Annual Report FINAL DRAFT - Aston-Mansfield

Aston-Mansfield: the unlocked door

Foreword
This year our annual report is entitled The
Unlocked Door; inspired by a comment made
to a member of our staff about how our front
doors are always unlocked and how
approachable this makes us.
Our centres are open and unlocked 7 days a
week to anyone who needs our support;
upholding the community spirit that Aston-
Mansfield has embodied for over 100 years.
We have a rich history of assisting our local community - a successful
history of which we are rightfully proud.
The unlocked door, however, is also descriptive of how we move
forward. Helping local people to overcome barriers they may face,
aiding them in developing skills so they may realise their full potential
and helping them to unlock the door to a brighter future.
We are enormously proud of the work we do, because it empowers
our local community, giving its members the opportunity to achieve
their goals and celebrate the wonderfully diverse society in which we
live and work.
Our work would not be possible without the considerable network of
individuals and organisations that support us, from our staff and
volunteers, to our funders, board, and of course our users. To all of
them we are immensely grateful.
We look forward to the next stage of our journey and hope you will
enjoy reading about the work that we are so passionate about.
Geoff Wheeler
General Manager
Chairman’s report
In October 2000, when Aston-Mansfield was
inaugurated it looked back over the history of
the organisations from which it was formed:
charities with a long-standing history of
tackling the effects of poverty in east
London. Aston-Mansfield asserted its
intention to uphold this tradition with its
mission to create a diverse and inclusive
society; enabling the most vulnerable in our
community to access the support and help they needed; and opening
the door to a whole range of new opportunities and experiences.
Our three broad areas of work – Healthy Living, Lifelong Learning, and
Community Development – allow us to work across the wide range of
issues that affect our community, ensuring that the people here can live
happier, healthier and more engaged lives.
More than ten years later we reassert these aims. Aston-Mansfield is
committed to its work in east London and in the current climate our
community centres and the services delivered from them are of utmost
importance. We continue to develop partnership and collaborative work
to produce the greatest result from our services and limited resources,
and continue to forge new relationships with strategically placed
organisations that allow us to respond to changing needs. We have
seen these partnerships embed Aston-Mansfield’s name and reputation
in all parts of east London and further afield. We have become known
as an honestand reliable partner, with sound knowledge, wide
experience and an extremely committed staff.
Should you wish to know more about anything you read in the following
pages our contact details are listed on the back cover.
Chris Keen
Chairman
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Talking with Barclays Capital staff
at their 2010 Charity Showcase

A rich and successful past
In October 2000 two charities merged to form Aston-Mansfield: charities with a great tradition of over a hundred years combined experience supporting
communities in east London.
Aston Charities Trust (ACT) began with the work of the local
Durning, Smith and Lawrence families; who supported many good
causes in London’s east End during the late 19 th and early 20 th
Centuries. This included founding the Canning Town Women’s
Settlement and the first Durning Hall - which was built as a
community resource for the Limehouse area in 1884. Tragically the
building was razed to the ground by bombing in the Second World
War.
In 1948 the charity took over the site of the destroyed cinema on
Woodgrange Road in Forest Gate. It was here that the second
Durning Hall was built, opened in 1959 its doors have been open ever
since. In 1964 ACT used space in this building to found one of the
country’s first ever housing associations and raised funds to build a 45
bedroom hostel - opened by Princess Margaret in November of that
year. Pushing forward and needs driven provision are traditions we
continue to this day.
Mansfield House Settlement (MS) established 1890, was named
after Mansfield College Oxford. University graduates would ‘settle’ in
an area of high deprivation and through shared experience with local
inhabitants, help them to lead a fuller life. The idea was for those with
the benefit of education to share their learning with those to whom this
advantage was denied: understanding poverty to be the
consequences of environment and not any failing in a person’s
character.
One of its first supporters was a barrister named Frank Tillyard. He set
aside one evening a week (soon joined by his colleagues) to give free
legal advice. This ‘clinic’ soon earned him the nickname ‘The Poor
Man’s Lawyer’. This was the first service of its kind and was a
forerunner of the modern Citizens Advice Bureau.
By 1900 MS was undertaking an astonishing range of activity. It ran a
Penny Bank, men's and boys clubs, an Orchestral Society, a ‘local
parliament’, various sports clubs, and a number of educational
classes. MS also supported artistic endeavour. In 1921 George
Bernard Shaw drew up a new constitution for its dramatic society, the
Mansfield House Players; a group which gave early acting
experience to many, including Terence Stamp and David Essex.
In the 1990s ACT and MS undertook reviews of their work to reflect
upon the changes in their communities, understanding there was a
need for change to ensure the effectiveness of their services. This
paved the way for a merger and in October 2000 Aston-Mansfield
was born: an efficient, innovative organisation more able to provide
the inventive high quality services for which both MS and ACT were
known. As Aston-Mansfield we have restated our aim to develop the
community wealth of east London, promoting diversity and inclusion.
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Theodora Durning, laying the foundation
stone of the current Durning Hall

