The Gate

This is a test blog from NDC Central.

Ingredients for success

The Vitality Club demonstrated on Friday that it has all the right ingredients for success when it held its inaugural general meeting. The Vitality Club has grown out of the Cook & Eat group established two years ago at Hatfield Close. The group was sponsored through the New Cross Gate NDC’s Eating for Health project in partnership with Lewisham PCT’s community development team.

The Cook & Eat group has been meeting regularly at Friday lunchtimes to explore healthier lifestyles around food, nutrition and diet. Since its inception, the group has been supported by the PCT’s community food project’s officer, Mumtaz Meeran. She has been able to support the group, particularly around training, encouraging and arranging for several members of the group to undertake courses which have resulted in them becoming qualified cookery club leaders. In addition, local resident Maria Drury has played a vital role in promoting interest in the group by leading dozens of cooking sessions which have helped improve the dietary knowledge and skills of those attending.

In the knowledge that funding for the group would eventually cease, it was decided to explore the possibility of establishing a constituted group. Four key members of the group ~ Tina Farage, Shim Whicker, Alice Cushnie and Avril Augustine ~ volunteered to form a steering committee to guide the group along the next step of its journey. After many meetings over several months, they developed a constitution and policies to recommend to their membership.

At Friday’s inaugural general meeting, under the presiding chairmanship of NDC manager Steve McGann, the constitution was adopted by the members of the newly constituted club. Later in the meeting, Tina was elected chair, Shim vice-chair, Alice treasurer and Avril as secretary, while Dorothy Harrison and Merle Alleyne were also elected to the committee. Two vacant committee places, the meeting agreed, would be filled later.

If you are interested in improving your diet and getting involved with The Vitality Club, give Tina a call on 020 8694 8688 or on mobile 0775 438 8878

Gateside Festival

The Gateside Community Festival was enjoyed by around 500 people over three days. The festival started with a fantastic night of entertainment by young local residents. The showcase began with 20 local children aged between 5-7 with a song and dance routine. This was followed by a list of local young talent helped by local creative company, Edutainment.

Local jazz band entertained the adults as children were went pond dipping at Besson St Gardens
on Friday. On Saturday the festival was hit by an initial downpour but shortly after the sun came out and so did over 250 residents who enjoyed fun and games supplied buy Millwall Community Scheme and MEND. The Festival ended with a salsa class and session. The NDC
would like to thank those who participated and helped on the day.

Summer holidays to end in style
New Cross Gate NDC will be sponsoring the Gateside Community FestivalThursday 24th -Saturday, 26th August, 2006. The end-of-summer event will accommodate people of all ages and tastes and promises to be a great way to end the holidays.Friday’s events will include a number of activities for young, old, and all ages in between, including healthy walks, line dancing, dominoes contest, healthy eating activities. The first day culminates in the Gateside Showcase for young and community talent at Hatcham Social Club on Thursday night. Saturday starts with the Hapi market and fair in Monson Road/Eckington Gardens to support the local holiday activities programme run by local community groups. Hapi market will feature a host of stalls offering wide range of goods. In addition, there will be information stalls with help and advice from a range of organisations which support the area.Later on Saturday afternoon, a family sports event gets underway in the gardens proper, with the day then revving up for the salsa party to give everyone a chance to let their hair down with the sun.There will be a number of opportunities for involvement in the two-day event – for all sections of the community and local organisations which serve the community. Organisations and service providers are invited to support the Festival and the hundreds of local residents who will be participating.For more information on the Gateside Community Festival, contact Stephen McGann, Community Development Co-ordinator, Tel. 020 8314 9384

New Cross Gate Food Co-op Launch

The launch of the resident-led New Cross Gate Food Co-operative has been announced for next Friday 25th August 2006 ~ to coincide with the Gateside Community Festival. A group of residents has worked hard over the last 6 months to establish their healthy fruit and vegetable stall. The stall is run by local volunteers and operates every Friday between 11.00am and 3.30pm outside All Saints, New Cross Road.
The stall has proved very popular with residents. One regular customer commented:
"This is a brilliant idea! Why should I go to Peckham or Lewisham market now? I get fruit and veg for the same price here and it is so close by"
Apart from selling fruit and vegetable, someone is always on hand to give advice on healthy eating and other health related matters. The stall is supported by the Lewisham Primary Care Trust Eating for Health Project and the New Cross Gate NDC.
Last month the Prime Minister stated that "people must make lifestyle changes" in particular mentioning action on diet. In New Cross Gate, through the Food Co-op, residents are already taking steps to make healthier food choices easier.
Project worker Mumtaz Meeran say "Come and visit the Food Co-op stall next Friday or Saturday, when we will be taking our place in the Gateside Community Festival next to Eckington Gardens."
If you would like to volunteer on the stall or for further information please contact:
Mumtaz Meeran, Food Projects Development Worker,
Eating for Health Project.
Tel: 07901553236
email: mumtaz.meeran@lewishampct.nhs.uk

Summer of Lit Festival
Families of New Cross Gate are to make a gigantic 50 feet poem as part of it’s Summer of Lit Festival on Saturday 12th August. The festival has been organised by Family Fortunes, Family Learning and is funded by New Cross Gate New Deal for Communities. The event will be held at Besson Street Community Gardens, New Cross Gate, from the 12th to 19th August and aims to promote literacy and literature in South London in fun and entertaining ways.

The 50 feet poem with a working title of “A Load of Old Nonsense” aims to encourage families to jot down a line or two to make the As well as the 50 feet poem, a huge mural will be created with all families in the area asked to take part in this “Hands on Art” project. A Books, Poetry and Story Tent will stage some of South London’s best story tellers and will also hold a book stall selling brand new top title books for £1 each. The book stall is open all week from 12th – 19th August.

