We had just over 150 people attend our Big Local Community Ramadan Iftar Event at Cranford Community College organised by our incredible volunteers in just under a week. Everyone contributed in bringing in their delicious freshly prepared dish to share amongst our community. Congratulations to all our volunteers for their sensational effort, taking the time to organise everything and also all those who attended with their families and friends. It was lovely to see everyone from all backgrounds come together. The event took place on Thursday 30th May 2019 from 8.30 to 11pm. 

Working in partnership with Generation Mindset, the Cyberbullying workshop provided our young volunteers the tools on how to tackle bulling online but also prevention and what to do if you or someone you know is being bullied. In addition our youngsters learned about effective time management, how to deal with stress and useful revision tips. We also had an informative and engaging session led by former Deputy Mayor of Hounslow Mukesh Malhotra about identity theft. Well done all our young volunteers for taking the time to be involved with the workshop during May half-term. Big thanks to Maxwell Omandi and his team at Generation Mindset, Mukush Malhotra and police officer Naz for their amazing support on the day. 

We are proud to announce that Year 9 students at Heston Community School undertaking a 2 year Prince’s Trust qualification raised an amazing £400 for us.
​This was achieved during their week-long pop up shop at lunchtimes (29th April to 3rd May 2019) as part of their Community Project unit. Students Layla Januda, Zainab Hussein, Manroze Purewal, Anna Nisar and Meryam Lemmou decided to raise money for our Kids Fun Club and Family Healthy Cooking Club. The students raised more than their intended target and will soon be visiting us to present a cheque and help decide how the funding will be spent.

Our Chair Alan Fraser said: "A massive thank you to students at Heston Community School for raising a whopping £400.  It is great to have more young people particularly from another school.  We certainly look forward to working with students from Heston on future projects."

We are delighted to collaborate with the school and look forward to working closely together in the near future with their students. 

​For more information about Heston Community School, please click here. 

THINK SMART LYRICS

So you going to a new place
You gonna turn a new page
But there obstacles along the way
And you got to make the right choices
Listen to the right voices
Think about what the point is
You’re the one in control

We are growing up
Learning right from wrong
But you gotta think smart
When you’re out there
This is the beginning of something good
A chance to start anew
But you gotta think smart
When you’re out there

Looking over my back
And then ahead of me​
Thinking about who I want to be
I made some mistakes
But that’s a part of my story
And I got to make the right choices
Listen to the right voices
Think about what the point is
I’m the one in control

We are growing up
Learning right from wrong
​But you gotta think smart
When you’re out there
This is the beginning of something good
A chance to start anew
But you gotta think smart
When you’re out there
(Smart when you’re out there)

(Smart when you’re out there)
(When you’re out there x 3)
(Smart when you’re out there)

Heston West Big Local
And Hounslow Citizens
We know they got your back
(They got your back)
Heston West Big Local
And Hounslow Citizens
We know they got your back
 
We are growing up
Learning right from wrong
But you gotta think smart
When you’re out there
This is the beginning of something good
A chance to start anew
But you gotta think smart
When you’re out there

Smart when you’re out there

Big thank you to Luke Joyce and Rory O'Hare for producing the song with our young people (Lovell, Luliya, Daniyal, Amadeus, Huzayma, Sanjay, Brooke and Crystal) and also thanks to Alan Fraser, Taz Virdee, Blaise Singh, Arfhan Razak, Joan Conlon, all our fantastic community volunteers and the Heston West Big Local Board for leading and supporting this project.

​In the last few months we have been working on developing a special documentary highlighting the extraordinary life of our former Representative Deputy Lieutenant for Hounslow, Maria Pedro who sadly passed away last November. The documentary, presented by our  youth volunteer Serena Lola, will enable future generations to learn more about Maria’s life and to provide an example of great resilience, hope and faith to children and adults across the UK and beyond.

​We have been working closely with Maria’s husband and former Rugby World Cup winning coach Philip Keith-Roach to help facilitate this documentary. We have so far interviewed Philip, Pricilla Ledley representing the Army Cadets, Alan Fraser, Taz Virdee and the Baroness Floella Benjamin at the House of Lords. We have also interviewed a few young people who worked with Maria and her friends and former colleagues. We will be interviewing our MP Seema Malhotra and celebrity chefs Raymond Blanc and Michael Caines soon. Watch this space. 

​We are delighted to announce our new ‘Welcome to Heston West’ flowerbed has been installed at Harlech Gardens on Cranford Lane. The fantastic new addition is just a stone's throw away from the Brabazon Parade of shops. The flowerbed is ideally placed to attract the attention of local drivers, shoppers, commuters and school children walking either to Berkeley Academy or Cranford Community College. The flowerbed was officially unveiled by our chair Alan Fraser on Tuesday 14th May alongside Lewis Byrnes at Lampton 360 Maintenance and members of our community. The reaction from our local residents has been brilliant, many commenting how the flowerbed made them feel proud and happy to be part of our local community. 

This is the first of many new green space projects that will be happening over the next few months in our Big Local area. We will be installing 7 raised beds (5 vegetables beds and 2 flowerbeds) on the Redwood Estate, 4 new flowerbeds outside Redwood Estate, opposite Cranford Community College and a few alongside the Brabazon Community Centre. In addition we will be developing the Harlech Gardens Allotment to help breathe new life to the site.

​We would like to thank Lewis, Fabio and their board of directors at Lampton 360 Maintenance for their amazing support in funding and installing the flowerbed. 

​Big thanks to London Borough of Hounslow. We have been successful in receiving grants from the council's CIL & HCG fund totalling to £35,000. The grant will help to support our new and exciting theatre project with Bantu Arts and to help expand our Summer School. In addition the funding will support our new Heston and Cranford Cares project and our Community Gardens allotment project alongside Sunshine of Hounslow. Congratulations to our friends at Heston Action Group receiving £10,000 to develop a community garden on Vicarage Farm Road. Together we're putting Heston on the map! Watch out for this space.