A safe and welcoming place
For many local people, our community centres in Newham are the first point of contact with Aston-Mansfield. Both the Froud Centre in Manor Park and
Durning Hall in Forest Gate, sited in areas of high deprivation, are recognised as safe havens within the community; supporting people regardless of
age, ability, religion or ethnicity.
Both centres are open 7 days a week from 9.00am – to 9.00pm and our doors are always open to those who need us.
Durning Hall community centre, Forest Gate.
It is from these community centres that we deliver the majority of our services. Be this our children's work, youth programme, capacity building work or
providing low-cost rooms for voluntary, community and religious groups to meet or worship. These buildings are community hubs; providing an invaluable
source of support for local people, particularly those who are newly arrived to the borough, who live on low income, or who are isolated. Each year our
centres see about 30,000 people through their doors, they employ almost 50 people and almost as many volunteers, and mean that we are in constant
conversation with our users and our community ensuring our work stays responsive to local need.
Durning Hall is also home to the Community Involvement Unit (CIU), a team of specialists who offer comprehensive advice, support and information to
new and developing voluntary and community groups. We work one to one with over 200 groups a year, and are in contact with just under 600 groups
through our free monthly information mailings. The CIU’s expert team provides infrastructure support and capacity building for groups and organisations
through an integrated programme of community development, research and information.
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The Froud Centre, Manor Park

Campaigning for our community
As the most diverse borough in the UK, Newham has an extremely wide-ranging set of needs. It has a transient population, with a continual influx of new
communities. These communities are equipped with a variety of skills and strengths but often have complex needs and face a variety of barriers
preventing them from fulfilling their potential.
With our mission to create an inclusive society in east London we recognise the importance of unlocking these skills and helping our citizens overcome
the obstacles that they face; to make the most of the energy and vitality that resides in our local community.
One way we do this is by campaigning for better provision for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes.
There are at least 142 first languages spoken in Newham, 64% of people are from Minority Ethnic communities, and huge numbers of people do not
have even basic written or spoken English. In a borough where worklessness and unemployment, poor health, and poverty, are persistent problems it is
clear that easy access to ESOL classes is essential.
Aston-Mansfield helped establish and continues to play a central role in Newham ESOL Exchange, a consortium of organisations working to make
ESOL provision in the borough clearer and more accessible, especially to those at Entry Level (those without basic spoken and written English skills).
Aston-Mansfield as part of Newham ESOL Exchange has:
Facilitated 2 successful conferences (with over 30 organisations in attendance) as well as a number of other events; discussing the future
of Newham’s ESOL provision.
Produced a lobbying document, sent to central government to prove the necessity to provide continuing funding
Written and published 3 directories, detailing ESOL provision in the borough. Available free in both paper copy and electronically on our
website (www.aston-mansfield.org.uk)
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Just a few of the first languages
spoken in the borough are:
Urdu, Urhobo, Itsekiri,
Zulu ,Guajarati, Igbo, French,
Latvian, Polish, Russian, Tamil,
Turkish, Bangladeshi, Bengali,
Kiswahili and Tolugu
The newest Directory is significantly shorter than the previous edition because funding for ESOL
provision is reducing and because a number of organisations remain unsure about the level of provision
they are likely to offer. The number of organisations providing information on their courses has fallen by
37% . In 2010 34% of organisations delivering ESOL in Newham were from the voluntary or community
sector; this has risen to 60% in 2011.
We remain committed to ensuring local people can access English classes that will enable them to
achieve their full potential and participate fully in our society.

