Oxford House 130 years in Bethnal Green Annual Review 2014-2015
Content About us Governance and Management Introduction Another 130 years... Our year Community Volunteering Creative arts and heritage activities Supporting the work of Oxford House Future: ‘From Victorian Gap Year to Community Hub’ Our Finances Thanks to Contact us
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About us
Oxford House was established in September 1884 as the first “university settlement house”. Students and graduates from its founding body undertook a period of residential volunteering to learn first-hand about the realities of urban poverty whilst providing practical support to the local community through a variety of projects including youth clubs, poor man’s lawyer, adult education and labour exchanges. 130 years later Oxford House is still at the heart of life and communities in Bethnal Green. Our vision is:
“To be the place in east London where people come together to work, learn, explore, create and celebrate arts, community and heritage.“
Gathering outside OH. 1970's
Health Project Stall. 1986
We concentrate on three main areas of work to meet this vision: 1. As a community space by managing a variety of offices and venue spaces for the local community, charities and social businesses; 2. Offering a volunteering programme that develops employability skills, learning opportunities and builds community; 3. As a place for heritage and the creative arts using our theatre, dance studio and art gallery for our heritage and arts activity programme.
Volunteers. The Knowledge Festival 2014
Promoting OH’s work in Bethnal Green Market. 2014
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Governance and Management
Oxford House is governed by company directors who are also charity trustees within the meaning of charity law. Jonathan Baume has been Chair of the board since January 2013. John Ryan has been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since June 2008 and leads the staff team. Oxford House believes it is important that our trustees reflect the diversity of the local community but also have the skills and expertise to govern the charity. We review our governance regularly and when appropriate recruit new trustees to provide skills and experience to the board.
The first six heads of OH. 1884
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Introduction
On 8th September 2014 Oxford House celebrated its 130th anniversary. Our story is a remarkable testimony to those original Victorian pioneers with their vison of social justice, a commitment to end poverty and develop a community underpinned through volunteering. Former volunteers, staff and supporters gathered at Oxford House last September to celebrate this achievement. It was an evening of storytelling and memories and remaking friendships. Noticeably, the passion for change and fairness had not dimmed from even the oldest former staff and volunteers. There was an immense pride in our heritage and what Oxford House stands for. So, as the communities of east London are subject to rapid change, we believe Oxford House is as relevant and needed as in 1884. The emphasis of our work has changed over 130 years and will no doubt change again but a commitment to support community life is at the heart of what we do. We would like to thank (past and present) staff, trustees, volunteers, funders, partners and the communities of East London who have contributed to making our 130th anniversary a year to remember. Jonathan Baume Chair
John Ryan Chief Executive
OH’ Sunday afternoon Bible lectures at Victoria Park. 1890
Talent Contest. 1950
Street Party. The Knowledge Festival. 2014
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Another 130 years...
Having celebrated our 130th anniversary the work of Oxford House continues apace. There simply is not enough time to rest on our laurels. The challenge to provide a fantastic community, heritage and arts space without core funding is immense. It is a challenge we relish and means we need to continually reinvent ourselves to make sure we are still relevant. The highlights of 2014/15 provide an insight into how we meet this challenge and how we will develop in the future.
130th anniversary Anniversaries are not just candles on a celebratory cake, nice though that is! It is also an opportunity to reflect and take a historical perspective on the type of work we do and how it meets our vision of community life. The 130th anniversary provided a tremendous opportunity to bring former and current staff and volunteers together. It was also a great motivator to continue our work. Roll on the next 130 years.
Derbyshire Street Pocket Park How can you turn a forlorn cul-de sac with no real purpose into a vibrant part of contemporary neighbourhood life? The Derbyshire Street Pocket Park is the answer.
Gardening in the Pocket Park. 2014
Created through an imaginative and organic partnership between Oxford House, landscape architects – Greysmith Associates, Tower Hamlets Highway and Floods team, the Mayor of London and contractors Riney and The Grassroof Company – an uninspiring space has been transformed and now buzzes with the sound of people. It is part of our vision for the future and forms a key part of our Heritage Lottery Fund project to ‘open up’ Oxford House. We plan to create a new café space that will spill out onto the pavement and provide a muchneeded resource and income stream for Oxford House. This will be further developed during 2015. All being well we hope to start on site in late 2016.
Collaboration with Nomura International Corporate Social Responsibility may often appear worthy or even irrelevant. However if you select the right partner and are both committed it can be transformative. Our relationship with Nomura has blossomed since its start in January 2013 as part of the Beyond Boundary project. From staff volunteering (including the ubiquitous painting projects), to supplying and fitting plasma screens to reception areas, designing and printing annual reviews and helping to support the Bethnal Green Business Forum, Nomura have been truly supportive. Nomura confirm that their staff enjoy and value it too, with countless experiences of personal development.
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Our year
Our strategy to use the building and its potential to meet community needs and generate unrestricted income to support the charity continued. It has in turn reduced our reliance upon grant income and means we can continue to offer fantastic facilities for community use.
Community • Open daily and 51 weeks during the year for an amazing range of community uses • Welcomed around 80,000 visitors during the year • Over 80% of room hire was at affordable rates for community use • Around £12,000 worth of donated free venue hire to support community groups without funds
Arts and crafts at OH. 1970’s
Art Lab Experiment. Fun Palace 2014
Bethnal Green Business Forum. 2015
• Opened the Derbyshire Street Pocket Park result of partnership with LB Tower Hamlets and Luke Greysmith Associates and funding from LBTH and Mayor of London. Role of volunteers to plant and maintain park. Used for festival in 2015 • Participated in Open House London weekend and welcomed over 70 visitors who had a guided tour of the building including the secret chapel • Continued to provide a fantastic range of community activities for all ages including Bollywood Inspired Dance, Fitness Classes, Thai Boxing, Yoga and Pilates • Launched the Carpentry Club and Men’s Shed in a former workshop space in a collaboration with resident company – Samson & Fox • Produced our second version of the popular ‘East2: An Insiders’ Guide to Bethnal Green’ with funding from Awards For All and co-created with Walk East and aspiring local community journalists • Continued to develop relationships with local schools including Bethnal Green Academy, Columbia Primary and Hague Primary schools. • Launched and supported Bethnal Green Business Forum in association with Tower Hamlets economic development team
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• Catered for a range of conferences, events and meetings including Film London, The Challenge, Sadler’s Wells, Young Foundation • Sadly said farewell to some resident organisations including Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement • Welcomed new resident organisations including: – Auto Italia South East – artist run organisation that commissions and produces new work – London Ethnic – ethical London-based fashion label working with London fashion graduates – Wakefield & Tetley Trust – provides grants to support charitable and voluntary activity
Volunteering • Young people volunteered over 5,000 hours • Supported East London Business Alliance (ELBA), Nomura and State Street ‘Beyond Boundary Project’ through volunteering opportunities and as Steering Group member • Continued to develop great volunteering partnership with Queen Mary University (including their award winning QProjects), University College London, King’s College and Richmond University • Provided free space to young people from Somewhereto__ an Olympic legacy project • Mentored young people in the Young Foundation’s Uprising programme and Oxford House apprentice/intern
Creative arts and heritage activities Our reputation as a hub for the creative arts and heritage continued apace. Our three-fold offer included office space (over half our tenants work in the creative industries), a portfolio of mixed spaces (studio theatre, gallery and dance studio) available for hire and a programme of arts and heritage activities. • Secured a Round 1 pass and funding for our major Heritage Lottery Funded project • Annual arts festival ‘The Knowledge,’ was very popular and was held in the new Derbyshire Street Pocket Park in September 2014 • Created our own Oxford House Fun Palace as part of the national Fun Palace weekend in October with artists selected through The Pitch event with Stella Duffy. Artists included Lon-art, Wunderkammer and Rose Hughes • Launched our programme Oh! Presents… Artemis Theatre presented a rehearsed play-reading of Clare Summerskill’s brand new verbatim play, ‘Rights of Passage’, based on interviews with LGBT asylum seekers in the UK • Participated in the third Chelsea Fringe Festival featuring exhibition Where the Wild Things Grow (Alys Fowler, Paul Debois and Lynn Keddie) and recording of BBC 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time • Started work collaborating on two heritage projects; Centenary Exhibition with Ben Uri Gallery and ‘12 Years’ by the Zimbabwe Association Hague Primary School project for the photo competition ‘Where The Wild Things Grow’. Chelsea Fringe Festival 2014
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Theatre • Le Mot Juste Theatre • British Humanist Choir • Sagacity - part of Capital Age Festival by Green Candle Dance Company. • Dance Moves Festival - Yearly dance event for primary school children by Language of Dance • Jasmine by Leghacy Productions • EL TARIQ – THE ROAD Dance Show • British Urban Film Festival
• Still Score! By Tom Adams (Oh! Presents…) • Misunderstood Monsters by Half Moon Theatre • Mr Wilson Second Liners Brass Band • Somali week • Reuben Parker by The Rebirth Network • Trinity Laban Choir • Rights of Passage by Claire Summerskill/Artemis Theatre (Oh! Presents…) • Shh...Bang! by Peut-être Theatre
First Edition of the Pantomime Theatre Festival at OH. 1953
Rehearsed reading of ‘Rights of Passage’ by Clare Summerskill. 2015
Life drawing at OH. 1970’s
Exhibitions • Help! Savages University of Creative Arts • The Salon of the Spanish Rejected Lon-art • Where the Wild Things Grow Chelsea Fringe • Change Thinkarts! • Photography as Installation LCC MA Photography Alumni Group
The Salon of Spanish Rejects. 2014
• Women out of focus Cristina Cuevas (Photomonth Festival) • 130 views Knowledge Festival • ‘Somali arts festival’ Kayd Somali Arts • Of People and Places Curated by Francesca Wilkins • Death For A Trophy Marta Ariza Bover
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Supporting the work of Oxford House
We continued to strengthen our organisational capacity through various iniatives including: • Worked closely with A New Direction and employed our second apprentice, Rochelle Cummings and Intern, Anna Pancikova who started in 2015. • Continued to develop our social media work with Eva and volunteers including Carolina Castro-Freire. • Redesigned and launched new website for Oxford House in April 2014
OH new website – www.oxfordhouse.org.uk
Nomura volunteer painting the Gallery. 2015
• Carried out our second major visitor survey during June 2014 to support our heritage project including further demographic analysis by resident company, New Policy Institute • Worked collaboratively on Corporate Social Responsibility iniatives featuring – Nomura International – included design and print of annual review, a makeover of our gallery and helping to plant out the new Pocket Park. – Broadgate Estates – who mentored and supported our Chief Executive
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Future
‘From Victorian Gap Year to Community Hub: heritage and community at Oxford House’ Our past will be our future thanks to a successful grant application to Heritage Lottery Fund. Oxford House secured a Round 1 pass and was awarded £102,800 development funding to help progress a bid for a total of £964,000. The project will include much–needed capital works to the roof and windows and creation of a new café space opening directly onto the Derbyshire Street Pocket Park. It will also enable a programme of activities to interpret the ‘hidden’ stories of our 130-year history. This will be developed during 2015 and will be delivered with community partners. The development phase started in 2015 and includes finalising future designs, securing planning consents, completing a new business plan and designing/testing our heritage activity plan. Work has started to secure additional fundraising of £400,000. The project team includes Fanshawe LLP, Dannatt Johnson Architects, Gibbs Dench, Press & Starkey, Cultural Consulting Network, Cause4 and Tourism UK.
Plan for a new cafĂŠ opened to the Derbyshire Pocket Park
Fire at Oxford House damages roof and part of the chapel. 1952
Leaks in the chapel after a rainy day. 2015
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Our finances
Oxford House generated income for the year to 31 March 2015 of £391,451 (2014: £397,024). Expenditure increased from £412,064 in 2014 to £417,788 in the year ending 31 March 2015.
