Weeknote 07, 11th Feb 2019
I’m typing this in my garden, sitting in gorgeous winter sun as my poorly daughter has a rare daytime sleep. It’s complete bliss to be bathed in warmth and sunlight and surrounded by trees and birdsong.
What I’m doing
It’s been a gentler week on me, which has been really lovely. I had a whole day of catching up on things on Monday so I feel a bit more on top of life. I’ve spent time at all three of our sites this week, which I always enjoy. While they all look different, the feeling of calm purpose and great warmth is present in all of them and that makes me feel very happy. It was also our third birthday party, which meant a great event and some downtime with the team and our volunteers. Around that I’ve had more meetings about future funding and potential partnerships.
What I’m learning
I’ve had one of those weeks where things that have been going round in my head for a while have crystallised. I don’t think it’s any surprise that this greater clarity has come with a less frantic schedule. The main insight is that if Little Village wants to be a London-wide charity (which we do) then we need to think about scaling in a way that isn’t simply about replicating what we have already. This is a big piece of work. I feel like we need to make a start on it soon, before we start seeking more multi-year funding from 2020. I’m starting conversations with people who might be able to help us think through scaling, or fund that work, and if anyone reading this has any recommendations or ideas please get in touch.
What I’m celebrating
This week has been all about Little Village turning 3. I wrote about what this milestone means to me here, and we also got some coverage in the Evening Standard, you can read the full article here. We were lucky enough to have our celebrations at City Hall, a building I’m inordinately fond of. It felt really special to bring so many volunteers and supporters together there. And we asked Amy to speak. Amy is a mum we’ve supported, after she escaped a violent home and rebuilt her life for her and her son. She started volunteering with us a little while ago, and more recently she’s joined the staff team as our creche leader in Wandsworth. It’s been a big journey and I think Little Village is very lucky to have someone like Amy in our fold. She is strong, warm and totally committed — and has more courage than many of us might have done in her situation.
What I’m feeling
I’m feeling happy, it’s unusual for me to feel like this so straightforwardly, so I’m enjoying it while it lasts! I feel happy because people I like and respect can see the value in what we’re trying to do with Little Village. I feel happy because of the amazing, nurturing network we’ve created. I feel happy because I am starting to get clearer about how we grow more sustainably: while I don’t have the answers yet, the questions are getting clearer, and that, I believe, is 80 per cent of the hard work.
Who I’m working with
As well as meetings with two of our current funders, Big Lottery and the GLA, I was lucky enough to catch up with the brilliant, sharp-minded Kate Stanley, who I worked with pre-kids at the NSPCC. That organisation is so lucky to have had so many years of Kate, and we talked peer-led and community-led models of family support (less geeky than it sounds). Otherwise it was a week of the brilliant Little Village team: Blanche, who I love working with because we bring such different things to the table; Tamsin, one of our newest team members who is quietly finding her feet and building an incredibly committed cohort of volunteers at Southwark; Tanya, our volunteer who pulled off a lovely event at City Hall with a tiny baby in tow; and Emma, who has done a stirling job all week of getting our story out across social media.
Photo of the week
