Enigma Event – Polish Heritage Day – Hammersmith United Charities

Enigma Event – Polish Heritage Day

We were up against the Royal wedding, the FA cup final (featuring Chelsea), battery powered technology and Ikea flat pack garden furniture…it didn’t feel promising! But the sun shone, we viewed “the dress” on our mobile phones and we were enchanted by the hospitality of the organisers of Polish Heritage day in Ravenscourt Park.

This Enigma lunch took place in a tent on a drop in basis. The revelation was how to make people laugh – genuinely surprised, proper laughs – directly ask them to sit at a (slightly wobbly, bilious orange) table, eat bread and cheese and talk to someone they don’t know. For those who dared, this was everything we wanted from an Enigma event; people sharing their stories, their languages and their experiences.

We focused the lunch around the republication of “Passport to Exile”, memories of Polish migrants in the 1980s. And around an artist in residence who shared his art with us during the day. Technology failure denied us a Polish musician but instead we enjoyed – for the first time in this series of events – the conversation and enthusiasm of some delightful children.

RESOURCES

The Polish Way to London

Hammersmith Reflections – the first few months of new CEO Victoria

In November I was proud to be appointed as the new CEO of Hammersmith United Charities. (more…)

New deadline for grant applications

And grants awarded January 2019

You have now time until the 24th April to submit your grant application.

You can find more information and the new application form HERE.

For the list of grants awarded in January 2019 please have a look on the right.

What’s new at Hammersmith United Charities

our brand new newsletter!

As part of our 400th celebrations last summer, we asked everyone who participated in the “big party” to write a wish for the charity’s future. A very clear message which came out of those wishes was for the members of the charity – residents, staff and trustees – to work more holistically together.
This newsletter – looking at all aspects of the charity and jointly produced by residents and staff – is our first initiative to put that aspiration into practice.

You can read it here – let us know what you think!

Trustee Adam Matan awarded an OBE

We are delighted to announce that one of our Trustees and member of our Grants Committee, Adam Matan, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s honours list for services to the Somali community.

Adam is Managing Director of the Anti Tribalism Movement a non profit organisation tackling tribalism and inequalities within communities. The organisation is working towards a cohesive and dynamic society where every person’s rights are protected regardless of tribe, clan, gender or political belief. He is also Chair of Hammersmith and Fulham’s new resident-led Policing and Crime Commission which will examine the root causes of crime and anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhood.

Congratulations Adam!