Toronto Avenue Playground at the Froud Centre

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Our young people: unlocking potential
From the Froud centre we run both our Children’s Programme and the majority of our Youth Programme sessions. Both of these programmes intend to
improve the outcomes for children and young people in the borough, helping them live happier healthier lives.
Our children's work includes both a breakfast club and an after school club. These provide a range of informal educational activities teaching children
about the importance of exercise, healthy eating, and how to play safely. The children in our play projects have been able to undertake a variety of
activities from roller-skating, to learning how to cycle, from learning to cook, to arts and crafts. Many of these children are from low-income households—
without our services they would not have the opportunity to experience these activities. The calibre of our children’s work is so high that our recent
OFSTED inspection graded our project as ‘outstanding’: at the time this was one of only two clubs in London not affiliated with a school to receive this
top grade.
Our Youth Programme is equally life changing. The Youth project supports a wide variety of
young people in our borough, including young people aged 16-25 with special educational
needs and learning disabilities. This Young Achievers Group is highly praised by the parents of
our young people, as it offers weekend provision at a time when little else is available, and what
exists can be financially exclusive.
As with all our work the Youth Programme is responsive to need. It developed the Snowshill
Project after a call for something to be done about youth in the local ‘Snowshill’ estate - an Anti-
Social Behaviour (ASB) hotspot. We delivered a range of estate based activities on Friday and
Saturday nights and the result was hugely successful.
One young person that we engaged with through this project was at risk of receiving an Anti-
Social Behaviour Order (ASBO): through our one-to-one work this young person recently
attended court and, due to his greatly changed behaviour, did not receive an ASBO. He has
taken a new direction in his life getting a job and engaging in positive activities. This project is
so successful it has been recognised as having had a positive effect on the estate by Newham
Homes, local councillors and the local community police team.
These smart and energetic children and young people are the key to the future of Newham and
our role is to nurture and develop them so that they can take their place as young leaders in the
community.

Photo by Andrew Aitchison

Aston-Mansfield has around 50 active volunteers at any one time. They
are the backbone to our organisation allowing us to run our services in
the most efficient manner possible. Many of our volunteers are with us
long-term showing the kind of commitment that Aston-Mansfield breeds.
Together we are stronger
Our volunteers come from all over the country and indeed all over the
world, further enriching the diversity and unique environment that Aston-
Mansfield works to foster. We are also working towards The Greater
London Volunteering ‘Expert in Volunteering’ Charter.
We have individuals volunteering across all of our services, from working
at reception, to staffing our charity shop, to supporting our youth and
children’s work. We even have a volunteer ‘Volunteer Coordinator’ – we
are currently looking for funding to make her role full-time so that we can
ensure our volunteers gain the most from their experience, and so that
our volunteering services are the best they can be.
Laure Tcheuko, from Cameroon has been volunteering at Aston-Mansfield
for almost a year, she is one of several ‘Time For God’ (TFG) volunteers
we have had over the years. Alongside another volunteer, Laure has lived
on site at the Froud Centre and worked in a variety of roles over the last
few months. When asked about her feelings volunteering for Aston-
Mansfield she replied with the following:
“When I first landed in UK and was driven to the Froud Centre, I knew I was about to experience something
strange.
Some of the things I had to adjust to were the freezing and rainy cold weather of the autumn; the multicultural
and unique accents of the east Londoners; the area; the under and overground - where I got lost several times,
the life speed, the Froud Centre and the youth work itself. My warm welcome in the first days made me dream a
bit of an easy going year, but that was far from the reality! The first days were only a short break before the start
of the battle. My language barriers, the change in life speed and my lack of experience in youth and community
work, were some of the things I needed to overcome in order to get involved properly.
It took me three months and above to get these sorted out. From feeling strange in an unknown community to
struggling to build a good relationship with the working team, by feeling misunderstood, homesick, or simply lost,
I felt I was just the wrong person at the right place.
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Laure Tcheuko, TFG Volunteer
So, I came to the decision that I was going just to be myself and I started to carry on my daily voluntary tasks by
just being who I am. This decision helped create a peaceful environment where I was going to carry on with my
TFG journey and as I kept moving on, I started to see what was really going on in my placement and the reason
of my being at the Froud Centre. I started to believe in my hidden gifts and talents, observing talented people
working beside me who involved me in a range of different activities: performing arts, cooking, leading the young
people—helping to make change in their life by having fun together with them and develop friendship.”

