Transforming lives through Kindness, Belief and Hope
Welcome to our Summer Newsletter
As we are moving towards the summer, there have been a few changes at Pecan that we would like to share with you. As Pecan is always evolving to meet the needs of the community and of course based on what funding is available, we will always be here to support. At our recent training day staff we covered trauma informed practice and dignity. This in depth work allowed group participation and discussion on how best to support our clients, teams and keep improving our service within the community, alongside our ethos of kindness, belief and hope.
Sadly this summer we need to bid some very tearful farewells and welcome some new faces:
Viola, our amazing HOurbank Manager will be leaving us at the end of July. Viola has been an exceptional colleague and member of the Pecan family, bringing joy to many of you with her fabulous Oyster Day excursions, summer picnics, quizzes and so much more. We wish Viola all the best with her new adventures.
Peter, our HOurbank Broker has moved on to … Southwark Foodbank! As our new Client Support Lead, Peter will provide a range of support, information, and signposting to help foodbank clients tackle some of the issues they are facing.
As HOurbank changes into Together, we have a new role – Together Coordinator – that will lead on establishing and delivering the Together programme, ensuring that there is plenty going on to cater for everyone.
In the coming weeks we will be welcoming new staff to Pecan and introducing them in our next newsletter.
A lot will be happening over July and August and this summer edition of our newsletter will take you through many of the planned activities both at Pecan and in the community, as well as some money saving tips so you can still get out and enjoy what London has to offer.
Our main feature is our engagement work with the community, Voices for Southwark. Find out how they are collaborating to make changes in Southwark. Plus, The Citizen Advice Roadshow in August will be on Wednesday 9 August 2023, 10am-1pm at The Green Nunhead Community Centre, SE153QQ
Fundraising Update | A BIG Thank you to ...
South East London Giants delivering their donations to Peckham Pantry, London Bridge Bucket Collection and a shop and drop donation from ION.
Fundraising is fundamental to supporting our services, so we would like to thank the following companies and community volunteers for their generosity in June:
- Iron Mountain, Zara HQ, Grey, Hills, ION, and JP Morgan.
- During the Asda Food Drive, thank you to: HG Capital, Boyer Planning, Mastercard, HDR, London Fire Brigade, Ofcom and Network Rail.
- Schools and Community: JAGS, JAGS Charity Ball, Dulwich College, Holy Rollers at Ride London and South East London Giants.
- Community Volunteers all received certificates and celebrated with a gathering at our Together Space.
- Also, to everyone who donated during the BIG GIVE – with match funding we raised £3,710
Volunteers’ Week 2023 celebration in Together Cafe.
Main Feature | Community Engagement
Voices for Southwark
This month our main feature is by Pecan’s Community Engagement Officer Flora and Voices for Southwark member Esther. Flora, Esther and Pecan’s food services team wanted to share the community organising activities they have been working on over the last year.
‘I saw the purpose of the campaign and I’m proud to have my voice heard in a particular change in our environment.’
In addition to direct support with food at Southwark Foodbank and Peckham Pantry, Pecan’s community food projects aim to see a Southwark where everyone has enough money to afford the essentials and emergency food is no longer needed. That’s why we’re organising together as a community and campaigning to address structural local issues. Taking an organising approach means that our activities and campaigns are led by and developed with members of our community who have used our foodbank, pantry or have personal experience of financial hardship.
'It was a lively discussion and great to share a room with a representative from the council, Pecan staff, volunteers and other local residents...'
To understand what Pecan’s community organising group is, we will start with a Q&A with Esther about her experiences being part of our community organising group, Voices for Southwark.
Esther, you’ve been part of Pecan’s community organising work since the meetings started in September 2022. Why did you decide to join the Voices for Southwark group discussions?
“As a Southwark resident and member of the local community, I saw the purpose of the campaign and I’m proud to have my voice heard in a particular change in our environment.”
What do you enjoy about being part of Voices for Southwark?
“I enjoy the sharing of ideas. It is not constrained, it’s like freedom of expression. I enjoy the friendliness of the organiser, and the cohesion of the team, and the fact that it’s local.”
Voices for Southwark meet to discuss and address local issues. What improvements could be made to make life in Southwark better?
