The RSA Trust and RSA Island Village Ltd are deeply saddened by the loss of Her Majesty The Queen. Our thoughts and condolences are ...
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Date: 15 Sep 2011
We are VERY excited. The Interpretation Centre officially reopens on Saturday, coinciding with London Open House Weekend.
The centre was closed and collection put in storage during the unpleasant events of last month. In that time the Centre has been given a thorough clean, and all the objects have been inspected, polished and preserved.
On Saturday you can also quiz the four former employees of the factory to find out more about our unique heritage. So, see you then!
Date: 09 Aug 2011
Due to the current situation in Enfield Lock the Board of Trustees and staff of the RSA Trust have closed the Interpretation Centre until further notice. This is to protect the unique and irreplaceable items in the RSAF collection. The Youth Centre remains open as usual. The collection has been distributed to several safe locations off site.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you, should you wish to visit the site in the near future.
Date: 04 Jun 2011
More Funding Success. EIYCT and Oasis have this week been awarded £5000 from L&Q Neighbourhood Teams to invest into the new Oasis Community Garden. For the first time families from the Enfield Lock and Enfield Island Village will have a community space to learn how to grow their own food. It will be a place for diverse groups in our community to share in a common project, enjoy getting to know new people, work together and of course, celebrate our success. Who knows, maybe we?ll soon have a giant-vegetable-growers competition!!
Keep checking this RSA and www.oasischurch.info/enfield websites for future workshop and community dates in the garden.
Date: 03 Jun 2011
We had another successful day on the Oasis Community Garden today and I wanted to share our success with you. Having worked so hard yesterday to get the beds cleared, we had a great turnout for finishing off the ground and getting planting! 47 people including helpers and 6 wonderful guests, were part of the day, 18 children, 8 parent workers, and a fabulous BBQ cooked by 8 of the EIYCT young people.
The children loved seeing the tractor bringing up tyres and compost, and all enjoyed waiting for the trailer to pull up so they could busily scrape out 1.5 tonnes of compost ready for filling the tyres! The older boys felt like a real ?Bob the builder? as they emptied the trailer shovel by shovel. The children loaded up buckets of compost and carried them over to fill up tyres, and as the morning progressed, the youth soon took over with the wheelbarrow and created brand new planting pots.
Our gardening workshop taught us the difference between vegetables that grow beneath and above ground and how to plant, tend and harvest our new vegetable and herb garden. Parents got stuck into digging out weed-roots, some of which were 2 feet deep! And our guest workshop leader showed us how to plan out the newly levelled vegetable beds. Soon we had a few towers for the runner beans to grow up and lovely lines of carrots, beetroot, herbs, leeks, and some soon to be colourful sunflowers!
With such a hot day it was lovely to see the children enjoying the outside and getting stuck into digging, and plenty of watering! And after such a busy morning the burgers and chicken cooked up by our junior chefs was a welcome break!
We were delighted that one of our local councillors Nneka was able to join us in her lunch break from work and soon was digging and planting despite being in full business dress! And we know it was not an easy time to come because of work commitments, so appreciated that many who wanted to come simply could not. We were delighted to have Ciaran Porter from L&Q with us whose Neighbourhood Funds have given substantial funding to support the project, he similarly was soon stuck in filling tyres and shovelling mud along with our parents, children and young people. Similarly it was lovely to have some other parents and the Oasis Children Centre Team join us to share in our successful day. It was a great demonstration of lots of people from a broad range of our community coming together for a shared purpose of creating a space to grow things, celebrate our success and learn new skills as well as make new friends.
So as I have said a few times, it is now time to figure out how we can all use the site ongoingly. A little bit of time from lots of groups will keep it looking great, and it really is a great space for formal, informal and fun learning; building community; sharing; and experiencing a part of life that living in a city, often without gardens, many of us do not get to enjoy.
Finally let me say thank you to EIYCT (sponsored by RSA TRUST), Oasis, L&Q Neighbourhood Fund, Extended Schools funding, Capital Growth grants, PAYP, Linbrooks who have provided finance, time or in-kind supplies, and of course our parents and children who have enjoyed the half-term workshops!
We look forward to seeing you soon at the Oasis Community Garden!
