Neighbour-led social clubs at East London Cares

Please note: this post is 18 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only

We're lucky to have many interesting older and younger neighbours leading social clubs at East London Cares and it only makes sense to celebrate them all! Whether it's Maureen's love for Irish coffee, Susan's stitching skills or Archie's talent as the host-with-the-most, we're keen to showcase their brilliant clubs.

East London Cares celebrates all the neighbours, younger and older, that come through the door to our community. Neighbour-led clubs are important because they help us all to learn more about the amazing people that live in east London and to get to know each other on a deeper, more personal level. It's great to learn about people's passions and be able to learn new skills and hear new stories from them too.

Last year, younger neighbour Melissa shared her work with us as an arts facilitator, when she led neighbours through some Autumn foraging in local parks and guided us to make art using the items we foraged from nature. There was printing, painting and collaging all in one social club and the neighbours had their artwork displayed on the walls at the end of the club - what a feeling! Melissa is one of our newer volunteers but by hosting this social club, she was able to meet more neighbours at the start of her journey with us. 

We also had Maureen, one of our regular older neighbours who joins many of our social clubs  and is paired up on the Love Your Neighbour programme host a small meet-up. She has told many of us about her knitting, but we have also heard about her yummy Irish coffees and they of course had to be tasted! Maureen kindly hosted some neighbours for a Christmas get-together filled with her famous Irish coffee. It was definitely worth the wait. She also filmed a small instructional video on how to make the perfect Irish coffee which is up on our social media if you want to give it a go yourself!

Older neighbour Bee is a seasoned-pro at hosting neighbour-led social clubs. In 2022, she hosted three social clubs and each was a busy one! Bee guides neighbours in her own style of water painting and everyone gets to add their own creative flair to a set piece. Last year we painted tulips, summer scenes and a Halloween card. Thank you, Bee for all your hard work and for making us all a little more creative.

Last year Susan, took the big step of hosting her first social club. Despite some unseen logistical issues on the day, Susan was a pro. She taught a large group how to make felt purses, with a button to close, and each neighbour left with one. We're looking forward to seeing what else Susan helps neighbours to create this year too.  

Thank you to all of our neighbours that have shared a special part of their lives with us, east London really is filled with some wonderful people. This year we are looking forward to electric harp, live jazz singing and much more to come, by our very own neighbours.

If you would like to join in with East London Cares community you can drop us a call, or sign up as a volunteer online. Then when you are ready (and if you would like to, of course) the team can help you start to deliver your very own social club!