“We talked about so many changes that we want to see as a group: cleanliness of our borough, affordable transport for all, reducing barriers to getting into employment. For now, we have decided to focus on easily accessible information on local financial support and holistic support combining a range of services.”
Pecan’s Voices for Southwark group was born out of monthly group discussions on local issues in Southwark at Pecan starting in September 2022. Through posters, leaflets and conversations, community members who have used Pecan’s food projects were invited to join the monthly discussion meetings. The aim was to come together to share our experiences with and thoughts on some of the issues that contribute to financial hardship locally. From our brainstorming and open discussion activities, we narrowed down our list and decided on one issue to focus on for now. This means that the issue we have chosen and our campaign are directly based on the experiences of our Voices for Southwark members.
This is something that’s at the core of our community organising work. Esther explains why participation and organising are important:
“For the services rendered to be effective and productive, the users’ voices have to be heard. Otherwise, it can be a bit pointless. When you’re not listening to the people that you serve, it won’t really have an impact on their lives. It’s the voices of the people that are meant to be heard, but from my own experience, it doesn’t happen most of the time. But we can make a change, and that’s why we’re here.”
Earlier this year, we participated in Southwark Council’s Southwark 2030 programme. Pecan hosted a focus group discussion facilitated by a member of the council’s Community Engagement team. As Voices for Southwark, we joined the discussion and contributed our thoughts for the future of the borough with Southwark Council. It was a lively discussion and great to share a room with a representative from the council, Pecan staff, volunteers and other local residents.
Our plans for the next months ahead are to continue our regular meetings and further develop our campaign. We aim to be part of more conversations with local government representatives and other decision-makers to share our plans and asks for a Southwark where everyone can afford the essentials.
'It’s the voices of the people that are meant to be heard, but from my own experience, it doesn’t happen most of the time. But we can make a change, and that’s why we’re here.'
To join our group or find out more, please follow Esther’s advice:
“We are a group of volunteers representing Voices for Southwark aiming to bring about change in Southwark. We’ve now decided to focus on the lack of easily accessible information on local financial support. If you want your voice to be heard and your opinion to count, you can join us! We meet once a month at Pecan. Contact Flora via email if you’re interested. The more we are, the more powerful our voice becomes!”
Together at Pecan
We may be awaiting the arrival of our new Coordinator, but we still have plenty going on.
Oyster Days
Members have really enjoyed the ‘Oyster Days’ out, because it gives them a chance to get out, to see new places, socialise and make friends all, with concessionary free travel. Past visits have included:
- Buckingham Palace
- Royal Air Force
- National Portrait Gallery
- Hyde Park (Diana Memorial Fountain)
- Sky Gardens
If you have a favorite place, you would like to visit, then share it with the group and join the Oyster Days out, days are usually on the last Friday of each month. There are so many interesting places still to see and make happy memories.
Picnic in the Park
A bit of sunshine, some delicious food and good company is all that is needed for a picnic, on the last Friday in June. Members enjoyed their own picnic in Peckham Rye Park, meeting up at the Round Café at 1pm. Members from the Women’s Service also joined the picnic for a fun afternoon out.
Bread and Salt | Fridays 9.30am – 12pm | June 30 – July 21
A new drop-in at Pecan’s Together Cafe 9.30am-12noon. Particularly welcoming asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa. Some members of the team speak Arabic and Kurmanji Kurdish.
Further details: email: miriampoulton6140@gmail.com tel: 07963 541133
Creative Writing, Summer 2023
‘It improved my communication in speaking and writing. I had more confidence in writing my own story.’
Our Creative Writing group finished on 16 June, and we hope to display some of the fabulous works form the past few courses in the Together space…so watch this space! The creative writing sessions proved popular with 20 people signing up to attend the sessions. Some people were season writers having published before and willing to share their learning, others with little experience but keen to learn and build their confidence. “It improved my communication in speaking and writing. I had more confidence in writing my own story.” (Member of the group). Attendees were encouraged to try different types of writing, then share their efforts with the group, and get useful feedback to motivate and encourage them.
As Kathryn Joyce wrote “We all have a book in us. The first step is recognising this. Writing it is a whole new journey.”
If you are interested in all things Creative Writing and willing to lead a small group of keen writers, then contact the Together Project with your details.
