Heart of Sidley Community Association (HOSCA) is the leading resident-led charity for Sidley, established 2020 as legacy of the 10-year Big Local initiative. Sidley is one of the 10% most deprived areas nationally (IMD), making local empowerment and community connection essential.

Our vision: Act-Belong-Commit: Sidley will be a vibrant community where residents are actively engaged, proud to belong, and committed to its future.

Our key aims are designed to make long-lasting positive difference by explicitly building both forms of social capital:

1. Meaningful Community Participation (Bonding): We foster active and inclusive involvement, building bonding social capital through resident-led governance, volunteering, and grassroots groups. This strengthens internal ties, increases pride, resilience, and ownership among our most disadvantaged residents, and ensures all support is tailored to local need (e.g. household support for 400+ families annually).

2. Stronger Sense of Place (Bridging): We cultivate a strong sense of place while actively working to bridge the isolated Sidley community with the wider Bexhill and Rother District area. We achieve this through strategic partnerships (e.g. Rother District Council, De La Warr Pavilion, local businesses) and high-profile events that attract diverse groups from outside Sidley onto the High Street and Recreation Ground, sharing a common physical space, and our new Sidley Hub.

3. Improved Health & Well-being (Empowerment): We enhance holistic health and well-being through projects that directly reduce the impact of deprivation on older people, families, and children/young people. By providing physical activity, creative opportunities (eg. Sidley Tourist Board), and welfare support, we empower residents to improve their lives and become active participants in cross-community dialogue and progress.