News

12 January 2022
Written By hncp

GEM Environmental Services Funds a Christmas Dinner for 100 Elderly People in Highgate Community

The 17th of December was a special day for the Highgate community. GEM – Camden Council’s main mechanical and electrical contractor – teamed up with Highgate Newtown Community Partners to put on a three-course Christmas dinner for the community.

Tables were neatly laid with Christmas treats and GEM goodie bags for each person, and each resident enjoyed a starter, followed by a main with all the trimmings and finishing with a delicious dessert. Laughter and happiness were at the forefront of the event, with live music, entertainment and raffle prizes for all to enjoy.

Natasha Sterling Resident Liaison Officer at GEM stated,
“We were so moved by new Highgate Newtown Community partner and what they are doing for the elderly residents. It was a pleasure to be part of such a fun day and seeing residents enjoying the festive season with their friends whilst having the opportunity to meet new residents within the community. Christmas can be a lonely time for some, the Christmas dinner was a remarkable highlight for the season”.

By working with Highgate Newtown Community Partners, GEM helps make a difference to the lives of older people living alone, not just during the Christmas season, but for the rest of the year too. Gathering residents of the Highgate community together for events like the Christmas Dinner helps foster a strong sense of diversity, and GEM looks forward to rolling out more inclusive events throughout 2022.

“We wanted to do our bit to make a difference and help a local charity provide good memories over the festive season to the residents. Some people may feel lonely at Christmas since Christmas is portrayed as being about families coming together and we wanted to bring the elderly together to enjoy Christmas”. Keith Harris Director

5 January 2022
Written By hncp

The Early Days

The early days of the Highgate Newtown Community Centre and the present developments.

As the demolition of the old HNCC has been completed and we look forward to a modern building replacing it, it’s interesting to look back to its early days and see how it came into existence.

The redevelopment of the Highgate Newtown area was part of a drive during the 1970s to get rid of substandard, run-down housing and replace it with modern social housing. Most of the first phase of the scheme involved replacing the small, badly-built Edwardian terraces, unlike the more substantial Victorian terraces further south such as Chester Road, Doynton, Winscombe and Balmore Streets, which were extensively rehabilitated.

The Early History
The area was under great stress, with people being rehoused from their substandard homes, squatting of empty properties, closing of local shops, demolition, dirt and noise.

Demolition and rehabilitation disturbed the rats and local resident Moya Denny persuaded the council to open a record in Highgate Library for sightings of rats so that they could be dealt with speedily.

Any unoccupied house that was due for demolition or rehabilitation would almost instantly be taken over by squatters, who came into conflict with the local residents. This had been a tightly-knit community, and they did not care to see their way of life disturbed. The squatters tended to have noisy parties late at night, and the failure to put out dustbins for collection was a source of much aggravation with refuse piling up on the pavements and in basement areas.

During the redevelopment, a staff member of one of Camden’s voluntary organisations was given an office in the space now occupied by the shops and doctor’s surgery almost opposite the library. From this base, Jane Cooper acted as a voluntary adviser to members of the local community requiring access to services, housing advice and other Concerns.

She persuaded me, in my role as one of the three local councillors for Highgate Ward, to support the Women’s Aid and Refuge service in Camden.

It became obvious that there was a need for a community centre which could coordinate services and provide space for meetings, clubs and other activities.

One rainy afternoon in April 1978, my fellow councillor John Crouch and I were shown the derelict building at the end of Bertram Street. We were amazed at its size, the enormous hall that had been a tank repair workshop, the offices, kitchen and other rooms being used as workshops for Pentonville Prison. We agreed that John Crouch should immediately get on his bike and go off to Pentonville to find out more about the use of the building. He did so and discovered that the prison authorities no longer intended to use it for workshops.

We suggested to Camden officers that it would make a good community centre, and after discussions, it was agreed that the council would repair the roof, make the building weatherproof and appoint a coordinator to set it up. With council support, we were fortunate to be able to appoint Berrell Jensen, who had considerable experience in similar enterprises.

This patient, dynamic and practical woman worked with a committee of local people and councillors to prepare activity programmes for the centre, covering sports, advice sessions, craftwork, entertainment and sessions for pensioners, mothers, and babies. Professional circus acrobats rented the hall as a practice venue. The hall was perfect for sport – football at first, with weekly training sessions for different age groups; and later for Judo. As a newly qualified class 3 football referee, I was pleased to be able to run the five-aside football sessions on Friday evenings. Parents picking up their children from nearby Brookfield School began to get involved in the centre, and other activities were developed.

Later, Berrell Jensen moved to the Hampstead Community Centre, and Nick Roxan was appointed to take her place. I served two terms as a councillor and decided not to stand for a third term. I also stood down as chair of the HNCC, leaving it in the competent hands of Nick and the local committee. Under his leadership, it went from strength to strength, developing many new activities. The building was always a source of concern as it was expensive to maintain and heat, but no decisions were made about refurbishment, and it served the neighbourhood for more than forty years.

The recent decision to demolish and rebuild the centre was taken after a review of the costs and sustainability of a refurbished building. This was found not to be a viable option, and it was decided to replace the old building with a purpose-built community centre and some Camden-sponsored housing.

There were lengthy discussions over architectural plans for the new building over several months. The Highgate Newtown Regeneration Project Construction Working Group has been set up, chaired by senior council officer Ms Cornwall-Jones, with the demolition and building contractors attending.

The group meets regularly with representatives of the local community, who are able to ask questions of those responsible for the demolition and rebuilding, and make suggestions. These include concerns about traffic management, as well as local environmental issues, such as noise, dirt, damage to local roads by heavy vehicles and dangers to pedestrians – particularly children and parents at Brookfield School and users of the Highgate Library and local shops.

