Aspire2inspire Dyslexia is a new charitable organisation in Wandsworth, founded in April 2016 by Elizabeth Kwarteng-Amaning as a response to her dyslexia. She didn’t learn to read or write until she was 15 years old. Bullied by at school other children who asked if she was, “Slow, lazy or stupid?” Clearly, she isn’t, having not only a degree but post-graduate qualifications, but the lack of diagnosis has been a hampering factor.

Although she eventually received support while she was at University, she felt there was a lack of both awareness and one-to-one support for people living with dyslexia. In a written-oriented culture dyslexics struggle with spelling, words, books, and the dreaded form to fill in – most people don’t like filling in forms, but it is much worse when words slip away from you.

So, undaunted, while she was unemployed, she started A2i Dyslexia with £1.25 because she felt the community needed this initiative. A team of volunteers helped out. “They’re really great, I couldn’t have done it without them,” says Elizabeth. The aim of the organisation is to increase awareness of dyslexia within the community and encourage entrepreneurship amongst dyslexic people. The organisation is planning to apply to become a registered charity.

At first, A2i Dyslexia was purely voluntary as Elizabeth felt she had to establish it and show that it works. After a Wandsworth Council Business Forum, she talked to millionaire Charlie Mullins, founder of Pimlico Plumbers, who was supportive. Recently A2i Dyslexia have just been awarded a £8799 grant from Wandsworth Council to implement small projects around the borough, particularly children’s services. Elizabeth says, “It’s very difficult being dyslexic – you feel ashamed and embarrassed. Dyslexia can have an impact on self-esteem and low confidence particularly with respect to reading and writing.” She also points out that many creative people, including Picasso, Cher, Benjamin Zephaniah as well as influential business leaders like Richard Branson are also dyslexic. Perhaps the struggle makes them more determined to succeed. Prolific crime novelist Agatha Christie was dyslexic, so had to contend with it every day, but she managed to write 66 novels as well as other works.

Elizabeth is currently studying for Level 7 Post Graduate Certificate in Dyslexia
Specialist Teaching and to be able to officially assess dyslexia in people, so they can receive the assistance they need. “I want people to be able to fulfil their potential,” she says, “that’s the aim behind A2i Dyslexia.”

http://www.a2idyslexia.org.uk

Author: This article was written by Julian Jackson, Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce’s resident blogger and copywriter – www.julianjackson.co.uk https://julianj.journoportfolio.com

Link Up Battersea is looking for volunteers and charities to get involved!

This initiative brings together people willing to share their professional skills with local charitable organisations who need these skills to make a real difference to their work in the community.

Learn more about our exciting opportunities at www.linkup-battersea.org, or email us on linkupbattersea@gmail.com.

Join us for coffee at the Queenswood, 15 Battersea Square, SW11 3RA, on 18th May from 8:30 am – 10:00 am.

Jazz the Streets Festival

Wandsworth Oasis is one of the borough’s foremost charities, running seven charity shops. It raises funds for people living with HIV.

CEO Gill Perkins says, “We like to be quirky and fun. Not just run charity shops. That’s why we started doing events and music performances at our stores.”

Last year they opened their largest shop at Amen Corner, which is over 4000 square feet. This gave them a space large enough to hold more ambitious events. They have had live jazz, a recycled/upcycled fashion show, and converted the shop into a souk for a Lebanese Evening with local chef Dan Lepard for a World AIDS Day fundraiser. They are also making their whole organisation more green, and have partnered with Transition Town Tooting to recycle as much as possible so that they can reduce their footprint and the amount of stock that goes to landfill.

Lebanese Evening Belly Dancers

The charity has been operating for 26 years, but it was failing five years ago when Gill Perkins came in and turned it around with her partner Gill Rogers and a great team of volunteers. Last year it had a turnover of £487,000. Gill predicts it will reach £600K in 2016. The charity operates as a funding body – channelling money it gets from its shops to support other projects in the HIV health sector. One of the factors in their success Gill attributes to collecting donations, not just passively waiting for people to bring them in.

Jazz the Streets Festival

Sometimes strange items turn up as donations. They had some “wetsuits” on sale, which turned out to be rubber fetish clothing. The weirdest item was a sit-down massage saddle – Gill labelled it a “fitness item” and put a price of £20 on it. One customer tried it out, then a second woman sidled up to a puzzled Gill and said, “You do know what that is, don’t you? It’s a sex toy.” Unsure what to do, Gill hid it in the storeroom. Sometime later the second woman came back, and slightly furtively, bought it. Gill says, “I think she got a bargain. It was probably worth a lot more than £20.”

Oasis are planning to host more events in 2016. “It makes us more visible to the public, and draws in people who may not have known about us, who then become customers and donate items, so this is working out well for us.”

Gill adds, “We are a big supporter of Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce. We try to source from local suppliers wherever possible, to be part of the borough community.”

www.wandsworthoasis.org.uk

Author: This article was written by Julian Jackson, Wandsworth Chamber’s resident blogger and copywriter – www.julianjackson.co.uk https://julianj.journoportfolio.com

Julian Jackson, a journalist based in South London, has just launched a paperback called “The Thatcher Years Reenactment Society and Other Fictions”, consisting of 12 darkly humorous stories about strange characters like part-time Viking Asgrim, or April, an impoverished actress forced to do promotions in a clown suit when she prefers Shakespeare. Many of the stories are set in South London and feature landmarks like Brixton Town Hall.

The Thatcher Years Reenactment Society cover by Julian Jackson

Julian says, “I wrote these stories over a period of years, just really when something came to me, like Lost Voice, where a male model falls in love with tragic singer Echo. They are about oddballs, and people on the fringes of society, but I didn’t make all of it up. Some of these things happened to me or people I knew over the years, of course I have fictionalised the events, but they have an element of truth.”

Many unusual but vivid characters populate the stories: fat Arnold, who enters an eating contest, but finds his main rival is a diminutive student Krysia – nicknamed Jaws – who needs the money – will romance bloom in these unlikely circumstances? How will callous Professor Augustine Mach justify psychopathy? Will gorgeous but vulnerable pop star Echo fall for a vain male model and what will happen if he rejects her?

Who are the Thatcher Years Reenactment Society?

Julian says, “My regular journalism is about the environment, business and technology, subjects which don’t lend themselves to many laughs, so these stories are an outlet for my black humour and strange flights of imagination. I have nearly finished a novel which is in the same comic space and I hope to release it next year.”

The book is self-published. “I decided to self-publish because collections of short stories are very hard to place with conventional publishers. It was just easier, although I had to put a lot of work into proofreading and design. The cover is from a brilliant artist called Joseph Goode, who really captured the essence of the stories,” Julian adds.

The Thatcher Years Reenactment Society and Other Fictions is available for £5.00 + £1.20 P & P from www.julianjackson.net, and the Kindle edition is available for £1.99 from www.amazon.co.uk

Julian’s copywriting portfolio is here: https://julianj.journoportfolio.com