ST Thomas Church.

Can you help St. Thomas’ night shelter to help the homeless?

Neil Clasper1 Comment
St Thomas Church Charlton-1
St Thomas’ Church on Woodlands Terrace, SE7.

We’ve written before about St. Thomas’ Church night shelter for homeless people, but with winter approaching and homelessness rising, we thought we’d catch up with what’s happening this year, and how local residents can help:

Every winter, thousands of people in the UK end up with no home. It’s a national problem and sometimes it feels like there is nothing we can do. But there is. Greenwich Winter Night Shelter is a team of people from local churches and communities who provide beds, food and company for people without a home. From 14 November 2018 to 12 March 2019, volunteers will give a few hours each week, helping dozens of people get back on their feet.

Would you like to join a team that makes a big difference to people’s lives?

Volunteers are needed for evening, overnight and breakfast shifts – particularly overnight and breakfast shifts. The Shelter operates at a different venue each night of the week, and full training is provided.

For more information, please contact project manager Helen Othen – email: gwnsprojectmgr[at]gmail.com.

The Greenwich Winter Night Shelter network:

Sunday: St James’ Church Hall, Kidbrooke Park Road, SE3 0DU – Nearby buses: 178, 286, 132, 89
Monday: Christ Church, Trafalgar Road, SE10 9EQ – Nearby buses: 177, 180, 286, 422,
129, 188, 386
Tuesday: St George’s Church, Glenluce Road, SE3 7SQ – Nearby buses: 286, 108, 422
Wednesday: OneSpace Youth & Community Centre, Kidbrooke Park Road, SE3 9YY – Nearby buses: B16, 178
Thursday: St Mark’s Church Centre, 22 Greenwich South Street, SE10 8TY – Nearby buses: 386, 180, 199
Friday: St Thomas’ Church, Woodland Terrace, SE7 8EW – Nearby bus: 380
Saturday: Blackheath & Charlton Baptist Church, Marlborough Lane, SE7 7DF – Nearby buses: 89, 178, 386

Make a donation

If you’d like to donate food, clothing or money to the night shelter you can contact the project coordinator above or additionally for St. Thomas’ Church, contact Revd Bennett Spong or Churchwarden Jim Kinsella.

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Meet Champions 4 Change: the Charlton group changing lives through boxing

Neil Clasper

Champions4Change boxing academy at St Thomas Church Charlton

The Charlton Champion spent a very enjoyable morning last Saturday finding out about the work that Champions 4 Change (C4C) is doing with young people at St. Thomas’ Church in Woodland Terrace.

An offshoot of St. Peter’s ABC, an amateur boxing club that’s been in the area since the early 1900s, Champions 4 Change “uses boxing, fitness and mentoring as a vehicle for positive change in young people”.

Led by director Scott O’Connor, the team run a number of programmes designed to develop fitness and mental wellbeing through boxing, for children and older people – including programmes focussed on young carers.

Older children work their way through the ASDAN GB Boxing Awards programmes, gaining recognised qualifications as they go, and can then go on to help train other children and adults as they progress, gaining further experience and confidence as part of the process.

C4C works closely with St Peter’s, signposting young people into the club once they have reached a certain level, or if they wish, to take their boxing to the next level and do it competitively. As well as running programmes in schools, Champions 4 Change also runs one-to-one personal training sessions.

Also visiting on Saturday was Matthew Pennycook, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, who took a boxing lesson from C4C director Scott O’Connor.

He said: “I really enjoyed my training session with Scott and the chance to see first hand the difference that Champions 4 Change is making for young people and also older residents. It’s a real asset for our area and deserves more support.”

‘No gym bunnies’

One of the club’s regulars, Helen Jakeways, who kindly introduced us to C4C, says, “I’ve been going to the over-40s sessions for four months now and thoroughly enjoy the friendly atmosphere and exercise provided by Scott and volunteer coaches Jack and George.

“I only go once a week but there has definitely been an improvement in my overall levels of fitness and strength.  I’ve also had a couple of enjoyable one-to-one sessions with Scott which really helped with my boxing technique. Scott and his team carefully manage activity to suit different needs and there is no pressure to work beyond what you feel comfortable doing.

“It’s good fun (and great exercise) to work with the team on the pads and they all have a sense of humour, which is a must when you’re facing shots from beginners.

“Highly recommend this invaluable local resource if you want to up your fitness game in a relaxed and friendly environment and try something a bit different.  No intimidating Lycra-clad gym-bunnies – just nice people who genuinely care about helping others to get fit.”

This writer enjoyed his visit to the Saturday morning session so much that he went back on Tuesday to try a taster of the over-40s programme (6.15-7pm, Tuesdays) – and has promised to return! I’d recommend it for anyone looking to get fit in a friendly, supportive environment.

