now offering a calligraphy workshop, low key and informal. All welcome. Materials supplied.
Next cafe: Friday 25 August - 12-2pm for a healthy 3 course lunch, express hand and nail care slots from T4H and calligraphy with Jen.
Contact Anne M if you want further information. Contact info: email annemcbride@talktalk.net or 07790 563 939.
They are encouraged as their team grows, with the excellent team spirit and great food lead by chef Mel (FoodCycle, Lewisham Local). They welcome new team members and are currently in need of more reliable ‘Chop & Chat’ volunteers.
A volunteer with the food
A healthy St Peter's monthly cafe meal and chef Mel
Special Summer Holiday Events / Rolling Events
Reheboth Community Outreach and Food Project Events
Monday 31st July Children & Families Fun Day 11am - 5pm
This is a FREE event! Bouncy castle, music, activities & free hot meals including - jerk chicken, jerk pork, roast fish, BBQ chicken, rice & peas, and more.
THE LEE CHARITY OF WILLIAM HATCLIFFE are partnering with us. They are funding our Back-to-School give away on 26th August 11am - 4pm at 1-18 Allwood Close, SE26 4JP. Our Charity will be helping 200 children with FREE uniforms and accessories to get back to school in September 2023.
Bank of Things Back to School Event
AFRIL Events
We have our usual food growing session every Tuesday, from 10am to 1pm. We also have a session every other Sunday, 1pm to 4pm. The dates for Sundays this summer are 16th and 30th July.
Every other Friday 5pm til 7pm we harvest food to send to the food bank. Afril members who attend can go home with extra veg. The next Friday date is 4th August.
CoCo Collective Summer Events
CoCo gardening sessions and sessions for children in the school holidays every Friday in August. These fun and interactive workshops will introduce children and young people to gardening, where they'll get creative in upcycling plant pots. The theme is based on Heritage, using multimedia- seashells, beads, child- friendly glitter, paint and pens. All materials supplied. Please book before arriving.
They also have regular sessions on Wednesdays and Sundays for adults to get involved in their gardens until 30th August: https://coco-collective-community-hub.business.site/.
Wild Cat Wilderness Wild Nature Club Events All Summer
WCW are hosting 10 events over the summer as part of their Wild Nature Club including: campfire cooking, minibeast hunt, fruit picking, wild cooking, meet the bees, creative in nature, build a big hotel, wild music plus open mornings and afternoons for wild play.
We welcome everyone to our wild community space. Their project doesn’t currently have any funding so they are charging for events, and for some we just ask for a donation. Prices range from £3 up to £12 but for most events siblings come at half price and we offer free places if you are on a low/no income so everyone can take part.
To book visit our Eventbrite page visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/wild-cat-wilderness-37391842433
National Allotment Week
7 – 13th August
Monthly Food Group Zoom Sessions
Our next monthly food groups zoom will take place on Thursday 7th September at 1pm. We’ll likely miss the August one as many people are on holiday then, but we may do a special meeting. As always – let us know if you’d like a certain topic to be covered.
LOCAL GOOD FOOD BUSINESSES
New Breastfeeding Friendly Cafe
New to the scene - Nonki Store Hither Green. A fabulous child friendly café, shop with play area. Great to have a breast-feeding friendly café signed to the
Good Food Business Charter. https://www.lewishamlocal.com/places/nonki/
Christina and Lucus Ferreira from Nonki Store Hither Green - Breast Feeding Friendly café with Children's play area
Quarterly Business Breakfast Networking Sessions
The Good Food Lewisham Business Breakfast network events are an informal chance to meet other businesses to connect, share, learn and gain support.
We had a successful session on 4th July with businesses sharing tips. Let us know if you’re interested in joining the WhatsApp group or being part of the working group.
The next session will be in October at Badger Badger in Deptford, date TBC.
