We believe in working together and focusing our efforts on what needs doing so we work as a single organization for things like finances, governance, insurance and health & safety.
Bold Vision is an inclusive concept. “We” are all the people who have helped and will help in the future in whatever way.
From a vaguely defined dream of a community centre for the 21st century we now have a tangible space, built from the sweat and donations of local residents and business – and a growing sense of purpose.
The first two years saw us move from casual conversations to a registered company (Sept 2009) through the construction phase (Spring 2010) to the opening of the Hill Station cafe (Aug 2010). We then became a
The group was formed initially by: John Knepler, Catherine Shovlin and Patricio Forrester. They were then joined by Susan Edwards, Maxine Ostwald, Catherine Edwards, Stephen Carrick Davies, Tim Fallon, Clare Sharpen, Sanjit Chudha, Pinky Sidhu and current group members. Ian Convery played a major role in helping build the space and run the cafe for almost three years.
We are all active in the local community in various ways (school, Festival, church etc). We have found that we can achieve so much working together and welcome new people to the management group, especially from communities not yet well represented, that can bring their energy and expertise to our management group. We try to make fair decisions about what we do and how we take action. We aim at creating a joyful, friendly environment to work together and hope this translates into everything we do.
New Cross Learning opens for business
Our helpful friends
have helped us by paying for some of the building related works, and by letting us use the space for a peppercorn rent for the first three years and at a reasonable level for the rest of our lease. They have also helped us understand the history of the community and brought the Anglican Bishop of Southwark along to our opening event. He in turn was so inspired he organised a £3000 donation to the project. They have been excellent partners and we look forward to a continuing relationship both with the church and with the Telegraph Hill Centre.
The Mayor of Lewisham fund gave us our first £10,000, so important to getting the building work started and giving us the confidence that we would be able to raise more money. We have also had excellent relationships and received much support and encouragement from our local councillors. More recently we appreciate the Council’s help in securing us the space for our Common Growth community gardening project, again for a peppercorn rent.
Our brand is our definition of who we are and what we believe in. Once agreed, it should be
against which we measure ourselves. We should be able to challenge any action, decision, process, event, cup of coffee or piece of communication against this checklist to ensure that we are building a true and consistent entity.
OUR MISSION:
To further or benefit the residents of Telegraph Hill and surrounding areas, without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or of political, religious or other opinions by associating together the said residents and the local authorities, voluntary and other organisations in a common effort to advance education and to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation, leisure time, occupation with the objective of improving the conditions of life for the residents.
That what we do encourages mutual benefit. Win-wins. eg Somebody makes a living selling coffee while another has a place to get a coffee; two people discover they have complimentary skills and could work together to develop a business idea or community project, old people whose grandchildren live far away befriend young people whose grandparents are dead or distant.
We are transparent about all that we do. We are open to all, socially inclusive, not a clique or a closed shop. We accept all offers of help or participation. We are open-minded about new ideas and new ways of solving issues.
We are not easily put off. When we meet obstacles and opposition we will have the courage to stand by what we believe in and seek mutually acceptable solutions in order to move on. We accept that we cannot be all things to all people all of the time. If we run an event eg a classical music performance then we will be wholehearted about that – at the same time ensuring that our overall programme of events is balanced and inclusive. When appropriate, we will dare to do that which has not yet been done in ways that have not yet been tested.
We believe in the vast human potential that shares the Telegraph Hill community and geography. We believe in contributing to the unleashing of that potential by giving people more opportunities to connect, to learn, to explore, to imagine, to help, to grow. We believe that together we can do more, and that our Bold Vision should include all the residents of Telegraph Hill who wish to get involved – and examine why others are reluctant to see if we can change that. See full Memorandum of Articles of Association here
2 ARE THERE DIRECTORS OF THE BOLD VISION COMPANY AND HOW ARE THEY ELECTED?
The Bold Vision Company has been set up as a Company Limited by guarantee and currently there are 4 Directors: John Knepler, Catherine Shovlin, Maxine Ostwald and Stephen Carrick-Davies. In the future further directors can be nominated and voted in accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company. Maxine has recently resigned as a director, though she is still keen to support Bold Vision.
3 IF I BECOME A BOLD BACKER DO I ALSO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE COMPANY?
Yes, all those who contribute to Bold Vision will have an opportunity to be a member of the company and AGM meetings will be held at which members can have their say and review how the charity’s plans have materialised and what our future priorities should be.
There are several ways to contribute the £200 and we will always try to be as flexible as possible and believe this process of fundraising will help strengthen community interaction and cohesion.
