New Funding for Creekside Charity

The Deptford Challenge Trust, is a charitable trust that aims to improve the quality of life for people who live and work in the area. We are thrilled to receive this award of £18k and recognition of our work as a community asset with our unique urban wildlife space which the charity manages. The money will help with the centre's running costs, meaning we can keep hosting events and raising awareness of how important the wild environment is, and the vital role it plays in fighting climate change.

Founder Jill Goddard says: 'The Deptford Challenge Trust grant is a life line for our Creekside Discovery Centre - without it we would struggle to keep the doors open to welcome the local community to this amazing urban paradise. Our work is about communicating and sharing the conservation and urban habitats that make our spaces greener and our neighbourhood a friend to wildlife. It’s vital that we share how we can all be wildlife heroes even in the heart of a city.’

So far this year, since we opened our doors post lockdown, the centre has hosted over 400 school children at outside learning days and welcomed 100 visitors on Wilderhood walks, flower pop ups and low tide walks. The centre has a busy activity calendar and is run by a very small team of 6 with the help of many volunteers. This new funding goes along way to ensuring the centre can stay open, and through the activities we run, encourage people to care about the environment and take steps to lessen our own individual impact upon it.