With 2018 coming to an end and our annual Festive Singalong at the Eltham Centre now completed it is time to look back at the year

It has certainly been an amazing year with our WALL project which started in 2017 (with the New Eltham Mural) and has run all this year involving over 2000 people of all ages !

The Writing on a Wall creative writing competition fired the creative imagination of our community producing hundreds of short stories and poems on the theme of Walls in our Lives and an awards night on World Book Night which filled Eltham library ! A book with a selection of entries will be out very soon.

We organised another Song Challenge this year on the WALL theme and the singer/songwriters were even more in number . The July day in Passey Place ‘Songs Across a Wall ‘ was enjoyed by all the community as friends, families and shoppers all stopped to congratulate and listen to the performers . What musical talent we have !

The award winning film on the walls and barriers to working class actors ‘The Acting Class’ by Inside Film was screened in March 2018 at Bob Hope Theatre, Eltham. This ended with a lively debate

All year the local community have joined together to produce bricks ! Not any old bricks , but works of art from cardboard shaped bricks, ceramics, mosaics, glass, crochet. knitted and resin. Almost a thousand of these  were made into a Community Wall in the SE9 Container Gallery . It was magnificent. The exhibition of the WALL project with the community wall, photography , ceramics and textiles was the highlight of the project , bringing together all the aspects of the project.

We have continued to support and celebrate all local creative groups and individuals through social media and attending events . The Life in Eltham column in the Greenwich Visitor spreads the word all over the borough as well.

It has been hard work for all the team and not without difficulties and problems , but with so much local enthusiasm and support we have reached the end of the year! What will 2019 bring?

Happy Christmas and a happy and creative New Year to all our network!

from Gaynor