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SEBRA 2008 Charity Of The Year
SEBRA is delighted to support the Bayswater Family Centre.
The Bayswater Family Centre is located in the residential area near to Whiteleys Shopping Centre. They have been providing services to homeless families since 1984. In the past 23 years they have worked with thousands of families living in run down hotels and have also assisted asylum seekers and refugees from war zones all over the world.
The Centre provides support to homeless and refugee families living in temporary accommodation in the W2 area of London. They operate a drop-in/open door policy. The team works closely with children. They also offer a wide range of services to homeless families living in Bed & Breakfast, hostel, or temporary accommodation in the Bayswater & Paddington areas.
The Centre offers a daily Drop-in supervised play facility, Early Learning Sessions for
3-5 year olds concentrating on basic English. The drop-in staff also provides crèche services for classes throughout the day.
An After School Club is run 3 afternoons a week for vulnerable children attending local schools offering homework support, access to computers, sports, drama groups, arts and crafts activities and trips and other activities during the school holidays. Throughout the year they hold parties and celebrations for many religious festivals, there is also a programme of day trips and activities during the summer holidays to include all families’ regardless of age, ethnicity, sex or religion.
The Advice Team provide a 4 day a week duty service which offers advice & advocacy.
Social Workers can assist with family problems & child protection.
Finally, they provide emergency welfare provision in the form of food, clothing, baby and household equipment. This is where SEBRA members can help too.
The Centre urgently needs donations both financial and in the form of basic food supplies. The food they need is: pasta, rice, fish (tinned tuna etc), tinned tomatoes, tinned soup, tinned vegetables and tinned ‘meals’. They also need all sizes of nappies and basic toiletries. All food donations are being coordinated by Katie Black.
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SEBRA Families is our local activities page dedicated to families living in the Paddington and Bayswater area. There is a whole host of fun activities for babies, toddlers and children across the area and what's more, it doesn't have to cost the earth to keep the kids happy!
With Summer holidays just round the corner, enjoy the many Summer events running over the holiday period. Here are SEBRA’s top 10 recommendations:
1) Paddington Children’s Library
Our local children's library is dedicated to kids with tons of great books, DVDs, internet access and expert staff who can help you track down your favourite read be it Harry Potter, Tiddler or Peter Pan. Every Wednesday at 10.30am there is an under 5’s reading event. Look out for special events every holiday too.
2) Porchester Swimming Baths & Porchester Square playground
Take the kids swimming at the local swimming pool. Visit the swimming baths to find out more about swimming lessons for babies and children.
A stone's throw from the pool you will find the green and pleasant Porchester Square playground. Civilised play in calm surrondings for the little ones.
3) Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Playground
Just a stone’s throw from Queensway tube station, the Diana playground must be one of London’s top destinations for young explorers and action-kids. This playground wonderland is safe, free and will keep the kids active for hours! Sleep assured at the end of the day
4) Whiteleys Shopping Centre
Perfect for a hot or rainy day, Whiteleys offers kids entertainment at its’ best. For shopping, H&M, Zara, Gap, HMV and Books etc all have well stocked kids departments. For toddlers activities, try Gymboree. Our personal favourite is the Orange mobile store on the ground floor which has the best goldfish tanks in West London! You will also find Yo-Sushi on the second floor. The coloured dishes on the conveyor belt can keep the kids enthralled and nourished.
5) Odeon Cinema Kids Club, Whiteleys
The Saturday/Sunday morning Kids Club at the Odeon Cinema, Whiteleys is well worth a visit. Odeon Kids Club also runs everyday throughout school holiday periods, with the exception of Bank Holidays. It screens all the latest family entertainment releases and is great value with pocket money ticket prices for kids whilst mums and dads go free.
6) Paddington Waterways and Canal Walk
Pick a sunny day to explore the waterways of Paddington and Little Venice. Paddington itself is steeped in history and boasts some of the finest examples of Victorian architecture in the country as well as the Grand Union Canal, an ancestral waterscape recently brought back to life by developments at Paddington Waterside. Make your way to Sheldon Square and the glass amphitheatre where there are several cafes and restaurants for lunch. Keep the kids happy with a baby-ccino from Starbucks.
7) Puppet Theatre Barge, Little Venice
This unique “ theatre on a barge” experience comes to Little Venice every winter. Take the family to see the seasonal show. Check listings for details. Exceptional productions steeped in tradition. Beautiful hand-crafted puppets.
8) Queens Ice Rink, Queensway
Children love to skate and Queens is THE destination for families at the weekend. There are morning classes on Saturdays and Sundays.
9) Sport in the Royal Parks
There are great sports activities across Hyde Park, just a scooter ride from Bayswater. Two of our favourites are football and tennis. Kids can drop in to The Tennis Centre, Hyde Park (South Carriage Drive) on Saturday mornings to join one of the “Will to Win” tennis groups. Fit for Sport run a drop-in football class on Saturday mornings at 10am too. (located next to the Tennis Centre)
10) Paddington Recreation Ground
Finally, if you are not totally exhausted from your experiences above, hop on to your scooters and head for Randolf Avenue in Maida Vale just as over 1 million local people do each year. The recently redeveloped Rec. is superb. Westminster will be investing over £3 million to enhance the facilities in total, so look out for more changes in the future.
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