Bexhill charity becomes part of Heart of Sidley

After a year of discussions and working together, Heart of Sidley a community group partnership made up of residents and business owners, has recently taken the Sidley Community Association (SCA) charity under its wing.

To begin with, SCA will run as a Heart of Sidley project, before the two gradually merge to become one entity by the end of the Heart of Sidley’s 10 year life span in 2025.

Linda Seddon, Nikki Collins and Steve Lucas volunteered to be the first new trustees of SCA, and were successfully appointed by the Charity Commission.

Heart of Sidley partners and SCA trustees said: “Sidley Community Association has been embedded within the Sidley community for over 20 years. The previous trustees had committed their time to SCA so valuably for so long, it would have been a tragedy to close the charity down.

“Our values and objectives are similar and we want to ensure we do justice in continuing their legacy alongside our own for the future generations.

“We’d like to give our thanks to the last standing trustees – Tim Hemmings, Stephen White and Jean Burke – for everything they’ve done over the last few years in ensuring SCA continued.”

Renowned for their summer party and Christmas dinner for local seniors, SCA has now handed its remaining funds to The Pelham to continue this good work at their community centre.

The SCA trustees continued: “We are now at the point where we have started to identify any skills gaps on our trustee board and how we can grow.

“Being a trustee is voluntary and doesn’t take up too much time but it is a serious commitment, and it‘s such a wonderful opportunity to be part of something that can make such a big difference in our area.

“We are looking for new trustees - we want local people to join us and get involved, and we also want people who aren’t local but who want to give some of their time to make a difference in Sidley.”

Heart of Sidley is a community-led partnership, led entirely by local residents, in partnership with local organisations, businesses and others. It has been awarded £1m over 10 years by Local Trust, via the National Lottery Community Fund, to improve the area and make it a better place to live, as one of 150 Big Local areas across the country.

To find out more about becoming a trustee of Sidley Community Association or getting involved with Heart of Sidley, contact Heart of Sidley‘s project officer, Tanya Vice, on [email protected] or call 07866 046106.

Find out more about the group on the Heart of Sidley Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter and Youtube. The new website is set to be launched this month (April).