St Joseph’s Hospice: Santa Run and Concert
St Joseph’s Hospice is a charity which cares for people affected by serious illness. It’s been doing that for over 100 years.
The hospice has just been celebrating 10 years of partnership with the National Australia Bank, which has donated more than 3/4 of a million pounds to St Joseph’s.
There are various ways you could help them, by volunteering, donating money, or joining their Santa Run across Victoria Park on Sun 2nd December. By chance I was walking across Victoria Park when last years Santa Run went past (top photo).
On Tues 11th Dec 2018 they have a late lunch concert (1.45 – 2.45) featuring the Mulberry Musicians, a group of four professional musicians; two violinists, a viola player and a cellist. The concert is free and open to everyone. More info.
St Joseph’s Hospice is on Mare Street Hackney, just a bit north of Victoria Park Road, and the Regent’s Canal.
Night and Day: 1930s Fashion and Photographs
This interesting and stylish sounding exhibition is on at the Fashion and Textile Museum just south of London Bridge Station at 83 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3XF. It runs until 20th Jan, and is open Tues-Sat 11-6, closes an hour earlier on Sundays, but is open to 8pm on Thursdays. Adult tickets are £9, but half price with an Art Fund card. More details here.
Special Offers on SmartWater Forensic Traceable Liquid
The Met Police are recommending two kits which enable them to identify property stolen from you. The kit for a bicycle costs £10.50 and one for a home is £25 when you register with a Tower Hamlets postcode. The way these kits work is that you paint the traceable liquid on your bike or valuables. Then you register your unique code on a database. Stolen property recovered by the police is then checked against the database. The licence lasts 5 years.
Grants for Tackling Poverty in Tower Hamlets
A total of £200,000 is available. Tower Hamlets Council want to tackle the root causes of poverty. They want to hear about innovative ideas, no matter how simple, that make a real difference to the financial position and future of Tower Hamlets residents.
There are two strands to the Fund:
• Micro Grants of up to £500 open to not-for-profit organisations and individuals (not for personal benefit) to trial small community initiatives. Micro Grants are simple, you can apply by video, by booking a phone appointment or completing an application form.
• Large Grants of up to £20,000 open to not-for-profit organisations to pilot larger scale projects. All you need to submit is an expression of interest form before the deadline which details your idea and how it’s going to help tackle poverty.
The deadline for all applications is 12 noon on Monday 10th December 2018.
A Tackling Poverty Fund Workshop is on Weds 28th Nov 2018, 10-12pm. attendance is free and you can book your place here.
Healthwatch Tower Hamlets
The Healthwatch November newsletter is here. It contains lots of information. They are also asking for your experiences of your GPs appointment process. Fill in their survey here.
Community Funding in Tower Hamlets
Mayor John Biggs said: “Since 2008, funding for community and voluntary organisations across the country has fallen by 44 per cent. I’m proud that in Tower Hamlets, we have maintained the current funding for our thriving voluntary and community sector to help it continue to grow.
“In approving the new Local Community Fund, we are setting out our commitment to work closely with the sector to deliver the services residents need, while also ensuring transparency, sustainability and independence.”
Read about the new approach to funding community projects in Tower Hamlets here.
Railway Complaints
We only hear about our railways when something goes wrong. Network Rail runs the tracks, the overhead wires, and the signals. It is owned by HM Government. So the privatised railway companies often seem to get the blame for failures by the nationalised bit. Although is true to say that the railways would run more smoothly if they weren’t so fragmented.
I gained an interesting perspective from an article a few days ago in DW, a German newspaper. The sub-heading started with the words: ”Only 20 percent of Germany’s high-speed trains are fully functional…” The newspaper has got hold of internal documents from Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s state owned train operator. They found that only 73% of all trains arrive on time, and they are allowed to be “on time” if they are under 6 minutes late. The internal report said that maintenance problems are caused by under-investment and a shortage of workers.
Last Tuesday, German Transport Minister, Andreas Schauer said, “The train system is not underfunded.” That sounds like a very British ministerial response!