Launch of New Horizons Centre

Today seen the formal launch of the New Horizons Centre in Pollards Hill which has involved Pollards Hill Community Centre becoming part of the Commonside Development Trust. The Mayor of Merton Geraldine Stanford along with the local Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh attended the opening and the day was a huge success with many people taking part in a range of activities that had been laid on.

In terms of community trusts, this area has led the way in the transfer of community resources to trusts. In the last few years the day centre and now the community centre has become part of the trust and this is something I believe has a lot of potential in terms of the long development of community centre and reaching out to new people. As councillors we should not get hung up about this, the voluntary sector can sometimes deliver services better and take more account of local need. Trusts are also in a much better position in terms of attracting outside funding, as they are charitable bodies.

At the event today, we attracted many people who had never previously been to an event at the centre and by distributing publicity to a wider area then previously we have significantly increased the numbers wanting to get involved. The merger had been in the pipeline for a number of years and I'm glad that it has finally come to fruition.