The Sound Lounge Pop-Up in Wimbledon

NEW NEW NEW!

The Sound Lounge has Popped up in Wimbledon 

It’s great when three Merton independent businesses get together and create something new and exciting. Well that’s happened right in the centre of Wimbledon where the The Sound Lounge music and arts social enterprise  (formerly in  Colliers Wood/Tooting with a drive for social responsibility), Graveney Gin, (organic and distilled in Merton Abbey Mills with a stall in Tooting Market) and The Wimbledon Brewery (fabulous beer available nationally and brewed in SW19) have created a NEW pop up venue on the Broadway.

Opening on Friday 1st December this collaboration, led by the passionate team at The Sound Lounge, was made possible working in partnership with Merton Council and the Love Wimbledon BID.

With a mixture of arts, music and Bobblehats Live Advent Calendar (14 Dec) the hub brings energy, social responsibility  and alternative enjoyment to the heart of Wimbledon.

Lunch / teatime / night time

Specialising in locally and ethically sourced food, The Sound Lounge will have a distinctive vegan menu served all day as well as coffee, cakes and excellent wines, local ales and spirits.

Open 6 days a week 11am-11pm

This is a pop up so help to make it a success in Wimbledon town centre.

 

About the Sound Lounge

The Sound Lounge owners, singer-songwriter Hannah White and her musician/producer/music manager husband, Keiron Marshall, opened their first space when they saw music venues had  been closing at a fast rate around London making it more difficult for start up performers.

Determined to make change, they launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to create a space 100% focused on music and art. The campaign grabbed the attention of The Evening Standard, Time Out Magazine and BBC Radio London. In just over 40 days the money was raised and the work began on this seemingly unachievable social venture.

When they needed to move premises Merton Council and Love Wimbledon worked together to find them a temporary base opposite The Piazza in central Wimbledon.

About Graveney Gin

Inspired by the pure passion of gin, entrepreneur Victoria Christie created organic and ethically sourced Graveney Gin. Using a small but perfectly formed 30L Copper Still which produces 30 bottles per batch, Graveney Gin is a truly handcrafted spirit of uncompromising quality so perfect for any ginthusiasts.

Graveney Gin is a London Dry Gin using organic ingredients such as punchy Juniper Berries, Pink Grapefruit and Angelica Root makes it fruity and smooth. Graveney Gin gives 10% of all profits to a conservation charity who protect and care for the rare mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park, Eastern DR Congo

About Wimbledon Brewery

Wimbledon Brewery represents local brewing heritage with a focus on using only the best ingredients.  As custodians of the heritage and traditions of beer brewing they aim to inspire the new generation of beer drinkers and brewers.

They have an underlying philosophy to utilise the best English brewing traditions and brewing ingredients, in fact their brewhouse has been designed with modern materials and construction methods, but is built for traditional brewing methods and includes a number of features unique to The Wimbledon Brewery.  Their core beers are brewed using one of the Head Brewer’s favourite barley varieties, Maris Otter, to produce the pale ale malt. The hops include classic English varieties and coupled with their own strain of yeast the beer has an enhanced  flavour.

Wimbledon Station Shoe Box Appeal 2017

Wimbledon Station’s annual Shoe Box Appeal for the Homeless in Merton – Tuesday 5 December

Staff at Wimbledon Station will gratefully receive small shoe boxes filled with donations for Faith in Action‘s Merton Homelessness Project. The following items are much needed and all very useful:

  • Mobile phones: service users need simple functioning mobile phones so they can be be contacted by employers, health services, and others. A basic Alcatel or Nokia will cost a couple of pounds but with a compulsory credit of £10.00
  • Phone chargers: functioning second-hand chargers are good
  • Oyster cards: with a £5.00 credit, oyster cards enable service users to travel to appointments
  • Cans of meat or fish with a ring-pull opening: service users really appreciate being able to take away a can of tuna, ham or luncheon meat to make sandwiches when they are living on the street
  • Cans of tomatoes and jars of coffee: constantly needed at the Drop-In
  • Marmite, peanut butter and Nutella: nutritious treats
  • Breakfast cereals / tinned fruit / biscuits: quick food for hungry service users at the Drop-In
  • Individually wrapped chocolates: Quality Street type chocolates are always appreciated
  • Men’s & women’s underwear, socks, and t-shirts: medium-sized boxers, knickers, t-shirts, and socks in dark colour – being able to put on clean clothes after a shower is a wonderful feeling
  • Sleeping bags: really useful in an emergency

Please bring your donations to Wimbledon Station on Tuesday 5 December, from 7am until 7pm.

