The Telegraph Hill Centre

The London Borough of Lewisham (LBL), St Catherines Church (PCC), and a newly formed organisation, the Telegraph Hill Neighbourhood Council, collaborated to build the Telegraph Hill Center in 1972. (THNC). The PCC decided to sell the land behind the church where the former Church Hall stood in exchange for the construction of a community centre that would be physically tied to and utilise the back of the nave because land was needed for social housing and a library.
This was done in order to preserve the building for community use, complement the remaining LBL grants (from Community Education Lewisham and the Leisure Services), and enable the continuation of a part-time youth club operated by seconded LBL employees.
The Building Manager, the LBL employee who works with the elderly, and the Center Coordinator all stayed in their positions.
When LBL closed the Library in 1998 and put the space on the market, a community campaign, led by a group of artists organised around the Telegraph Hill Arts Festival Group, was eventually successful in winning the right to put in an offer for the Library building.
The phrase "Greener, Safer, Smarter" was adopted in 2016 to reflect the community's renewed enthusiasm for working with St. Catherine's Church to enhance the centre over the next 40 years.