At a lavish ceremony in the Vestry Hall building in Mitcham on the night of 26th September, our long-standing volunteer, Eric Campell, was awarded his Milestone Award by the Mayor of Merton, Cllr Slawek Szczepanski, in recognition of more than five year’s volunteering at the Commonside Trust.
Eric is a former athlete who ran long-distance with the Croydon Harriers and who maintains a link with this group as well as a seasoned gardener with a lot of knowledge and experience of designing and maintaining community plots. Eric is also an artist and has donated several of his paintings to the Commonside Trust to decorate some of its community halls and rooms.
Since 2019, Eric has been attending the New Horizon Centre to assist with gardening and art workshops and to develop ‘The Garden Plot’ – a small, fenced area behind the community centre where he has helped to grow and harvest potatoes, apples, onions, garlic, carrots and more. He has also helped with filling planters with plants and flowers at the entrances to the building, and with a sunflower plot in 2023. Eric has restricted mobility now, so we have researched and experimented with a range of difference designs and tools that enable people with disabilities or mobility restrictions to enjoy gardening. The Garden Plot is also a space where people can sit and soak up the atmosphere, take a rest, watch insect life, etc.
Eric has contributed to a collection of artworks that are featured in a book produced to raise money for a cancer charity as well as donating his time and talents to fundraisers for the British Heart Foundation.
He often visits with his sister, Alice, who has a talent for crochet and knitting and we are hoping to set up an art club, collaborating with another member of the team who is also an artist, for people to drop in and try different painting and drawing media and learn about different styles and techniques.
Well done Eric for your award!
If anyone would like to purchase any of Eric’s artwork please get in touch – whatever you pay will be donated to the Commonside Trust.
We have a number of other long-service volunteers and we will be putting them forward to Merton Connected to receive their Milestone Award in due course. Watch this space!
