Date: 20 Oct 2010

The Enfield Island Village Family Festival , hosted at the RSA Island Centre, was a great success with over 500 visitors attending. The free activities on offer included:

·         Bouncy Castle

·         Face painting

·         Drum and mask making

·         A family flag competition

·         A DJ and BBQ run by the Enfield Island Village Youth Club

·         Tightrope walker

·         Musical acts

·         Circus skills workshop

Our Interpretation Centre was also open, with many visitors curious about the heritage of the Royal Small Arms Factory site.

A big thank you to all those who volunteered and contributed to make the day a big success.

The festival is featured in the Enfield Independent, please click here to view the article:

http://www.enfieldindependent.co.uk/news/localnews/8458719.Enfield_Island_Village_Festival_delivers_family_fun/

Date: 12 Oct 2010

Saturday 16th October 2010 12 noon – 4pm

Enfield Council, Enfield Island Youth & Community Trust, RSA Island Village Limited, RSA Trust and many other local partners present the first ever family festival on the Island, hosted by the clock tower and barge at the RSA Island Centre.

Activities on the day include story telling for children, art projects, face painting, a family flag art competition, street entertainment including a tightrope walker, a bouncy castle, mask making, raffles and competitions. For young people there is a BBQ, a penalty shoot out and DJ in the Youth Centre,

All these events and activities are free of charge and not to be missed!

A map of the festival is shown on the right hand side of the page.

Date: 15 Jun 2010

The RSA Trust helped celebrate the opening of a new charity shop in Enfield Town. The Trust sponsored £20,000 for fitting out the shop, on Baker Street to help the Nightingale Hospice create a sustainable source of income. This is on top of the £60,000 the Trust is granting the hospice to carry out vital night time care counselling over the next three years.

Popular Winchmore Hill dance act Stavros Flatley were on hand, entertaining well-wishers at the opening ceremony.

The Nightingale Hospice Trust was founded in 2002 and provides care to people suffering from cancer. The Hospice not only gives vital medical care, but help and advice to carers and relatives. It even provides transport and home-sitting services.

The RSA Trust is proud to support this vital community organisation and wishes it well for the future. Why not find out more by visiting their website? http://www.nightingalehospice.org.uk

Date: 11 Jun 2010

On 11th June 2010, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visited Capel Manor College to open the new Queens’ Garden, sponsored by the RSA Trust.

The Queen was taken on a tour of the gardens and college, where she met current students and was presented with a bouquet of flowers.

Then Her Majesty unveiled a plaque signifying the official opening of The Queens’ Garden.

The Queens’ Garden reflects the association between Queen Elizabeth the First and the original Manor of Honeylands and Pentriches that was on the site. The estate was owned by Queen Elizabeth the First and she gifted it to a favourite courtier called William Thorne. The style of the garden follows an Elizabethan Gilly Flower Theme, using modern and traditional plants to reflect the essence of a Garden fit for a Queen.

The Queens’ Garden will be replanted for 2012 to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

Trustees Gary Walker, Michael Polledri, Martin Jewell and Mike Wehrmann all attended and were thrilled to be introduced to Her Majesty on the day.

Chairman of the Trust, Gary Walker, said –

‘It was a great privilege to be presented to the Queen which was an honour we had not expected when we sponsored the garden. The RSA Trust was very pleased to sponsor the garden to support the excellent work of Capel Manor’s young students and give the benefit of an invitation to Capel Manor for all the residents of Enfield Island Village.’

Why not visit the Queens’ Garden at Capel Manor? For further information including opening times please visit http://www.capelmanorgardens.co.uk/, or telephone 08456 122 122. The gardens are open for the public to visit daily from March – October.

Photographs, top – bottom:

· Her Majesty reveals the plaque opening the garden

· The RSA Trustees meet the Queen

· The RSA Trustees in the garden – Mike Wehrmann, Michael Polledri, Gary Walker, and Martin Jewell (left – right).

Date: 22 Mar 2010

From Tuesday 6th April Enfield Island Village Library will be open at the following times:

Monday 3 – 7pm

Tuesday 11am – 5pm

Thursday 1 – 7pm

Saturday 1 – 5pm

Storytime and Play for under 5s will move to 11.15am on Tuesdays.

Baby Rhyme Time remains at 1.30pm on Thursday.

For further details, please contact the library on 020 8379 1719

www.enfield.gov.uk/library

Date: 19 Mar 2010

On Thursday February 4th 2010 a Kids club launched on the Enfield Island Village for Children aged 7-11years. The Children’s Club is run by EIYCT (Enfield Island Youth and Community Trust) in partnership with Oasis. The Club is held in the Community Centre once a week on a Thursday evening between 4.30pm and 6.00pm.

The club was launched due to the EIYCT discovering through consultation that there is a great need for more after school Children’s provision in the Enfield Lock area and in particular for the Children living on the Island. EIYCT already run a Youth Club on the Island for teenagers but they felt more needed to be done too for younger Children.

The club saw a huge response from the Children in the community and saw 35 children attend on the first week (which is the maximum they can hold in the venue at one time) and it currently has a waiting list of 25 Children that only keeps growing as word is spreading!

The club consists of all kinds of Fun ranging from Craft Activities, Cooking, Drama, Games, Sport, and Competitions with a healthy snack each week. Children who attend have a voice in what they would like to engage in, it offers an environment where the Children can have a sense of belonging, build friendships with new children, their social/emotional well being is enhanced and it is strongly achieving key factors around Every Child Matters and the Children and Young People Plan.

Lead worker on the project Rachel Bird says ‘The Children have really engaged and taken ownership of this project and excelled themselves, their behaviour has been great, they just really appreciate that there is an opportunity for them. It gets kids engaging in something positive rather than just hanging around on the streets’.

