Community Life: Bromley-by-Bow Centre
From employability support and language classes, to cost of living advice and social prescribing, chief executive Elly de Decker and her team are supporting Bromley-by-Bow in myriad different ways
It’s a late summer’s day and the Bromley-by-Bow Centre is buzzing. Light streams through the tall windows, gently warming the participants in a pottery class on the ground floor, while opposite the café serves up hearty portions of homemade moussaka and naughty-looking cakes to hungry locals. It’s a wholesome sight, especially when you spectate from the Centre’s green rolling lawn out the front.
Despite the buzz in the Centre itself, the garden is tranquil – a welcome retreat from the hubbub of London living. Surprisingly so, given we’re sitting just a few minutes walk from the centre of Bromley-by-Bow itself, and one of our own residences, Riverstone Heights.
We’re here to spend some time with Elly de Decker, the Bromley-by-Bow Centre’s chief executive and driving force. She’s been with the Centre for two years, with an impressive career in management consultancy and a spell as the England Director of the National Lottery Community Fund, responsible for distributing about £500m per year, behind her.
“I wanted to experience community from a much closer perspective,” Elly explains, earnestly, “that’s how I found my way to the Bromley-by-Bow Centre.” She cuts a graceful figure, tall, with a soft Belgian accent and gentle manner. Despite the serine energy she projects, you also sense that she’s a force to be reckoned with – particularly when it comes to championing the Centre, or the local community’s interests.
"First of all, we provide a place for people to be, and to come and connect with others. But, we also offer a wide range of services to the community”
What, then, does the Bromley-by-Bow Centre do? Think of it as part social hub, part educational resource, part wellbeing facility. “First of all, we provide a place for people to be, and to come and connect with others,” Elly says. “But, we also offer a wide range of services to the community, including employability support, English classes, financial skills, debt and cost-of-living advice.” That’s not to mention the support the centre offers to budding local entrepreneurs and its focus on adult social care.
The Centre was also an early pioneer of social prescribing. Today, it’s a commonplace NHS treatment, (incidentally, there’s an NHS health centre on-site) but Bromley-by-Bow Centre’s team were among the first in the UK to really push its benefits.
“About 80 per cent of the reasons that people go to see the GP are related to issues of loneliness – they’re not medical, they’re psychological,” says Elly. “Very often, people go to the doctor seeking medical help for a problem that isn’t medical – a lot of people are worried about the cost of their bills, or they might be worried that their job isn’t secure, or they’re struggling to find work.” Social prescribing is a way to ease worries like these, connecting individuals with soothing or enjoyable non-clinical activities to help improve their health and wellbeing.
“We are not separate from the community, we’re part of it.”
Key to Bromley-by-Bow Centre’s work in social prescribing – quite apart from its roster of workshops, classes and events – is The Welcome Hub. “We are always open,” Elly explains, looking out across the lawn towards the Centre. “There’s always somebody here to receive people, no matter why they’re coming to us, and we always have technical advisors available to help with particular issues. In these situations, the solution isn’t necessarily a pill, it’s about other types of support that organisations like the Bromley-by-Bow Centre can provide.”
Despite the Centre’s invaluable work, Elly says that pressures on the local community grow increasingly challenging. “Our community is great – it’s diverse, energetic, and there’s real willingness to engage. But, the cost of living crisis is very real, and we hear heart-wrenching stories from the people who visit us on a daily basis. This puts a lot of pressure on our staff to support the community effectively, and we’ve been in austerity for 13 years now. Budgets continue to shrink.”
Sitting under a shady arbour on the edge of the Centre’s garden, overlooking its glass frontage, and with pottery class and lunch service still in full swing, the impact that Elly and her team make is tangible. And, the team are keen for you to play your part too.
“We hope that Way of Life’s residents will want to come here and relax, but we’re also looking for additional funding and contributions are always appreciated,” Elly continues. “Volunteers are very welcome too – some of the challenges our community faces are quite practical. Even just helping others to get a bit more comfortable with technology can have a huge impact – the digital divide is a very real thing. Then, of course, we have a beautiful garden to maintain as well.”
“There’s always somebody here to receive people, no matter why they’re coming to us, and we always have technical advisors available to help with particular issues."
It’s late afternoon now, and amber light bathes the Centre’s frontage as our conversation draws to a close. The pottery class has been replaced by people sipping coffee, reading books and chatting. The buzz of a busty morning is replaced with a gentle hum, rolling out from the Centre across the lawn.
“In recent years and months, the importance of places like us have been really clearly highlighted,” Elly continues. “When you think about an inclusive, successful community, you think about schools, GP surgeries, places of worship, space to socialise and learn together.” The Bromley-by-Bow Centre taps into all these things and more – and is helping the local community to grow in a multitude of different ways. Or, as Elly so succinctly says: “We are not separate from the community, we’re part of it.”
Donate to Bromley-by-Bow Centre here, or learn more about the Centre at bbbc.org.uk