Huge success for Merton Dementia Action Alliance

Merton Dementia Action Alliance (DAA) breaks London record for most sign ups in one month

Merton DAA has recently signed up and renewed a record-breaking number of businesses and organisations in a huge step towards making Merton a dementia friendly borough.

Love Wimbledon is among Merton DAA’s many partners, striving to understand and support people living with dementia in our community. Others Wimbledon businesses include TWM Solicitors, Better Gym, Morrisons, Metro Bank, Attic Theatre Company, Nationwide, Wimbledon Library and Merton Chamber.

Having participated in Dementia Friend training, Love Wimbledon’s Chief Executive, Helen Clark Bell recently hosted a dementia awareness session for Wimbledon Town Centre businesses, attended by staff from Elys, Centre Court Shopping Centre and local solicitors.

The clear message for local businesses is that dementia, which is not visible or obvious, is affecting an increasing number of adults of all ages, and those who are diagnosed may not remember or choose not to acknowledge that they have it. The business community must pull together to be aware of the changes in behaviour that can be caused by dementia, to provide safe environments, to safeguard and to provide a welcoming and understanding town. This will ensure carers and people living with dementia feel comfortable in Wimbledon. Read more about Merton DAA here.

Love Wimbledon will host further Dementia Friend sessions on a regular basis. We are keen to encourage businesses to join us in working towards a Dementia Friendly Town. Do get in touch with Helen to discuss how you can get involved by emailing helencb@lovewimbledon.org or calling us on 020 8619 2012.

Skills for Londoners Strategy – have your say

The Mayor wants to make sure all Londoners have the skills they need to succeed economically and in wider society, and for businesses to have access to a pool of talent to compete in the global market

The Mayor wants to hear your views on the draft strategy and to get feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on skill challenges in London and how these should be addressed. Your consultation responses, plus feedback from workshops and other research will help refine the strategy.

Love Wimbledon urges you to review the draft strategy and respond as soon as possible. Individuals can submit their responses here. Organisations will need to download the survey questions and email responses to skills-strategy@london.gov.uk

For more details please visit Skills for Londoners. Responses must be submitted by 2 January 2018.

Love Wimbledon also encourages all BID businesses to have their say on Merton’s New Local Plan (closes 8 January 2018) and on the New Draft London Plan (closes 2 March 2018).

MVSC launches Winter Warming Clothing Drive

Merton Voluntary Service Council launches clothing drive for Faith in Action Merton Homelessness Project

MVSC is asking the public for donations of old clothes which will help support Faith in Action’s Merton Homelessness Project. In particular they are asking for donations of:

  • Men’s medium & large underpants and socks
  • Men’s warm coats
  • Hats, gloves, scarves
  • 3 season sleeping bags

Donations can be dropped off at any of the following points:

  • Fayre & Square – Centre Court Shopping Centre
  • Vestry Hall – 336-8 London Road, Mitcham CR4 3UD
  • Nelson Health Centre – Kingston Road, Wimbledon SW20 8DA
  • Morden Library – Civic Centre, London Road, Morden SM4 5DX

MVSC’s Winter Warming Clothing Drive takes place between 13 November – 8 December. Please get your donations in soon!

Merton Chamber launches Marketing Jigsaw

Merton Chamber’s new series of workshops, focused on marketing and how all the pieces of the marketing jigsaw puzzle fit together

  • Communication
  • Promotion
  • Customer Services
  • Branding
  • Market Research
  • Sales
  • On and Offline Digital Media
  • Social Media

The workshops take place throughout 2018 and include:

Keep checking our website for updates.

GDPR Helen Clark Bell’s Blog

If your in box is anything like mine you will be receiving at least 5 emails a day about GDPR – that doesn’t stand for Grand Dad’s Prize Radishes or Greatest Disasters in Public Relations or even Gardeners Displacement of Pesky Rabbits.

We are living in a 21st century world where data is omnipotent – spare a thought for how many companies have your personal email address/telephone number/address and how many communications you receive in any one month that you don’t wish to.

Data Protection Regulations were last updated in 1997 – over the last 20 years our management of data and reliance on data has transformed and is open to leakage, abuse and can be bought and sold. On May 25th 2018 – General Data Protection Regulations come into force.

GDPR can be seen as a huge opportunity to cleanse our databases and enable us to have focussed communications with those that want to have a conversation with us.

GDPR affects every part of your business; HR & recruitment, marketing and sales, contract management also with a major implications on your IT network and software providers.

If your business is hacked or information is leaked the ICO can now fine your business up to 4% of your global turnover and on average fines are expected to be 79 times higher than last years. However there is not just the financial risk as if that is not bad enough there will also likely be a reputational risk associated with this.

So in case you haven’t gathered GDPR is a terrifically important subject/topic/ project for every business.