Together sessions:
Monday 1 – 3pm: Café drop in
Tuesday 11.30 – 12.30pm: Lively discussion group
1 – 3pm: Drop-in and Games Café
Thursday 1-3pm: Life skills café (come along to get help with life admin and form filling)
Loneliness Project
Local photographer Julia Hawkins is looking for people who might be willing to have their portrait taken and share their story for her new portrait photography project, On Loneliness. The aim of the project is to make it easier to talk about something most of us have felt at some point, but often find it hard to talk about. The pictures and stories will be published in a book by The School of Life.
Julia is looking for people of all ages, backgrounds and walks of life who would be willing to share any experiences they have had recently or in the past of feeling lonely.
Please contact her directly to find out more, either by email: julia@juliahawkins.com or instagram: @juliahawkins
What do you think?
We are always looking for members of the community to come in and tell us what you want to see happening at Pecan. If you have an idea, you would like to try out here or if you would like to volunteer for Together, perhaps even facilitate a group, please do get in touch together@pecan.org.uk
Employment
We are delighted to announce that we are now running the Southwark Works programme for Families and Unpaid Carers. We will be providing training, 1-2-1 support sessions and a more extensive programme in the coming months.
More information will be available on our website very soon, but in the meantime please contact employmentsupport@pecan.org.uk if you would like to join the programme.
Employment coffee mornings will take place on:
- 26 July at Southwark Works, 376 Walworth Rd, London SE17 2NG.
- 10 August at the Together Café, 121a Peckham High Street SE15 5SE.
And our workshops will start in September when the school resumes.
Food Services
Southwark Foodbank
Ben and students from Dulwich College and and staff from HG Capital
Food Drive Update
Volunteers supported Southwark Foodbank to raise 1625.26kg of food during the Asda Food Drive week. That’s 100 households that will receive emergency food parcels in one week – thank you for making such a positive impact, you are absolute stars!
Did you know:
- Our emergency food parcels feed a household for at least 3 days.
- We support about 100 households each week which is at least 450 people.
- We spend about £300 each week on fruit and veg to ensure people struggling can eat as nutritiously as possible.
- About 60% of the households we support are single people.
With your support we can continue to provide emergency food parcels when they are most needed. If you would like to continue to support us, here are a few ways to do just that:
- Hosting a food collection point
- Volunteering with us for food. drives or our monthly London Bridge Bucket Collection.
- Donating regularly or setting up Payroll Giving.
JULY | London Bridge Collection
Please Note: Dates for July & August London Bridge Collection: Wednesday 26 July and 30 August.
WEBINAR
Hunger in the UK – hosted by The Trussell Trust
Following the publication of the Hunger in the UK reports, the Trussell Trust are pleased to be holding a dedicated webinar for food banks from across the network to join. LINK: Eventbrite 24 July 2023, 2-3pm
Peckham Pantry
South East London Giants at Peckham Pantry
Thank you to South East London Giants for delivering the food donations they collected at their annual competition at the beginning of June. Our CEO Chris Price attended their annual competition at Peckham Rye and said ‘We are really pleased they chose Peckham Pantry to donate to and they introduced me to a new game. I have a lot of respect for the players, and I know I wouldn’t want to go into any of those tackles.’
Ambassador of the Month
Our ambassadors of the month of June are Dawn P and Claudia.
Read our June newsletter to find out more about our ambassadors: June 2023 | Peckham Pantry Newsletter
School Holiday Ambassadors
Could you be one of our ambassadors of the month? We need ambassadors during the school holidays, so our continuous service is not interrupted, and the pantry can remain open during these periods.
To register your interest, please email Peckham Pantry: Pantry@pecan.org.uk
Corporate Day at Peckham Pantry
Our team welcomed a corporate team at the Pantry and they had a great day volunteering with us.
Next Coffee Morning: The next Peckham Pantry Coffee Morning will be on Monday 10 July from 9.30-10.30am outside the pantry on Peckham Park Road. See you there!
Women's Service
Please note: All events and activities at the Women’s Service are WOMEN ONLY spaces.
Women's Service Updates
Hello from the Women’s Service!
