Over 250 estate residents benefitted from the summer programme activities that ran across Carpenters, Custom House and Canning Town estates this summer
Newham Council ran a summer activities programme across the three major estates undergoing regeneration this summer 2023. The programme was a resounding success with almost 250 residents including children and young people enjoying weeks of fun, friendship and fitness.
The summer activities programme consisted of a wide variety of activities launched in July 2023 aimed to keep our young residents of all ages busy with local activities during the summer holidays. The activities also included fun for all the family with fun days, sports days and day trips to the seaside.
Children attended a wide range of activities and sports including a multi-sports day in collaboration with the West Ham Foundation. Leading the session were coaches from the West Ham United Foundation, who not only guided participants through various activities but also provided valuable mentoring and coaching advice. The day's activities spanned a variety of options, including dribbling drills, football tennis, footwork practice, and culminated with an engaging match between two teams and refreshments were provided at the end.
Engaging the young creative brains in Newham, the summer programme saw the creation of graffiti art designed with local artist Curtis Donovan for the hoarding at the Custom House estate and a new wall design for the new Canning Town estate regeneration hub at Vincent Street A series of free co-design workshops led were held at the Carpenters estate Dovetail hub and with pupils at Carpenters Primary School to create a community mural for the estate.
Alongside physical activities, there was also a series of career development initiatives from CV workshops to the annual Young Designers Group event which saw 20 young people from the local area take part in this year’s Young Designers Group programme at the Carpenters estate, aimed at developing essential skill sets for young people.
This year the theme was visualizing the ‘Future of Work’. Given the growth of hyper-local businesses particularly within the creative industry, the sessions gave an insight into establishing small enterprises. The sessions built up to a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style presentation, whereby groups presented their concepts and business plans to a panel featuring Populo Living team members, James Kaguima (founder of Skate Cabal), Alla David (General Manager, The Westbridge Hotel Stratford), Ayesha- Munro (Lush Cosmetics) and Councillor Amar Virdee. The winning team won complimentary tickets to the Sidemen charity football tournament courtesy of London Stadium.
Councillor Amar Virdee, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Crime said: “It was a fantastic experience to partake in the Young Designers judging panel. This project highlighted the level of talent within the borough. The groups were enthusiastic, professional and demonstrated advanced calibre of ideas. I want to commend all the groups that partook and showcased their talents. I look forward to supporting further initiatives”.
One of the participants, said: “I enjoyed the enriching experience of learning about the behind-the-scenes and tactics to running a successful business.The guest speakers really introduced a new perspective to my thoughts on business, going from not being too interested in the topic to potentially starting my own business. I enjoyed creating a business plan and breaking down the components of mine and my team's business idea, and I also really enjoyed the food!”
To learn more about the current progress at the Canning Town, Custom House and Carpenters estate , visit the Newham website.