Brixton Bugle August 2022

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BRIXTON BUGLE YOUR FREE

No 86 | AUGUST 2022

Published monthly in and for Brixton

ISSN 2397-852X

BRIXTON IS AGAIN TOP FOR DEADLY POLLUTION

Winner of the Lambeth Horticultural Society’s vegetable sculpture contest at this year’s Lambeth Country show in Brockwell Park was as Florence Creffield with her Rih-yam-a: pregnant with her and A$AP Broccoli’s baby More pictures, page 20

Brixton Road, once again, last year had the highest levels in London of the deadly pollutant NO2 – nitrogen dioxide – according to the Clean Cities Campaign.

The campaign’s analysis of the most recent data found 15 of 73 pollution monitors in the city had recorded levels above legal limits.

None of the levels recorded by the monitors met World Health Organization guidelines.

The highest levels of NO2 were recorded in Brixton Road and Putney High Street in Wandsworth.

Illegal levels of NO2 were also found in Ealing, Camden, the City of London, Brent, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Sutton, Waltham Forest, and the City of Westminster.

Oliver Lord, UK head of the Clean Cities Campaign said: “If this isn’t a wake-up call then I don’t know what is.

“These limits were meant to be met 12 years ago, and when that eventually happens, they are still four times World Health Organization guidelines.

“We need greater certainty that London is on track to phasing out toxic diesel fumes.”

Lord said London’s ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) which

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COMMUNITY PAPER

Your guide to the m Brixton X Harle festival

A SAX CALLED LISA …

Find out why

12

COMING HOME Pearl Alcock back at 198

26

THE PRICE OF JUSTICE Why lawyers are striking

11

Clean air campaign Mums for Lungs last year stencilled the pavement by the Brixton Road meter that measures pollution levels includes central Brixton, must be expanded without delay and the mayor of London’s plans for a central London zero emission zone need to be expedited.

“There is no time to waste,” he said.

The UK has a legal annual limit value for NO2 of 40?g/m3.

World Health Organization guidelines on levels of NO2 were recently revised to 10?g/ m3, taking into account the latest health evidence.

2 NEWS

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brixtonblog.com 2022 AUGUST

INTERESTED IN THE BUGLE? DROP US A LINE This is the fifth issue of the Brixton Bugle since we re-started publication after a Covid enforced pause.

When we began again we had only enough in the bank to publish and distribute three issues, so now we hope we are up and running again.

The future is far from

rosy. Our costs are soaring – largely due to big increases in the cost of newsprint and huge ones in the price of electricity and fuel.

But we are determined to continue. We are planning to expand our distribution and to put right the relative neglect of Brixton Blog

while we were restarting the Bugle.

We will also renew our efforts to implement the second reason for the existence of Brixton Media – publisher of the Bugle and Blog – which is a formally constituted not-for-profit community

interest company.

This is to give young, and not so young, people – especially those from groups and communities that are under-represented in journalism – the opportunity to work on serious stories and issues and publish them under their own bylines.

We need help with every aspect of our work, including journalism – from listings to research – administration and finance, website and social media, and more.

If you would like to find out more and maybe get involved, drop an email to work@brixtonblog.com.

‘Grim reality’ of Brixton prison

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07973 214648 advertising@ brixtonblog.com Circulation 10,000 copies EDITOR Alan Slingsby alan@brixtonblog.com ARTS Leslie Manasseh arts@brixtonblog.com

The Howard League for Penal Reform has said an official inspection of Brixton prison reveals a huge gap between expectation and “grim reality”.

Inspectors visited the prison in March this year and found that most inmates were locked in their cells for 22 hours a day and more at weekends. Overall, education provision was “inadequate”s.

