Redbridge Neighbourhood Watch Picnic in the Park event!

Our event in Christchurch Green, Wanstead - on Saturday 13th November, was a great success!

Immediately we were joined by a young couple who signed up to create a local NHW!

People of all diversities attended.

Many were eager to sign up to initiate or join existing NHW's

We served free sandwiches, samosas and Chines Spring rolls.

We have never had so many people eager to get involved!

Young and old enjoyed the food.

The list of potential coordinators kept growing.

Some came in festive mood!

We were joined by families and individuals.

On a cold blustery day people enjoyed hot tea and food.

Many described crime problems they were subjected to.

The list kept growing....

Everyone was having great fun.

This lady told us of an art festival she hold in Wanstead.  She was pleased to see our work and like all the others, showed appreciation for the crime prevention devices we were handing out!

All day people kept us busy - the crowds we not as big as previous events, however this was the best result for new recruits to start neighbourhood watches.

 

We all had great fun.

There was a great array of sandwiches and food.

This gut just wanted to look cool.

The steam from the tea urn gathered many people who just wanted some conversation and something to warm them up.

People were called to the event and the young people behind me stayed around to enjoy the music.

It was cold... I regretted not wearing a jumper!

People were jovial all day (Mal on the phone explained to visitors about the RNWA and our purpose).

Everyone got bored of my DJing and MCing so we put on someone more interesting.

Hannah enjoyed herself so much she started dancing.

Come and get your hot tea...

Everyone got mic happy!

People kept coming....

Young people told us how different it was to have such an event.  They wished similar events could take place in future.

Everyone enjoyed each others company - a real spirit of community harmony was being fostered.

It was cold but people made the effort to come.

The fun continued.

Food and drinks were greatly appreciated and people thanked us for the crime prevention devices we gave out.

 Our penultimate community event was a great success in Wanstead.  Although we did not gather as many visitors as the first two events, we gained the largest number of potential NHW coordinators of all the events.  All in all we must of had around 200 visitors to our "Picnic in the park" We also served a few homeless people and that was a rewarding element of the service we provided.   Our crime prevention devices are running out now and we were pleased that people felt safer from having received the gifts from us.  We did not have a police presence at this event, but hope to have some at our last event which will be held in Chadwell in the next few weeks.

Redbridge Community barbecue part 2!

As the barbecue was on Halloween we wanted to promote a more peaceful image for our event. Focusing on pink and fluffy as opposed to evil!

Setting up took some time out thanks to my friend DJ Def Beat (AKA Ian Dunhill), from Brighton who provided us with free DJing for the event.

Our tanks also to High Road Baptist Church for providing us with a Microphone on loan.

The Police interacted with people taking crime intelligence and warning residents of local crime.
  This couple signed up to start up a new Neighbourhood Watch....hooray!

Our local homeless people (man with hand up - many others appeared throughout the day) soon arrived and were welcomed by all and sundry.  Many stayed for the whole day.

People of wide diversities attended.

My nephew and nieces popped over in between trick or treating.  Many other families trick or treating came out and joined us with over 50 children attending the event throughout the day.

The terrible trio!

 

Is that an angel on Halloween? No it's not its our local police - similar in nature though...

Crime troubles were relayed to the local Police.

We were joined by people from the Eastern European community - they were a very friendly family and dispelled many on the preconceived misconceptions of their community.

The white family at the back stayed from the beginning of the event till the end - they are not linked to the RNWA.  This was a first for our barbecues - music definitely helped!

DJ Def persevered through the debilitating smoke...

By the middle of the vent people were queuing for free food - there must have been at least 50 people during our peak period.  All mingling and conversing with one another which fulfilled part of our aim to foster community cohesion.

People just kept coming.

The food was not burnt, cameras can be deceptive especially when using a flash.  People returned for food quite often.

My wife Juliet served food all day and deserves great praise.

As it got darker and colder numbers started to dissipate.

More Eastern Europenas, Asians, blacks and white people continued to enjoy the food and ambiance.

This man enjoyed his food so much....

He began to dance!

We bought a tea urn and served hot drinks - this was very welcomed by people on a cold evening.

This man provided his details to start a NHW on his road.

Lights were provided by David Christopher from the Prince of Wales Pub.  He also provided electricity for the music and gas for the barbecue when our's ran out.  We are grateful to him for the use of his Car Park.

We handed our Panic alarms to women at the event.  We provided Car Tax disc theft deterrents and UK pens to label property to all visitors.

We wanted to end on a high so we played some Punjabi music for the last hour and got everyone dancing!

The frolics continued for a while...

Change those light bulbs...

Who is that posing in this pic...?

We ended the event on a high.

The event was funded by the East London Community Foundation to whom we are eternally grateful!