Photo by Charlie Gregory on Unsplash
South London's Herne Hill has a community-led organisation - The Herne Hill Forum; they work to make their neighbourhood a better place to live, work and visit. They take their lead from the community, work in partnership whenever possible and rely on volunteers for what they achieve.
The Forum was established in 1999.
Located on the boundary between Southwark and Lambeth, Herne Hill was peripheral to both.
At best an ‘undiscovered gem’, at worse ‘that junction between Brixton and Dulwich’, Herne Hill lacked both a centre and a sense of identity.
The Forum’s first success came with the facilitation of efforts to create Station Square and the introduction of the Sunday Market. Funding was then secured for large murals and lamppost banners to give the neighbourhood a stronger sense of community and cohesion.
At the present time, the Forum's volunteers are seeking to improve their neighbourhood through community-building projects.
With many projects in the pipeline, they are always looking for volunteers who want to get involved and lend a hand. Whether it’s gardening, DIY, helping to organise and run events such as Herne Hill’s annual Halloween Party or the Kids Literary Fest at Station Hall, they always welcome new team members of all ages and ability levels.
In general, projects are the core of the Forum’s work. Identifying common objectives, providing the means by which the community can become involved and then piloting them to completion is the means by which neighbourhoods become communities. There is nothing like a shared endeavour to create bridges between different parts of the community and the personal connections made along the way endure well beyond the project’s completion.
If you enjoy being socially active and contributing to your community, sign up to Herne Hill Forum's volunteering group and leave your footprints on your neighbourhood's wellbeing.
Volunteering is a worthwhile and fun way to gain skills and experience as well as give back to the community and meet new people.
Information was taken from Herne Hill Forum's website.