Brixton, officially categorised as a “resettlement” prison, was found to be in trouble, with severe overcrowding,

ISSUE 86 CONTRIBUTORS Sandra Brown-Springer Ollie Goodwin Polly Nash Simone Richardson Poppy Woods

Print Iliffe Print iliffeprint.co.uk Distribution: Self Select Distribution selfselectdistribution. co.uk NEXT ISSUE Our next issue, September 2022, is due on the street on Wednesday 24 August Deadlines Advertising: 15 August Editorial: 17 August A massive thank you to everybody involved in making this issue, and the Blog & Bugle project, a success If you would like to be a Bugle stockist please email distribution@ brixtonblog.com

Aftermath of the fire

image by Anaru Rangiheuea

Market fire appeal exceeds target A £20,000 appeal to aid 12 Brixton market traders whose livelihoods were destroyed by a fire stood at more than £22,000 as the Bugle went to press.

The appeal was organised by the Save Nour campaign for the Brixton Market Traders Federation. Contribute at bit.ly/BRX-mkt-appeal or scan the code.

The fire, in an alley off Electric Lane behind the Tube station, was put out by about 100 firefighters and 15 fire engines.

Much of central Brixton was closed into the early hours of Sunday 17 July as large areas were cordoned

off to allow firefighters access and to protect the public.

Among the traders affected are sellers of jewellery, children’s clothes, hats and jeans, pots and pans, men’s and women’s underwear, nightclothes and tops, luggage and bedding.

Lambeth council said it was working with the traders and would not charge rent while they are affected.

It told the traders it could not provide replacement storage itself, but would ask Network Rail for space.

Investigations into the cause of the fire are continuing.

cramped cells, rising violence and low staff morale.

At the time of the inspection, it had room for 509 men but was being asked to hold 720. About one in three men released from the prison over the previous year were without recorded accommodation to go to.

Andrew Neilson, Howard League director of campaigns, said: “When someone is in trouble with the law, we should do all that we can to guide them away from crime.

“Locking them in a cell with nothing to do for hours on end is never going to help them turn their lives around.”

He said Brixton was meant to be a prison that prepared people for life after release, but the report revealed “the gulf between this aspiration and the grim reality for those living behind bars”.

The Howard League is a charity working for less crime, safer communities and fewer people in prison.

AUGUST 2022

brixtonblog.com

NEWS 3

MP condemns ‘gross failure’ of police over death of Black man in Brixton

By Alan Slingsby

Lambeth town hall was the scene of anger and harrowing descriptions of the deaths in Brixton of men in police custody at a meeting to raise and discuss issues around the latest one to die. It heard disturbing questions about the aftermath of the death of Ian Taylor in Coldharbour Lane three years ago that are only now coming to light.

Among the powerful speeches was that of Marcia Rigg, whose brother Sean died 14 years ago outside Brixton police station in circumstances similar to those of the later incident.

Ian Taylor’s aunt Pauline Taylor and stepmother Millicent both delivered moving accounts of Ian Taylor and the way he died that were profoundly critical of the police.

Speaker after speaker from the floor pointed out that his death was just one among many of Black men in police custody.

Local chief superintendent Colin Wingrove, who was not in this post at the time of the incident, listened as MP Helen Hayes described the police role in Ian Taylor’s death as an “absolutely gross failure”.

And he was challenged by another speaker to investigate reports that, after Ian Taylor’s death, police had claimed he had died in a fight and used this as an excuse to harass and threaten local Black men.

Ian Taylor, a 54 year-old Black British Rastafarian with severe asthma, died in Coldharbour Lane after suffering a cardiac arrest on 29 June 2019 while detained by police.

Police did not take him to hospital, despite knowing an ambulance was delayed.

A coroner’s jury found on 20 May this year that his death was caused by acute asthma and situational stress, alongside two underlying health conditions, with dehydration as a further contributing factor.

They also found that he died in part because the police’s assessment of the risks to him were not adequate.

On one of the hottest days of that year, police had and used water, even pouring it over themselves in the heat. But they did not provide Ian Taylor with any.

Activist Rashid Nix said local people told him what had happened in the Coldharbour Lane and Somerleyton Road area after Ian Taylor died.

“The police were going around and they were trying to fit up Black men from that community with killing the gentleman in question,” he said.

