Christmas tree for Vauxhall courtesy of Vauxhall One

Local business group Vauxhall One are sponsoring a 10 metre Christmas Tree to be sited outside the Royal Vauxhall Tavern at the entrance to the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. The tree will be in place for the festive season with the lights being switched on by a very important local person.

Come and see who it is at 7:15pm on Wednesday 28 November and celebrate the start of Christmas with Vauxhall One.

This is just one of many improvements introduced by Vauxhall One - which include refurbished railway arches, hanging baskets, and patrolling street wardens.

Kennington won't be left out - the Tree of Hope continues to be lit up outside St Anselm's Church during the dark evenings. The Tree of Hope was set up in 2009 by the Kennington Association, with help from local councillors' 'Ward Purse' fund.

Photo from Freefoto.com

Tree of Hope lit up

Tuesday evening saw hundreds of Kennington residents flock to St Anselm's Church to watch as Kate Hoey MP switched on the 'Tree of Hope' lights.

The Tree of Hope is designed to improve Kennington Cross, increase the sense of community, and provide a positive focus after the tragic deaths of several young people in past few years.

The money has been raised by the Kennington Association, who have spearheaded the project.

Local councillors helped out by donating part of the 2008 'ward purse' fund towards the project.

If you have a good idea for the 2009 ward purse, please get in touch with your local councillors in the next month.

Let us know how Council money should be spent

Local councillors are asking residents to suggest the best options for spending £12 000 earmarked for Kennington and Vauxhall. Labour has decided to continue a scheme which gives councillors a pot of money to distribute in their ward.

Last year councillors chose to fund:
-The Tree of Hope project – which will light up the large tree at Kennington Cross as a symbol of hope against violent crime in the area
-A project at Archbishop Sumner’s School to erect a greenhouse in their eco-garden
-The Creative Sparkworks project at the Old Lilian Baylis, providing art, craft & media activities for young people
-Initial security works to the disused Victorian gentlemen’s convenience at Kennington Cross, so that further work can proceed to convert the space into an arts centre.

Councillor Steve Morgan said ‘last year’s projects were really successful, and we want to make sure this year’s will be just as good. Please let us know if you have an idea for funding by getting in touch’.

Pictured: Labour councillors in front of the tree which will be list up this Autumn, in part thanks to Ward Purse money

Update on ward purse projects

Earlier in the year councillors in Prince's ward selected several projects to benefit from funding from the 'ward purse' - a special fund from Lambeth Council.

Here's an update on the projects:

Archbishop Sumner Primary School Eco Garden
The Friends of Archbishop Sumner School applied to erect a greenhouse in their eco-garden, at the corner of Kennington Road and Reedworth Street. The greenhouse has now been erected, and pupils at the school are making use of the growing facilities there.

Tree of Hope
A project to light up a tree as a symbol of hope against violent crime in the area. After many travails, notably with TfL, the lights have now finally been installed. They are expecting their electrical inspection and certificate on Monday 27th June. However, a formal “switch on” will take place, probably in September, when the evenings become darker.

Creative Sparkworks
A project providing art, craft & media activities at their workshop in the Lilian Baylis Old School for which it needed running water, electrical work for heating and kiln installation. This Ward Purse project is complete.

ArtsLav
A “reserve” project, to make four rather than the allowed three in Prince’s Ward. The long term plan is to convert a disused Victorian gentlemen’s convenience into an arts centre. The Ward Purse funding was for initial security works, so that further work could proceed without fear of theft of items for architectural salvage. As a reserve project, this commenced somewhat later than the others, so is a little further behind the others and only received the funding mid June.

Pictured: Councillor Mark Harrison outside the Kennington Cross toilets earmarked to become the 'ArtsLav project.