Welcome to our first ever Director Blog!

Although we are now in our third lockdown we’ve managed to continue our work, via online resident-led activities and partnership working with the British Red Cross, NHS, LBBD and BRL among others.  At some point the pandemic will ease and we are ready to ensure not only that there is resilience and recovery but a platform for residents to take more control of their local area.

Since October 2017 when we started our Lottery funded journey we’ve covered a lot of ground – the pinnacle of which has been to create a resident-led Community Development Trust (CDT) aka Thames Life, with exclusively local people as trustees.  That feels good.  To know that we have been able to start a project from scratch – Thames Ward Community Project – initially with the support of Riverside School as host (accountable body) and in less than three years create a new organisation run by local people, to go alongside the activities and campaigns we have been able to deliver that have brought in over £1m of investment for local projects and services.  The challenge for us now is to make it sustainable over the longer term so that the community has a resource that will last for generations.

We are working on our governance, our funding and our social business model to ensure the value we create together through resident-led activity becomes a permanent feature in uncertain times, an anchor organisation that supports others, convenes and makes things happen so everyone can win and truly, no resident is left behind.

Finally thanks to all those we’ve worked with and who’ve supported us and a special welcome to Zainab, our new Communications and Outreach Officer and local resident, who has put our newsletter together to help us showcase the work of TWCP and the residents we work with. We want to ensure resident projects, ideas and voices are promoted far and wide so watch this space!

Matt Scott

TWCP Director