My Voice Matters 2018 - Celebrating 10 years of Merton CIL 

We‘re Stronger Together! Merton comes together to celebrate 10 years of Merton CIL

At the Everyday Church, Queens Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 8LR on Thursday 5th July 2018

On July 5th, Merton Centre for Independent Living (Merton CIL), celebrated its 10th anniversary of supporting local Deaf and Disabled people with a party at The Everyday Church in Wimbledon.

Merton CILs engagement with the local community was evident from the crowd that turned up on the day to celebrate all that it has achieved, with nearly 100 people partying with us! The Mayor of Merton, Councillor Mary Curtin even came along to help us cut our birthday cake. There was an exclusive screening of Merton CILs new short film - #Here2Stay on the day. If you missed out you are able to watch here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecTQIfU4Doo&t=

There was lots of positive feedback following the initial screening of the film. A local parent said “the film has changed the way I view Disabled People” and local resident said “the film made me fall in love with the ethos of the organisation”. Merton CIL are extremely grateful for everyone that came along and all of the support and interest that was received.

Merton CIL are proud of their record supporting local Deaf and Disabled people. They hope to continue providing sessions of support to local people as well as free events and activities to engage and bring together the local community. In honour of their tenth anniversary, Merton CIL aim to raise £10,000 to help carry on the great work and support even more Deaf and Disabled People, you can donate here: https://www.wonderful.org/charity/mertoncentreforindependentliving

Merton CIL know that not everyone can afford to make a cash donation, so they encourage people to support them in other ways like joining as a member or helping spread the word about their work. You can find out more about getting involved on their website https://www.mertoncil.org.uk/getting-involved/

One of the highlights of the event was when John Kelly, a local musician and former policy and strategy manager at Merton CIL, performed a new song called The Winds of Change Will Come. Everyone loved the song and you can watch his performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc7At3JcYmg

A huge thank you to Mobiloo who were on site for the whole day providing a mobile toilet with hoist and changing table. – www.mobiloo.org.uk