Stefanie Adler, a Volunteer from Germany, helping out at a recent
fundraiser

Our Future – the next door to unlock
We are constantly looking forward, to the next challenge, the next opportunity: looking for the newest way to help
our local community realise its potential. We are all aware of the current economic climate, and how the enforced
austerity measures are impacting on the charity sector. Resources are being removed and reduced at a time when
many are becoming more dependent on the services that charities like ours offer.
It is vital that we continue to be more clever and more resourceful, whilst remaining true to our goals of helping those
most in need and strengthening our community.
All our projects are designed to reinforce our three broad programme headings: Healthy Living, Lifelong Learning
and Community Development. Alongside our core projects such as our children's and youth work and our capacity
building CIU we continue to develop new and innovative ideas to stay responsive to changing needs. As a front-line
organisation, and one that is often the first port of call for those needing
assistance.
Some of the projects we are currently seeking funding to run include:
An exciting project using comic book art to engage young people at risk of involvement in gangs, knife
crime and anti-social behaviour - to highlight their fears and concern that lead to this involvement.
A project to develop an online resource to be used by both grant-givers and groups seeking funding.
A Piece of work on partnerships and collaboration, to help voluntary and community organisations across
the borough share resources and become more effective.
Funding for a volunteer coordinator, to ensure we make the most of our volunteers, our most valuable and
cost-effective asset!
It is no accident that Aston-Mansfield, in its various forms, has been around for over 100 years; looking forward
and preparing for what’s to come is one of our greatest strengths - one that we will continue to cultivate. We are
committed to a better future for our community and hope to be around providing invaluable support and services
for the next 100 years!
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Thanks
We would be unable to carry out the work we do without the amazing
support of our donors, both financial and in-kind. It is with enormous
gratitude that we thank all those who have made our work possible:
Aston-Mansfield Charitable Trust
Baily Thomas Charitable Fund
Big Lottery Fund
Barclays Capital
Coutts Charitable Trust
Dr. Robert Melville (on behalf of Peggy Melville - In Memoriam)
Global Exchange
Jelly London
London Councils
London Borough of Newham
Miss N Cumberbatch
Newham PCT
PfizerUK Foundation
Porticus
Young Creative Council
Special thanks also to those donors who wished to remain anonymous,
your kind donations have made a huge impact on our projects - in some
cases even allowing us to continue operating certain activities when we
thought they would have to be discontinued.
Board of Trustees
Christopher C Keen (Chairman)
Alan J Shelley (Vice chairman)
Adewala A Adeniji
Karen L Blakeley
Ven Elwin Cockett
Dharam B Lall
Rev Tanya S Rasmussen
Bernard A Tyler
Andrew F West
Stephen M Wright
General Manager
Geoffrey Wheeler
Assistant General Managers
Caroline Rouse
John Connor
Acknowledgements
Designed by: Aston-Mansfield
Photographs: Andrew Aitchison, Aston-Mansfield archives, Briony
Fleming, Kevin Blowe, and Barclays Capital volunteers
This annual report is available in paper copy or can also be downloaded
from our website
www.aston-mansfield.org.uk
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Durning Hall
Earlham Grove
Forest Gate
London E7 9AB
Tel: 020 8536 3800
Fax: 020 8519 5472
(Registered office address)
Froud Centre
1 Toronto Avenue
Manor Park
London E12 5JF
Tel: 020 3355 3974
Fax: 020 8478 0806
www.aston-mansfield.org.uk
Registered charity No: 220085
©Aston-Mansfield 2011
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