Author: Around Dulwich

Local Comedy Star Tom Allen helps raise nearly £12K for South East London’s St Christopher’s Hospice

Published by Around Dulwich

Local comedian Tom Allen has helped St Christopher’s Hospice in South East London raise nearly £12,000 much-needed funds for its Emergency Appeal, by hosting a live quiz on Facebook and YouTube on Friday 22 May 2020. Tom kept his audience of over 1,000 viewers entertained with shout-outs and banter, and even top tips for making a martini. In between answering the quiz questions, the audience found the time to donate the fantastic sum of £11,953 to St Christopher’s Emergency Appeal. Host of TV’s ‘Bake Off, The Professionals’, and regular guest TV panel shows such as ‘Have I Got News for You’ and ‘Saturday Kitchen’, local comedy star Tom visited the hospice last year to see its work for himself. “The hospice is a wonderful organisation,” Tom Allen said, on the night. “It supports over 1,200 people every day across South East London but at the moment, with their charity shops shut and fundraising events curtailed, they have had none of that money coming in. They are there for you, your family and your neighbours, so …

Comedian Tom Allen hosting a live online quiz to raise money for South East London’s St Christopher’s Hospice

Published by Around Dulwich

Tomorrow night – 7.30pm on 22 May – local comedian, and Channel Four’s Bake Off: The Professionals presenter, Tom Allen will host a live online event to raise funds for St Christopher’s Hospice, which supports around 1,200 people every day across South East London. The ‘Fun Time Quiz Time with Tom Allen’ event can be joined on Facebook Live and YouTube Live, details can be found at https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/tomallenquiz In return for entertaining people directly in their own front rooms during lockdown, Tom is asking for donations to the hospice, however big or small. Currently, all of St Christopher’s 26 charity shops are shut and the hospice has had to cancel fundraising events and sponsored activities. This means a huge shortfall in its fundraising income since the outbreak of Covid-19, but tomorrow night the hospice hopes that its community will back its Emergency Appeal and help keep the hospice caring for those most in need. Supporters can text the word ‘HOSPICE’ to 70500 to donate £5 to the hospice’s Emergency Appeal.

Business Focus in Lockdown

Published by Around Dulwich

SE Magazines caught up with one of their lovely customers, John from Alexandra Nurseries in the May issue of SE22.  At Alexandra Nurseries in Penge we are proud of our place in the community and delighted to find people feel the same. Our existing customers, neighbours, friends and newcomers have been keen to support us with kind words and custom! Of course this would be one of the peak times in our industry and it has hit us all hard, including our loyal growers, nurseries and suppliers. We have found the relationships built from 8 years of trade; of trust, loyalty and flexibility – both ways around – have kept us in good stead.  Small independents have been able to suddenly downsize, re think how to operate and market and between us we are just about keeping each other going. Moving into ‘Amazon’ territory has been very challenging especially for a small shop with no existing online sales operation! We have all become perhaps too familiar with a click and collect climate and expect our stuff tomorrow! …

Cooking Online In Lockdown

Published by Around Dulwich

Nena Foster wrote a lovely article for the May issue of SE23 which we are happy to share. As a freelance nutritional chef, my work revolves around working with people; whether it is a cookery class or workshop, working with clients on a 1-2-1 basis or cooking on a set for a cookbook or magazine. My job also revolves around consistent access to food, so it was no surprise, but still came as a shock, that when we ended up in lockdown all my work completely dried up or needed to be delivered without making contact with others. After an initial panic, I decided to take my experience as a cookery teacher, former university lecturer delivering remote teaching sessions and use my limited (but growing) tech skills to move the parts of my business that I could online. The first week of lockdown was spent trying to make sure my family had what we needed and was spent getting up to speed with transitioning to online class delivery. At times it felt completely impossible; juggling …

Help the Rosendale feed the local community

Published by Around Dulwich

The Three Cheers Pub Co have joined forces with Open Kitchens, the amazing non-profit organisation who help feed those elderly and vulnerable as well as our brave NHS staff.   They will be re-opening the kitchen at The Rosendale in West Dulwich with the aim of providing a minimum of 1,200 nutritious meals to those in most need in our local community. The kitchen will be staffed by members of their own team who have volunteered their time free-of-charge to support this project. Their initial fundraising target was £2,220 which they reached with half an hour!  They are now over £4,000.  This means they will be able to provide over 2,180 free nutritious meals to the vulnerable and elderly now, which is really exciting. Just £1.85 will provide a healthy fresh meal for those most affected by this crisis, so even the smallest of donations will make a difference to someone who is struggling right now. Whatever you can give will make a direct impact. The more money they are able to raise, the more meals will be provided. …