Nine local groups in Waterloo delivered social, environmental, regeneration and education projects for over 3,000 people with grants from the Coca Cola London Eye Community Chest.
Choosing projects
The Assessment Panel included directors of WaCoCo, Ward Councillor Jennifer Moseley and the chair of the VMG. Nine groups used the funding to engage 3,251 local people in projects and run opportunities in 3 outdoor spaces and around social housing estates.
What helped who, and where?
- Southbank Mosaics invited residents of five housing estates to join sessions and create mosaic installations for public spaces on their estates.
- Friends of Archbishop’s Park ran 20 “affordable and unique” gardening sessions for under 5s and their families at the new pre-school allotment.
- Waterloo Community Theatre ran an intergenerational project. Young people interviewed older people about local history to inspire an immersive theatre experience acted by both generations.
- Bankside Open Spaces Trust (BOST) more than met their target – attracting 1,709 children and parents to gardening outreach events on Millennium Green.
- Oasis Community Hub used informal methods to raise financial awareness with school workshops – a more preventative approach than training.
- Mental Fight Club partnered Morley College in providing wellbeing workshops like reiki, chair zumba, calligraphy, arts & crafts and singing for people with mental health difficulties.
- Afro-Brazilian Arts & Cultural Exchange Institute gave 100 hours’ sports and arts workshops to people 4-25 years old – and plan to continue the programme long-term.
- Futures Theatre toured ‘Underwater Love’, a theatre piece about pornography and its effect on young people’s relationships. 83% felt more resilient to the pressure of sexting after seeing it.
- Waterloo Sports and Football Club ran a Summer Sports Programme for Young People.
The future
WaCoCo will be winding up soon. The collaboration between local groups and local businesses we set out to champion is now, happily, commonplace. And whilst ensuring the voice of the local community sector is heard remains key, groups such as SOWN who are leading on our Neighbourhood Plan are taking this forward.
But this is not the end of the London Eye grant scheme: the Visitor Management Group will invite applications after the summer.
For more information
- For a copy of the full report on these projects and more information about Waterloo Community Coalition see their information pages. WaCoCo is a member of the Lambeth Forum Network – a network of groups who support local engagement and help build the capacity of their local community sector.
- For information about individual projects:
