The 2022 Big H&F Christmas Lunch was a triumph. It was even more festive for being the first time we’ve been able to host this event for three years due to Covid. This lunch brought hundreds of community members together to celebrate Christmas with food, gifts and music at the Novotel London West hotel in Hammersmith.

H&F Giving worked with Hammersmith & Fulham Council to organise and raise funds to treat older, isolated residents of the borough to a lovely two-course lunch with a gift bag and free transport for those who needed it.

Flora Taylor, Executive Director (Maternity Cover), H&F Giving, said: “It was great to be able to help with such a festive celebration for those that would otherwise spend Christmas Day alone. The appeal really resonated with local companies, trusts and residents and their support has been incredibly generous. Any funding raised that goes beyond the costs of the event will be put towards next year’s event.”

Loved every minute

“We loved every single minute of it,” said one resident of Sycamore House, an almshouse run by Hammersmith United Charities for low-income elderly residents. “Eternal thanks to all of the organisers.”

The lunch is completely funded by local giving so we are incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed gift items, money, or their time to make this event happen. Many local people contributed to the lunch appeal by making donations via our website.  More than 240 people donated to our crowdfunding campaign which raised an incredible £16,330.

Local businesses also made invaluable contributions and we also want to thank our major sponsors.

DEBK, a local charity which has been working to relieve poverty in Fulham since 1618, gave us incredible support with a donation of £6,000.

We extend a big thank you to Chelsea Football Club, which made an incredibly valuable contribution to our appeal with a gift of £5,000.

A generous contribution of £5,000 from The Earls Court Development Company was also instrumental in the lunch going ahead.

Our wonderful local football club QPR can always be counted on for support and they didn’t disappoint this year with a donation of £1,000.

GLL makes a vital contribution to helping make community spaces better for everyone and we really appreciate the £1,000 they contributed to making the lunch a success.

Hammersmith BID is a loyal supporter of the community and we also greatly appreciate the £500 the organisation donated to our lunch event.

Patri artisan Indian street food and drinks also donated restaurant vouchers for the raffle and we thank them for their delicious contribution.

A welcome return after 3 years

This was the first time in three years that this event brought people together, as the pandemic meant no lunch in 2020 and 2021. In 2022 we organised an operation to bring hot meals to the homes of residents.

But nothing compares with the joy of being with friendly faces at Christmas and we were delighted to hold the event and bring older people in the borough together in 2022 to celebrate with companionship, great food, music and seasonal cheer.

We really appreciate everyone who contributed to making this happen, from volunteers on the day, volunteers who packed gift bags, those who attended, the hotel staff, and of course our generous sponsors.

See you next year!

H&F Giving has a new website!

We are delighted to launch our brand-new website that has been designed and populated by two local agencies.

The website helps bring to life our new brand and visual identity, makes it easier for local people and organisations to get involved and tells the story of our borough.

Interim Chief Executive, Flora Taylor says:

“As a community facing charity our website is vital. We need to showcase our energy and professionalism and demonstrate the many activities H&F Giving is involved in locally. WebFX and Blueprint Partners nailed this – we are delighted with the website. Thank you so much – we are hugely grateful for your generosity and incredible work in bringing the ideas to life. Thank you to Purposeful Marketing for managing the project so efficiently.”

Why did we need a new website?

Early in 2022 we changed our name to H&F Giving because the old name was beginning to hold us back – it didn’t make it clear that we are a separate charity from our founders.

We wanted to make it as easy as possible for people seeking support to find it and get it so with support from London Funders, we commissioned Louise Kavanagh of Purposeful Marketing to develop a distinctive new name and brand for us. You can read more about that here.

We also needed our website to distinguish H&F Giving from other local charities. We needed a platform that would make it easy for visitors to understand what we do and why, then encourage more people to get involved.

We want our community (individuals and organisations) to know we are there for them, we can be approached, and if we can’t help, we can direct you to someone or somewhere that can.

The local marketing agencies

Through our extensive local connections, we were very fortunate to secure the support of Blueprint Partners and WebFX, who have worked together to design, build and populate our new website.

Kate Fuller, Frontend Developer, at award winning local digital marketing agency WebFX UK took on the task of designing and building the website.

Kate says:

“We have really enjoyed working alongside H&F Giving and Blueprint Partners on the redesign and rebuild of the H&F Giving website. At WebFX we put importance on making an impact, especially within the local community, and we hope that H&F Giving’s new website will make a difference to them and the impact they can make.”

Blueprint Partners, a global agency with an office in Fulham, developed all the written content.

Dan Jones, Account Director at Blueprint Partners, says:

“It’s been an absolute pleasure working with the H&F Giving and WebFX teams which we think everyone should be very proud of and we hope H&F will enjoy the benefits of their new site. Our mantra here at Blueprint is to leave the world in a better place than we found it, and this is just a small step we can make in that direction.”

With brand oversight and project management support from Purposeful Marketing, the two agencies were able to develop a distinctive, easy-to-use website that truly reflects HF Giving’s mission and ambitions.

We hope you like it as much as we do!

 

Pictured left to right are Clare Hirons, Julie Cavanagh and Rosie Borgia in the new SEAPIA kitchen

 

Left to right, Kate Walter (curator), Gaia Bini (ex-social media), Savraj Kaur (Producer), Nahwand (photographer) via H&F Giving

Published by SWLondoner, 25 February 2022

Asyia Iftikhar

A touring exhibition celebrating the diversity of Hammersmith and Fulham has opened in Fulham Palace post-pandemic.

The creative project was launched by Savraj Kaur, 38, executive director of Hammersmith and Fulham Giving, in collaboration with London-based photographer Nahwand Jaff, 32.

Named “Humans of Hammersmith and Fulham” and inspired by the popular series “Humans of New York”, it first launched in Lyric Theatre Hammersmith in January 2020.

Kaur said: “I’ve come across so many incredible characters in my day to day interactions.

“We don’t normally work with creative projects but it’s been a nice way to bring art to the community. Some people featured in the exhibition have never been to an art gallery before.

“We live in a really diverse borough with some of the most expensive homes in the country while 30% of children are born into child poverty. But we all share the same space.”

Now returning bigger than ever, the free exhibition displays portraits and accompanying interviews of over 50 residents in the borough.

The interviews aim to give an insight into the lives and experiences of various local people from community initiative leaders to ordinary residents.

One participant, Daphine Aitkens, ex-CEO of Hammersmith and Fulham Foodbank said: “Foodbank clients are not scroungers, but real people with real issues which can be solved.”

Speaking about the people she has encountered in her job, Aitkens added: “One was a mum who turned to prostitution to feed her child. When she came to us she didn’t need to prostitute herself anymore, she was able to cover her debts, got therapy, some parenting support with her gorgeous child.”

Before becoming a photographer, Jaff spent five years working as a delivery driver for the Waitrose on North End Road and got to know the area.

Jaff then began working on the project in 2019 and said: “It was very sporadic, Savraj would ask me to come down and take portraits while she interviewed.

He added: “It would be nice to continue profiling as many people as we can since so many people are doing such good work.

“I remember there was someone whose family had been in the area for over 100 years and as a diaspora the idea of being in one place for generations is so strange. It’s very beautiful.”

As the exhibition continues to tour, Kaur explained: “We’re calling it a living exhibition and long after I’ve gone it would be nice if we added faces and stories.”

The Humans of Hammersmith & Fulham exhibition is open daily from 10.30am to 4pm at Fulham Palace in Bishop’s Avenue until 10 March and will later continue to tour the borough.