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Introduction The Peckham Settlement is situated in a very deprived area of South East London and provides social help to the local community. Unlike single purpose charities, its services change according to local needs and resources available. Peckham rates as the 6th most deprived local community in UK and its demographic profile is over 55% Black or Black British. Average age is 30.1 years and predicted to get younger. 18% of families living in the local community are single parent families.1
Activities
The
Peckham Settlement’s core activities are: - 1.
All Nations Nursery – a forty place nursery and six place baby unit; the baby
unit being the only one of its kind in the area. The nursery caters for families
based in the Peckham, Lane, Nunhead and Livesey Wards and is used by parents who
are working, attending college or in need of Respite Care. 2. STAG –Southwark Travellers Action Group, which delivers programmes to four sites of travellers including those who live in houses. STAG works closely with London Borough of Southwark to follow up on repairs and maintenance of the sites as well as delivering programmes such as nurseries for travellers and youth groups. Monthly meetings are help with representatives of the traveller communities to plan events and resolve outstanding issues. Monthly meetings are held with representatives of the Traveller communities to plan events and resolve outstanding issues. Neal Southwick is the manager, Kirsty Suttle is a part-time health advocacy worker and Ann-Marie O'Brien and Shirley Joyce are Traveller community development workers. 3. Pensioners – There are two Pensioner Groups which are currently running. The Monday Club organised and run by Joyce Thomas and The Friday Club organised and run by Peggy Weller. (More details under current activities) 4.
HOurBank - The HOurBank is a project which promotes and implements exchange of
hours of work to members who are on low incomes or who may be experiencing
social exclusion, powerlessness, persons with health problems (both physical and
mental), emotional insecurity and a lack of control over their lives . Services
and projects are provided to enable them access services and participate in
activities which provides social support. Phone 020-7639-4506 5. Resource Centre The Peckham Settlement provides support including the provision of offices for new organisations that are running projects in the area tackling issues such as poor health, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy and crime. The Peckham Settlement is a place where new fledgling charities that are providing services to the local community can get started with the provision of offices, technical support and support for the provision capacity building including financial and fund-raising advice. Structure
The
Peckham Settlement is a company limited by guarantee no. 255374 and a registered
charity no. 215925 company with registered offices at the current address. The
executive committee are the trustees of the charity. The composition of the
executive committee is a chair, secretary, treasurer and other members who bring
together a wide variety of managerial skills and social service experience. The
organisation also has a management sub-committee to ensure that the direction
and work of the Peckham Settlement reflects the needs and the demographic
profile of the area. The staff is headed by the Director and comprise a mixture of full time and part time workers averaging 23 in total. Patron,
President and Vice-Presidents HRH
The Countess of Wessex has been patron since May 2003 and takes a keen interest
in The Peckham Settlement. She made visits in September 2003 and November 2004,
when she was shown activities at the Settlement and introduced to a large number
of people. She has followed in the footsteps of HRH The Princess Margaret, who
had been Patron for over 50 years. The
President is The Baroness Howe of Idlicote, CBE who has actively supported The
Peckham Settlement for over 25 years. Vice-Presidents are Mrs. G. Fletcher-Watson, an important link with the schools, and Mr. C. Cherrill, a former Mayor of Southwark. Finance
The main sources of finance for The Peckham Settlement are grants from statutory bodies and parental fees for the nursery. Other important contributions come from trusts, schools, old-girls associations other organisations and members. The current turnover is circa £500,000 p.a. School
and Old Girls Associations The Peckham Settlement maintains the historic links with Girls’ Schools and Old Girls Associations who were instrumental in the formation and running of the UGSS and The Peckham Settlement. These links are still strong and The Peckham Settlement still benefit both in cash and in kind from these institutions. Malvern Girls’ School sends two students annually to work as volunteers for a week for their community service week. We would like to
offer this facility to students from other founder schools. The Old Girls’
Association provide strong support to The Peckham Settlement and hold events to
raise funds for the Settlement. The Settlement is indebted to their continued
efforts. On the website is a list of the schools and Old Girls’ Association with contact details. History The Peckham Settlement started in
1896 as a Mission when a group of girls’ public schools formed the Union of
Girls’ Schools for Social Service (UGSS). In the early years the founding schools, which eventually numbered 140, provided many voluntary workers, management structure and significant financial support. At the start activities were based in a house in Peckham Road. This was vacated when UGSS moved in 1931 to the present site in Goldsmith Road. The building was originally a Wesleyan Chapel built in 1834, later a residential wing was built and a generous benefactor purchased and donated the four adjacent terraced houses. Over the decades these different buildings have been joined up, modified and put to a variety of different uses. Redevelopment
A feasibility study in 1996 highlighted the problems of an ageing and neglected building where only 63% of the gross floor area was useable. The report concluded that it was cheaper to demolish and rebuild rather than refurbish the existing collection of buildings. The plan foresaw a purpose designed new centre built on the existing site, which will provide accommodation for existing groups and new initiatives. However to do this will necessitate the current activities ceasing for a minimum of 18 months; which is clearly unacceptable. The current intention is that the Peckham Settlement moves to Wood dene, a housing estate planned for redevelopment where the settlement will be given a site to a construct purpose built community centre which would incorporate an East Peckham Children’s Centre, under ‘Sure Start’ Initiative. The advantage of this location is that it is located very close to Nell Gywnn Nursery School, which whom the All Nations Nursery would have a partnership.
Further
Information If you would like to know more about The Peckham Settlement, pleased contact us for a copy of our latest newsletter or annual report. [1]
National Statistics Office
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