Are you between 10-19yrs? Do you have ideas on what the future needs to look like for young people? Need some help to make your ideas come to life? Heston West Big Local has teamed up with Ealing and Hounslow CVS, Spark! Charity, EACH Counselling and Hillingdon Autistic Care Support to deliver the GLA: My London Enabling Youth Social Action across Hillingdon and Ealing. 
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Visit http://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/youthsocialactionproject and have the opportunity to win a £100 gift voucher - so act quickly! Deadline for responses: Sunday 1st August 2021.

Cranford Community College have partnered up with Heston West Big Local to deliver the Holiday Activities and Food Programme this summer funded by the London Borough of Hounslow. This holiday provision is for children who receive benefits-related free school meals. England and Manchester United striker and food poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford is fronting the campaign to encourage parents to sign up their child or children this summer. ​

​The Youth Social Action project (aimed for 13 to 15 years old across Hounslow) will run from Monday 26th July to Thursday 19th August 2021 from 11 to 3pm at Cranford Community College. To register your interest in the project, please click here. 

We would like to announce that one of our Big Local short films 'JAG & JILL' (2019) has been specially selected to be screened at the upcoming WSFF Wonderous Stories Film Festival on Sunday 25th July 2021 in London. 'JAG & JILL' is a short anti-knife crime awareness film aimed to educate and inform children about the dangers of knife crime and the devastating consequences it can have on young lives, families, and communities. Made in collaboration with Make A Difference Entertainment, Zero Culture, Metropolitan Police and Mayor of London. Find out more at https://www.wonderousstoriesff.com/​

We are excited to have joined forces with Cranford Community College and Hustle Hiit to deliver free fitness sessions for adults living, working, studying or volunteering in our Big Local community. The pilot sessions will run from Saturday 10th July to 5th August from 11 to 12pm at the school. To sign up please click here. We look forward to welcoming you soon. 

In partnership with Keep Britain Tidy, Heathrow Airport and Cranford Community College – Heston West Big Local installed a new globe sized planter at the school. The project is ​part of the Heathrow Better Neighbour Programme, an initiative to improve local green spaces whilst re-engaging the community. We will be continuing our work on the planter over the next few weeks and look forward to welcoming the community to unveil the project in July 2021.  

​Big thanks to Keep Britain Tidy Project Manager Alec Hammond and Alan Fraser, Deputy Head at Cranford Community College and Chair for the Big Local and our brilliant volunteers including Callum, Rajveer, Nafessa, Nimesh, Leon and Debbie with Big Local Project Manager Taz.
​Watch out for this space!

The Big Local has partnered up Cultivate London to deliver free fun allotment gardening sessions on the Redwood Estate. The sessions run weekly every Saturday from 11 to 12.30pm. All equipment is provided. We are currently growing garlic, onions, potatoes, various herbs and also strawberries. Session is open to all in our community, for more information please contact Taz Virdee on 07840047771.

​The Big Local were invited to the Mayor of London's official opening of the London Blossom Garden at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in May 2021. The living memorial garden was developed to honour the 19,000 Londoners who sadly passed away in the pandemic, we were also joined by key workers and faith leaders across the 33 London boroughs. The Mayor Sadiq Khan met with our Big Local Community Podcast host Tarek Mrad. After the ceremony, the Mayor unveiled the 33 new blossom trees, one for each borough and also announced a new Covid-19 bereavement support programme for families.

For more information about the London Blossom Memorial Garden please visit: https://www.queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/…/blossom-garden  

Big thanks to the Mayor's office and National Trust for the invitation to fly the flag for Heston West Big Local and the London Borough of Hounslow. For more information about the Big Local Community Podcast please click here.

WE'RE BACK! Get involved with our FREE Youth Filmmaking Project. Sessions run weekly every Sunday at Cranford Community College from 11 to 4pm.
Our filmmaking project designed for young people living and studying in and around our Big Local area. The project is in collaboration with experienced filmmaker Blaise Singh and Heston West Big Local. During the sessions young people learn the art of filmmaking and community work. In the last 5 years our young people have been involved with making documentaries, short films, music videos and community related content. 

The sessions are a​n opportunity for young people to learn leadership, communication and creative skills in a safe, friendly and fun environment. The youth film club is often the first step for our young people to get involved with our community volunteering programme. 

To learn more / sign up by contacting Taz Virdee at t.virdee@berkeleyacademy.org.uk or by clicking here.  

In 2018, I initially joined Heston West Big Local thinking volunteering would help my CV, however as time went by, I started to thoroughly enjoy volunteering and built a passion for helping my community grow and prosper! Since then, I have been part of numerous amazing projects, such as clean-up days, fundraisers, debate clubs and many more! These projects have helped me grow as a person and learn more about our community.

​One of the first community events I was involved with was the Big Local Community Clean Up Day. We could gather in the morning and then as a group we would venture onto the Redwood estate to help make sure the area was clean by picking up any unwanted litter. I particularly felt that clean up days were one of the most useful ways to help the community. The more people saw us, the more they realised how important it is to keep the estate clean. Events like these made me learn that it important to keep the world around us clean, not just for ourselves, but for the people around us and future generations. 

In the summer of 2019, I volunteered for the Big Local and Creative Spaces London Summer School. I worked with children aged 6-11 years to help coordinate different creative activities.
​The Summer School not only taught me a lot about myself, but also about children. I got into the habit of building a routine and structuring my day efficiently. It was amazing to watch the children grow and learn each day. I enjoyed working with the group leaders and observing them during the project. This helped me develop my interpersonal and leadership skills even more.

​During Summer 2020, I got offered to teach dance over Zoom during lockdown. With my GCSE’s cancelled and being stuck home all day, this opportunity was so beneficial! It helped me escape from my monotonous days of being on my phone 24/7 and do something more productive. Whilst taking on this role, I looked back at summer school and my previous workshops to see what transferable skills would help me. I was extremely nervous at first, but I am so grateful that I always had someone I could ask whenever I had any queries. These sessions not only helped me gain planning skills, but I became even more confident within myself and my teaching.

​Currently I am studying for my A levels and I am still teaching dance. With all the stress of school, these sessions provide me with an escape to forget about the stress around me and focus on what I love doing! I am so thankful to Heston West Big Local for providing these amazing opportunities to me and will forever be grateful that I get to do something I love alongside my education!

In this special Community Podcast episode, host Tarek Mrad is joined by Shirin Ahmad and Sacha Rathore from Public Health Hounslow. Shirin and Sacha discuss their role within Public Health and how to become a Community Champion. In addition, they talk about the Make Every Contact Count (MECC) training for local residents, misinformation about Covid-19 and vaccination and also the work they've been doing to educate our community and local groups. 

For more information about becoming a Covid Community Champion please visit click here.