About

Donated by Emily of mindfulmaps.com

Donated by Emily of mindfulmaps.com

From the ini­tial meet­ings led by Space Makers Agency in 2011, it was clear the West Nor­wood Feast could be some­thing spec­tac­u­lar. The skills already inher­ent within the com­munity, com­bined with a deep seated pas­sion to make the pro­ject a long-term suc­cess, set the core found­a­tions of the Feast. The monthly mar­ket is a plat­form on which con­ver­sa­tions can be had, friend­ships have been made, and skills can be shared. It is the outer shell, the pro­jec­tion of what truly lies at its heart — the Feast volun­teers. Our aim is to make West Nor­wood a bet­ter place to live by encour­aging the devel­op­ment of the town centre through social and eco­nomic interventions;

  • Giv­ing voices to vari­ous demo­graph­ics within the community.
  • Sup­port­ing and offer­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for loc­als to show­case their skills.
  • Encour­aging entrepreneurship.

Our aim is to do these things through a range of pro­jects and inter­ven­tions. The jour­ney so far:

  • Janu­ary 2011 – Feast con­ceived with volun­teers and Space Makers Agency.
  • Feb­ru­ary 2011 — ini­tial graph­ics for fly­ers and posters designed for the first Feast event.
  • April 2011 — The first suc­cess­ful Feast event was held on 3rd April, with thou­sands of visitors.
  • May – August 2011 – Logist­ics man­aged chiefly by Space Makers Agency and a cadre of volunteers.
  • Octo­ber 2011 – Steer­ing Com­mit­tee formed to man­age Feast’s sus­tain­ab­il­ity and strategy. The steer­ing group is open to any­body and meets twice monthly.
  • Novem­ber 2011 – The Feast group wins a fin­an­cial award from round one of the Outer Lon­don Fund.
  • Decem­ber 2011 – Feast runs a Christ­mas event, run exclus­ively by volun­teers as the hand-over pro­cess begins from Space Makers to the local community.
  • April 2012 – Han­dover com­plete — Feast now run by volun­teers, with part-time coordinator.
  • April 2012 – Feast launches the first mar­ket of the year and devel­ops wider online pro­mo­tion to explain the concept and aims (above).
  • May 2012 – Awar­ded addi­tional funds through OLF 2. The award is aimed at sup­port­ing addi­tional neigh­bour­hood events such as the Slow Food Fest­ival and a Sum­mer event timed to coin­cide with the open­ing of the Olympics.
  • June 2012 – Feast holds a spe­cial event to cel­eb­rate the Queen’s Dia­mond Jubilee.
  • July 2012 – Spe­cial event to cel­eb­rate Olympic Open­ing Even­ing. Giant screen and pic­nick­ing on the grass at St Lukes Church.
  • Octo­ber 2012 – Feast day to sup­port local Food Bank.
  • Decem­ber 2012 – Repeat of suc­cess­ful Winter Lights Christ­mas event.
  • Janu­ary – March 2013 – Winter break, to review and plan. Outreach work with local school and businesses.
  • March 2013 – I Love Feast event to reach out to wider com­munity, draw in more volun­teers and lead up to first Feast of 2013 on 7 April.
  • April 2013 first FEAST of the year launch­ing the new design and signage.
  • Sept 2013 — Feast’s first pop up cinema even­ing in part­ner­ship with Picturehouse
  • Dec 2013 — Feast help organ­ise the inaug­ural Small Busi­ness Sat­urday event pro­mot­ing res­id­ents of West Nor­wood to shop local.
  • Dec 2013 — Feast Winter Lights with 20 stalls trad­ing inside the church.
  • April 2014 — Feast kicks off again for another sea­son.  Steer­ing group explor­ing set­ting Feast up with a char­it­able status.