New Lewisham Food Market
Due to the success of our sister project, the multi award-winning @catfordfoodmarket, the Lewisham Food Market will be launching on Sunday 6th August 10am – 4pm. Taking place in the award-winning Cornmill Gardens, overlooking the River Ravensbourne, it will showcase the best street food and produce traders south London has to offer. It will be held on the FIRST Sunday of the month (the week after Catford Food Market) and will be free to attend. Where: Cornmill Gardens, (opposite Lewisham Train Station), SE13 7FT
20 traders including Ed the Baker
The Mayor of Lewisham Business Awards
Nominations open until 4th August. Categories include: best café, best restaurant, best market, best new business, best sustainable business and best independent food retailer, amongst others.
Want a cute sign made for your community garden?
Matt is a local sign designer who makes signs for community gardens e.g. he has made oak signs for Forster Park garden. Are you in need of professional signs made by a local craftman? They’re very cute and people have recommended him. His business is on Etsy.
Email Matt on: The.knights.table.uk@gmail.com
REQUESTS
How to advertise volunteer roles at your project
Reminder to please contact our LL volunteering team if you have a volunteer role you’d like to advertise.
Fill this form in: https://www.lewishamlocal.com/post-a-volunteering-opportunity/
Bank of Things Volunteers for Youth Fridge & Back to School Appeal
We are seeking volunteers to help us keep our fridge stocked with local surplus food by scouting their local neighbourhoods and delivering it to us, as well as volunteers to support us during out open times, 3 - 5pm, on Wednesday's and Fridays at unit 19.
Contact: hannah@lewishamlocal.com
Bank of Things and Evelyn community Stores are working together to support families over the summer to prepare for returning to school in September. They are looking for donations of used but good uniform basics from aged 4 to 18 and key school equipment. Items we are keen to source include: white shirts, black and grey trousers, black and grey skirts, scientific calculators, maths sets, pens, pencil cases, refillable water bottles, highlighter pens, a4 lined paper refill pads, glue sticks, deo, facewash, tooth paste and tooth brushes.
Email: hannah@lewishamlocal for more info, or drop donations into Unit 19 Lewisham Shopping centre, Mon to Fri 9-5pm.
Roles at Legendary Community Club over the Summer
Legendary Community Club are hiring drivers to help deliver food for our Summer HAF 23 program 🚙
🔸HAF (Holiday, Activities & Food program) is the holiday provision for children/young people to attend who are on free school meals. We provide the food provision for some clubs in Lewisham and Southwark.
🔸Is your car ULEZ? ✅
🔸Can you commit to a minimum of 1.5 hours a day over 2-3 days Monday-Friday in the Summer holidays for a minimum of 3 weeks between 24th July-31st August ✅
🔸£12.50 per hour
🔸If you can answer yes to the above and would like to apply please email 📧legendarycclub@gmail.com to apply, stating the role your applying for, please note for driving roles we will need licence and insurance documentation.
🔸 Pick up location is Forest Hill, Lewisham
We strive to create an inclusive environment, that respects all individuals and fosters a sense of belonging for everyone of all backgrounds, identities and abilities.
TRAINING AND RESOURCES
Capital Growth’s Latest Resources for Community Gardens
CG have complied some really useful resources on social prescribing, growing food on housing estates and growing food to give to food banks/donating surplus food:
Citizens Advice Lewisham Advice First Aid Course
Next two day in person course coming up on 24th and 25th July. Advice First Aid is a free course to equip people in non advice roles with the skills needed to spot advice issues and give information or signpost accurately and appropriately.
FUNDING
Hubbub Funding: A new fund to tackle food waste
Hubbub has launched a £200,000 fund to support innovative ideas to tackle food waste. Supported by Starbucks, they are offering grants of up to £40,000. Eligible initiatives should do one or more of the following:
Address pre-farmgate waste
Prevent food from being wasted at the manufacturing and processing stage
Minimise food waste from retailers
Find creative ways to use surplus food in communities or at home
Funding can support ideas that are ready to test, or concepts that have been tested and are ready to progress further. Funding should be used within one year of being granted. Deadline for expressions of interest: 5pm Friday 21st July More information: www.eatitupfund.org.uk
London Challenge Poverty Week Funding
Trust for London have granted some funding to 4in10 London’s Child Poverty Network to support organisations to participate in London Challenge Poverty Week - Monday 16th – Sunday 22nd October. The deadline to apply for the funding is the 21st July.
