NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release: July 21st 2013
Global Garden brings Tottenham to London’s Leading Businesses at Big Connect ‘13
“I am proud to live in Tottenham and very interested in the Global Garden, Global Kitchen.
I use the Selby Centre to improve my English and I have already seen some big changes to the site. There seems to be a lot happening this year.”
-Mukhtar, student
“The Global Garden is a great idea. People here want a positive outdoor space where they have a real pride. Volunteering on the project makes me feel that we are helping people’s lives, to be healthier and active.”
-Samuel, volunteer
“Tottenham really needs this.”
- Orean, local resident
“The BIG Connect is a huge opportunity not just for us, but for Tottenham. We want to show that there is plenty to be passionate about our local area and people.”
-James, Selby Trust
The Selby Trust1 will be appearing with Spacehive2 to promote the Selby Centre’s Global Garden, Global Kitchen project at Business in the Community’s BIG Connect 2013 – the cornerstone of linking community action with big partners.
The event will be a chance for the project to attract the attention of more than 1,500 people, and some of the most influential decision makers from across London on the 12th July 2013 – attended by HRH the Prince of Wales, FTSE 100 companies, leading businesses, banks, investors and more.3
The Global Food Garden will provide an exciting year round growing space for many have no access to an outside space of their own and come from some of the most deprived backgrounds in London.
“More than about growing food, it’s about creating a legacy for Tottenham and a source of pride for our children in years to come”
- Dexter Kelly, Volunteer
Local residents have supported the project as a key way to learn about healthy living by getting involved in urban growing in an area still characterised by lack of investment and demoralised by the 2011 riots.
Instead, Tottenham is hoping to inspire others across the city by growing rare and exotic foods that reflect the borough’s diverse and vibrant communities - bringing a new taste to the community in a twist on urban growing’s popularity across London.
The Global Garden has already attracted donations from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and has generated interest from volunteers through the Mayor’s Team London. The project is also supported by Locality and the Social Enterprise Mark UK.
“In the spirit of our motto, Many Cultures - One Community, this will be a vibrant, multi-cultural space where local residents from BAME communities can share how to cook new dishes and develop key enterprise skills, whilst keeping Tottenham healthy and fit.”
The Selby Trust is tackling the way we see food, supporting the community in a holistic way and encouraging local people to share their abilities with others. It's really tasty, too.
Watch us talk about the project on BBC1's Inside-Out London – You can support us by donating now on our Spacehive page.
THE SELBY TRUST - MANY CULTURES, ONE COMMUNITY
Selby Centre is a major community resource in the heart of Tottenham. It is located in an area of high deprivation, bringing together a rich mix of individuals and organisations, primarily from BME, refugee and other historically excluded communities in Tottenham, Haringey, North London and beyond.
ENDS (369)
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High resolution images and further information available by emailing selbytrustsm@aol.com
James Smith
Communications and Outreach Officer
Selby Centre
Selby Road
London N17 8JL
Tel: 0208 885 5499
Fax: 0208 493 8517
Website: www.selbytrust.co.uk
Notes to editors
• (1) The Selby Trust provides a range of community-led services, including facilities management, under the banner of "Many Cultures, One Community". It manages the Selby Centre - probably the second largest community centre in England and Wales. www.selbytrust.co.uk
• The Selby Centre is a £1m social enterprise operation based in Tottenham, Haringey and is a success story against the odds: almost 80% of its income is self-generated from incubating and supporting social enterprises that hire out community facilities at the Selby Centre at affordable rates.
• The Selby Centre was created as a community centre in 1985 from disused school premises. After the Council’s own failed attempt at running it, threatened closure was fought off by the local community.
• The Selby Trust was born in 1992 to rescue the centre and safeguard local communities against Government cuts. The Council turned over the Centre to the Selby Trust on a 25 year lease in 1997 with full repairing obligations. Eleven short years remain, insufficient to attract serious capital investment.
• The organisations at the Selby Centre read like a checklist of the government’s Big Society agenda: providing citizenship and employability training for the local Somali community; social care providers for vulnerable people; training organisations aimed at helping ex-offenders, young people without work, the long-term unemployed; and job support agencies working with those who are hardest to reach. There is also a developing plan for a free school.
• In 2010, Selby Trust was listed in RBS’s UK Top 100 Social Enterprise Index for growth and in November 2012, the Selby Trust was awarded the Social Enterprise Mark as a result of dedication to improving the community and our fast growing Green Hub - incubating on-site enterprises Wood Works Wonders, The Community Energy Lab and fundraising for the Global Garden, Global Kitchen Project with partners Spacehive.
• (2) Spacehive is the world’s first funding platform for civic projects – making it as easy to fund a new park or playground for your area as buying a book online. We spend most of our time working with communities to develop an amazing mix of projects, looking around for new ideas, and reaching out to people who might like to get involved. We love what we're doing, and who we're doing it with.
• (3) The Big Connect 2013 is an annual event run by Business in the Community (BITC) to bring together the growing network of Business Connectors from across the UK, along with the people and the organisations from the communities in which they work. The event hosts the companies, national partners and individuals who support the Business Connectors programme and help to make this network possible including investors, funders and HRH Prince of Wales
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