Our impact
8 years… And counting!
Upper Norwood Library Trust has been serving our local residents in partnership with Lambeth & Croydon Councils since July 2016 and since then have united local communities.
Proud to serve the local area
We’ve supported 2,332 people via our direct charitable programmes across the last year with 206,507 ‘visits’ to the library and wider hub community services.
community spaces
Weekly, 300 community members attend a diverse programme of local community led education, wellbeing and arts classes held in our low-cost community spaces.
72%
children felt more confident after attending our creative holiday exercise & healthy eating camp
100%
parents have learned new strategies to support their child’s learning on our family learning project
80%
people accessing our English for communication classes improved their confidence
90+
volunteers have helped us over the past three years to deliver our courses and events
“It’s my favourite exercise class I’ve done, it’s not repetitive or boring. The teacher is great, and all the people are really nice. ”
“Social networking is difficult when you don’t speak English - now it’s getting better... I can speak to my son’s teachers now which makes me feel happy.”
“Through volunteering with UNLH, I’ve supported scores of newcomers to the UK (and to Crystal Palace!), helping them learn English and so feel more at home here. I’ve met some lovely people and it’s been fantastic to see them grow in confidence with the language”
“The library hub has been a huge benefit to my business as it’s provided a fantastic regular venue in the area to carry out my classes. Families from Crystal Palace and surrounding areas had been saying that they wanted a class in the area, so it has been a huge benefit to those local families to be able to come to the hub and receive their first aid training. ”
“Arts camps here at Upper Norwood Library Hub give an opportunity for young people to engage in fun activities in the school holiday periods. Through grant funding, we offer free spaces to families in receipt of benefit related free school meals. The camps help children to learn new skills in visual and performing arts, make new friends and learn about healthy eating. ”
Meet those who have benefited from our work
maria, BESN customer
Maria is in her seventies and came in contact with a BESN champion while at a local food bank waiting to receive emergency food supplies.
Maria says, “I am so glad I met you – your interventions have really helped me!”
Maria expressed a clear frustration with her energy supplier that wasn't responding to a complaint that her physical disabilities are preventing her from accessing gas and electric meters located in her cellar to take readings.
Maria described the difficulties she was having communicating with her supplier over the phone and online due to having both visual and hearing impairments. She felt extremely anxious about being over charged on her usage and getting into debt.
After explaining her concerns, Maria was advised to sign up to her supplier’s Priority Service Register and book an appointment for an engineer to visit her home to take a meter reading.
As Maria hasn't switched tariff for over a year and is in a contract with her supplier, she was also advised to ask her supplier directly if there are any better tariffs available.
On Maria's request, the champion called the energy supplier on her behalf and together they successfully booked an appointment for an engineer to take a meter reading.
Through this call, Maria also switched tariff making an estimated annual saving of £546.
Since she suffers from memory loss, at the end of the one-to-one session, Maria was provided with a written summary of advice and actions taken.
The champion explains, “When I first approached Maria she was very distressed by the situation. After receiving advice and support her demeanour completely changed. I could visibly see the impact this situation was having on her health and the relief she felt after the session.”
Since then, Maria has received follow up contact over the phone, advice on recent bills and had a successful home visit from her supplier to take her meter readings.
Project Impact
From October 2022 to October 2023, the Upper Norwood Library Hub (UNLH) collaborated with the Responsible Technology Institute (RTI) at University of Oxford and ORBIT RRI Limited to deliver a pilot community lab exploring applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as they may affect society and the local community.
This pilot community lab aimed to go beyond traditional public engagement by connecting leading AI researchers directly with a broad representation of the community in their local library.
“The project was important for community members as it gave a voice to communities and people who may not otherwise be present in decision-making in the AI field.” - Jenny Irish, UNLH Director
We are delighted the project was published on the Oxford University Computer Science site:
Pioneering hub at local library unlocks potential for community decision-making in AI (ox.ac.uk)