Date: 31 May 2011
We’re pleased to say that a group of parents and children from Enfield Lock today started work on their new community garden on the oasis academy site.
The children were digging, watering, collecting snails, removing weeds, and making garden collages and signs whilst parents sweated away digging out weeds and preparing the soil!
Look out for more updates later when we’ve begun planting!
Date: 23 May 2011
On Saturday some of the families of children and young people engaging in EIYCT provision turned out to the local Councillor public meeting about the Residents Fund.
The Ward Councillors have £121,000 to spend on projects benefitting Enfield Lock and Enfield Island Village this year and they invited the community to discuss potential ideas.
It was great to see the families taking ownership of their community and acknowledging the work of EIYCT and the partnership between OASIS and the RSA Trust as providers that bring a real benefit. They came up with great ideas and there is growing willingness for families to invest their time and energy as well as benefiting from community provision.
Date: 11 May 2011< Oasis Church Enfield Family Events, sponsored by RSA Trust and Awards4All, hosted a community street party on the Royal Wedding day, April 2011. Thirty local volunteers organised, set up, led and packed away an event that was attended by around 450 residents of Enfield Lock. The atmosphere was fun and loved by children and parents alike. There were loads of side-stalls and activities going on but the main focus was watching the wedding and processions on the big screen - it felt like the newly-weds were waving at us personally on Enfield Island Village! For more about the event and pictures, please download the full report.
Date: 13 Apr 2011
The RSA Trust has produced a short video which gives an insight into the history of the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield Lock.
To view the video, please click on this link to our page on YouTube.
The buildings of the factory have now been redeveloped into the RSA Island Centre, a thriving business centre, managed by Lee Valley Estates. Tenants here include Tesco Express, a doctors surgery, a community hall, youth centre, and a day nursery. Profits from the centre are donated to the RSA Trust, which distributes the money to local good causes, and runs the Interpretation Centre, a historical exhibition at RSA.
Many thanks to Patrick Gray, RSA Trust Heritage Manager, for his hard work producing the film, and Ray Tuthill, of the RSAF Apprentices Association, who helped enormously in its production.
If you would like any further information, or to visit the Interpretation Centre, please contact RSA on 020 8482 2281.
Date: 22 Mar 2011
We at the RSA Trust are very excited by the news from our partners, Enterprise Enfield about the stunning results of their Inspiring Women programme.
Laura Sorrell and Tasneem Ismail met on the RSA Trust sponsored programme in 2009, and have since joined forces to promote their businesses. Sorrell’s Naturally bodycare products and Ismail’s Fair Play nightwear will share a stand at the Country Living Fair at the Business Design Centre in Islington, between the 17th – 23rd of March 2011 and the Spirit of Summer Fair at Kensington Olympia between the 11th – 14th May.
Laura explained to Enterprise Enfield,
“We’ve supported each others’ businesses since we met on the programme – in 2009 we took on a show at NEC Birmingham together which really showed us that our combined businesses had a future. It’s all thanks to RSA Trust and Enterprise Enfield and the fantastic help and support we both received and continue to receive from the agency. We’re looking forward to a long-established joint venture and successful collaboration for the future.”
Both brands are available online and the women are also seeking new local stockists, who share their passion for quality and ethical sourcing. To celebrate their new partnership, Laura and Tasneem are offering a 10% discount until the end of March. Available at www.sorrellsnaturally.co.uk and www.fairplayproducts.com
We at the RSA Trust wish them well, and are glad to see the innovative spirit of Enfield is still as strong as ever.
The RSA Trust Inspiring Women Programme is an annual 6 month programme, specifically designed to holistically support the development of women in Enfield to start their own businesses.
Through a range of seminars, advice sessions and personal coaching, it provides women with a unique opportunity to increase their business knowledge, personal skills and confidence to achieve their dreams. For more details visit www.EnterpriseEnfield.org or call 020 8443 5457.
Date: 10 Dec 2010
The Prince of Wales school Choir are coming to the Enfield Island Village Library to sing carols on Tuesday 14th December from 11.15am until 11.45am.
Everyone is very welcome to come along.
EIV Library is at 44 – 46 Island Centre Way, Enfield Island Village, EN3 6GS