"I would like to see solar panels introduced onto the new Winstanley and York Road blocks to make our neighbourhood more self-sustainable"
Senia
Founder of Women of Wandsworth and Community Champion
I made Battersea my home 25 years ago after escaping war-torn Sarajevo. I started my career working with government agencies such as Sure Start and joined their Multidisciplinary Partnership Board in 2003.
I had my three children in Battersea and became the Governor of Christ Church School in 2005. I met most of my friends there and got to know the local neighbourhood very well. I formed the School PTA and started fundraising to help the school establish the Secret Garden on the Falcon Estate, where I had already founded the Falcon Estate Residents’ Association.
In 2007 I formed Women of Wandsworth (WoW) - a community organisation with the primary aim of holding a weekly forum to help parents with their family problems. This led me to start the WoW Enterprise Club in 2010, to teach single mothers about entrepreneurship as a solution to their employability and child care issues. Over the years, I have founded or had active involvement with several groups, with the objective of addressing a number of issues which are important to our community, including helping those in temporary accommodation and parents with disabled children.
I have been honoured to receive a number of accolades for my community work including an ARCH national award and the Team London Award from the Mayor of London, following which I was selected to be a London Ambassador for the 2012 Olympic Games. In 2013 I was chosen to become a Housing Community Champion and I took that honour very seriously.
I became even more involved in my local neighbourhood and organised excursions for children and families with respiratory problems caused by the high levels of pollution in inner city London. We are very grateful for the grant provided by the Council’s Regeneration Team which enabled us to make a trip to the Eden Project and surf the waves in beautiful Cornwall earlier this year.
Last year I was delighted to be presented with the Mayor of Wandsworth’s Civic Award, which is granted to unsung heroes for improving the lives of local citizens. Through WoW Mums, I have been organising regular intergenerational lunches since 2010 in local sheltered accommodation and lodges for the elderly. More recently, we have joined the Regeneration Team in holding coffee mornings and serving dinner to local elders, which has been an opportunity for them to share their memories of the Winstanley and York Road estates. I am also a Coordinator of the Rotary Christmas Day lunch, where we serve lunch to 700 senior members of the Wandsworth community, and I have organised events, such as carpentry workshops, for Battersea Men’s Shed on several occasions.
I have been a Big Local SW11 Partnership Executive Member since 2012 and my vision is to achieve less pollution in Battersea; for instance, by putting solar panels on the carparks at ASDA and Lidl, which could also be used to charge electric cars.
I would like to see solar panels introduced onto the new Winstanley and York Road blocks to make our neighbourhood more self-sustainable, and to supply free energy to local organisations including schools, hospitals and the fire station.