Eldora Edward, Deputy Director/Head of Programming

I was born in 1973 on a council estate in West London called the Mozart estate. Despite the high cultural sounding name, the estate was notorious in the area for crack houses, glue sniffers and crime; to me this was fun, exciting and normal, I used to hang around with the ‘undesirables’, and being chased and arrested by the police was part of everyday life. School for me was another chance to cause trouble, and a challenge to see how far I could wind up the teachers. Most of my ‘friends’ from those days are now either dead or crack heads, the truth is, if I had not come into contact with Paddington Arts at the age of twelve, I would almost certainly be under substance abuse or not here to tell the tale.

Paddington Arts changed my life, it gave me a sense of belonging, along with the attention and focus I needed and craved. Early on when joining the project (1987) I got involved in a TV series called “Running Loose 2” which used dance, improvised drama and documentary to follow a group of city kids let loose in the country (the Lake District). By taking me out of my environment, and away from my ‘so called friends’, I learned there was more to life than disruption and destruction (which was my main purpose and focus up till then).

I stayed involved with Paddington Arts during my teen years, and developed my passion for dance, drama and mentoring young people, which has stayed with me to this day. I became the first Gapper (youth work volunteer) at Paddington Arts in 1994, and this took me to another level, it enabled me to meet other people doing similar work to me (i.e. youth work) but they weren’t like me, and this gave me the belief ‘You may not know what is going to happen when you try, but if you do not try nothing will happen…..’ I also realised I didn’t have to be a follower I could be a leader.

In 2003 I graduated into a new job title ‘Social Inclusion Manager’. I was very happy with this title, I felt it summed up my job and my personality, which is to bring people together, particularly those from vulnerable backgrounds, to date I lead over 29 youth-based projects a year, mentor parents and peers and play a big part in refocusing negativity in young people’s minds – my commitment to the young people in our community is as strong as ever.