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OH staff. 1960’s
Overall, the net deficit of income over expenditure for the year ending 31 March 2015 amounted to £26,337 (2014: £15,040). Underlying this figure is an unrestricted surplus of £31,586.
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Thanks to
Oxford House Trustees Jonathan Baume, Fergus Early, Linda Kaur, Josh Spero, Deborah Crow, Liane Hartley, Louise Alexander, Michael Judge, Rev. Kevin Scully, Asma Shah, Matthew Railton, Polly Richards and Jamie Andrews.
OH Staff John Ryan, Baz Browne, Anisa Khanom, Enus Ali, Christine Lee, Annie Gao, Evelyn Maison, Agnes Asiedu, Eva Carmona del Rio, Tahmina Ahmed, Hi Ping Chou Chang, Bernard Owusu Boateng, Rochelle Cummings and Anna Pancikova.
OH volunteers Olga Kravchenko, Eden Gilby, Emily Cameron, Ioana Ursescu, Syed Hussain, Tyler Mitchell, Taoqi Han, Ricardo Sarabia, Shahnaze Faneker, Anna Morales, Francesca Wilkins, Alaitz Arregi, Raphael Cheng, Carolina Castro-Freire, Elizabeth Pizzuti, Caitlin Woods, Anna Pancikova, Luisa Giuliani, Ketaki Varma, Lavinia Alma, Monica Kolesnik, Chloe Rodrigues, Sasha Stormon, Sauena Surana and staff volunteers from Nomura International.
Centenary celebration – Bike ride to Keble College, Oxford. 1984
Funders • City Bridge Trust: Accessibility audit of Oxford House • Creative Employment Programme: Supported the employment of Front of House apprentice • Esmee Fairbairn Foundation: Supported volunteering programme • Arts Council England: ‘The Knowledge Festival’, arts festival held at Oxford House in September 2014 • Big Lottery Fund/Awards for All: ‘East2: The Insiders’ Guide to Bethnal Green 2015’ Community journalism project culminating in a 48 page booklet • L.B. Tower Hamlets: Supported ‘The Knowledge Festival’ • L.B. Tower Hamlets: PQASSO Level 2 costs • L.B. Tower Hamlets: Creation of Town Centre website for Bethnal Green Business Forum • The Golden Bottle Trust: To support heritage project
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Partners • Keble College, Oxford • Green Candle Dance Company • Walk East CIC • The Photo School • Somewhereto_ • Young & Talented School of Stage and Screen • Language of Dance • Basque Society • Lisa Gilbert Academy of Ballet
Resident Companies Dante or Die, Green Candle Dance Company, Kazzum, Kayd Somali Arts, Mary Rahman PR, The Language of Dance Centre, Pearl Advertising, Silsila Productions, Samson & Fox, What Larks! Productions, Auto Italia South East, London Ethnic Ltd, Phoenix Housing Cooperative, Positive Care Link, Hestia Housing & Support, East London Asian Family Counselling, British Union of Spiritist Societies, The Rock Church (London Mission), God Worshippers Mission, Zimbabwe Association, Basque Society, Play Association Tower Hamlets, Elaine Harrison, New Policy Institute, Food Cycle, Camden Society and Wakefield and Tetley Trust.
Advisers
Auditors
Bankers NatWest Bank Plc, Gredley House, 1/11 Broadway, Stratford, London E15 4BQ
Haysmacintyre, 26 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4AG
Charity Bank Limited, 194 High Street, Tonbridge TN9 1BE
Solicitors Russell-Cooke LLP, 8 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4BX
Contact us: John Ryan Chief Executive Oxford House Derbyshire Street Bethnal Green, London, E2 6NG
Nearest Underground Station: Bethnal Green (Central Line) tel: 020 7739 9001 email: info@oxfordhouse.org.uk web: www.oxfordhouse.org.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/oxfordhouseinbethnalgreen Twitter: https://twitter.com/oxhse
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oxford house a place to‌ work, learn, explore, create and celebrate
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