Albrighton

Shifting focus slightly away from Sainsburys, for anyone who may do their shopping elsewhere we also have customer donation boxes at Lidl in Peckham and the M&S by East Dulwich Station. If anyone knows of any other store locations that might be amenable to customer collection box (who don't already have one), please let us know, or if anyone might be up for organising a collection at work, at school, at your place of worship, or any one of a long list of other places in support of Albrighton Community Fridge, and you need some support in organising it, please get in touch. It is a daily struggle to maintain a large enough food supply at the moment, so we are incredibly grateful for all support.

We do in fact take frozen food ... whatever the form, if its food we generally take it!

Hello - sorry to wade into this so late. If anyone is looking to drop off donations to the Community Fridge that runs from Albrighton Community Centre, please feel free to do so any day (seven days a week). The centre open at 9.00am each day and reception is open until at least 5.30 each day. We are very grateful for any donations between these times. As I'm sure everyone can appreciate with food, energy, accommodation, and pretty much everything else costing more and more, the numbers of people that are struggling to support themselves is growing all the time, so we are grateful from whatever people are able to donate. As has been discussed in this thread, we do receive donations from Sainsburys and Marks & Spencer who donate unused food they have left over at the end of each day, and they also have customer donation boxes to allow customers to drop of extra items for us. Locally Co-op, Lidl and Getir also support us, and slightly further afield, Brindisa, and Harrods also provide us with their unsold food. As some of you may be aware, unlike most food banks, Community Fridges provide a lot of short life food. Bread and cakes, as has been spoken about, but also dairy, meat, poultry and fish, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables. We can accept donations of all these foods, on condition that they are within their 'sell by' date, where applicable. Food with an expired 'sell by' date cannot legally be sold, or in our case, given away, because potentially it could be harmful. Best before dates are purely advisory however, so very often food past its best before date is perfectly edible and therefore assuming the food is in reasonable condition can be eaten safely. We are also adding a new string to our bow in the coming week. From 30th April, we will also be rehoming unwanted small electrical goods. They must be clean and in working condition. We will check them over and PAT test them, before rehoming them with people using the Community Fridge, so please dig through your cupboards and have a look what you can find. One final note, we are desperately short of volunteers at the Community Fridge, so please get in touch if you maybe have a little time to help out. Thank you Steve [email protected] w: albrightoncommunityfridge.org i: albrighton_community_fridge_ t: albrightonse22

After a brief recess (brief in the loosest sense) we are pleased to announce Tumble under 5s soft play is returning at Albrighton Centre (SE22 8AH). Sessions will run through the August holiday, each day Monday to Friday, from 10.00am to 1.00pm and from 2.00pm to 5.00pm, and on Saturdays, from 10.00am to 1.00pm. Soft play is an ideal way to help build strength and improve motor skills, coordination, and balance. Immersed in a room filled with soft play structures, children can crawl, climb, jump, slide and roll, learning skills they can easily transfer to day-to-day activities, giving them confidence and understanding of their own physical abilities. Tumble sessions are open only to children under the age of 5 years, accompanied by a parent or carer. Session cost is £4 per child.

We are in urgent need of volunteer drivers to collect donations of surplus foods for the Community Fridge. In particular we need drivers to collect from Harrods around 7.00pm weekdays and various Co-Op supermarkets between 9.00pm and 10.30pm 7 days a week. Drivers are also needed during weekday mornings, particularly Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Hello Apologies for the (incredibly) late reply - yes carrier bags would be great. Just wanted to thank everyone again for their continued support. The response from the local area has been magnificent. Unfortunately despite the lockdown changes, demand is still incredible high, with those shielding and self isolating being replaced by others experiencing reduced income, or increasingly, no income at all. As every, we breatly appreciate anything anyone can provide - basic stables like rice, pasta, flour and tinned goods particualarly at the moment are very helpful. Best wishes Steve Albrighton Centre

Hello. Monday to Friday generally. We are there from around 9.30-10.00am and there until 6pm Thank you for thinking of us. Best wishes Steve Albrighton Centre

.... the place to relax and chat about anything ....

