Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Commercial Sponsorship & Volunteering
(A joint posting by Zena Brabazon and Alan Stanton)
The issue of commercial sponsorship has provoked interesting debate on HoL.
We were visiting friends on holiday in Southwold and walked past a sign for Adnams Coastal Clean the previous weekend. It's part of a national initiative by the Marine Conservation Society. Adnams - the local brewery - has "adopted" a kilometre of beach and organises a volunteer clean-up four times a year.
You can listen to a Coastal Clean Podcast recorded on 18 September on the beach ─ and in the Harbour Inn afterwards where the company treated volunteers to fish-&-chips and a pint of Adnams.
Maybe we tend to think more about voluntary and grant-aided organisations running this type of initiative. (And no, we haven't forgotten Harringay Passage snow clearance.) So we wondered what members of HoL would make of the Adnams example.
Locally the Green Lanes Traders have been doing something similar ─ especially their involvement in the Festival. But also in helping to develop the Local Strategy.
Are there settings in Harringay or Haringey where similar schemes can involve more private businesses with roots in the local area, and which often employ local people? It could be win/win - for the company, local people and the environment.
The issue of commercial sponsorship has provoked interesting debate on HoL.
We were visiting friends on holiday in Southwold and walked past a sign for Adnams Coastal Clean the previous weekend. It's part of a national initiative by the Marine Conservation Society. Adnams - the local brewery - has "adopted" a kilometre of beach and organises a volunteer clean-up four times a year.
You can listen to a Coastal Clean Podcast recorded on 18 September on the beach ─ and in the Harbour Inn afterwards where the company treated volunteers to fish-&-chips and a pint of Adnams.
Maybe we tend to think more about voluntary and grant-aided organisations running this type of initiative. (And no, we haven't forgotten Harringay Passage snow clearance.) So we wondered what members of HoL would make of the Adnams example.
Locally the Green Lanes Traders have been doing something similar ─ especially their involvement in the Festival. But also in helping to develop the Local Strategy.
Are there settings in Harringay or Haringey where similar schemes can involve more private businesses with roots in the local area, and which often employ local people? It could be win/win - for the company, local people and the environment.
Tags for Forum Posts: Adnams, commercial sponsorship, community project, volunteer, volunteering
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Good suggestions, Alan & Zena.
Each time I try to struggle past "the Jewson strip" on Wightman Road en route to Finsbury Park I pray curses and execrations on Messrs Jewson, Network Rail, that mythical body "Haringey Council" and all of their antecedents.
But there may be more positive approaches a local RA could adopt to our corporate or commercial neighbours.
JEWSON (the overall company) are impressive on paper or online:
"Supporting the Community
We recognise our role and responsibilities towards communities and societies upon which our organisation has an influence either directly or indirectly and endeavour to act as a good citizen and responsible neighbour.
Our branches are encouraged to support their local communities by donating materials, expertise or time to local organisations and community projects."
Their Sustainability, Environmental and Waste Minimisation ("halve waste to landfill 2008-2012") policies are also very convincing. "We have policies and initiatives in place to ensure our social responsibilities are considered throughout the business."
All we need to do now is to sus out Network Rail's and Haringey Council's more historic responsibilities for the noxious toxic landfill that forms the main ingredient of our "Jewson Stretch Embankment" behind that falling-down "fence" which still support Jewson's Tool Hire DIY hoarding.
Aiming for the sort of scheme Alan & Zena hint at, WRN4RA may just find ourselves part of an interesting Quadruple Alliance - sometime.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Adnams are taking stick from
greedyshareholders over their "community involvement/green strategy". As a consumer I do try to reward them when I can.
Which company would have a vested interest in Haringey/Harringay as part of their identity? Southwold is almost synonymous with Adnams. Maybe I just can't think of any companies that would be "synonymous" with Haringey. That's the trouble with the council's strong "branding" of themselves. They even advertise on street banners on Green Lanes and in the tube. The reason they're so anti-HoL is because we compete with them as a brand.
What I'm saying is that I don't think we're one measly kilometre of the lovely SouthWold beach and we don't have any local companies that would want to compete with the council in a branding exercise associating themselves geographically with an area of Haringey.
