Published 1 July 2022
On Friday 17 June we held our Summer Welcome Event which turned out to be a lovely occasion, and an exceptionally hot day!
This was a wonderful afternoon celebrating our new premises, welcoming our new CEO Anood Al-Samerai, and saying a fond farewell to Director Chris whose final day with us was that Friday.
The Mayor of Southwark, Sunil Chopra, said a few words and cut the ribbon to mark the ‘official’ opening of the event.
Thank you to everyone who came and made the effort to come despite the heat, and thank you too to all our local charities and groups who very kindly supplied us with chairs, tables and a gazebo.
We were able to use the space in the Blue Market Square outside our new premises to set up food and drink stations where we gathered in the sunshine to toast the new premises, while staff gave people a tour around the new premises.
Some thoughts from the Community Southwark team:
“Those who attended really appreciated the chance to meet and talk to others from the voluntary and community sector (VCS)”.
“I had so many discussions with people I had not met in person before – really great networking and the chance to get to know people better as well as tell each other about out work and how we can support each other.
“I also got a sense of the great work we all do and the passion and enthusiasm people have for what they do”.
“The event highlighted the need for us to encourage more in-person contact and promote collaboration – groups want to do this but struggle to organise it themselves”.
“It was a lovely informal event and everyone seemed really happy and pleased to meet each other in the sunshine”.
A huge thank you again to all of you who joined us and made it such a special day!
