The Mayor of Merton’s Charity Ball was held last Saturday, 21st March, at the All England Tennis Club.
It is customary, I think, for speeches from grateful charities such as Commonside, and we most certainly ARE grateful, to underline just how LOVELY they are for doing lovely things in the community.
But….as many of you know, having worked in Merton for 20+ years, I have probably sufficiently & enthusiastically blotted my copybook such that no-one would describe me as “lovely”. That’s ok, and I did bring lovely people with me tonight.
Our community, our Centre, the beating heart of Pollards Hill, might well be described as over-crowded, over-opinionated & over there. We are WAY over there, the other side of the tracks over there.
Commonside’s turnover is around half a million pounds a year – which sounds like a lot, for a small, locally-based charity. But which doesn’t sound like a lot when you compare it to house prices over here.
Our causes are not always popular, our people are not always photogenic – they can be curmudgeonly and “impossible” to help. They are quite possibly the elusive “hard to reach”.
They may be addicts, ex-addicts, ex-cons, they are sometimes illiterate, innumerate, IT-shy, their own worst enemy, smokers & drinkers with questionable social skills. They may speak foreign languages “too loudly” in public, dress differently or eat “funny” food. They may have “too many” or “not enough” children.
And yet, most often they are also decent, hard-working family people, lovers of sport, art & music and endowed with a resilient sense of humour and a fierce hope for their children’s future.
We are on the front lines every day to prevent escalation, to plug people into services & support BEFORE it becomes an emergency for the police, social care, mental health services, London Ambulance, the Fire Brigade or A&E.
It is impossible to put a figure on the amount of money charities like Commonside save the nation’s coffers by preventing expensive crises – how can you put a price on what you didn’t spend? – but I do know what it costs us – half a million pounds a year.
And we are ALWAYS short of money, so tonight, please dig deep my Merton friends. Donate what you can today, and it might just keep your taxes down tomorrow.