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Permalink Reply by Sophie Smith on
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Joking (mostly) apart, our beloved Kebab shops and Chicken cottages certainly give Green Lanes its identity. I wonder if they could become part of the initiative to try and reduce the awful litter problems along this stretch, as a lot of the litter is from fast food shops anyway.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Which is why, Sophie, I've been boring-on about possible adaptation of U.S. style Good Neighbor Agreements (GNA).
They may be similar to say, Responsible Retailer Agreements we have in many parts of the U.K. These get traders to sign-up ─ with local Trading Standards Teams ─ to keeping to the law on e.g. alcohol sales, fireworks and other issues. Waste and recycling can be included and - I expect - probably are.
But, from what I've read - unfortunately this not my direct observation - the key difference is that a GNA is an agreement - not top-down from a local council - but among local commercial interests and nearby residents as members of the local community with mutual - or at least overlapping - interests.
Here's an example I read about in Columbus Ohio. It included the important statement:"This Agreement is founded in the belief that a successful business relies, in part, on the strength, cooperation, and support of the neighborhood around it, and that the strength of the neighborhood relies, in part, on the responsibility, vitality, and strength of the businesses operating within it."
Not to sound completely naive, I also accept that some traders will freeload - getting away with what they can - including dumping their waste. Yes, even if it damages their own business and that of other nearby businesses by alienating potential customers. Which means we will still need Enforcement staff. (Though probably we won't have enough money to employ the numbers we need.)
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Permalink Reply by Alix on
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John, I think you're spot on. I 'do' corporate sponsorship for good causes as my day job and I've often pondered who I might be able to approach to support local projects. No clear winners have sprung to mind.
But actually reading this thread has given me a few ideas.
The most potential is where the company has the most to gain. (surprise, surprise). If Jewson were getting grief from the local community, they may well be more inclined to invest in the local community to improve things (I have no idea if the local community in Harringay are a pain for Jewson?). Those pesky estate agents also have a lot to gain from making friends with the local community (and also from beautifying the area).
So, is there a particular project that anyone had in mind for corporate support?
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Eek, meant 'The most potential is where the company has something to gain'. Ideally the good cause should be getting at least the same out of it.
Sorry, couldn't figure out how to edit my own comment...
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OAE : As you know, on this site I've enthused about Good Neighbo(u)r Agreements. (Not, of course, that any of my colleagues, Haringey senior staff, or anyone else has taken the slightest notice or shown even the tiniest curiosity.)
And I'm a firm believer in what I call organisational judo. They push; you pull. And vice versa.
So if a company has its stated mission including environmental responsibility and engagement with its local community, great! Let's talk.
John : By chance, this evening I had a call from our German friends who were staying in Southwold. (We walked with them past the Adnams notice.) They said it's very common near where they live for businesses, football and other sports clubs to take part in volunteer projects in parks and woods.
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Alan you are trolling. I expect Stephen on here next to say how wonderful things are in Germany ;)
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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no I won't -
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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I also think it is quite common for local businesses in America to 'adopt' a stretch of highway or similar land and have regular clean ups there, in exchange for a small notice that says something like, "This mile of highway is kept clean by HH Wingnuts, your local gas station- Keep America beautiful", McDonalds staff have also recently joined local volunteers to pick up litter.
Closer to home, Ed has discussed asking a local large firm to sponsor some gloves for local litter pickers
Many companies release staff to do community work and a lot have it ingrained in their company policies to support local communities (look up Virgin Media for example).
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When there are so many opportunities to pay very little to put up large and garish advertising on Green Lanes I don't think there is much incentive for businesses to adopt sections of it. If we think about how much the schools got (did they get that money in the end?) from the estate agents for their summer fair boards... just look up sometime and do the math on Green Lanes. Once we sort that out, then we can think about sponsored public areas.
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Permalink Reply by Omotn on
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The much derided bankers used to run a scheme whereby staff were released in company time to clean up inlets on the Thames where rubbish had collected at the high tide mark.
I was a governor at a Haringey school which turned down sponsorship from a bank on the grounds that to accept it would affect the purity of the school's decision making.
Nike, Lucozade Sport, Sweatshop and London Marathon sponsor the Finsbury Parkrun
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