Sidcup Storyteller shortlisted for an award

The new Sidcup Storyteller - Library, Cinema, Housing & Café has been shortlisted in The Pineapple Awards 2024.

The prestigious developer awards celebrate the urban life of developments and places where people want to live, work and play. The awards are designed to recognise and promote best practice as well as the contribution that a new-build makes to the renewal of an area and it’s positive impact on a local community.

Winners are selected after a three-part judging process and take home a golden pineapple trophy. Judges will now visit all the shortlisted sites before making their final decision.

Golden pineapples will be presented to the winners at the party and presentation event on Thursday 16 May at St. Andrew Holborn, London.

The library is run by the Council and the cinema is a partnership between London Borough of Bexley and independent operator, Really Local Group (RLG). The cinema screens a range of film titles from new releases, family favourites, classic titles and arthouse specials.

Councillor Munur, Bexley’s Cabinet Member for Growth, said: “We’re delighted to be nominated in these prestigious awards that recognise new buildings that have a positive impact on the local community. By bringing the new library and the Sidcup Storyteller building to the heart of the town we hoped to bring the community back to the High Street and these awards recognise that we have done this. This is a real success story and great news for the borough.”

Find out more at www.bexley.gov.uk/bexley-libraries

Football has the power to unite a community

All different, all together, all Charlton

Football clubs are at the heart of many towns and cities across the UK uniting people from a range of backgrounds in a common interest and passion.

Charlton Athletic Football Club is no exception and resides in the vibrant, diverse area of South East London. The EFL League One club was bought by Global Football Partners, comprising Charlie Methven and a group of wealthy US Investors in July 2023.

Ex-Telegraph journalist Charlie - who was a Director at Sunderland AFC for four years, a Consultant at Tottenham Hotspur FC and Arsenal FC and a Trustee at his hometown club, Oxford United FC - has been involved in the football industry for 15 years. A couple of American investors who had owned a Major League Soccer Club in the US, had sold it and wanted to get involved with an English club, ideally in London, where they spend a lot of time. When the opportunity to buy Charlton arose, it “ticked a lot of boxes” for those investors and also for Charlie who had grown up in South East London until the age of 11.

Charlie knows the area well. “I grew up in Camberwell and was taken to Greenwich Park as a boy. One of my earliest memories is hearing reggae music and the smell of jerk chicken!”

“South East London is a very vibrant, colourful and characterful example of how multiple communities can mould a joint identity. We want the football club to embody that spirit.’’ Charlie continued by adding, “Football is my sole focus right now. Charlton Athletic is a club that needs a lot of love and attention.”

From the early 1990s to the late 2000s, the club saw “15 wonderful years of growth and progress” but the past 15 years have been a more “turbulent” time. “Although the men’s first team has been struggling, the women’s first team is highly competitive and in the top 14 in the country, the academy is eighth in the country,” he says. “Big football clubs must have four main parts: a men’s first team, a women’s first team, a boys’ and girls’ academy and a community trust, the charitable side of the organisation.’’

Charlie continued, “a club is not only about the men’s and women’s first teams but it also needs to be highly involved in transforming the lives of the people in the local area and that is a huge focus for Charlton going forward.‘’ Charlie added, ‘’a large part of our focus is reintegrating the Club and the Charitable Trust so, although they have to be separate organisations, they work very closely together.”

Around 75 per cent of the men’s first team players come from within striking distance of The Valley – whereas, as Charlie says, ‘’most clubs have around 20% per cent of their players coming from the local area.’’

Talking about the club’s fanbase, Charlie affirmed that ‘’the majority of the Club’s traditional support originates from South East London but now no longer lives there, having moved out to Kent and surrounding areas. However, if we look at the players who represent us, they come from communities closer to the Stadium.” Continuing, Charlie said, “we have that connection and we need to build on that to draw more people from those local communities to matches’’.

“I think that there is a particular challenge throughout European football with the lack of prevalence of African Caribbean people attending football matches. Over the last six months we have been working with the Community Trust and a research company to see what the barriers are and how they can be addressed.’’

Charlie continued, “our aim as an organisation is for the football club to be the focal point of the local community. A lot of work is being done on Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Charlton has been awarded Silver status by the EFL, which has spent the past six months ranking the 72 clubs in terms of diversity. Ten clubs – including us – have been ranked Silver, which means we can now apply for Gold Status later this year.”

The Club is also on a mission to “supercharge” its social work in local boroughs to become a “nationwide example of how football, the local community and the business community can connect”. Since 2003, the renowned Charlton Athletic Community Trust has been carrying out award-winning work in the community, including working with families of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities gain access to respite care and working with the local Councils to combat obesity. This ground-breaking work was acknowledged at the EFL Awards on Sunday 14th April at the Grosvenor Hotel, when Charlton Athletic FC won the prestigious ‘Community Club of the Year’ Award. “We can help businesses by bringing us altogether and enabling increased levels of communication,” says Charlie.

“We have great facilities at The Valley, including a big car park and excellent transport links and we were recently delighted to host the prestigious SEL Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Greener Greenwich Summit’ at the Stadium’’.

Charlie continued, “over the past 15 years of turbulence, it’s fair to say that many local businesses have not seen equity in, or the value of, being heavily involved in Charlton Athletic. As businesspeople, which I fundamentally am, everyone wants to know that the Club is going to be successful.’’

Charlie added, ‘’The Valley is an excellent stadium and we can provide a proven platform for companies to do more business. We aspire to bring businesses together both socially and philanthropically for mutual benefit.’’

Charlie concluded by adding, ‘I firmly believe that we have something here at Charlton Athletic many of the businesses in South East London can buy into. To this end, the Club and our Community Trust are launching an exciting new initiative called ‘Valley of Dreams’, a scheme which will provide unparalleled opportunities for businesses to engage in award-winning community activities, take advantage of market-leading Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) programmes, gain exceptional exposure and, hugely importantly, boost their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings.’’