“If anyone saw the story, when it first broke, they said the brother died after a fight,” Rashid Nix said. Police were kicking at men’s doors and saying they were involved in Ian Taylor’s death and ordering them to produce their passports and their right to remain. You investigate this and find out why your officers were trying to criminalise our community for something that your officers were responsible for,” he told chief

The panel at the public meeting (l-r) Marcia Rigg, Ian Taylor’s stepmother Millicent, his aunt Pauline Taylor, Lee Jasper and Pastor Lorraine Jones co-chairs of the meeting, MP Helen Hayes, and chief superintendent Colin Wingrove

Marcia Rigg

Rashid Nix

superintendent Wingrove.

Local MP Helen Hayes (Labour, Dulwich and West Norwood) said: “It is clearly an absolutely gross failure on the part of the officers who were at the scene. That is undeniable. I think there are really big questions about accountability in this case.”

A briefing provided by police to key stakeholders after Ian Taylor’s, death bore “no relationship to the facts that we now understand” from the coroner’s case, she said.

“What that means is that it’s been three years since Ian passed away. And during that time, there has been no accountability at all because nobody knew what had gone on.”

Helen Hayes said she had written earlier that day to the head of the Metropolitan police.

She wanted to know where those offices are now who were at the scene and who failed Ian Taylor so badly.

“I want to know how Ian Taylor’s family can seek justice three years on for what happened to their loved one.”

She also wanted to know why the report on Ian Taylor’s death by the Independent Office for Police Conduct has still not been published.

“Finally,’ she said, “I want the acting commissioner [of the Metropolitan police] to investigate the role that racism may have played in the way that Ian Taylor was treated.”

“I know, and I understand, the weariness that there is in our communities that we are

Dr Mahamed Hashi here again, talking about another tragedy and another failure. But the fact that the Metropolitan police has been taken into special measures, and the fact that we are getting a new commissioner, I think, means that there is a pivotal moment for change to be delivered.”

Dr Mahamed Hashi, Lambeth council cabinet

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Ian Taylor’s stepmother Millicent (left) and his aunt Pauline Taylor

Helen Hayes MP member for safer communities, said the issue was not just a police one, but a societal one.

Referring to the earlier contribution by Rashid Nix, he said there had been reports of three people being arrested for attempted murder after Ian Taylor’s death – “which implied that something else happened”.

4 NEWS

brixtonblog.com 2022 AUGUST

Council announces review of affordable home building policy Lambeth council has announced a review of its housing policy designed to “boost the delivery of genuinely affordable housing in the borough”.

It will be chaired by Lord Bob Kerslake (inset), who was head of the UK government’s home civil service from December 2011 to September 2014. He sits in the House of Lords as an independent.

The council’s housing policy has come under increasing criticism – particularly plans to demolish and rebuild estates like Cressingham Gardens on Tulse Hill and the performance of its wholly owned private developer, Homes for Lambeth.

Matthew Bennett, who was council cabinet member responsible for planning and development, did not stand in Lambeth local elections in May this year.

Council chief executive Andrew Travers announced in February that he would be standing down.

Lord Kerslake will look at how the borough can “accelerate the delivery of affordable housing” in particular homes at social rent that are genuinely affordable for local families on the housing waiting list.

Housing campaigners recently demonstrated over this issue outside the council’s offices in Brixton.

The review will also consider how commitments to improve housing supply made by councillors now running the borough before the May elections can be met alongside the council’s commitments as the first London borough to declare a climate emergency.

Council leader Claire Holland said: “Lambeth council is committed to doing everything possible to tackle Lambeth’s housing crisis – and this review will help Lambeth to accelerate the delivery of genuinely affordable and sustainable homes for those who need them most.

“At a time when many residents are feeling the impact of the cost of living crisis and fear that housing is becoming less affordable and accessible to them, it is vital that we leave no stone unturned to take action more quickly.”

Lord Kerslake said he was very pleased to be asked to lead the review and looked forward to working with residents, public and private sector partners, and councillors.

Danny Adilypour, cabinet member

for sustainable growth and new homes, said: “Lambeth council has built the first new council homes in a generation and has an ambitious programme to deliver even more across the borough.

“However, with so many families in temporary accommodation or in private rented homes that are increasingly unaffordable, we are clear that we need to act more quickly to deliver more homes that will make a difference to tackling the housing crisis.

