Blooming Lambeth awards 2018

Incredible Edible Lambeth (IEL) will be running the Blooming Lambeth awards again this year. These are awards for best community and individual gardens and food growing projects. Last year 77 nominations were received but the number of categories are being revised for this year’s awards. The formal launch will be next month but for any further information please contact bloom@lambeth.gov.uk. In the meantime, IEL have created a map of Lambeth’s community gardens online, to create a network of support for community gardens from others across the borough. You can add your garden to the map by visiting the website and clicking join.

New Chartered Institute of Housing scrutiny course starts end of April                                        

We will soon start to enrol the next residents on the Chartered Institute of Housing's scrutiny course. The Level 2 course involves 30 hours tuition and is done through weekly evening sessions over 12 weeks. Residents do need some literacy and numeracy skills as there are three assignments to complete as part of the course.

Any residents who are interested in understanding housing performance should attend. We are particularly keen to encourage Area Board members to undertake the course, however any resident who pays rent or service charges to the council can enrol in the course for free.

If you are interested or want to know more please feel free to email us or call Kamla Peerboccus on 020 7926 3401.

Fire equipment training

We have arranged a session on April 25 10am to 1pm at Pedlars Acre, Kennington for residents with responsibility for their community facilities to be trained on using fire extinguishers. 

All TRAs will be written to about this soon, but if you are interested in the training please contact Kamla Peerboccus on 0207 926 3401 or email us.

Area Board update

All three Area Boards – north, central and south – have now met formally for the first time and have agreed a constitution as well as elected chairs and vice-chairs.

The first service areas that they wanted to review was repairs and major works. A report will go back to the next board meetings in May where residents will decide whether formal reviews are needed on any particular aspect of repairs and major works.

We are still keen to recruit new board members from registered TRAs if they haven’t been nominated already. You can get more information on this by contacting Erin Healy on 0207 926 8299, emailing us or speaking to your resident participation officer (RPO). 

GLOWS opening on 14 April on Tulse Hill estate

We’ve been reporting on the new Greenleaf Open Work Space (GLOWS) that Tulse Hill estate TRA have been working on with the Tulse Hill Forum and Tree Shepherd. A volunteers day on 12 March saw great strides made on re-painting the office, with twelve volunteers from developers Galliford Try and funding from Mitie for the paint and materials making it a very productive day all round. Staff are being recruited to enable the space to open from 14 April when there will be an open day. If you’re interested in space for developing your business idea please drop in to the open day or contact GLOWS.

Getting involved

Getting involved grants continue to be available for TRAs wanting to organise or commission activities for their communities. However, any fun days will be required to show what cultural or educational outcomes are expected from now on. For more information please contact your RPO or email us.