The History of ARCH
The concept of ARCH was a direct legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
One of the successes of London 2012 was the huge contribution made by the volunteer workforce. Using some of the residual funding, a variety of schemes were set up. During 2014/2015 one of these schemes was the setting up of 5,000 Community Organisers who were tasked to listen to their communities and identify local leaders, projects and opportunities, and empower the local community to improve their local area. Two Community Organisers were assigned to Canford Heath and were overseen by the Poole Well-being Collaborative.
“The Coffee House” (now Lounge One) became a meeting place where ther Community Organisers could facilitate conversations with local residents who talked about wanting to bring Community events back to the heath. One of the first events organised was a Christmas Fair in 2014 followed by an Easter Festival in 2015. The support and interest shown in these events encouraged more discussions which culminated in a meeting of interested groups and residents in May 2015.
The outcome of this meeting was the formation of ARCH (Association of the Residents of Canford Heath) with initial advice and support being given by the Poole Well-being Collaborative and the Community Development Team from Poole Council (now BCP Council).
The first major event planned by ARCH was held in September 2015 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Canford Heath Community. “Canford Heath 50” was held on the playing fields behind Haymoor Junior School and was well attended confirming the need for this type of community experience.
November 2015 saw the formalisation of this adhoc group by creating a not-for-profit community group with a Constitution and a Committee that would oversee the organisations activities. One of the first tasks of the committee was to organise another Christmas Fair which built on the success of the initial one held the previous year. In June 2016, a Community Fair was organised at the Canford Heath Community Centre.
Communication became the first key priority so that ARCH became the conduit for information to let residents know about the many activities and events taking place across the heath. A Facebook page and an e-mail address were set up and work was started on the first version of the ARCH website which eventually went live in February 2017.
On October 3rd 2018 the new ARCH Network met for the first time with a view to increasing the cooperation and networking between the other organisations on Canford Heath. Well attended Bi-monthly residents are also held in the Library.
On 19th May 2019, the Canford Heath Fest was held on the playing fields behind Haymoor School with various stalls and entertainments. Between 11 am and 4 pm over 2000 people attended this despite heavy rain showers that started around 2 pm. At this point the event transferred to an indoor venue on the site for the remaining two hours. As a community event it was a huge social and financial success. Other events followed including the Canford Heath Remembers Poppy display, Quiz nights and Christmas in the Square attended by 800 people. An event based on the 2019 FEST was planned to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day on May 8th 2020, but due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic this celebration had to be cancelled.
However, we were back again in 2021 with events ranging from a scavenger hunt that took place in the summer holidays through to the Light Up Canford Heath Christmas event which was bigger and better than last years. Why not take a look HERE
In 2022 we achieved a lot – in February we collaborated with Prama to set up a new group called Saturday Friends for people wanting more connections so as not to feel lonely or isolated. In April we worked with St Paul’s Church to organise a fundraising event in aid of Ukraine. Moving on to June we had a joint venture with the Pilot Pub to organise the Canford Heath Platinum Jubilee Street Party.
Throughout the year we ran various fundraising events including quiz nights, in the summer we went out and about to various fairs on the heath to meet people and promote ARCH. August saw the installation of 4 Art boards we had commissioned across both shopping centres and around this time we funded and installed two additional benches, one in each centre. In October we put up more poppies on lamp posts than ever before as part of Canford Heath Remembers. Moving on to December we collaborated with Canford Heath Community Centre, Beacon Church and the Pilot Pub to organised the Community Christmas Lights Switch-On event and most recently we have been helping with the Community Christmas Hamper appeal.
We also instigated a meeting with Michael Tomlinson MP to share our concerns about the ongoing Anti-social behaviour. The result of this meeting helped to secure a 24/7 CCTV camera in Adastral Square.
We continue to promote Canford Heath events and news via our various media including this e-bulletin, our website, our Facebook page, our 2 noticeboards and the Link magazine.
ARCH plans to continue building on its success with other social, promotional, networking and fundraising events being planned, taking on projects that benefit the community.