GCDA (Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency)

Food sits at the heart of much of what GCDA does. It runs the free Greenwich Community Cookery Clubs on behalf of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. They have been going since 2003, with five-week, face-to-face sessions that show people how to cook healthy, affordable meals, and everyone who takes part gets a free recipe book. GCDA also leads Good Food in Greenwich, the borough-wide network that helped Greenwich win a Sustainable Food Places silver award. Through Growing Greenwich, residents can join free weekly gardening sessions with GCDA’s community gardeners and volunteers, growing herbs, fruit and vegetables on organic principles.

Learning and enterprise are the other strands. GCDA Learning offers free adult courses, from culinary skills and sewing to social media and business start-up, and GCDA delivers practical training in catering, food business start-up, nutrition, and creative and horticultural skills, as well as commissioned in-house training for organisations. It also supports social enterprises and co-operatives, and runs Made in Greenwich, which champions local makers.

GCDA manages a family of community hubs, among them Woolwich Common Community Centre, the Woolwich Front Room, Kidbrooke Community Hub and The Catford House, a historic Lewisham building brought back to life as a pub with community space. Rooms, halls and kitchens across these venues can be hired at good-value rates, with a discount of up to 35% for charities, social enterprises and community groups, and every booking helps fund GCDA’s community meals and projects. Volunteers are always welcome.