St Hilda's East News 2023
APRIL
Dear Guild Members,
The past few weeks have been much quieter due to Ramadan and Easter, but there have been a couple of real highlights.
The first was a trip to CLC by our Brave Girls from Virginia Primary School to see the Upcycled Fashion Show; an inspirational trip for a group of nine 11-14 year olds who were excited and engaged from start to finish (including the bus ride back to London where they sang all the way up the motorway). It was a really impactful experience which could have been very overwhelming for them, but they were made to feel so welcome, and CLC girls gave a wonderful tour of College which made our group feel at ease. We are immensely grateful to Eve for giving the visit her blessing, and to Vicki Brandon for making us feel as though we were the most important people there, when in reality we were a tiny part of her enormous day. We can’t wait to see what the Brave Girls come up with as a result of their experience!
The work of St Hilda’s East is continually evolving to meet the changing needs of the community, and to that end we held a Taster Day for the Over 50s Feeling Good, a National Lottery funded programme that aims to reduce isolation by focusing on wellbeing, through social, practical, and emotional support. Activities offered for Tower Hamlets residents to try or learn about included Tai Chi, Strength Training, Collage Making, Painting, Carpentry, and Jewellery Making, as well as information on Gardening and a Walking group. Participants voted for activities they would like to see regularly offered, and those based around physical movement as well as craft, creativity and working with hands were the clear winners. One participant commented “you know, when everybody's laughing - making you happy - it makes you want to do things”; a reminder that what we do is less important than how we do it and how we make people feel.
As well as looking forward to celebrating Eid next week, we are also excited to welcome our new Director Lucy Bingham who starts on 2nd May. She will face several sizeable challenges as she starts her new role, not least of which is the ongoing challenge of securing funding in the current economic climate; however as the past few months have clearly demonstrated, one thing she can rely on is the support from not only the incredible team at St Hilda’s East but also its wider family, which includes the CLC community of staff, girls, parents and Guild members. Lucy and I will be at the Guild reunion weekend in May and we look forward to meeting some of you there.
With kind regards,
Kate Simpson (CLC 1980-1985, Sidney Lodge/Elizabeth)
Trustee / Interim Chair
Tel: 020 7739 8066
kate2@sthildas.org.uk
www.sthildas.org.uk
MARCH
Dear Guild Members,
The first quarter of 2023 is almost over and it has been a busy one. Our existing projects are going from strength to strength as new team members settle in, and new projects are being launched, notably the return of our Boys Group which has not been run for a couple of years but is returning in April.
Our Brave Girls have been especially busy, participating in International Women’s Day, getting very excited about attending the Upcycled Fashion Show at CLC this week, and rehearsing for a performance at Club Row at the end of this month. We are thrilled to give them the opportunity to attend the fashion show and can’t wait to hear the ideas they will bring back to Shoreditch, as we are hoping to stage a similar event this summer with the involvement of College girls. More details to follow!
International Women’s Day was celebrated at St Hilda’s East with a lovely event spanning the generations, from students at our local Virginia Primary School to service users from our Women’s Project and the Sonali Gardens Day Centre. A lively discussion on whether an international women’s day is needed (conclusion: it is) was followed by delicious food provided by our partners Oitij-Jo Kitchen who run the community café in our building, and the afternoon concluded with a beautiful dance performance given by five members of our LinkAge Plus group (choreographed and directed by our partners from Sadler’s Wells).
Sadly we learned that a large funding application to repair our leaking roof was not successful; however we continue to explore other potential funders and avenues to raise the money we need.
Finally, I am delighted that dialogue with the CLC Parents’ Society Committee is taking off, and excited to see what we can achieve in the next quarter. Huge thanks to those who are so ready to assist with new initiatives and ideas to help us expand what we do to make a real difference to those in our community.
With kind regards,
Kate Simpson (CLC 1980-1985, Sidney Lodge/Elizabeth)
Trustee / Interim Chair
Tel: 020 7739 8066
kate2@sthildas.org.uk
www.sthildas.org.uk
FEBRUARY
Dear Guild Members,
The first month of 2023 flew by, bringing with it new team members, new equipment and a renewed sense of energy and purpose for the new year.
