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Member profile: Vital Kingston
Thursday 12th August 2010, 17:08
Some time ago I blogged a request to hear from any CDX members out there who would be happy for me to come along, spend some time with them, and get a better idea of the kind of work that our members are doing. The first reply I received was from David Randall, Co-ordinator of Vital Kingston – a community-led social enterprise based in Kingston-upon-Thames that joined CDX in March 2010.
Why Vital Kingston?
Kingston-upon-Thames is a market town and Royal Borough in South West London. Set up earlier this year, Vital Kingston came into existence primarily as a reaction to the closure of Borders – a large book & coffee shop in the town centre, and responding to the concerns of local residents and business owners about the lack of informal places for social interaction. Drawing heavily on the Third Place concept of community building, they are exploring ways in which to develop such community hubs whilst ensuring consultation with local residents and businesses.
I met with David Randall, one of five “lead volunteers” and co-ordinator of Vital Kingston, along with Maggie Ufot and Juweriya Mohamed (pictured), who became involved with Vital Kingston via the Future Jobs Fund and have been focussing on organising and promoting a series of open consultation events. You can read a bit more about David and the other volunteers, and watch a video about Vital Kingston on their website.
I was really interested to hear about the experiences of Maggie and Juweriya, who were both enthusiastic about the project and their involvement with the Future Jobs Fund. They were sad to hear of the Fund's demise in May 2010 as part of the Government's efficiency savings, having both increased their skills and work experience through their placements.
One of the biggest challenges faced by David and the team has been the fact that they are “a bunch of people that don’t know anything about planning”, but they soon realised that the same names kept cropping up in conversations, and that there were certain people working within the council that it was essential that they made contact with. This has spurred them into action, networking with local organisations and businesses, and developing relationships with local government figures.
I attended the last of a series of consultations, or Open HEART Surgeries, in the slightly unusual setting of Oceanus (pictured, left) – one of three nightclubs in Kingston town centre. I’m not used to attending meetings sitting on chesterfields amongst fake palm trees and marble staircases, but it’s something I’d be happy to repeat...
The meeting was well attended – I counted at least 38 heads – and the crowd was a good mixture of people, from residents, local counsellors and business owners, people who were active in the local religious community, voluntary and community sector and who organised local social events, such as a local comedy night. Each event has followed the same format: a presentation, feeding into and prompting group discussions and ideas generation. This particular event focussed on developing a café culture, looking primarily at USA examples for inspiration (their ideal is the fictional "Central Perk" of Friends fame), and identifying business models that could be of use in Kingston.
So what next for Vital Kingston?
A local poll has identified the three most popular ideas for a “third place”, the team are currently putting together an action plan following on from the consultation events and will be taking that forward. A big priority is identifying sources of funding, having already discovered that they are not entitled to a grassroots grant because they are less than a year old.
I’ll be following Vital Kingston’s progress with interest, and you can read more about Vital Kingston and contact the project via the Vital Kingston website.
Thanks to David, Maggie and Juweriya for giving up their time to answer my many questions! If you’d like to be profiled on the CDX website and in our e-zine, please contact me.
Sophie Ballinger, Development Officer - Communications