“This review will build on the important work already delivered by the council and Homes for Lambeth and we look forward to receiving the findings.”

The review will assess existing approaches and developments in the pipeline, and how the council and Homes for Lambeth work with current or potential partners.

It will consider “how the council can ensure that opportunities and delivery across the borough are accelerated and maximised by working with all partners, including the Mayor of London and public sector partners, a n d r ev i e w i n g b e s t practice from other local authorities.”

The Kerslake review is due to be completed by the autumn.

It will take evidence from across the council, from public and private sector partners and from Lambeth residents.

A s we l l a s l e a d ing the home civil service, Lord Kerslake was the first chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, where he was responsible for promoting new and affordable housing supply.

He is a former chief executive of the Hounslow and of Sheffield councils, and was chair of King’s College Hospital NHS Trust. He resigned in December 2017, saying that the government was “unrealistic about the scale of the challenge facing the NHS and the trust”.

He is chair of the Peabody Housing Association and Be First, the housing and regeneration body for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

He recently chaired a review for the Mayor of London to increase the speed and scope of housing delivery on land owned by the Greater London Authority.

A Interested parties can submit views by 7 August to: kerslakereview@lambeth.gov.uk

The cost of Brixton The huge and growing cost of living in Brixton was revealed when a three-bedroom flat in Connaught Mansions on Coldharbour Lane was advertised for rent.

The asking price was £2,375 a month – £548 a week; £28,496 a

year. Someone getting the London Living wage of £11.05 an hour and working a 40-hour week would earn £22,984 a year. The median (same number earning more, same number earning less) London salary in 2021 was £39,700.

A two-bedroom flat in Connaught Mansions – which are on Coldharbour Lane between Brixton Road and Atlantic Road – is currently offered for sale at £525,000 and a one-bedroom flat at £360,000.

New dedicated takeaway coffee cup recycling bins will be trialled in Brixton. In the borough’s other centres, coffee cups can be disposed of in rubbish bins or given to new ‘mobile recycling points’. These are street sweeper barrows rebranded by Hubbub and are operated by the council’s new waste contractor, Serco, whose Paula and Ion posed with one of the new ‘mobile recycling points’ outside Lambeth town hall in Brixton

SOLAR-POWERED BINS AND COFFEE CUP TRIAL FOR BRIXTON Solar-powered recycling bins are being installed in Brixton and other parts of Lambeth by environmental charity Hubbub and the council. Their Lambeth #InTheLoop campaign is designed to make it as easy as possible to recycle glass, plastic bottles and cans while on the move.

Coffee cups will be collected separately in a small-scale trial in Brixton using new cup recycling bins.

It is estimated that nine in 10 of UK residents recycle at home compared to only four in 10 who recycle on-the-go.

In 2019 an estimated 8bn drinks containers failed to be recycled in the UK. That means they were either landfilled, incinerated or littered. Less than half of local

authorities currently have on-street recycling systems.

The Lambeth initiative is part of #InTheLoop, the UK’s biggest collaborative approach to boost recycling on-the-go. Across pilot projects, more than 2.1m plastic and glass bottles and cans were collected and recycled.

A study by Hubbub and Lambeth council revealed that only six in 10 plastic bottles, glass or cans end up in borough recycling bins.

Eighty new look bins (40 pairs of recycling and rubbish bins) will be positioned in Brixton, Waterloo, Vauxhall, Clapham, Streatham and West Norwood. The bins compact their contents using solar power and have smart sensors to detect how full they are so they can capture more waste and be emptied less often.

Did the 2021 census under-count Lambeth’s growing population?

According to the 2021 census, Lambeth’s population has increased by 4.8%, from around 303,100 in 2011 to 317,600 in 2021.

However, local government organisations are warning that the figures – which are used to allocate central government cash for all sorts or services from health to roads – may have been seriously distorted by the pandemic.

The increase in Lambeth’s population is lower than the overall increase for England (6.6%), where the population grew by nearly 3.5 million to 56,489,800.

As of 2021, Lambeth is the fourth most densely populated of London’s 33 local authority areas, with around 85 people living on each football pitch-sized area of land.

There has been an increase of 17.7% in the borough of people aged 65 years and over, an increase of 7.3% in people aged 15 to 64 years, and a decrease of 11.8% in children aged under 15 years.

London boroughs said the census population figures should be treated with “extreme caution”.

The cross-party group London C o u n c i l s s a i d t h e nu m b e r o f Londoners is likely to have been significantly under-counted – potentially having a major impact on future funding allocations for the capital’s public services if not adjusted for.

The census data suggests London’s

total population in March 2021 was almost 300,000 (3%) lower than the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) previous population projection for 2021, with some boroughs’ figures almost a quarter (24%) lower.

London Councils estimates around £4 billion of government funding to London local authorities relies directly or indirectly on census population figures.

There will also be implications for billions of pounds of funding for the Greater London Authority, the NHS, police, fire and other frontline services.

The census was taken in March 2021, during the third national lockdown in response to the pandemic.

Boroughs are concerned that at this time many of their residents particularly students, young people on furlough, and migrant workers from abroad may have temporarily relocated to family homes outside the capital.

London Councils also highlighted longstanding challenges to accurate counting of London’s population, including high rates of homelessness, language barriers, and digital exclusion. It believes this combination of factors makes the 2021 census results “particularly problematic”.

Cllr Georgia Gould, Chair of London Councils, said: “Billions of pounds for frontline services are at stake.

“Counting London’s diverse population is an incredible challenge even at the best of times, due to our high levels of migration, homelessness and population churn.

“The lockdown will have undoubtedly made this worse, particularly for communities who suffer from digital exclusion.

“It’s a bitter irony that it’s often the Londoners with the lowest census response rates who most depend on local authority support but even small inaccuracies in population counts can seriously undermine future service provision.

“We are concerned that, without looking at the data in the context of the challenges the pandemic created, Londoners will lose out.”

It is estimated that one in 10 London residents were missed by the count for the previous census in 2011. London Councils fears an even higher figure of missed Londoners in 2021.

Boroughs repeatedly expressed concern at Census 2021’s emphasis on “digital engagement”, with most communications and support provided online rather than face-to-face or by telephone.

London has extremely high rates of digital exclusion, with an estimated 270,000 Londoners completely offline and two million having low levels of digital engagement.

A bit.ly/Census21-Lambeth

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6 COMMUNITY

2022 AUGUST

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Polio and Covid jabs: make sure all are protected, says NHS

Loughborough Community Centre director Candice James and Dulwich and West Norwood MP Helen Hayes at the event

The circus came to town

Local children, their families and the community came together for a grand time at the Get Up and Giggle Children’s Festival that kick started the award-winning summer activities at Max Roach One O’clock Club and Adventure Playground in Brixton. The Flying Seagulls Project put on a great show, teaching circus and performance skills.

The Wiltshire Road site was transformed into a festival for children, with a magical set-up of show-tent, circus free play, aerial classes, musical performances, slapstick workshops, stage shows, games, face painting alongside local community groups stalls and delicious food.

More than 200 people took part in the free weekend of fun and positive shared experience that was sponsored by the National Lottery’s Awards for All scheme to foster community cohesion and stronger relationships between local community groups and beneficiaries of the centre.

Local partners, including Home Start Lambeth, Brixton Wings, Mas Africa Carnival group, Biteback 2030 and Progress London, enhanced the event with live music, food and activity stalls. Local MP Helen Hayes and local councillors Donatus Anyanwu and Ben Kind looked in.

The event was coordinated by Loughborough Community Centre director Candice James, who was awarded a British Empire Medal in the recent Queen’s birthday honours list.

“At this difficult period of time when many of our families are faced with the cost-of-living crisis, this children’s festival was a demonstration of our commitment and value for children’s happiness/wellbeing which in turn results in a greater sense of belonging and community connection,” she said.

“We hope to build upon the success of this year’s event, with more local partners on board to make it bigger and better for children and their families next year.”