The restructured Programmes team, under the vibrant leadership of Jemma Bicknell, welcomed three new team members in January. Kay Kelleher is our new Older People’s Project Manager, overseeing the LinkAge Plus and Feeling Good! programmes across both of our sites, Club Row and the day centre at Sonali Gardens. Rachel Keogh has joined as Adults and Community Programmes Manager, responsible for the Food Co-op, Women’s Project, Advice Service and the Legal Clinics, while Ruki Hashi (who joined St Hilda’s East last year as Project Manager) has been promoted to Children and Young People’s Programmes Manager, overseeing the Brave Girls and Stay & Play projects. All three have settled in quickly to their new roles and are already making an impact.
We were also delighted to promote long-serving team member Joynul Hoque into a more senior role at Sonali Gardens where he is now the LinkAge Plus Coordinator, as well as continuing his work as an outreach worker for two days a week.
A second and unexpected Christmas came in January in the form of a new, capacious fridge for our Food Co-op. Very kindly donated by our friends at Saira Hospitality (a non-profit which partners with hotels to provide local communities with the skills they need to build a career in hospitality), it is making a huge difference to the Food Co-op team.
Activity on the funding team never stops; currently a major priority is to raise funds to repair the roof as water ingress is impacting several areas of the building and affecting our ability to use the space. We await decisions on several recently submitted bids.
Last but most certainly not least, I am delighted to announce that Lucy Bingham will be joining us in May as our new Director. Lucy brings 30 years of experience in the non-profit sector, having successfully led and developed several charities delivering a wide range of services in multi-cultural inner-city environments. We are excited for her to start, and look forward to introducing her to College and Guild members at the earliest opportunity!
With kind regards,
Kate Simpson (CLC 1980-1985, Sidney Lodge/Elizabeth)
Trustee / Interim Chair
Tel: 020 7739 8066
kate2@sthildas.org.uk
www.sthildas.org.uk
JANUARY
Dear Guild Members,
Happy New Year! The end of the old year and the start of the new have brought changes, opportunities and celebrations at St Hilda’s East.
We are very grateful to the team from Cheltenham who worked so hard to collect and wrap Christmas gifts, and ensure they were delivered in time for the party, despite the train strikes! Due to the industrial action the party had to be scaled back from the original plan, but a good time was had by all who were able to get there. We are fortunate to have a great partnership with the iconic Tea Building in Shoreditch who hosted us, and it was a joy to see a broad cross section of our beneficiaries young and old celebrating the season.
We were finally able to draw the long-awaited 130th Anniversary Raffle at the Christmas event, and all the lucky winners have been informed. Fourteen out of the twenty-nine winners are current or former College staff, and we hope they will be delighted with their prizes which are being delivered to College.
At the end of last year, our Director Matthew Band left St Hilda’s East to relocate to York to support his parents. Matthew had joined us at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when the country was going into lockdown, and inherited some challenging issues. The trustees have been very appreciative of his efforts to bring the charity’s finances into a healthier position, and of his work on administrative structure, organizational design, governance and marketing strategy. Please join me in wishing Matt all the very best as he starts his new chapter in York. Recruitment for a new Director is under way and we hope to have identified a replacement by the end of this month.
The new year has started with an exciting development in the form of a Community Café operating in our Club Row building. We are delighted to partner with the Oitij-Jo Collective, a ground-breaking social enterprise run by British Bangladeshi women, to offer homemade, healthy, authentic and affordable Bangla home-style recipes to visitors to St Hilda’s East. If you are in the area Tuesday-Thursday do drop in and try some – it’s delicious!
Without a Director in place the next few weeks will undoubtedly be challenging, but since stepping into the role of Interim Chair in December, I have been encouraged and supported not only by the passion and commitment of our board of trustees, but also by the strength and dedication of our team of staff and volunteers. Their work with those in need in the community of Tower Hamlets is truly inspirational and it is a privilege to work alongside them as we face the challenges of a new year.
With kind regards,
Kate Simpson (CLC 1980-1985, Sidney Lodge/Elizabeth)
Trustee / Interim Chair
Tel: 020 7739 8066
kate2@sthildas.org.uk
www.sthildas.org.uk