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Crouch End 2012 Charity Calendar raises funds for Haringey Community Circles

The 2012 Calendar now being sold across Crouch End to benefit Haringey Community Circles is a compassionate effort by Crouch End Businesses and Residents to help those in Tottenham affected by the August 2011 riots.

You can support this effort by buying a Calendar from one of the local shops in Crouch End, a full list of which is given at the end of this post.

Haringey Community Circles gratefully acknowledges and appreciates this effort by Crouch End Residents and Businesses to help those in Tottenham and surrounding areas that urgently need help restoring their homes, businesses and communities after the disturbances in August 2011. It is hoped that £16,000 will be raised to help Haringey Community Circle efforts.

People were burnt out of their homes and businesses looted. Those affected certainly need to get help.
Local community leaders and the Police will be helping us highlight the most affected we can help.

There have recently been joint meetings with our sister community group, Tottenham Concerned Residents Committee. Feedback from their first meeting, which 200 attended and further meetings, as well as feedback from community members and leaders at recently held Public meetings organised by North London Citizens, the government's Riot Communities and Victims Panel, have highlighted key underlying causes of disturbances that the money raised can go to address. These can include,

  • Improving Police-Community Relationship Initiatives.

    An initiative about to begin is the development of a Stop and Search App for smart phones that allows more accurate and independent accountability of Stops both for the police and those stopped. It is being led by Tottenham community member Ken Hinds, who is in charge of liaising with the Police on Stop and Search patrols. Local and more widespread use of this app will lead to an increase in Trust between Community members and Police as well reduce tensions arising from such practices. Details of Ken’s role can be found athttp://stopandsearchgroup.co.uk

  • Compensating for cuts in youth centre as well as community centre investment.

    Due to government cuts, many services for young people and community programmes have either been axed or cut and as a consequence this has led to increased tension between residents, businesses and authorities. This situation urgently needs restorative help and money raised from the Calendar programme will really help towards this. Our sister group, Tottenham Concerned Residents Committee, also set up after the riots, will be liaising with us to ensure effectiveness of programmes in Tottenham.

  • Allowing young people and citizens to generate their own media and become 'Citizen Journalists'
    This will help to portray a better image of Tottenham and Haringey, independent of mainstream media. This will encourage external investment into the area and make it be more of an attractive option for Investors. In addition it will give a chance for young people to overcome the misrepresentation generated of them by mainstream media. Despite what the media have portrayed, only 20% of those arrested were under the age of 18. Amazingly 50% of all those arrested in Tottenham were not residents of Tottenham.

    As part of this initiative, and as Administrator of Haringey Community Circles, I have been invited to contribute to a Radio 5 interview with Darra Singh, Chair of the government’s Riot Communities and Victims Panel on Monday 14th November 2011.

Credit needs to be given to Andrew Thornton of Crouch End Budgens, Azul-Valerie Thome of Food from the Sky and Jim Shepley of Hornsey YMCA for starting up the meetings following the riots and at the last HCC meeting allowing me to become responsible for helping mentor the Haringey-wide ongoing projects that are now the key function of Haringey Community Circles. And of course the greatest appreciation must be reserved for all those residents, business owners, teachers, councillors and young people that have come to make Haringey Community Circles the community it now is.

More coverage of this can be found at the websites of,

If you are a resident or business owner in Crouch End or neighbouring areas please support these efforts by buying the Calendar. Full accountability of how the funds are utilised will be given on the HCC website as they are spent.

If you want to make a direct difference as well as help raise funds, please contact me via the details given below.

With thanks for your heartfelt contributions,

Jazz Rasool,
Administrator,
Haringey Community Circles.

 

Tags: 2012, Charity Calendar, Crouch End, Haringey Community Circles

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