We’ve been working really hard behind the scenes to look at the future sustainability of Heart of Sidley for the Sidley community. As we approach the end of our 6th year as a Big Local area, and after a year of discussions and working together, we can now make the very exciting announcement that Heart of Sidley has recently taken the Sidley Community Association charity (charity number 1068217) under our wing.
This is very exciting news for us, as many of you know, the HOS partnership is an informal structure made up of local residents and business owners. To begin with, we will run SCA as a Heart of Sidley project. And we’ll gradually merge to become one entity by the end of the Heart of Sidley 10 year life span as a Big Local area, in 2025. Three of our wonderful partners – Linda Seddon, Nikki Collins, and Steve Lucas – have volunteered to be the first new trustees of SCA, and have been successfully appointed by the Charity Commission.
Sidley Community Association has been part of the Sidley community for over 20 years. The previous trustees had committed their time to SCA so valuably for so long, it would have been a tragedy to close the charity down. Our values and objectives are similar and we want to ensure we do justice in continuing their legacy alongside our own for future generations in Sidley. We’d like to give our thanks to the last standing trustees – Tim Hemmings, Stephen White, and Jean Burke – for everything they’ve done over the last few years in ensuring SCA continued successfully.
SCA have been well known for their Summer party and Christmas dinner for local seniors, and they’ve handed their remaining funds to The Pelham to continue this good work at the community centre.
We‘ve made a good start with SCA, and now we need more trustees, so we want people who feel they have skills to offer to get involved. Being a trustee is voluntary and doesn’t take up too much time but it is a serious commitment. And it‘s such a wonderful opportunity to be part of something that can make such a big difference in our area.
Heart of Sidley’s vision is:
ACT. BELONG. COMMIT – by 2025 Sidley will be a place where people will want to be actively involved in a community that they are proud to belong to and that has a commitment to its future.
Heart of Sidley is a community-led partnership, led entirely by local residents, in partnership with local organisations, businesses, and others. It has been awarded £1m over 10 years by Local Trust (via the National Lottery Community Fund) to improve the area and make it a better place to live, as one of 150 Big Local areas across the country.
We’re a very proactive and driven group of people here at the Heart of Sidley, who are all part of the Sidley community ourselves. We try to ensure voices are heard and action is taken in our commitment to improving the area and opportunities for local people.
You can follow us and see what we’re up to on our Heart of Sidley Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and our new website will soon be launched in April too.
To find out more about becoming a trustee of Sidley Community Association or getting involved with Heart of Sidley, contact Heart of Sidley‘s project officer, Tanya Vice, on heartofsidley@gmail.com / 07866 046106.