At our joint event with Merton Chamber this morning we heard from a panel of experts covering the wide ranging aspects that need to be addressed.:-

  • Robin Farrer-Fisher from our host Close Brothers Banking Division, about the importance of GDPR to their business and ensuring that the senior management of the organisation is aware of the implications and requirements
  • Patrick Stewart from TWM solicitors gave a very succinct overview from the legal perspective including a definition of what is personally identifiable data and what should be included within a privacy statement
  • Paul Lawrence from Salpo (a CRM system that Merton Chamber and Love Wimbledon BID both use) explained the process of obtaining consents and then the importance of being able to audit activity
  • Arshad Daud from Flexicom Solutions (local IT service company) reiterated the importance of it being a business process decision and not to rush out and buy the latest GDPR solution that is being advertised
  • Chris Campbell from London Digital Security Centre provided information about cyber security including cyber essentials and the free healthcheck available through LDSC.

We then had a very healthy and interesting question and answer session as businesses started to develop their understanding of the impact for their business.

A number of really helpful resources and websites were shared as detailed below.

 

Close Brothers                     www.closebrothers.com

TWM Solicitors LLP            www.twmsolicitors.com

Salpo Technologies            www.salpo.com

Flexicom Solutions             www.flexicomsolutions.com

London Digital Security Centre  www.londondsc.co.uk

 

OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES

www.ico.org.uk

www.eugdpr.org

stem4 Supported by Morrisons Solicitors LLP Wimbledon

stem4 is very grateful to the Wimbledon office of Morrisons Solicitors LLP for choosing stem4 as their nominated charity partner for a year. Their first fund raising event for stem4 was a quiz night held at the Antoinette Hotel in Wimbledon in November.

Morrisons Solicitors Wimbledon office is based conveniently in Wimbledon town centre.  From there, and across their offices in South West London and Surrey, they advise private clients, families and businesses on the full range of legal services.  Morrisons Solicitors pride themselves on being part of the local community and have supported a number of local charities.

Dr Nihara Krause, Founder and CEO of stem4 said “We are delighted that Morrisons Solicitors, Wimbledon office have nominated stem4 as the charity they will support this year and enjoyed joining them at their first fund-raising event. We very much value the support of local corporates who help us deliver our educational services on mental health to children and young people through their fund-raising efforts and by raising our profile in the local community”.

“We are proud to be supporting stem4 this year and are committed to raising much needed funds, helping them to continue the fantastic work they do with teenagers and mental health.  We were so pleased that they were able to join us at our fundraising event and are already exploring other ways in which we can support stem4 to achieve their goals” said Paul Harvey, Managing Partner Morrisons Solicitors.

stem4 promotes early identification of teenage mental health problems, in particular eating disorders, addiction, self-harm, anxiety and depression. Information is provided through the stem4 website, stem4 PHSE videos, inter-school conferences to students, as well as parent and teacher conferences and school nurse and GP education. Calm Harm, the stem4 smart phone app to help children and young people manage their urge to self-harm has been downloaded over 65,000 times to date and the charity is currently fund-raising to develop another self-help app.

GDPR – is your business ready?

This important legislation on General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) affects EVERY business from May 2018.

GDPR is one of the largest changes to affect all businesses in the country for the last 30 years. It requires every business to examine how you use personal data and actively seek permission to continue to use it. Any business that does not have clear policies, procedures that are fully auditable could be liable for a fine of up to 4% of global annual turnover. Every business is strongly encouraged to take action on this now in order to be prepared for 25th May 2018.

For comprehensive and regularly updated information please check the Information Commissioners website

Love Wimbledon is hosting a joint workshop on GDPR with Merton Chamber with a panel of experts to answer all your queries about what you need to do and myth bust the rumours flying around.

Book on to the jointly hosted workshop here.

Lobbying for a clean town centre

Waste and Street Cleansing

Love Wimbledon has been working hard to lobby the council’s new contractor for waste and street cleansing (Veolia) to maintain the town centre to a high standard. Since April standards have slipped, but we are regularly reporting issues to Merton Council and Veolia to keep Wimbledon clean and tidy.

Since the street cleansing service and waste service was outsourced, it has become apparent that the standard of cleanliness in the town has been declining. We have been communicating this to Senior representatives at Merton Council and we have had many meetings and assurances that the teething problems will be resolved. Our Chief Executive, Helen Clark Bell was invited to speak at the Sustainable Communities Scrutiny Panel to represent the issues the town and its businesses have been experiencing. Love Wimbledon is here to lobby for you and will persist to ensure the town centre has a high standard to cleansing, litter bin emptying, graffiti removal and reliable commercial collections for Merton Council/Veolia customers.