At last we can begin to see our way through the pandemic with the impressive rollout of the vaccination programme. We are all longing for the end of lockdown.
We are sorry that we couldn’t all get together for our now-customary New Year’s fundraising social event at Frederick’s. We are determined to try and arrange a gathering of some kind as soon as we can.
We wanted to let you know, however, that the committee of the Association has been giving some thought to how we can continue to make an impact in St Peter’s Ward and surroundings.
Our financial position remains secure, and we are as always most grateful to members who pay by direct debit or standing order – and enable us to reclaim Gift Aid.
Association funds stand at around £13,000. Our subscription income in the last year was £2,000 and we gave £1,800 in charitable donations. The main beneficiaries were Angel Boat and the St Peter’s ward summer school.
We have in recent years invited members to support, through our January fundraisers, projects that support local young people, including:
- A reading support scheme for local primary schools;
- The Angel Boat charity, which provides adventurous trips for disadvantaged local people both young and old;
- And the St Peter’s Action Group, which has provided programmes of summer holiday activities for young people from local primary schools.
Each of these projects has very much valued the support of the Association.
We would now like to ask you to let us know of any suggestions you have for charitable donations to organisations in our ward in the year ahead. Please email Geraldine, our Secretary, at gerhackett@aol.com
The committee is also keen to support small scale public gardening projects around the ward. At the moment, we are working hard to enhance the planting on the bank of the canal, near the Danbury St Bridge. This links with the good work of other local groups in creating gardening projects and working with the Council to maintain and improve our greenspace.
We have plans to continue working with the Council on our street trees planting, and to help refurbish the planting in the gardens behind the flats in Elia St.
If any member has other projects they would like to propose for Association support – be it in cash or just hard work – please let us know.
As we all know, the most controversial recent issue for us has been the Council’s Low Traffic Neighbourhood intervention with its draconian traffic controls, adding to the significant controls already in place. Views on this are mixed, of course, but our view is that the lack of consultation, the impact on residents’ daily lives and on local business add up to a poor project.
Legal challenges to road closure schemes are being mounted across London. The High Court has already ruled in favour of black cab drivers who wanted access to Bishopsgate and Liverpool St station.
We continue to discuss the St Peter’s Ward scheme with our local councillors, but final decisions on whether to retain, amend or remove the traffic controls are unlikely to be taken by the council before January 2022. We shall shortly post a fuller note on what’s happening about the closures.
The local Police Panel, a forum for the community police team and residents’ associations, has been holding its meetings virtually. As you may know, the panel’s long-standing Chair, Richard Sykes, very sadly died in September 2019. Since then Chris Leaf has kindly taken on the role as interim Chair and the Panel will be looking for a successor. The Panel is a useful forum for exchange of information between police and residents’ groups. It is part of the Safer Neighbourhood Strategy. Meetings are open to anyone living in the ward.
And finally – we wish you all the very best and hope that it won’t be too long before we can all meet again and mingle as an Association.
Eric Sorensen,
Chair, Angel Association
February 2021