What Is Bellingham Community Project (BCP)?
BCP is a small charity in Bellingham, one of the most deprived wards in Lewisham. The charity has been embedded in the local community since 1993. It works in partnership with statutory and voluntary bodies and the community to develop health/well-being and leisure projects, which meet local needs, at prices the community can afford.
The Bellingham Community Project Ltd is a registered charity. It was established by the City Parochial Foundation (now Trust for London) of which it is a subsidiary. It is run by a small voluntary Board of Directors, employing three staff.
Mission Statement & Charitable Objectives
Mission statement
“To work with the community and others to improve the health and quality of life of people living in Bellingham and the surrounding areas” in other words “helping to build healthy, happy lives”.
Charitable Objectives:
1. To promote any charitable purpose for the benefit of people in the London Borough of Lewisham that will develop the capacity and skills of the inhabitants in the area in such a way that they are better able to identify and meet their needs.
2. To work with and support voluntary and community groups in the area of benefit to provide facilities for sport and recreation and other leisure time occupation in the interests of social welfare with the object of improving conditions of life.
Meet The Teams
Chair
Peter Brooks
Peter Brooks was a Deputy Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. His portfolio includes Anti-poverty, Social Inclusion and Human Resources. He was also Vice Chair of the Council’s Cabinet Committee and deputised for the Council leader on the London Councils Leader’s Committee.
Project Administrator / Festival Organiser
Anne Roberts
Anne has worked for BCP on a part-time basis since 2001.
Community Project Worker
Anna Post
Anna is our Community Project Worker. She started in 2023 and is funded by a grant from the City Bridge Trust. She gets involved with all the Bellingham Community Projects but has a special remit for Older Adults. Anna supports our partnership relationship with Christ Church Community Hub.
Company Secretary
Heather Taylor
Heather joined Trust for London as Finance Director in July 2022.
Prior to this Heather was the Director of Finance and Operations at Action Tutoring, a national education charity. Heather brings 14 years of finance experience in charities and local government. After graduating with a maths degree at Manchester University, she trained as a chartered accountant whilst working at Lewisham Council and then moving to London Councils. She then moved to the charity sector to work for Shelter.
Director
Julian Rouse
Julian Rouse, Project Director has worked for BCP since 1993, formally he worked as a youth worker and managed Lewisham provision
Diretor
Ami Ibitson
Ami Ibitson is one of the Directors at BCP.
Director
Iyare Igiehon
Iyare Igiehon is one of the Directors at BCP.
History
In the 1900s, Trust for London had an interest in buying and maintaining several important green spaces, coined the ‘lungs of the city’, to ensure that Londoners had access to good quality outside space. These included Coram’s Fields in Bloomsbury, extending Hampstead Heath, and the Bellingham playing fields in Lewisham bought in 1930.
This 12-acre site in Bellingham, made up of a sports hall built in 1977 and buildings dating from 1932 to 1962, was a thriving sport, youth and social facility in the 1980s but begun to decline as leisure habits changed. When BCP was first established in 1993 to manage the centre, the charity realised that facilities were no longer fit for purpose and, after consultation with the local community, the feedback was that they were no longer benefiting the community as a whole.
The key priority for BCP was to create something that really met the community’s needs whilst keeping prices affordable. In 1999, they took the decision to demolish everything on the site and start afresh. Whilst this was a substantial challenge, BCP worked with many individuals and partners including the people of Bellingham and a group of around 40 local agencies to make the vision a reality. Major funders came on board including Trust for London, the London Borough of Lewisham and Sport England, and they received generous support from the commercial sector including pro-bono legal advice from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
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In April 2004, having raised over £5.5 million of charitable, local authority and lottery funding, the Bellingham Leisure and Lifestyle Centre was opened, making a significant contribution to the regeneration of the local area. The funding included a £1.2 million capital grant from Trust for London, which has continued to grant support BCP thereafter.
BCP decided the new Centre needed to be managed by a professional leisure centre contractor and raised an additional £500,000 to cover the management fee for 10 years.
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Within its first three weeks of opening, 1500 people visited the centre to either enquire about membership or to join, and various community schemes and sports clubs became regular features, benefitting from the top-of-the-range facilities. As a Healthy Living Centre, it is maintained as a local environmental space as well as a sports centre and community venue.
In 2005 BCP raised £500k towards the costs of building a new youth facility on the site, passing the grant and subleasing land to Lewisham Council to enable the construction of the Youth and Community Gateway Building. It is now the headquarters of Lewishams youth service provider (Youth First) and a much needed provider of activities for the youth of Bellingham. BCP works closely with Youth First and has ran many projects for young people e.g. Junior Gym. BCP raised funds to part fund a Senior Youth Worker for Bellingham in 2017/18.
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In 2014 Lewisham Council agreed to include the Leisure Centre in its Leisure contract portfolio and to guarantee the revenue the Centre needed. The centre has become a fantastic resource for the local community along with employing local people who are paid the London Living Wage. BCP’s promise to keep costs low for local people means that they continue to raise funds for the centre whilst supporting their continued wider work within the local community with a focus on the elderly and children with special educational needs. Delivering monthly free fun play sessions for children with special educational needs and specific weekly projects for the elderly and isolated adults.
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BCP were coordinators of the Well London programme from 2008 – 2017 the programme helped to build stronger local communities by getting people working together to improve their neighbourhoods and their health and well-being. The programme bought in over £750k of funding into Bellingham including £90k which was given out to local groups and residents to run projects. The programme helped form a Bellingham Health Forum, bringing local health care professionals and representatives together to increase awareness of local health initiatives and identify changes.
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We have coordinated and fundraise for the annual Bellingham Festival since 2009, which is open to all and promotes community cohesion and participation. It really does bring the whole community together!
