Several interesting and community focussed proposals were received by our team and a final 12 projects were selected to receive a small grant of £500 each. Our mission was to support initiatives that brought communities together. All 12 project leaders showed immense enthusiasm and zeal to progress with their ideas. We were delighted to support them in their mini ventures.
List of projects funded through the MiniGrant and progress updates with photos are below. A few projects are weather dependent and have yet to begin but most of the others have made good progress.
Love Lane Alittlements
“Love Lane Alittlement” intend to redo their plant beds with planting areas for children, the elderly and any one else. The aim of The ‘Alittlement’ Development Project is: To expand the number of Large Oblong Beds to six; To repair the three Small Square Beds; To install another three Small Square Beds to introduce spaces for children to get involved in The ‘ALittlement’ Project; To install a Water Butt with attachment to capture rain water; To install a Security Camera to deter damage and theft from The ‘ALittlement’; To increase the number of participants involved, quantity and types of vegetables grown;To ensure the sustainability of ‘The ALittlement’ in the future.
The project leads have met and proposed a plan which has been approved with intent to do most of the work on better weather days. You can see their other projects here (Project Lead – Emma Hope Fitch)
Norwood Junk
The Norwood Junk project is in progress and a crowd funding campaign is proposed to enable them to source a space to store their material. A video to support their crowdfunding is currently being developed. Progress can be seen on Twitter and @norwoodjunkaction. (insta) (Project Lead – Norman Mine)
Graffiti Cleaning
Graffiti cleaning and repainting by John has progressed remarkably well and he has cleaned several areas around Woodside Tram stop, Arena and other areas where the walls were covered with Graffiti (Project Lead – John Collis).
Croydon Living Streets
In August 2021, Croydon Living Streets Group hosted a poetry and photography workshop at Stanley Arts asking teenage girls and non-binary young people to share their experiences of their local streets and public spaces. Observations were collected and collated into a ‘manifesto for change’ which called for older generations to stop unfairly demonising teenagers and young people with negative stereotypes about criminal behaviour. Their vision for a fairer, more inviting community included space for young people to express themselves creatively and to connect with one another.
Croydon Living Streets now calls on our community to take this manifesto onboard and to use it to develop a positive vision for change within South Norwood Rec, the Park which inspired the call for change. The project works with Elno Art and the Wom Collective, an artist who has previously worked in South Norwood at Love Lane Green and who specialises in working with girls and women to create more resilient communities.
The girls would design a mural aiming to tackle negative perceptions of young people and which would include a space for ongoing street art. Their hope is that a community arts area would transform the Rec into an inviting space for all and especially for teenage girls, who all too often get overlooked in local spending decisions.
(Project Lead – Amy Foster)
Power Washing Pavements
Henry had a vision of clean pavements in S Norwood and proposed to organize a community effort to pressure wash the pavements over the course of a week. A team of 18 volunteers came forward to help to clean the pavement and demonstrate the effect of a clean environment. By renting a medium power pressure washer (200 bar, 15 litre/minute) with a lance spray and an enclosed flat pavement washer, they hoped to get support from the local businesses who could roll the exercise of cleaning the pavements forward.
The power washing of the pavements on the High Streets was successfully completed by an enthusiastic team in February 2022 (Project Lead – Henry Lelen)
Wish For Our Trees
This Visual Arts project for children by Shiroma at SN Lakes was created to promote eco-friendly ethos and find ways to follow through with relevant action. Using material from the surrounds of South Norwood Lakes, workshops in the ru up to Easter was carried out to create buntings and banners made using fabric and vegetable dye. The final creations were hung up on 3rd April 2022 (Project Lead – Shiroma Ratne)
South Norwood Country Park
South Norwood Country Park– The kestrel box in South Norwood Country Park had fallen into disrepair and needed replacing before the next nesting season. The kestrels are an important part of our local nature reserve and we must ensure that they are not discouraged from continuing to breed there because of a lack of a suitable and safe environment. In addition the volunteers have installed a chestnut paling near the ponds in the park, as dogs were getting to the coots that were nesting there. They have ordered the kestrel boxes and will install them in March/April (Project Lead – Sue Takwani)
Holmesdale Community Action Group
Holmesdale Community Action Group will have – Planters been placed at the corner of the roads made from treated wood, chosen for its grain, to enable them to plant longer lasting flowers. Seasonal plants as well as plants that will hold their foliage throughout winter have been sourced for the planters – one of their priorities was to ensure they had greenery all year round and to introduce edibles with one of the planters be dedicated to growing fruit and herbs for everyone to help themselves. Colourful wildflowers, creepers and a willow tree will be added in special planters. ( Project Lead – Angela Lyttle, Lynn Stewart)
South Drawood
The project involves drawing portraits of South Norwood business owners, recording their answers to some question about living and working in SE25. The aim of the project is to increase the representation of South Norwood’s diverse community, in an area which may not have seen many of its residents depicted artistically. The original drawings would be returned to the business owners and displayed somewhere the public can see it. The final gallery exhibition would show these portraits side by side, along with their words about the area. (Project Lead – Jonny Kemp)
Animated Planters
The project was to design planters that enhanced the environment while also giving people an understanding of flora and fauna and biodiversity. The planters are constructed with recycled materials and used in Socca Cheta and other places. Solar energy will be used to power water features and USB ports. (Project Lead – Ian Hardy)
Norwood Junction Planters
Norwood Junction Station has had beautiful plants and planters tended to by dedicated volunteers. Currently, the planters are in need of complete refreshing, with removal of tired and overgrown plants, a need for fresh compost, feeding and planting with larger, more striking plants. Plants are chosen to have a long season and be reasonably large, eye-catching, easy to maintain and able to withstand wind, cold, rain and the strong wind that sweeps across the platforms. They should be varied enough to provide colour through the year. New planters will also be created and placed in Norwood Junction Station in spring 2022. (Project Lead – Heather Hardy). Gallery coming soon.
Brutalist Library
Brutalist Library Group will host a photography exhibition in spring at South Norwood Library featuring around 10+ artworks. These are by local and national artists, photographers and illustrators, which they have contacted and who would be delighted to take part. The exhibition will be open to all residents, and will be combined with a free talk by the Brutalist Library group together with local historians about the history and architectural excellence of South Norwood Library. (Project Lead – Lorenz Gerber). Gallery coming soon.