Hello. Thank you for getting in touch. We would love some extra help. If you are able to, please give me a call at the centre and we can have a chat about things Thank you Steve Albrighton Centre 0207 737 6186

Thank you very much, that?s so kind. Any time between 10.00am and 6.00pm today would be fantastic. Thank you Steve Albrighton Centre

Thought I would dip in at this point as there has been some conversation about Albrighton in this thread. Please, if you do know anyone locally who is in need of food, irrespective of their personal circumstances, we are continuing to offer our walk in Community Fridge service, now open 5 days a week, Monday to Friday from 1pm to 4pm, for those who are able to get to us. For those not able to we are also offering a delivery service. Those signed up for deliveries receive two deliveries per week if required. To help us negotiate the minefield of dietary, cultural, and religious requirements, personal preferences, and cooking arrangements. We make contact on the day of delivery, prior to dispatch to check what items are needed and provide a tailored food box. It is slightly more time consuming to administer, but helps cut waste (and cost) by not sending people foods they would never eat. Food boxes include, toiletries, household cleaning products, personal care products, nappies and baby products, and sanitary products as needed. For those newly accessing the service, we aim to deliver on the day we are contacted, as we appreciate that so many people are in very desperate situations.

Again wanted to thank everyone for their incredible generosity, both local residents and businesses have been so generous over the last week. Thank you to everyone who made it up Dog Kennel Hill to the centre to drop off donations, and to all the people we called round to collect from. Thank you also to local traders, particularly along Lordship Lane who have been kind enough to support our work. Its a difficult time for so many people, so all the more heartening that people can still think of others in such trying times. If anyone is planning to donate good over the next week of so, anything is good, but as ever nappies (especially larger sizes - 6, 6+ and 7) are always much needed, and sanitary products, in addition to any foods you might wish to give. We have had a tremendous response over the last week or so from people who have preferred to make a monetary donation through our JustGiving page [www.justgiving.com] which has been incredible - can't thank you enough. We are yet to finalise any formal funding arrangements with Southwark Council, so the donations we receive mean the world to us and the 2500 people we are feeding each week.

A huge thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to donate to us over the last few days. We have had an incredible response to our appeal. We are however very short of nappies (particularly sizes 3 and 7), wipes, baby care products, and baby food. If anyone is able to donate any of these to Albrighton we would be very grateful, if you can't make it to the centre but would still like to help out our Just Giving page is https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/albrightoncommunitycentre?utm_term=wJNBQw4w3

We have been incredibly fortunate to have received many generous donations but each week, demand still outstrips our supplies of food.

Anyone is welcome to come along to the community fridge. There are no checks on your financial status, or whether you're in receipt of benefits, no referral needed, and no appointment either. There are no geographical boundaries, so no issues if you are from Camberwell, Peckham, Dulwich, or anywhere else We would ask though that if you are supposed to be shielding or self isolating, to protect your own health, or the health of others, you continue to do that and call and speak to us before attending.

A big thank you to everyone who have been dropping off donations at Albrighton Centre, and thank you to all those who have donated through our JustGiving page. We have also been contacted by a number of people who are shielding, aware of us through the forum, who have kindly donated unwanted items from their government food boxes. These are very much appreciated and we are always happy to collect, to help avoid food being wasted.

Wanted to take a moment to that all those who have come to Albrighton to drop off donations. They have been much appreciated and put to immediate and good use, enabling us to provide for for those in need visiting the centre, and to make deliveries of supplies to those self isolating and shielding We appreciate its not always practical for people to drop off donations so we have created a just giving page www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/albrightoncommunitycentre Monies donated will be used to help provide food, toiletries and cleaning projects, and sanitary items for those in need. Thank you Steve Albrighton Centre

Hi We are also in need of bags and egg boxes if anyone has any they can donate Best wishes Steve Albrighton Centre

If anyone would like to make any donations to Albrighton Community Fridge we are open to receive donations from 10am through to 4pm Monday to Friday (soon to be weekends also). The Community Fridge, based at Albrighton Community Centre off Dog Kennel Hill has been providing food long and short life (pasta, rice, tinned goods, fresh fruit and vegetables, chilled and frozen produce, meat and poultry) to those in need for a number of years now, relying on the generosity of local food retailers and wholesalers, and donations from individuals. The current COVID crisis has seen a huge surge in demand for food, and also necessitated an expansion of our current provision to include delivery to those self isolating and shielding. We are also working with Southwark Council's COVID Hub delivering to households identified through the Hub as in urgent need of food provision, delivering not just in the immediate area but as far south as Sydenham, into Nunhead, Peckham and Walworth. The infrastructure to sustain these people will over time increase and improve but as often is the case, voluntary organisations such as ours, which operate with a greater degree of flexibility, are able to plug the gaps until the statutory bodies can respond. We have many volunteers at the moment working very hard to maintain basic food provision to a large number of vulnerable people. We desperately need donations of food, nappies and baby products, sanitary products and toiletries. Please if you are able to help with any donations we would be extremely grateful. The reach of East Dulwich Forum is great, but please, if you can, share this with others who may be able to help

@Jacqui5254 - thank you. I have said many times that of all the different things we do at Albrighton, the Community Fridge is one of the best projects we have ever run. It is an incredible worthwhile, and we see an immediate and very clear benefit from it and to re-iterate if anyone does have any spare time to give, even just as a one off, we would love to hear from you.