Champions 4 Change
Matthew Pennycook, MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, takes a boxing lesson from Champions 4 Change director Scott O’Connor

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What’s on at C4C this October half-term

Champions 4 Change boxing Bootcamp October 2018
Champions 4 Change will be running a bootcamp for children during October half-term

Get in touch with Champions 4 Change:

Support The Charlton Champion

The Charlton Champion provides news and information about issues and events in London SE7.
– Help us by telling us your stories
– Buy Neil a coffee at ko-fi.com
– NEW! Become a monthly patron at patreon.com/charltonchampion
– NEW! Donate directly to the site at paypal.me/charltonchampion

St Thomas Charlton Night Shelter benefit concert: Friday 1 December

Darryl Chamberlain

St Thomas church

Each year between and March, St Thomas’ Church in Charlton is one of a group in Greenwich borough who collaborate on the Greenwich Winter Night Shelter project.

St Thomas’ opens its doors for one night each week, providing up to 15 homeless people with a hot shower, an evening meal, a warm place to sleep and breakfast, as well as a packed lunch to take away.

Other churches in Greenwich borough pitch in so a volunteer-run service is provided all through the week.

We covered the St Thomas’s Church shelter in February 2016.

Here’s a video showing what happens in the church on Fridays when it hosts the shelter…

All this costs money to provide, and to help raise funds, there’ll be a concert at the church at 7.30pm on Friday 1 December, featuring popular classics for cello, voice and piano. For more information about the concert or the shelter, call 07989 740 252 or 020 8854 0841.

Charlton night shelter poster

Charlton church’s winter night shelter gets council grant

Darryl Chamberlain9 Comments

St Thomas church

A winter night shelter at a Charlton church has been given a £500 grant by Greenwich Council as it opens its doors for the first three months of the year.

The shelter at St Thomas Church opened its doors for the first time this winter last Friday. It operates one night each week until March, providing up to 15 homeless people with a hot shower, an evening meal, a warm place to sleep and breakfast, as well as a packed lunch to take away.

Other Greenwich borough churches take part on other nights of the week to provide a volunteer-run service throughout the week during the coldest months of the year. We covered the St Thomas project last year.

Now St Thomas has been given £500 to help cover its costs.

The grant comes out of the ward budget fund, where each council ward has access to a pot of cash to help community groups. Woolwich Riverside ward councillors Barbara Barwick, John Fahy and Jackie Smith put the shelter forward for funding.

With temperatures dropping and snow expected later today, if you know of anyone sleeping rough, you can contact streetlink.org.uk to ensure they are offered help and advice.

The winter shelter at St Thomas’ Church, Charlton still needs you

Nikki3 Comments

IMG_2425If you’re a member of the congregation of St Luke’s or St Thomas’ churches, you’ll already know this, but it came as a surprise to some of us: there’s a winter shelter for homeless people in St Thomas’ hall, and still has another six weeks left to run.

The weather can be cruel at the start of the year and while you may see more campaigns around Christmas, the need for shelter is just as pressing now.

Seven churches across Greenwich borough take part in the night shelter project, run by volunteers, with each church opening their doors one night of the week.

St Thomas’, working together with the congregation of St Luke’s, welcomes its guests on Fridays. They arrive at 7pm, are offered showers and a hot meal, breakfast the next morning and a packed lunch to take with them. The hall can hold 15 people and most of these places are usually taken, with between 12 and 15 people normally sheltering for the night.  

Most guests are now regulars, and the volunteers have got to know them well.

Volunteers get ready for Friday night
Beds ready to be made up

We asked James Kinsella, a volunteer at the shelter, to describe the experience of running the shelter in one word, and he chose “humbling”.  

He says volunteers have found the project rewarding and that they have been made “more aware of the plight of the homeless in London”. James says his attitude to homeless people has changed:

I am more aware of the homeless that are on the street in this cold weather, and if I give them some money I don’t cast judgement on how they spend it: if I was out in this cold weather I may need some alcohol to numb the pain

Asked how he thought guests found the shelter, James says he hopes they have found the church hall “a very warm and welcoming place where they are treated with dignity and kindness”.

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If you’d like to support the valuable work that St Thomas’ Church is doing this winter, while there are enough volunteers, the team woud be very grateful for donations.

You can donate food to the shelter by leaving it at the church after 4pm on a Friday, or you can donate money.  The church has a good relationship with its local community and already receives a good amount of food, but it also needs to pay for heating, fresh food and lighting, so money is – if anything – more welcome.  

Cheques should be made out to St Thomas’ PCC and can also be dropped off at the church – the volunteers can give you a written acknowledgement of your donation if they know your name.

‘Halloween Spooktacular’ at Maryon Wilson Animal Park

Neil Clasper

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Maryon Wilson Animal Park are holding a Halloween event on Saturday November 1st, featuring a tour of the Animal Park, followed by a hot meal, party games, and a showing of ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ in St Thomas’ Church.

Tickets can be purchased every morning, 7 days a week, from Charlton Park RDA Hut in Charlton Park. Call: 07877320406 or email: info@maryonwilsonanimalpark.org.uk

UPDATE: Tickets can now be bought online on the Animal Park’s website.