Grants from the Community Engagement Fund

Members may wish to take advantage of the following, as received from Croydon Council

Please see details below, for the Communities Engagement Fund (Windrush) – I have blind copied our database of local partners/organisations that may wish to apply.

On the 2nd August, the Home Office has launched the Community Engagement Fund (CEF), a £150,000 fund to support grassroots and community groups. The purpose of the fund is to:

·         raise awareness of, and address any misinformation about, the Windrush Compensation Scheme and Windrush Scheme·         build on the insights and learning taken from the existing work on Windrush to understand why individuals are not applying for the Windrush Compensation Scheme and the Windrush Scheme·         how to encourage eligible individuals to apply to the schemes mentioned above

To apply, organisations will need to register an interest in the fund using the ‘Find a grant’ portal or by email to: CommunityEngagementFundCompetition@homeoffice.gov.uk

The closing date to submit an application is 4:00pm on 30 August. Information sessions will be held for community and grassroots organisations who are interested to learn more about the fund and how to submit an application. The sessions will be held from 2:00pm to 3:30pm on 8 August and from 11:00am to 12:30pm on 10 August. Organisations interested in joining a session should email: CommunityEngagementFundCompetition@homeoffice.gov.uk

Shirley South Ward Panel

The Shirley South Ward Panel has recently been reconstituted under new leadership and is now looking to recruit some new members to represent the local community to determine how the Shirley South Ward is policed. 

The Ward Panel webpage: https://www.springparkra.co.uk/shirley-south-ward-panel/ is being hosted on the SPRA website with full details on the role of the Ward Panel, how to make contact, together with the current priorities that have been agreed with the Shirley South SNT.

Room(s) wanted

We have been asked by a resident to help with accommodation in today’s unusual circumstances.

Do you have two rooms (or possibly one large one) that you would consider renting out?

Sasha and her daughter Liza (6) are from Ukraine and looking for accommodation in Shirley / West Wickham, ideally walking distance or a bus ride from Oak Lodge primary school.

Sasha does not drink or smoke and speaks very good English. Liza’s spoken English is improving daily.

The room(s) could either be through the Homes for Ukraine scheme, which offers £350 a month support payment and ongoing assistance, or a private lodging agreement, paid for by housing assistance until Sasha has found a job.  She is a trained counsellor / therapist.

All the immigration paperwork and documentation has been sorted already – the girls just need their next UK home while Sasha sorts out a job in order for them to become fully independent and safe all the time Vladimir Putin continues to destroy their homeland.

If you might be able to help, please call or message Julian Roberts on 07802 463 817

Thank you very much!

A Police warning

Following a recent incident of a resident being violently assaulted in the nearby Park Hill Ward when confronting men stealing catalytic converters, police are advising the public to ring 999 immediately and not to approach or confront anyone they suspect is stealing a catalytic converter. If possible try and note their car number plate and only if it is safe to do so try and take a picture of the suspects and their car.

An opportunity for an IT volunteer

We have been asked to publicise the following opportunity …

The Shrublands Trust is a registered charity and operates out of its premises at 7 Broom Road, Shirley, Croydon, CR0 8NG.

We are currently in urgent need of a volunteer to help with IT for the running of our weekly Food Bank

What we are looking for:

Skills: Some  IT knowledge required 

Role: to upload opening times and list of food needs each week onto our web site

Time: 10-20 minutes per week

What we can offer you: 

Resources: use of the Shrublands’ laptop

Experience: being part of the Shrublands’ team working for the local community.

Can you help?  For further information please telephone the Trust Manager Mrs. Beverly Warner on 0208 405 9989.

Solid wall insulation – a message and a warning from the Council

Malcolm Bell, Croydon Council’s Energy Projects Manager, has written a warning as follows …

Unfortunately I am writing to inform you, a resident has informed me a company called UK ECO solutions (or someone on their behalf) is doing door knocking in the borough about grants for solid wall insulation, claiming they are working with Croydon Council.  I have recently seen Facebook adverts from them hinting they work with and/or the funding is from the Council.

I can confirm Croydon Council not working with this company, nor are they a sub-contractor for one of our partner companies, nor has the team had any discussions with them.   The sub-contractor working with our partner AgilityEco currently installing solid-wall insulation for home owners is called Simple Green Energy, and they will only be contacting residents who have applied, or been referred into the scheme with their consent.     None of the companies we are working with are doing any cold calling/door knocking promotions.

All the private sector grant providers/schemes we work with are listed on our Energy Advice webpage   www.croydon.gov.uk/energyadvice     Although residents can apply directly for these schemes (as opposed to a referral through Croydon Healthy Homes), we do recommend residents use one of our partner organisations to access grant funding if they are eligible.  For some schemes eligibility/grant may be dependent upon a signed declaration from Croydon Council, and we only do this with companies we have an agreements in place with.

I would strongly advise residents to check the web page to ensure any company claiming to work with the Croydon Council is genuinely working with us.  Alternatively they can email healthyhomes@croydon.gov.uk or call the Healthy Homes Freephone number to check 08002922529 (the number currently diverts to an answerphone, but we aim to call back all residents as quickly as possible, and all within a week).

May I also take this opportunity to notify you the Croydon Heathy Homes team will be hand delivering leaflets about our services to homes in areas with high-levels of fuel poverty, especially older properties.  This week we delivered leaflets in the Waddon area.  The letter we delivered was in the name of our Healthy Homes Advisor, Jayesh Patel.

Shirley Library – opening times

We have been advised that Shirley Library will be open on Mondays and Tuesdays starting on 6 September, from 10am to 1pm and from 2 pm to 5 pm.

Please see the following link to the Council’s website; https://www.croydon.gov.uk/libraries-leisure-and-culture/libraries/find-your-library/shirley-library

Calling all birdwatchers

We have been asked to alert members tothe following …

The British Trust for Ornithology and the behavioural science research group at Middlesex University have just started an online project where volunteers can submit observations of birds for research. I was wondering whether this might be a of interest to your community group?
The first aim of the project is to study how commonly different species in different areas of the UK eat human foods and litter instead of “natural” food like worms and insects. The second aim is to engage more people in birdwatching: a common barrier is that most citizen science projects require bird ID skills, so we designed this study in a way that bird names aren’t required at all. Our hope is that this will help to engage more people with nature and birds. 

https://mdxl.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cON8ssxLcI8T6Wq

Could you help us spread the word and distribute this among your group members please? The study will be open until 26th August and volunteers can participate as many times as they like.

GP data transfer

We have received the following …

GP Data transfer to national database (NHS Digital)

There is an important change underway.  From 1 September 2021, medical information held at GP level will be passed to a national database.   Data will be anonymised, so that it cannot be traced to individuals and will be used to improve health service provision, track health trends and aid research.

Individuals who do not wish to have their data moved to a national database, must fill in an opt-out form. Any information passed on after 1 Sept cannot be ‘retrieved’, so it is important to act quickly if you intend to opt out.

To find out more of the details and to access the opt-out forms go to

General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) – NHS Digital or speak to your local GP practice.