Living Under One Sun was created in 2005 in a corner of Tottenham by mothers of many cultures and ages wanting to reduce their isolation, know more and make their much-neglected neighbourhood safer.
Through a weekly ‘meet, cook and eat’ peer support group we shared our life stories, gained trust, confidence and strength to reach out – the feeling was ‘‘We are all equal under one sun’’! With a place to meet, a pot full of food and some fun and friendship, we experienced the power of what we can learn and do for ourselves, our families and our neighbourhood. Soon this grew into a local ‘village square’ meeting place for all, accessing services, gaining qualifications, training community leaders and delivering projects, supported by a Council community worker.
In 2008, we registered as a community-led, not for profit, limited company. Later that year and cut off from green spaces, we took on transforming part of a vandalised site on Tottenham Marshes, creating a beautiful community allotment – and beginning our journey of working with schools, other community groups and partners.
In 2011, against a background of cuts in services and support, as well as the Tottenham riots, like many others our future was uncertain. As volunteers, and despite no funds or workers, our response was to build on our community’s aspirations, believing that people, Nature and spaces are our true heritage and assets. With determination to meet our community’s needs and hard work we began a new phase. We gathered support from the community, Council and partners, secured a base, won funding from the Peoples Millions Lottery for our Blooming Beds and Bees project, appointed a part time coordinator, winning the Best Community Group of the Year Award for the UK from The Conservation Trust.
Eighteen years on we are a multi award winning charity providing innovative and valuable services by and for Haringey’s communities.