The club is mainly run by volunteers from the Oasis Church, the County Council also provide a play worker and parents in the local community also volunteer, working together they all want to be part of making this a success and play a part in making a positive contribution to these children and the community itself.

Due to the success of this Club and the fact that more children want to be part of this, EIYCT are looking into this continuing further and what was a 10 week pilot is now going to become a long term project. They are looking to continue this one night a week up until the end of August with some summer activities on offer and then from September the plan is for it to run 2 nights a week. The trust is looking for potential partners to join in with this great exciting community initiative, to help expand the work that is been achieved amongst these youngsters.

Date: 23 Feb 2010

Do you have any memories of the Royal Small Arms Factory?
If so, we would like to hear from you!

We are carrying out an exciting new project at our Interpretation Centre. The aim of this project is to record and display memories of people who worked at the factory, or lived near it.

We will make a video to show in the Interpretation Centre to let others know what life here was really like. We will also make an education pack for local schools.

We need your stories. What was life like living near the factory? Did you work there? What was it like? Were you a member of the union? Did your parents work in the factory too? Do you have anything you might like to show us from the factory?

One of the aims of the RSA Trust is about promoting the history of the site. We want to give the full story of the factory, from precision engineering prowess to social events.

The Interpretation Centre is our ‘museum’. It opened in 2001. You can visit it between 10:00am and 2:00pm Mondays to Fridays. Just ask in the Management Office to be let in. The displays include model machine tools, engineers’ toolsets and examples of some of the factory’s products. This includes a ‘sectioned’ Lee Enfield No. 1 rifle.

You can also learn about our 1783 Thwaites & Reed clock and our bell, Albert. The clock still works and Albert still tolls throughout the day.

Date: 09 Oct 2009

The RSA Island Centre’s Interpretation Centre once again opened its doors to the public on Saturday 19th September 2009, as part of the London Open House Day.

With around 200 people visiting the centre, the day was a great success. The venue was very popular with people wishing to experience and understand the history of the Royal Small Arms Factory. Amongst the many visitors were a number of previous employees of the Small Arms Factory, for whom this place brought back memories of their working life.

The event aimed to foster greater community spirit amongst visitors and residents of the Island and also provided them with a unique opportunity to step back in time and examine what made the Island a good place in which to live, work and play. The event will be repeated in September 2010.

We would like to thank the RSAF Apprentices Association who kindly gave their time to share their immense knowledge and expertise with the guests.

Date: 05 Oct 2009

The RSA Trust has awarded a grant of £1238 to the Enfield Lock Safer Neighbourhood Team to purchase two new police bikes to help with their patrols on Enfield Island Village.

PCSO Suzy Tether approached the Trust and requested the funding to purchase the bikes to enable them to respond to calls more quickly and be more efficient.

Suzy said, ‘I have been patrolling Enfield Island Village for over two years so have known Gary Walker and the work carried out by the RSA Trust for a while. They have always supported and praised the work we do around the village and have always encouraged us to make contact with them in any way if it will benefit the residents that live here’.

The Chairman of the RSA Trust, Gary Walker, said ‘The RSA Trust is proud to support, in a small way, the work of the Police on Enfield Island Village.  I was delighted when Suzy approached me and explained why having these bikes would help them in their role. We look forward to continuing to work together to create the best possible and safest environment for our community.’

Date: 04 Oct 2009

The RSA Trust has sponsored a second Inspiring Women project, following from the success of the first project in 2008. The 6 month scheme, which is fully funded by a local charity, The RSA Trust, supports women to achieve their dreams and goals by empowering them with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to start and manage successful businesses in Enfield.

On Wednesday 23rd September, the beneficiaries of the scheme attended a celebratory lunch at the Royal Chase Hotel, Enfield, to mark their successful completion of the Programme.  They were presented with certificates by the Chairman of the Trust, Gary Walker.

The unique programme is delivered by Enterprise Enfield and includes a diverse mix of one to one business mentoring, personal mentoring, seminars, residential weekends and networking opportunities.  The range of seminars covers areas such as Goal Setting, Assertiveness, Work-life Balance, IT skills, Raising Finance, Marketing, Brand Awareness, Business Planning, Bookkeeping and Website Development.  24 women have just completed the 2009 Programme, of which, 17 have now registered their businesses and 13 are actually trading.

Fazreena Ismail received all the advice, training and personal support she needed to start her sleepwear and lingerie business, Fair Play Products, in East Lodge village, Enfield.  She says, ‘The programme has gently but surely guided me in taking all the right steps to help my business take off.  I am a 100% certain that had I not had the opportunity to be selected, my business idea would have remained just an idea for a long time to come!’

Kehinde Obidipe, another 2009 delegate, explains how the course empowered her to kick start her cake making business, Cakes by Candy, ‘The Inspiring Women Programme helped me a lot at a time I needed guidance and gave me a great deal of confidence to move forward.  It has enabled me to realise that I can do anything I set my mind to do and that knowledge is power.  My aim is to run a successful business and become a household name in the cake business by creating cakes that WOW!’

Enterprise Enfield is currently looking for women who are thinking about setting up their own businesses to join its next RSA Trust Inspiring Women Programme.   

The next programme will run from January – June 2010.  As places are strictly limited a selection process will take place by application form and interview.  In order to be eligible to apply for the course, women must be living or looking to start a business in the LB Enfield and firstly, attend a FREE Start Right Introduction to Business for Women Seminar (one day) at Enterprise Enfield.  Seminars will be held from 10am- 4pm on 15^th October, 9^th November and 23^rd November.  Bookings and further details are available at www.EnterpriseEnfield.org or by calling 020 8443 5457.