We held our annual Christmas Party at St. Paul Church, a huge success. We had 132 people attend, with special guests Kwajo Tweneboa (housing activist), Paster Les Isaac, Wadadda Stanbury, a saxophonist, and our photographer Mark Chilvers. We had a DJ Truth and a contemporary dancer, Nadia, to entertain us all night.

A three-course meal was provided, starting with soup and soft, fresh bread, leading on to a buffet-style dinner with six different options, of course, Turkey alongside Lamb, Beef, Curry Goat, cod and salmon dressed with roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, all the veg, stuffing, samosas (cooked by a service user) and huge homemade Yorkshire puddings. To finish, we had Christmas pudding and apple pie served with fresh ice cream or ice cream.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves with their bellies full and danced the night away.
Thank you to A2ndVoice for helping us set up and set down and for your continued support.

For 16 days of activism against Violence Against Women and Girls, we marched, shouted and made up a whole heap of noise from Tooting Bec to Ameen Corner. We hope we gave a voice to those who felt they had lost theirs due to violence. Members of the public joined us, came out of the shops and cheered with us! We thank the cars that beeped their horns. Most importantly, we thank Cllr Graeme Henderson for opening our walk and the Wandsworth VAWG team for supporting us. This is the second year we have walked for 16 days, and we will do it again next year; keep looking for the details so you can join us!

We had our annual bake-off at The Scoop at More London; as always, this was a fantastic event, except for this year, it had a twist. We asked staff to bring in their treats to be judged by their very own CEO! We are so grateful for this fundraiser; all funds raised are to support our Girls Squad which was £550. Thank you so much.

South Thames Wandsworth invited us to have an information table at their Freshers Fair, where 100 students came to see us and gain information about our services and how we can help young people affected by domestic abuse, and of course, we come with goodies. Thank you for having us …

Our achievements eight months into 2023…

We delivered:

• • We cooked and delivered hot meals to housebound elders between Nov 2022 to April 2023
• • International Woman’s Day 2023 – was a massive success, with Dr Dina Mekded as our guest speaker and MangoTree LTD entertaining with their drumming experience.
• • We celebrated Ramadan with an Iftar event on 6th April 2023 with 50 people, including families we work with, Girls Squad and local community members.
• • The Big Move in May 2023 – We became homeless after nine years of being in our building we called home. Several of the service users called the centre home from home because it was home to many of the women fleeing violence or seeking therapeutic support. The sudden up evil didn’t not stop us! “Sometimes we must let go to let new things come in.”
• • We have acquired a transit van, more outings, more trips! When it is insured
• • We started a Caring Dads Group to have better and healthier relationships with their children. This is a 17-week course.
• • We jointly fundraised with knitting Norbury together and raised £501 for Marie Curie; thanks to Joyce Jones for the donation of healthy plants that went towards the plant sale.
• • The Girls Squad continued growing; we had 15 girls we supported for over 12 months. They tackled some very difficult issues and were rewarded with a fun time at the O2, rides the cable cars, cinema, and theme parks.
• • We shared 25 crates of women’s clothing; the donation came from a clothing manufacturer.
• • We relocated our counselling out of the borough. But we are still local, and much of our delivery is online.
• • Intergenerational trip to Southend at the end of August with members of the lunch club, girls’ squad, and our clients.
• • We supported 5 DV families with moving into their accommodation. We worked across London boroughs, and families were rehoused in Wandsworth, Lambeth, and Croydon. We sourced furnishing, flooring, bedding, kitchen stuff, food parcels, you name it; we got it so the women could begin rebuilding their homes.
• • We held several workshops with the lunch club, including Talking Therapy, Arthritis, Croydon Vision, Croydon Hearing, and a Nutritionist. We have also had trips out, including beauty treatments at Nescot College and Oval Cricket Ground.
• • Thank you to Coughlan’s Bakers for donating weekly bread and sweet treats for our Lunch Club members.
• • And we continue our telephone support with all our service users.
• • Four workshops August-Oct at NatWest Bank Norbury addressing Scams and Fraud

Thanks to our committed yet small team, we are a few in numbers but have achieved great things; we could not have moved “mountains” without you. We moved from the centre after nine years, we had 16 rooms to clear out. Given the short notice, it was undoubtedly a nightmare, but we achieved it and moved out on time. A big thank you to Ricky and Rhys, who worked night after night to take our stuff to storage; I recommend these guys anytime. They also collected and delivered furniture to the families we helped help.

Everyone knows how you have supported us, so I will not name anyone. All we will say is that you stood by us in our time of need.

Women of the world

Sometimes, asking for help is the bravest move you can make. You don’t have to do it alone – Because success doesn’t just come and find you – you must go out and find it.

Our Lunch Club had a visit to The Oval Cricket Grounds today which is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall and home of Surrey Cricket club since since 1845, what a beautiful sight! We was able to have a tour and enjoyed a delightful Afternoon Tea over looking the grounds.

Cassandra Centre held a special Ramadan celebration for our ladies and children. Not only was the evening educational, but also showed unity and friendship. Our ladies were overwhelmed because they had never been in company at this time. They previously broke fast with their children. Thank you to Afsha, Sara and family members for supporting us and providing the food. Everyone had a fantastic evening.

Thanking The Sparkle Foundation for their kind donations of Personal Alarms. We are working together to keep women and girls safe.

On 28th December, we took our youth squad to the O2 Toca Social as they kindly donated 12 tickets and the young people had the best time having fun. From Toca Social we then went on the cable cars across the River Thames; it was very wet and windy. The staff and young people were very nervous as the car was wind-swept, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. What a way to end 2022!

Thank You Toca for your kindness for and making our end of the year a memorable one for our young people.