Bug hunting and pond dipping will also take place in this rare subtropical garden on Besson Street, New Cross Gate. Music and Song session for Under 5’s will also take place in this fun packed festival on Saturday 12th between 2pm and 3pm. And if all that noise gets to the mums and dads attending the event, an Indian head and hand massage will be available on Sunday only, for free.
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For further information please call Jill on 020 8314 7472.

Literature Facts:

Longest poem ever published
The lengthiest poem ever published is the Kirghiz folk epic Manas, which appeared in printed form in 1958 but which has never been translated into English. This three-part epic runs to about
500,000 lines. If printed it would be approx 10,600 feet long!!!

Longest word
PNEUMONO­ULTRA­MICRO­SCOPIC­SILICO­VOLCANO­CONIOSIS
= a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust.This is the longest word in any English dictionary. However, it was coined by Everett Smith, the President of The National Puzzlers' League, in 1935 purely for the purpose of inventing a new "longest word”.

Best Selling Books of all time
1. The Holy Bible: More than 6Billion copies
2. Quotations from Chairman Ma,o by Mao Tse-Tung (1966) 900million copies
3. The American Spelling Book, by Noah Webster (1783) 100million copies

Loads of Football Things

There are more football sessions going on this summer than there are blades of artificial grass in a big greengrocery store. See the Millwall posters on our door or all around the area for more details. If you'd like a poster ask me or go direct to Dan Mcloone on 0207 740 0503.

Summer holidays
to end in style
The New Cross Gate NDC will be sponsoring the Gateside Community Festival on Friday, 25th, and Saturday, 26th August, 2006. The end-of-summer event will accommodate people of all ages and tastes and promises to be a great way to end the holidays.

Friday’s events will include a number of activities for young, old, and all ages in between, including healthy walks, line dancing, dominoes contest, healthy eating activities. The first day culminates in the Gateside Showcase for young and community talent.

Saturday starts with the Hapi market and fair in Monson Road/Eckington Gardens to support the local holiday activities programme run by local community groups. Hapi market will feature a host of stalls offering wide range of goods. In addition, there will be information stalls with help and advice from a range of organisations which support the area.

Later on Saturday afternoon, a family sports event gets underway in the gardens proper, with the day then revving up for the salsa party to give everyone a chance to let their hair down with the sun.

There will be a number of opportunities for involvement in the two-day event – for all sections of the community and local organisations which serve the community. Organisations and service providers are invited to support the Festival and the hundreds of local residents who will be participating.

For more information on the
Gateside Community Festival, contact
Stephen McGann, Community Development Co-ordinator,
Tel. 020 8314 9384

Summer fun in New Cross Gate

The Holiday Activities Programme Initiative (Hapi), sponsored by the NDC, has funded eight local groups to provide activities for children and young people during the summer holidays. The groups providing Hapi activities are:

African Community Partnership are running activities from 24th July to 1st September for young people, aged 8-16, at Barnes Wallis Community Centre. African Community Partnership will provide a 6 week summer programme for young people living in the NDC area. For more information contact 020 7635 9000.

Holiday Venture Group are running activities from 31st July to 10th August for young people aged 8-11. Holiday Venture Group will provide an out of London camping holiday to Ringstead, Dorset, for 12 NDC children, 4 from each of the Triangle schools. Children for this scheme have already been selected in consultation with the schools.

Lewisham Muslim Women’s Group are running a small number of activities over the holidays for children and mothers, including joining in the Gateside Community Festival with activities which all residents can take part. For more information contact 020 8694 7462.

REM Education Centre are running activities from 23rd July to 25th August for young people aged 5-16 at Scotney Hall. REM Education Centre will provide support to children, young people and their parents during the holiday period . For more information contact 020 7639 3337.

Somerville Adventure Playground are running activities from 24th July to 2nd September for young people up to 16. Somerville Adventure Playground will offer an exciting programme of activities, on and off site, for the whole holiday period, including open access to the Adventure Playground itself during summer opening times. For more information contact 020 7732 1403.

Triangle Schools Project is providing a five-day scheme based at Monson School until 29th July. Several of the young people on this scheme will be contributing to the showcase event which forms part of the Gateside Community Festival. For details contact 020 7639 0436.

In addition to the above Hapi-funded activities:
All Saints Youth Club will be meeting daily at All Saints Centre throughout the summer providing activities for young people over 13. For more information, contact Tel. 07931 424 214

Friends of Monson are running a one week summer scheme based at All Saints Church. For details, contact Cleo Jones on Tel. 07916 207 385;

Greenhouse Schools Project will be running activities at Haberdashers’ sport ground, St Asaph Road (near Nunhead Station), from 31st July to 17th August Monday to Friday 10am–4pm. Activities include: football, street dance, dodgeball, trampolining, basketball and table tennis. It costs £1 per day, suitable clothing and a packed lunch is recommended. For details, contact 020 7603 5111; and

Millwall Community Scheme is running a number of sport coaching and other activities throughout August. A small charge is made for the soccer school. For more details contact Tel. 020 7740 0503.

Telegraph Hill has a number of holiday activities centred on the Telegraph Hill Open Access Play Scheme, Erlanger Road, S14. Tel: 020 7639 0708.

There is free swimming for children at most Lewisham Council pools throughout the holidays. Children under eight must be accompanied by an appropriate number of supervising adults. Non-swimmers must wear approved armbands, etc. Contact you local pool for details.

For holiday activities throughout Lewisham visit: www.lewisham.gov.uk/NewsAndEvents/Events/SummersAlive2006