“We want to give that money to smaller voluntary and community organisations, who might not otherwise be able to take part, to put on events and activities to help make this the most impactful week yet! For inspiration take a look at what took place during LCPW 2021 and 2022.
If you are planning an event or an activity and a small amount of funding would make that possible then now is the time to tell us. All you need to do to apply is to send us an email to 4in10team@childrenengland.org.uk with the subject line “LCPW small events – [your organisation name], with a short note. This does not need to be more than 500 words setting out what you are planning, how the activity will shine a light on the impact of poverty in London and/or challenge it, and how much you would like to apply for (in the region of £500 – £1000).
If you are successful, then after the week we will ask you to give us a short report of what you achieved so we can help promote your work.
If you would like to discuss your idea before you make an application, please contact maddie.henson@childrenengland.org.uk”
Lewisham Fundraiisng Conference
Tuesday 19th September in Bellingham
This is the big one! This event will bring together funders, fundraising experts, support groups and community groups in a jam-packed programme.
If you have a Cinema ticket for the talks you also get access to the Function room where the stalls are. We expect demand to be high, tickets are going fast, sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lewisham-fundraising-conference-tickets-637166862237
Get In Depth Funding Support: Fundraising Plus Scheme Now Open
Karen Jefferys, Fundraising Development Manager (Equalities), offers two levels of support which are for not for profits like CICs, CIOs and charities. The first level is light touch. This includes Friday Fundraising Club, Meet the Funders, drop ins, sessions to check out fund directories and WhatsApp updates.
The second level is Fundraising Plus. Equalities groups can apply for six to twelve months of 1-2-1s and other support. Apply now. Contact: karen@lewishamlocal.com
Find out more:
www.lewishamlocal.com/fundraising-for-charities/
500 trusts that support Lewisham
Thanks to a volunteer we have a list of trusts that have been checked as being relatively up to date (it’s a never-ending process!) that are likely to support Lewisham groups.
The list has lots of filters so you can narrow down relevant trusts. Information on how to use the list can be found in this recording of a Friday Fundraising Club session:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/Kogt517xzE6WpoC5Q948J-xrW35t2Zt25jxdLcBPlT2uUedk-ZtchFu_6H-YNHB8F4AT1IjroDkOY2Of.Tu-5k0fvZT3FPLsI
Passcode: 5dtkfu?!
The list of trusts can be found here:
OTHER NEWS
Vegan Flavours in Catford Are Hiring
Sister Midnight: New Independent Lewisham Venue
Sister Midnight are still open for community fundraising, they have a few months left to raise the last bit of funding they need to open their new community owned venue in Catford. Head to their website to watch the full video and find out how YOU can become a member of Sister Midnight. They are considering having a food offer as part of their project.
They have an exciting benefit gig on Friday 28th July with Public Service Broadcasting at the Fox & Firkin Lewisham: https://www.sistermidnight.org/
Meet members of the GFL Steering Group: Andrea Zick
Andrea is currently on a PhD journey in the first cohort of the UK Food Systems Centre for Doctoral Training.
In her early career, she was trained as a chef in Germany and has subsequently worked in commercial kitchens in Germany and the UK before completing a 1st Class BSc in Nutrition and Health at Roehampton University in 2009.
Since 2015 she has been working as the PA to the GM at the OXO Tower Restaurant, Bar, and Brasserie. In this role, representing the restaurant, she led the business to win a green Michelin Star 2021, the most sustainable restaurant at the National Restaurant Awards 2019, and the Food Made Good Community Champion by the Sustainable Restaurant Association in 2017.
She uses her chef’s skills annually in support of charities such as Action Against Hunger and Crisis at Christmas. This led to her involvement during the COVID crisis with the Bia Project at the Lewisham Irish Centre and a second project setting up the OXO Community Kitchen, for which she was awarded the Food Hero of the Year 2020 by the Caroline Walker Trust.
Selected Publications:
