ARC and its Services The Asian Resource Centre (ARC) was established in 1976 to improve the quality of life by providing help and information to the Asian community in the London Borough of Greenwich. Over a period of time the ARC has prided itself on by offering a variety of services to achieve its aim and happens to be the only ethnic minority organisation in the borough, which is in existence for three decades.

Since its formation the ARC has provided free help and advice on Welfare rights, Immigration, Nationality, Pensions & Income Support, Employment, Education, Matrimonial, Domestic Violence and help for the elderly. At the moment we provide this service, as part of our support to ARC users. The ARC provides services to those clients who won't go anywhere else and targets the seriously disadvantaged community members in order to raise their self-esteem and to make them feel valued by providing them with a warm, welcoming and friendly environment.

ICT Training We are one of the Greenwich UK Online leading centres and the partnership is a unique collaboration, which helps people across the borough to make the most of the new technology. Additionally for nearly ten years ARC has run ICT sessions for All age groups including separate sessions for families, Asian women, Traders and over 60 age groups. Many students have gained qualifications and entered the job market or gone into further education or in some cases set up their own businesses. ARC is a recognised and approved OCR, ICAA/EDEXCEL and AQA examination centre and for a number of years has been conducting exams.

Vocational Training Our Textile design project provides the much-needed training particularly to the Asian women in sewing, knitting, pattern design and cutting. We also run cookery classes with two themes (1) healthy eating and (2) food from different cultures.

Our 14-19 Pathways to Employment (Food Hygiene Course) ran successfully and about 15/20 young people managed to complete the course. Students tried the exotic Indian curries; tasty continental dishes, Turkish Kebabs, Italian pasta and Chinese noodles and gained experience in preparing Vegetarian and Non-vegetarian food. We are very pleased to announce that seven students gained the Food Hygiene (Foundation Level) certificate. Apart from qualifying for the Food Hygiene Certificate, our students also had the chance to use the ICT facilities provided by the centre. Many students are thinking of joining the catering and hospitality industry.

ESOL Training We run free family Literacy and Numeracy classes. This course is very popular among the new emerging communities particularly from the East European block, from the African continent, from the former Portuguese colonies, from Sri Lanka, Iran, Afghanistan and Nepal. The course is run on Wednesdays from 5 pm till 7 pm at the centre and on Saturdays from 10 am till 12 noon at the Plumstead Manor School during term time.

Event Management The Asian Mela (Festival of Harmony) Every year the ARC along with other sister organisations holds an Asian Mela popularly known as the festival of harmony. The Mela started as a one-off event in the year 1991 but has grown in strength beyond our expectations and now happens to be the most sought after and popular event of the region. The Kentish Times described it as the Asian equivalent of the 'Notting Hill Carnival'. Every year well over 30,000 visitors attend the Mela.

Our tutors from the Supplementary school organise games and other activities for the children. Students display their talent by taking part in various competitions particularly in Arts, dance and music organised by the Mela. Black History Month - Family Learning Week Every year the ARC organises and runs an event for the

Black History Month (BHM) highlighting different themes from the Indian Sub-continent. This is a very popular local event not only among the Asian community but also from the wider sections of the community. As with previous years, this year also the BHM was jointly celebrated with the Family Learning Week (FLW). The theme for the BHM was: "Foods from the Indian sub-continent - Past, Present and Future" and for the FLW was: "Family Reading - Healthy Living". Cllr Angela Cornforth, Deputy Leader of the Greenwich Council attended the event as the chief guest. Cllr Jagir Sekhon, Cabinet Member and Ms Joe Harding, Headteacher of Plumstead Manor School were also present. Over 200 parents and students enthusiastically supported the event.

Newshopper photographer visited for the first 15 minutes and took group photos of participants. The themes of Healthy Eating were actively followed with children from each of the classes in the supplementary school reading their own writings on aspects of food and were joined by parents and staff from the school. Seven languages are taught at the school and each language represents a different region of the sub-continent. There were other speeches by Greenwich officials, community and religious leaders. Cllr Cornforth, Cllr Sekhon and Ms Harding spoke briefly and presented students with book tokens. There were demonstrations of Bollywood and Tollywwod dances and the event finished with a celebration meal of different foods from across the sub-continent. A council officer described the event as a magnificent success.

Launch of Family Reading Sessions and Dance & Music Classes The BHM and FLW event created so much interest among our staff, parents and students that we were left with no option but to start regular family reading sessions at the centre and keep fit (yoga) sessions at the fitness first club. As a result, we organise the launch of family reading sessions and at the same time organised the launch of our dance and music classes. Cllr Angela Cornforth, Deputy Leader of the Greenwich Council was present as a chief guest. She spoke about the opportunities provided by the council for families and students and advised everybody to make the best use of all the facilities. Greenwich is vibrant and its strength lies in its diversity.

Art and Culture We run music, dance, drama and arts workshop as part of our supplementary school on Saturdays. The Gidha dance classes take place from 12 noon till 1 pm and the South Indian dance classes are run from 2.30 pm till 3.30 pm on Saturdays during term time at Plumstead Manor school. The ARC formed its own drumming group called the New Age Dhollies, which was started by a parent as part of our out of school activities. The group is in demand and formed its own studio, and so far performed at the Dome, Greenwich Theatre, Town Halls, Schools, Colleges, Various shows, Community events and various Festivals

Residentials and trips Two trips to the seasides were organised and on each occasion two coaches were booked. First, we went to Clacton-on Sea and for our second trip we went to Broadstairs. We took our students to the Arethusa residential for the weekend. Recently our students and families visited the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Supplementary School At our Saturday Supplementary Mother tongue School, we offer courses in Panjabi, Urdu, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil and Nepali languages leading to GCSE, AS and A2 level. In addition to the Heritage languages we also run classes in National Curriculum subjects. At the moment we run classes in Maths and English for both primary and secondary school students.

In addition to our Supplementary school we have also started Heritage language workshops targeting schools in different parts of the borough. This very popular project has added another dimension to our work as many schools in the borough are showing interest in the project. Through this project ARC will be able to provide much needed language support and also help mainstream schools in organizing exams in heritage languages.

Examination Results Ever year we produce exceptionally good examination results. In May/June 2004, we managed to produce 100% pass rate at GCSE (Panjabi) with 6 As, 1 B and 1 C grade; 7 candidates took AS exam with 1 B, 4 Cs and 1 E grades and one student took the A2 exam and got grade C. In May/June 2005, again we managed to produce 100% pass rate at GCSE (Panjabi) with 4 As, 1 B and 1 C grade. 6 Candidates took AS exam with 2 As, 3 Bs & 1 C. 5 candidates appeared for the A2 exam wit 1 A and 4 D grades. This summer we also entered candidates for the GCSE (Urdu) exam.