50TH FUnDRAISInG

Weavers Adventure Playground started life 50 years ago, in April 1974, in response to community concern about the lack of safe outdoor playing spaces. Local parents came together and enlisted the help of Oxford House, a nearby community centre, raising £64,000 for the building and securing a lease from Tower Hamlets Council.

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Ever since then, we have been providing a fun, safe and welcoming space for children and young people across the borough to play, explore, learn new skills and build a sense of community. Our after-school, weekend and school holiday programmes offer food, and a variety of sessions including art and crafts, sports, gardening, woodwork and more. These valuable experiences provide skills that may otherwise be inaccessible to the children, helping to broaden horizons and create well-rounded adults. Everyone, no matter their background, is welcome at Weavers.

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We don’t just support children, but are also an essential part of the local community, providing a wide range of services including a twice weekly food bank, a weekly pensioners bingo club and a Bangladeshi women’s group, as well as workshops on anti-social behaviour and knife crime.
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Weavers Adventure Playground holds immense significance for the local community. Over the last 15 years, keeping our doors open has been a challenge. Prior to 2010, we opened seven days a week with a team of three full-time staff, seven part-time staff and additional sessional staff, allowing us to provide a comprehensive service. Unfortunately, funding cuts and increasing competition over the years have led to a dramatically reduced team of only one full-time and two part-time members of staff. We now rely heavily on the kindness of local volunteers to sustain our service, including play workers, youth workers, parents and trustees – everyone mucks in. As funding becomes harder to secure, we increasingly rely on the financial efforts and generosity of our corporate and community supporters.
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Tower Hamlets now faces the highest child poverty rate in the UK, with 56% of children living in poverty - more than double the rate seen in other London areas. Weavers Adventure Playground has never been needed more.

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After 50 years of serving the residents of Bethnal Green and the wider Tower Hamlets community, we are asking our loyal supporters to help us to raise £50,000, so we can continue to make a difference to local families, children and individuals. Our mission is to continue our work for another 50 years and beyond, but we can’t do it without you.
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“Weavers has influenced me in so many different ways. It gave me something to do instead of being on the streets. In that sense, it really changed my life – it gave me a life choice.”

See how you can help below, or donate directly to our Just Giving page here.