These issues have been raised at meetings, and answers have been provided by the representatives of the companies involved, who have acted upon immediate concerns that could not be left to be discussed at the next meeting. Updates on progress have been
published and are available in the library. I have represented the trustees at these meetings and report back to them.

In the last few months, the architects have been working on the internal layout of the new building, so suitable spaces can be provided for the various activities and services planned for the centre. Attention to detail in this part of the project is intended to improve the quality of life of local residents and other users, along with providing a common meeting place to enhance the sense of community for all who use the centre’s services, including volunteers and professional staff.

There are still hurdles to overcome in the next eighteen months or so, but with the support of the local community, local Camden councillors and officers and the professionalism of the architects and builders, as well as the support of the trustees and Andrew’s strong leadership, we look forward to the successful completion of a much-needed facility based on a spirit of partnership and cooperation.

John Carrier
Trustee
17th August, 2021

2 January 2022
Written By hncp

Citizens Advice Bureau

Citizens Advice Camden is committed to working collaboratively and generously with local partners, and we look forward to working together with Highgate Newtown Community Partners.

Citizens Advice Camden empowers people to make informed decisions about issues that affect them directly and to take positive and independent action to improve their own lives. We do this through providing independent, impartial, confidential and free advice and information services advising on issues including debt, welfare benefits, housing and employment. At the same time, we work to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.

Citizens Advice Camden

Visit our website, or call us on 08082787835

Opening Spring 2023

1 January 2022
Written By hncp

Better Together

As we approach the end of January, it’s time to assess how your new year’s resolutions are going. We certainly hope you’re more conscientious about your study programmes, more efficient at work, losing excess weight, getting on better with the relatives, fitter, not arguing with the children, or whatever you’d been aiming for. It’s an ongoing thing, isn’t it?

As minister of Highgate United Reformed Church, one of the best decisions we ever made was not just to go it alone, but to find out what was happening in our local community and, where possible, work in partnership with others. In many walks of life, we mistakenly think that we’re better doing things on our own, only to discover eventually what a huge mistake this can be. What huge rewards there are for those who are prepared to work with others, because, as the well-known saying goes – we’re better together.

One organisation we work with has recently changed its name to reflect these important values – Highgate Newtown Community Centre is now Highgate Newtown Community Partnership.

We all know how important it is to reflect just how diverse and interesting our communities are, especially here in London. Partnership gives us the opportunity to work together as we look at a variety of ways for serving our community.

HNCP are working across a range of levels – embarking on the development of a new-build project which will bring people together and serve their needs, and supporting local community lunches like our Thursday lunch at Pond Square Chapel.

These community lunches (in several locations) bring people together in a friendly atmosphere and so help combat social isolation for many. And the lunches themselves also give us a chance to work with others like Channing School, who bring pupils occasionally to
provide a high-quality music programme and performance – a real treat for our diners!

All this is only possible through your kindness and generosity, so many thanks to all readers who have supported these partnerships, or who are faithfully making a contribution in other ways for the sake of our communities.

30 December 2021
Written By hncp

Support your community centre

Robert Aitken, our Chair of Trustees speaks to the Ham & High about our appeal, explaining why it is so important to raise funds. The new centre currently under construction will be a focal point for the whole community. We have the support of many generous funding partners and charitable trusts. We hope that you may be able to join with us too in building the future.

24 December 2021
Written By hncp

Festive support from Sian Berry

Read why the HNCC is such an important community resource and so worthy of support. Local Councillor and London Assembly Member Sian Berry makes a compelling case in her piece for the Ham and High.

22 December 2021
Written By hncp

Festive support from Sian Berry

Work is projected to start on the Chester Road Hostel site redevelopment in January 2022. There is an opportunity to meet the demolition contractors online on Wed 12th January 2022 from 6pm until 7pm. If you wish to join please download the letter from Camden  and follow instructions.

You may also like to be kept informed or to have a voice by joining a mailing list or the Community Working Group. Again full details about how to get involved are in the letter from Camden.

More information on wearecamden.org with additional information on how to comment on the Demolition management plan (deadline is Wednesday 19th January 2022)

24 September 2021
Written By hncp

Remarkable Lives app launch

Wednesday 26th September 2018 will see the official launch in London of the Remarkable Lives app at the Highgate Newtown Community Centre.

The App is designed to capture life histories and at the same time improve quality of life, wellbeing and care.

Taking a positive approach to challenges of an ageing population Remarkable Lives, the social impact startup and Challenge Dementia Finalist, is tackling loneliness and isolation, compounded by negative perceptions of later life, against the backdrop of fragmented families, communities and reduced connectivity between the generations.

The Remarkable Lives app builds an interactive timeline of memories for older people. But whereas traditional social networks can’t back date, and document only what’s happening in our lives in the present, Remarkable Lives is unique in chronicling people’s life stories from the beginning. And although people can enjoy using the app to record a personal memoir, its main purpose is to encourage people to help save someone else’s life story, perhaps before it’s too late. Less selfie, more selfless.

For more information contact us

20 August 2021
Written By hncp

2021 Annual Report

It has been a busy year with changing needs in the community due to covid and our redevelopment underway.

Our annual report is available to view or download now

12 August 2021
Written By hncp

Summer Camp

The 2021 kids summer camp in partnership with Brookfield School is proving to be a great success with the children. One even went so far as to say the first day was ‘the best day of my life’!

Early activities included writing plays, designing a theme park (with some fun math assistance) and launching ‘rockets’.

The location has met with general approval with the children impressed by the size of the buildings, the massive gym and the beautiful green playing spaces.