We hope you are having a lovely summer. We are hosting our summer event on Thursday 20 July from 11am-3pm. Please see above the poster and we hope to see you there! Please note this is a women-only space. We still have our workshops during the summer, as well as our hub lunches. Please see our website for our workshop timetable!
- 11 women attended the theatre at Streatham Space Project to see Hide, and we had some really positive feedback!
- We will be holding our Summer Event on Thursday 20 July, with some stand-up comedy, crafts and a ‘Relax & Breathe’ session.
- Last Tuesday of every month we hold a mental health drop-in with our specialist advocate Kathleen from 2-3pm at the Peckham hub
- We now offer a Black Women’s Mental Health group at the Peckham hub every Tuesday from 2.30-4pm
- Beginner’s Spanish with Alyssa will be starting on 3 August. Please bring a small notebook if you can (we will try to supply as many as we can)
Volunteering Opportunities
Community events and useful links
Library of Things
Affordably rent useful household items for cleaning, DIY, gardening, cooking and more from Library of Things.
You can borrow everything from drills, carpet cleaners, hand sanders, hedge trimmers or even projectors and ice cream makers too. You can rent most Things for under £10, and there’s no deposit. They offer a no questions asked 25% discount for anyone that would find it helpful.
There are currently 12 locations across London – with more opening soon!
Head to the website to start borrowing 👉 www.libraryofthings.co.uk
South London Gallery exhibition (Lagos, Peckham, Repeat) and Brunel Museum (Windrush to Wapping)
- Peckhamplex | Summer films – Make sure you check out the summer releases at Peckhamplex. To see their listing and film times, visit: www.peckhamplex.london
When you visit, don’t forget you can support Southwark Foodbank as our posters in the venue have a QR code that links to Southwark Foodbank’s donation page.
- Art Installation at Peckham Rye Station | Wednesday- Saturday 12-8pm, Sunday 11am-5pm
Location: Old Waiting Room at Peckham Rye Station, SE15 4RX Find out more - Free exhibition: Lagos, Peckham, Repeat: Pilgrimage to the Lakes | 5 July – 29 October 2023
The exhibition showcases works by thirteen Nigerian and British-Nigerian artists, bringing together sculpture, photography, sound and film.
Location: Fire Station, South London Gallery 82 Peckham Road, SE15 5LQ Find out more Glengall Wharf Garden | A community space at the east side of Burgess Park, in north Peckham. A peaceful oasis for the local community, everyone is welcome.
Opening times: Tuesdays 10.30am-2.15pm, Saturdays 12noon – 4pm and Sundays 12noon – 3.45pm1st Place Summer Activities | 24 July – 1 September
Download Programme www.1stplace.uk.comBrunel Museum | 12 August Windrush to Wapping – Meet Sydney Charles Lewis. Family event: This summer, families can meet Sydney Charles Lewis – a Tube Guard on the East London Line in the 1970’s. His father came over on Windrush in the 1950’s and he is following in his footsteps: Book Here (FREE)
Bermondsey Jazz | The FIRST Sunday of each month between 2pm – 5pm. FREE COMMUNITY EVENTS between 7 May to 3 September. LINK
- Repair Café Nunhead | Last Saturday of each month 10am-1pm
Bring your broken belongings to be mended by a team of volunteer fixers with specialist skills and tools. Enjoy a hot drink whilst you learn basic repair skills. Free or voluntary donation.
Location: The Green Community Centre, 5 Nunhead Green, SE15 3QQ Find out more | Contact: repaircafenunhead@gmail.com
Summer Events
Want to get out and about over the summer but worried about the cost, here are some great places to find cheap deals and information:
- Kiddo Adventures:
kiddoadventures.com | A fantastic blog that gives great information and reviews on all sorts of things to do in London and further afield. There are some very informative posts on affordable days out for Universal Credit recipients and restaurants/cafes where kids cn eat for free this summer. - Ever wanted to do a walking tour around London but put off by the prices or the timings? There are now a whole range of apps available such as TrailTale, Go Jauntly and more, that provide walking tours some with guides, that you can take in your own time and for free. www.bhf.org.uk
- Remember most of London’s big galleries and museums have free entry for their permanent collections, and with many providing picnic areas or being located where you can nip out to have a picnic, you can plan a very affordable day out.
More summer events will be shared via our Latest News and Linktr.ee/Pecan121a
