Members of Crowborough Community Forum

Crowborough Community Forum was launched last autumn at the inaugural Caring for the Community Conference at the Oasis Centre.

The Rotary Club and Crowborough Community Church hosted a unique conference for charities at the Oasis Centre.  The conference gathered twenty organisations and charities together to hear how large numbers of Crowborough residents are being supported in these difficult times.  Delegates discussed how their help for the vulnerable can be strengthened by working together through the setting up of the Community Forum. 

The Community Forum will be linking charities currently delivering direct help to those in need, with fundraising.  These organisations raise money and recruit volunteers to provide the necessary additional support our voluntary sector badly needs at the moment.

At the conference Sue Hunt from the Food Bank described the wonderful work they have been able to do thanks to their volunteers and the generosity of many townsfolk who have provided vital donations.  However, the cost-of-living crisis has increased the amount of referrals and is putting the Food Bank and other agencies under severe pressure to respond. The Community Forum wants now to step up and provide more joined up support from its partners to ensure the Food Bank and other organisations continue to provide what is needed this Autumn and Winter.

The Forum also has charities which support families and young people; the lonely and elderly and those living with Dementia.  The conference heard of the really imaginative and caring work that goes on across our town and once again where they will need additional support the Forum can respond. The Community Forum wants now to step up and provide more joined up support from its partners to ensure the Food Bank and other organisations can continue to provide what is needed this autumn and winter.

Conference organiser, Philip Morris said that we now have a great opportunity, through the establishment of the Forum to bring together so many brilliant organisations.  There can be real opportunities to raise vital funding and resources; to find more volunteers and to raise the profile of all these charities so that all our neighbours can be helped, especially as we will be going through uncertain times this winter.

Please watch out for more publicity about events and initiatives led by the Community Forum.  There will soon be a dedicated website where members of the public can find out about more about the charitable work that is happening in the local area.  

If you would like to get involved or find out more, please contact Graham Bucksey, President of Rotary at graham.bucksey@crowboroughrotary.org; or Philip Morris, Forum Co-Ordinator at Philip.morris@crowboroughrotary.org

Community Forum (Pictured at top): Rotary Club; Crowborough Community Church; CAB; Friends of CAB; Crowborough Food Bank; Tesco; Waitrose; Dementia Alliance; Baby2Baby & Beyond; All Saints Church; St. Richard’s Church; Ditch the Slippers; Alderbrook Community Association; Friends of Crowborough Hospital; The Good Company People; Artytime; Mrs De Lannoy and Haven Homes Alms Houses; Ashdown Radio; Rotherfield St. Martin.