Our Vietnamese Village in London

Quynh is the founder of the Deptford-based charity, Vietnamese Family Partnership. Here, she tells her story of being involved with the Albany for over 20 years.

We have been involved and supported by the Albany for 20 years now. From projects and workshops working with young people and single parents of Deptford, through to our bi-annual festivals: Moon festival in the mid-autumn and the New Year festival in Spring. 

Our first mid-autumn festival was in 2004 at the Albany, where we had beautiful Fireworks that were let off on the roof and so many beautiful lanterns strung around the garden, the neighbours were mad they didn’t get an invite!  

From 400 people attending the event at Albany back in 2004, the numbers grew and grew, and we had to move our events to Deptford Lounge. At the festival earlier this year around 3,500 people travelled from the Vietnamese community to attend from all over the UK, as well as local people. 

Our community feels welcome and at home here and can celebrate our existence; though it’s for everyone, it’s a great space for integration, to bring the positive out of everyday life, and bring community spirit. 

The best thing about the Albany is the directors and staff team have a sense of community, and the experience to work with us. They are flexible always to meet the needs of the community and willing to explore and discuss, to work with us and this is difficult to find. Creating these biannual events isn’t easy and takes a lot of work. We trust them and find it easy to work with them, and despite the challenges of the last years, the Albany has managed to keep the staff team with a sense of community central.  

A lot of people can talk the talk and then don’t do the work. The support we have received has given us the space and confidence to develop ideas. 

Before working with the Albany, we were using ad-hoc space when and where we could, and without much support.  Dealing with disadvantages, parts of our community found it difficult with cultural and language barriers in these spaces. It is not about brick and mortar for us, but the relationship that creates memories, builds loyalty and has an impact on people. We keep in contact with the young people who we connect with at these festivals through the years and the memories of these experiences help with their identity. 

We feel that it is a house for the community, a permanent and recognisable space, to gather, to be together. A sometimes-invisible community becomes visible and celebrated twice a year, and we have amazing plans with Deptford Lounge and the Albany over the coming years to build and grow our work with the Vietnamese community in Deptford.