Islington Giving’s Inside Islington tour last week took us to Caledonian ward to look at 3 amazing projects working in that area of the borough. Staff from Macquarie, Argent (who are developing a huge site at King’s Cross just down the road from all these projects) and BT as well as local residents gathered at the offices of Cripplegate foundation to start the tour.
First up was Caledonian Help on Your Doorstep based at Hugo Cubitt Community Centre where John and Dionne explained the work that they do knocking on every door in the area and asking people what help they need. They talked about how important it is to go out to people and not to sit and wait for them to come to you and how important trust was in the local area, so that they try as much as possible to employ local residents.
Next up the group squeezed into The Parent House, literally the old caretaker’s cottage of Winton Primary School that now provides support and training for Islington parents in English as Second Language and IT as well as how to become a governor or sit on a management committee.
Finally, from the cosy setting of the Parent House up to the Claremont Project on White Lion St, a huge Victorian building now home to lots of groups including the Stuart Low Trust and to a huge range of arts activities for older people. After discovering exactly what the Lindyhop was (a form of swing dancing apparently!) the group heard about the importance of interesting and vibrant activities for older people, making Claremont a hub where people want to go and explore what is on offer.
All in all an inspiring morning, not only, we hope, for our guests demonstrating how you can get involved in Islington but also for the Islington Giving team. Get in touch if you would like to be involved in the next Inside Islington tour which will take place in Finsbury Park.
If you’re interested in any of the projects that we talked about here you can find out more here
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