With the latest fuel increases coming into force from the beginning of October and food prices continuing to rise, the majority of local organisations will no doubt be seeing an increase in requests for support from the communities they work with – as well as dealing with the impact of the crisis on their own organisation, staff and volunteers.
Cllr Rebecca Harvey, Cabinet Member for Social Inclusion and Community Safety, has organised a Cost of Living Crisis workshop on Friday 7th October from 9.30 – 12.45. This event will offer an important opportunity for us to share insights and ideas on how local residents can be supported through this crisis. Please do register your attendance via this link: Hammersmith & Fulham Cost of Living Crisis Workshop 2022 Tickets, Fri 7 Oct 2022 at 09:30 | Eventbrite
October includes a number of national awareness events – with Black History Month probably the most notable.
To mark Black History Month, Sobus are collecting stories from BAME led community and voluntary organisations to discover how and why they started, who they support and what they’ve achieved.
By sharing these stories, we can build understanding – and from this, develop stronger bonds and trust relationships with others.
If you would like to share your story, please contact Sobus: info@sobus.org.uk
There will be a range of local events and activities in the borough to celebrate Black History Month. H&F Council has compiled some of these on their website. You can find out more by visiting: https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/articles/news/2022/09/black-history-month-events-october
A combination of Brexit, the impact of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine are continuing to push prices up – causing yet more hardship for residents in Hammersmith & Fulham that so many local voluntary and community groups are supporting.
All of us are feeling the effects of increasing prices of gas and electricity and the worrying costs of everyday food items. Like many of you – I’m making changes at home – turning down the heating and not having it on for as long as I used to, and nagging my daughter when she leaves all the lights on! Many of our older residents can remember times without central heating, where jumpers, cardigans and woolly socks were a necessity rather than a fashion statement. My parents first had central heating in 1968 – something regarded as the height of luxury (along with wall-to-wall carpeting). My mum can recall, “Before then, we didn’t have radiators or heaters – we had a coal fire in the living room and that was it. All of my life, in autumn and winter it was just a given that we would be cold at night. We had bed socks and hot water bottles to keep us warm, and dressing gowns and slippers were an absolute must in the mornings!”
But when it comes to food costs, we have generations who have become reliant on fast food, ready-meals, cheap carbohydrates and out-of-season fruit and veg – and it’s something of a rude awakening for many to realise that some of our entrenched behaviours might just need to change. Read on
The theme for Black history Month (BHM) 2022 is “Time for change: action not words”.
“To ensure real change, we need real support from our allies. It’s time to reset your mindset and support us with actions, not words. Join with us, see something, say something, don’t be a passive bystander”. Black History Month online
In the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, the council and some local organisations have organised a range of activities that include series of talks to exhibitions.
Sobus is in the process of creating a publication on local black and ethnic minoritised – led organisations. We are currently interviewing local organisations that operate within the borough. We would like to extend an invitation to organisations who would be willing to participate. If you would like to share your history of operation within Hammersmith and Fulham, please contact Sharon Tomlin by emailing sharon.tomlin@sobus.org.uk by Friday 7th October.
BHM will run from 1st October through to 31st October 2022.
In the meantime, please see below some links on further information.
Black History Month: London Brough of Hammersmith and Fulham
https://www.lbhf.gov.uk/articles/news/2022/09/black-history-month-events-october
Parkview Community Champions, White City Community Centre – Friday 28th October 2022
Afternoon of celebrations 1pm – 5pm
Contact: carmella@upg.org.uk or call 07593 582 886
Black History Month
Are you thinking about contacting your local MP about an issue or cause? Here’s some information on how they can help and how you can reach them. Read it here.
We are excited to announce the launch of the first Fulham Business Awards to celebrate business excellence in the town centre.
The awards will be free for Fulham Broadway BID levy payers to enter and have been set up to acknowledge the vibrant and diverse business community in ten different categories:
3 – Hospitality Business of the Year
4 – Best Professional Service Business (non retail)
5 – Fitness Business of the Year
6 – Wellbeing Business of the Year
The general public are being encouraged to nominate their favourite businesses to be in for the chance to win one of ten awards. The nomination process is now live and will be available until Friday 4 November 2022 with the finalists being announced mid-November.
All you have to do is encourage customers to vote for you. To help with this we will shortly be distributing posters for you to display on your premises, with a QR code, taking people straight through to the nomination page.
Winners of each award will be announced at a glamorous celebration event at Chelsea
Football Club on Thursday 1 December 2022.
We are a local charity based in Hammersmith and Fulham focused on supporting deaf people as they face critical points of transition. We are looking for a freelance bid writer to support us with applications for funding so that we can grow our offering. The role is equivalent to one day per week (7 hours) and flexible. Salary: £25 per hour. If you would like more information or to talk about the role, please email us at: hello@deafunity.org
The next VCS Health and Wellbeing Forum will be held on Tuesday 25th October. As October is Black History Month, we will be looking at health inequalities, and also marking National Menopause Day (18th October) we will be looking at how menopause is regarded in different communities, and the support that is available to women going through this transition. We hope to see you there!
Community Connect is a new grassroots initiative from People Arise Now, which aims to regularly connect residents, the council, local businesses, voluntary organisations, local police, and anyone else who wants to better the borough of Hammersmith
and Fulham. This month’s meeting is at Dawes Road Hub on 25th October at 11am-1pm and our focus will be Black History Month.