Thank you siousxiesue it is incredible rewarding. At times it can be very upsetting to see the circumstances that people find themselves in, but we are able to do a little to make an immediate difference to those circumstances, and no one leaves without food.

I am sure that many of you will be familiar with Albrighton Community Centre half way up Dog Kennel Hill, opposite Sainsburys. As well as being a venue for parties, we host a number of activities through the week particularly for pre-school children, their families and carers. For a little over two years now we have also been running a Community Fridge. It was the first in London and the largest I believe in the country. The Community Fridge network has been set up across the country as a waste reduction project, where food retailers, wholesalers and even private individuals can donate unwanted food for others to have free of charge. Food is donated each day. We generally have to collect from the food outlets we work will. It is then transported to the community centre and prepared for people to come later in the day to help themselves to what they need. The preparation can simply be washing, or sometimes repackaging is needed. The food is a mixture of long and short life, so unlike food banks we provide fresh fruit and vegetables, chilled produce, fresh meat and fish, as well as longer life foods. Anyone can come along and get food, whatever their circumstances. We don't turn people away because they don't have the right paperwork, or because they have been too many times. The food is there for anyone who needs it. So, we have food. We have people who need the food. What we really need is volunteers who can spare an hour or two each week to help us, either to collect, or to prepare the food. It is incredible rewarding work, you immediately see the benefit to others of the time you contribute. It doesn't require any specialist knowledge or skills and we are delighted to have volunteers who can give time, however little or however infrequent. If you are able to help we would love to hear from you. The fridge is open weekdays, and most of the work takes place late mornings and early afternoons. Thank you Steve Albrighton Centre 0207 737 6186

Albrighton Centre will be extending its regular Tumble under 5s soft play sessions through the Easter holidays. Tumble will be offering a fully matted play area with a range of soft play equipment, ball pit, slide, crawl tunnels and bouncy castle for under 5s. Sessions will run daily from 29th March until 1st April and 4th April until 8th April. Morning sessions will run from 10.0am until midday, and afternoon sessions will run from 2.00pm until 4.00pm. There is a ?2 charge per child per session. Albrighton Centre, 37 Albrighton Road, East Dulwich Estate, SE22 8AE (off Dog Kennel Hill) 0207 737 6186 Further details of activities are available at www.albrightoncommunitycentre.org Cheers Steve

Just to provide an update for those with under 5s, some bad news and some good news. Bad news is that Music and Movement on a Saturday at albrighton Centre is no more - the sessions will not be returning now that the Summer holidays are over. The good news is that in its place we will have a Sensory Room from 9.30am to 11.00am each Saturday morning instead. The Sensory Room provides sensory stimulation through lighting and visuals, textures, sounds and smells. Cushioned flooring and bean bags will create a comfortable and relaxing environment, while the room is lit by an array of lasers and projections, its walls and swimming with images to capture the imagination. Light boxes and fibre optics with heighten visual awareness. Tactile toys will provide opportunities to experience contrasting textures. A range of aromas will encourage reminiscence and evoke memories past. Some children will find the sensory room tranquil and calming whilst others feel their senses being overloaded, whichever it is the sensory room provides a safe environment into which to escape. Sessions in the Sensory Room are available only through referral by South Camberwell Children?s Centre, or via your Health Advisor if you have access to one. 30 minute sessions are available by appointment (booked with reception at Albrighton Centre). Drop in sessions may also be available, but we would advise booking to avoid disappointment, or a short wait. If you have any questions at all - please give us a call at the centre. Cheers Steve Albrighton Centre 0207 737 6186 www.albrightoncommunitycentre.org

As has been mentioned, we have soft play available at Albrighton Centre, off Dog Kennel Hill on Tuesday mornings (10.00am to midday) and Thursday afternoon (2.00pm to 4.00pm). We charge ?2 per child per sessions, and it is suitable for children up to the age of 5. There is an array of soft play equipment, crawl tunnels, bouncy castles. Steve Albrighton Centre 0207 737 6186 www.albrightoncommunitycentre.org