Aim

With your small donation, matched by Aviva, we can expand our reach and create a cool green, haven for all at the New Horizon Centre.

Who are we, and what is our project about?

The Commonside Trust runs the vibrant New Horizon Centre in Merton's Pollards Hill and east Mitcham area.  Our Centre has stood strong through Covid, the 2022 Galpins Road fatal gas explosion, snow and ice, extreme heat, floods and falling trees.  We pride ourselves on being the welcoming and accessible place to go for information, advice and a cuppa when life throws up challenges.  We are fiercely loyal to our local community and will always stand up to social and environmental injustice.  Some of you may have heard us!  

We want you to help us to do more.  We're good at it and we deserve a chance! Can you help us to keep our services going when it's boiling hot or freezing cold by helping us to invest in cooling systems inside the building and creating more shade and respite outside?    We want to grow more, cook more, eat more healthily, invite all our neighbours to dine in with us, share stories and skills, enrich the community and protect everyone, especially its most vulnerable members from danger.  We want to be there in difficult times, preparing, responding and recovery from whatever life throws at us all.  

How we help with energy bills, staying well, seasonal fruit and veg, preventing wildfires, recycling and reusing, celebrating hedgehogs and admiring turtles - all this can provide an inspiring showcase for local people, across the borough of Merton - and wider!  

Why are we crowdfunding?

The New Horizon Centre is both a Tardis and a relic.  Completed in 1971, sitting on a bed of clay and shale and used by hundreds of people a week, it can be wonky, draughty, sweltering and grubby.  Your donation will help us to re-use and repair more of it, improving conditions inside and out for the people who rely on our services and help and helping us to withstand future highs and lows of temperature.  

We rely on grant-funding and some rental income to cover our costs and most months we struggle to stretch the budget far enough.  In 2022 our professionalism and compassion shone through when we worked with the Council to provide the Rest Centre for homeless people after a gas explosion, and we are now proud to be known as a local leader in community preparedness and response.  

This is a hard-won role and to build on it we need to run training for community volunteers in things like First Aid and Food Hygiene and create safe, responsive records that we can draw from in an emergency.  To welcome more people to the Centre and make them comfortable, we need more cooling devices and more energy efficient heating.  We want to invite people to regular, fun and creative gardening, sewing, mending and repair sessions and boost local skills and resilience.  

How we’ll spend the money raised

Cooling fans - from hand-held to kitchen blasters £20 - £200

Garden equipment £5 - £50

Seeds, plants and shrubs 30p - £30

Saplings and a growing Christmas tree!  £30 - £600

Outdoor benches and seating £4 - £400 

Volunteer First Aid Training £50 per person

Energy, cooking, gardening, mending, repair events £250 per session

Caretaking and cleaning £1,000

Transport costs and lunches for volunteers £500

Maintaining volunteer records and supervising projects £2,000

How you can help

There are two simple ways to get involved and support our project:

1. Make a donation

Every pledge gets us closer to our goal. Early support can help build momentum and inspire others to give too.

2. Spread the word

Share our project with friends, family and your wider network. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to succeed.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 30th October 2026 at 2:42pm