Our game-changing sports community
Millwall Community Trust (MCT), the charity arm of Millwall Football Club, have been delivering for Lewisham residents for 33 years and have proven time and time again to be a committed, innovative and community-focused organisation. The proud Chief Executive, Sean Daly said:
“You know, as a community trust, we're here to try and change people's lives and improve it.”
They were the deserving winners of the Best Community Contribution award at the 2023 Mayor of Lewisham Business Awards and are now one of five familiar faces fronting our Discover Lewisham campaign this summer.
The Trust are based next to the iconic ‘Den’ stadium and provide programmes for residents from the age of 4 years old, up to 89 years old. They have a mix of football-inspired activities such as toddler football to walking football as well as development programmes for aspiring footballers, and a mix of educational and operational programmes such as their media department to train up people for a career in the football industry. 
The Trusts’ Chief Executive, Sean Daly shared that their programmes are grounded in what the community wants, and are developed after undertaking speaking to and listening to residents.
As well as football programmes, the Trust do a number of social initiatives, such as their food bank which helps feed around 150 families a week.
“What I love about the borough, is it's very diverse. It's a young borough. It's a growing borough. Just love the area and the community.”
The Trust work closely with Lewisham College, to help get young people into college at 16 to 18 years old. Together, they have set up a Post-16 Football Academy, providing sessional football coaching to aspiring young players, with a structured education programme.
“Every programme has got a success story in it. Whether the young person has gone over the line and played sport after never wanting to be in sport, older people who have joined our walking sport.... There are loads of journeys - they may be very small for some people, but it's a massive journey for those people.”
Millwall Community Trust also work alongside the police on minimising anti-social behaviour by going into Lewisham’s hotspot areas and providing positive activities such as football, coaching, dance, basketball, and or anything the young people ask for.
Find out more about Millwall Community Trust’s programmes and work by visiting their website: Millwall Community Trust.
This hidden gem is one of the many proudly independent small businesses that Lewisham has to offer. Here's our guide to a great summer in Lewisham.
Discover Lewisham
We are proud to launch Discover Lewisham this Summer. Since 2022, this is the fourth time we have run a Discover Lewisham campaign, and this time round we are featuring local business as the face of Discover Lewisham this Summer. These local businesses were all winners at the 2023 Mayor’s Business Awards, as voted by the local community.
It originally started out as a six-week campaign over the 2022 summer that positioned Lewisham as an events destination, using the London Borough of Culture programme as an anchor to attract local people to stay in the borough and spend locally, and visitors to come and discover what Lewisham has to offer.
Did you know, in London, VISA/CBRE have also calculated that for every £10 spent locally, £3.80 remains in the local economy. This could double if people actively choose to spend more locally. So, we are encouraging people through this campaign to stay local and spend local, because if our Lewisham businesses thrive, so does the community. Whether it’s relaxing in our award-winning parks, attending an outdoor festival, or exploring the local cafes and arts scene, there’s plenty to enjoy - and it's only an 11-minute direct train journey from London Bridge station.
So visit your local, explore a part of the borough you might not have ventured to before, make recommendations to friends, comment on social media, share your experiences, it all goes a long way to making sure our local business community are supported, and shining a light on Lewisham as a vibrant, diverse and exciting borough.
Lewisham Council has utilised it's UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocation to support the Discover Lewisham this Summer campaign.