custom house community centre
London
The Custom House and Canning Town Community Renewal Project … is a charity
established in 1994 and is based in the refurbished old St Luke’s Church
building in Canning Town. Our mission is to develop and manage self-sustaining
local groups, community-controlled assets and a range of activities and
enterprises for the benefit of the local people. The Charity obtained St. Luke’s
for a peppercorn and organised a £2.25 million refurbishment which created 4
floors of spacious offices and amenities. Rent from the offices and the Abrahams
nursery building makes the Charity self sustaining and provides a regular if
modest sum for charitable activities. The Charity is governed almost entirely by
local people. At the end of 2021 the following were members of the Management
Committee:- Sarah Ruiz Forest Gate Janet Moffatt Canning Town Frank
Rosillo-Calle Canning Town Lorraine Starke Canning Town Freda Ayres Canning Town
Amala Corera Epping Adrian Hodgson Custom House Elizabeth Booker Canning Town
Structure, governance and management The Charity is registered as a charitable
company limited by guarantee and governed by its Memorandum and Articles of
Association. The CH&CTCRP, with a turnover of under £500,000, is run by trustees
who are also directors. 9 trustees take responsibility for the risks involved in
running the organisation by making considered decisions. They do this for
nothing. 7 of 8 trustees come from Newham and 6 are from Custom House and
Canning Town. The Charity is run by LOCAL PEOPLE FOR LOCAL PEOPLE. The trustees
delegate their power to the general manager (John McNeill) who runs all the
essential business and project work of the Charity. John’s first duty is to keep
the Trustees properly informed so they can make effective decisions. The Charity
also employs a financial administrator (Mike Bowles). The CH&CTCRP has broad
charitable objectives to promote purposes beneficial to local people including;
the relief of poverty, the advancement of education and training, the
preservation and protection of the environment and the provision of recreation
in the interest of social welfare to improve the conditions of life of local
people.