A More local summer activities for children – page 22

Local NHS doctors are urging people to ensure that they and their children are protected against polio and Covid by getting or keeping vaccinations up to date.

The appeals follow a June warning of the dangers of children not getting a full course of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine.

NHS London said increasing numbers of parents were booking appointments to get children vaccinated after traces of the polio virus were detected in sewage samples.

All parents – especially those with children aged five or younger – are being encouraged to ensure they are vaccinated against polio, a rare but serious infection.

The vaccine is free and given as part of combined jabs to babies, toddlers and teenagers as part of the NHS routine childhood vaccination schedule.

It is administered in five doses between the ages of eight weeks and 14 years, Children need all five doses to be fully protected.

The recent rapid increase in Covid infections means Londoners must ensure their vaccinations are up to date, NHS London has warned.

“It is not too late to get a first, second or booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to stay protected and reduce the risk of serious illness and

hospitalisation,” it said.

The UK Health Security Agency echoed the advice amid concern over the spread of two variants of the omicron strain of the virus, which are driving an increase in infections in London and across the country.

M o re t h a n 7 , 0 0 0 S o u t h Londoners have volunteered to take part in the world’s largest trial of a blood test that can detect more than 50 types of cancer.

The Galleri-NHS trial has the potential to offer earlier detection of hard-to-spot cancers – like head and neck, bowel, lung and pancreatic – before symptoms appear.

More than 140,000 people in the UK are taking part, having blood tests at mobile clinics in locations including supermarket and leisure centre car parks and places of worship.

Thanks to national NHS campaigns and early diagnosis initiatives, urgent cancer referrals have been at record levels over the past 12 months – almost a fifth higher than before the pandemic.

To include people often under-represented in these sorts of trials, GPs in South London sent invitations to people from ethnic minorities.

There were also community group briefings, leaflet distribution in community settings like places of worship and work with community champions and targeted social media posts.

Clocks for cancer research Brixton resident Phil StarrMees creates clocks to raise m o n e y fo r re s e a rch i n t o prostate and breast cancer, adorned, respectively, with naked penises and breasts.

Phil, a surveyor, says: “I originally created a piece to raise funds for research into prostate cancer which runs in my family and took the lives of my male grandparents. I am also very susceptible to this due to medication I’m on.”

His “cock clock” was made using a piece of a Virgin F1 race car from 2011. All proceeds went to Prostate Cancer UK. Now he is making a version

for breast cancer research.

“I think it’s taken since March this year to put the piece together,” he says. “I’ve used a local artist to create a mastectomy illustration.

“The idea is to have the clock hands coming out of the piece to show time is ticking and get yourself checked.” Phil says it should be noted that breast cancer can also affect men.

The breast cancer awareness clock, aka Time Is Ticking, will be sold by auction through the official Breast Cancer UK eBay page.

A ebay.co.uk/charity/i/ Breast-Cancer-Now/151839

10 YEARS AGO

5 YEARS AGO

AUGUST 2012

AUGUST 2017

A jury at Southwark Coroner’s Court returned a damning verdict on the death of Sean Rigg while in custody outside Brixton police station. Coroner Andrew Harris criticised the level of force used on Sean Rigg while he was restrained in the prone position at the Weir estate in Clapham Park.

Ray Murphy, who had been selling carpets on Briton’s Atlantic Road for more than 25 years, challenged the chief executive of Network Rail to visit him. Budget Carpets was one of four traders to refuse the terms offered by Network Rail when it demanded that some of its leaseholders leave their Brixton arches.

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8 BUSINESS

brixtonblog.com

2022 AUGUST

Poppy Woods spent the past month at Impact Brixton, getting to know its spaces, creators and, most importantly, community Did you know that Brixton is home to Europe’s first Black-owned co-working community?

You wouldn’t be the first to walk past the unassuming door on Electric Lane or look up from Brixton Village’s Market Row without realising what is hidden above.

When I first visited it wasn’t until I saw their flag that I realised I hadn’t been directed to the wrong place. However, by my third visit I already felt a part of its community, the nervousness I often feel on entering a professional environment gone as I slumped straight into an armchair and began to work; helping myself to coffee and greeted with smiles by everyone I met.

It is exactly this feeling, partly curated and entirely natural, that makes Impact so unique.

After one of the most efficient 15 minutes of work I have done in several months, Impact’s co-owner Gerald Vanderpuye arrived to chat to me.

Gerald is the charismatic heart of Impact, a native Brixtonian, he had moderate success on what he calls a “mediocre startup” when he reached a crossroads.

Having arrived in Silicone Valley, he realised that he could either follow the normal trajectory up the step-ladder of corporate successes and then return home, rich and philanthropic to absolve himself of shallow guilt or stop waiting for the moment of huge personal success at the retirement of his personal career to give back but, rather, make his career about community and social enterprise.

He says he realised if he played the Silicone Valley start-up game “I might never get to give back, if I’m never successful, so actually, why not just work on social enterprise now?… I needed to do it and I wanted to do it”.

It was this that drove him to dedicate himself to giving back to the community through passion and real work, a lifestyle decision rather than a purely financial one.

Serendipitously, this moment of clarity came as the Impact community was facing closure due to the failing business model of the Impact Hub franchise, whose Brixton arm was originally located in Pop Brixton.

This, Gerald realised, could not happen: “Myself and members of the core community were like: this is too important. And I think that’s the story. Then it just happens that it’s now the only or certainly the first large-scale co-working space that is Black … the reason we kept the name is because the community didn’t change. Brixton didn’t change. And we’re still making an Impact (so we dropped the Hub).”

Dream works Inside Impact Brixton, Europe’s first Black owned co-working community

Equally as serendipitous was Impact’s move to the location they are currently in after outgrowing Pop. Gerald was walking around Brixton with a friend when he recognised American real estate developer and part-time DJ Taylor McWilliams.

In response to Gerald’s enquiries, McWilliams said he had an available loft above the village which would need a lot of work. Never one to be put off by a challenge, and after many more twists and turns to this creation story, Gerald soon had a five-year lease agreement on what is now the new and improved Impact Brixton.

Anyone who enters Impact will note how different it feels to other co-working and office spaces and this is due in part to its interior, which has been beautifully and conscientiously designed by Gareth Esson, whose company Guess Design House has grown and flourished in Impact.

Speaking to Impact’s members, I get a sense that this space belongs to them, the solid community of creators who call it their professional home. It represents its community and their values as, unlike other co-working spaces, they came first.

Ascending a compact staircase you are met by an open airy space, filled with plants, a large table and the smiling faces sat around it both and on the wall behind, which is filled with Polaroids. To the right are its co-working spaces, meeting rooms and offices, all equally sunlit and free-flowing, overlooking central Brixton on one side and Market Row on the other.

Turning to the left you will find a kitchen which always seems to be serving a spontaneous lunch or afternoon tea for members of both Impact and the wider Brixton community.

Tiny hands scramble over platters of

IMPACT MEMBER: Found by Few Ben Elliot and Danielle Bowman are the founders of specialist design and product recruitment company: Found by Few. They started their company last April with just two people in one of Impact’s smaller private offices which they show me on our way to the much larger office space they have recently moved into, housing the now eight members of their company.

Ben tells me that he looked at many office spaces before settling on Impact, which, he says, “is a big, big part of our brand. We share a lot of values with the office as well”. These values are at the core of their recruitment company, which focuses on diversity and inclusion.

As Danielle says: “We champion that internally. We’re trying to build a very inclusive environment ourselves.”

As Ben continues: “We try to foster an environment where everyone can succeed.”

A foundbyfew.com

hummus while elders sit back chuckling over tea.

Upstairs houses a cave-like bar, my favourite place to take meetings from the comfort of a deep corner sofa. This space also serves as a recording studio, hosts performances and, most importantly, is a cocktail lounge for the Brixton Distillery below, where Market Row Rum is made.

You might be beginning to notice a theme emerging. This was, Gerald tells me, exactly what they aspired to when creating the space: “When people think about an office space, they think of something sterile and they expect it to look like a traditional office. What we’ve created is a space that is welcoming to anyone and feels more like a home than it does an office. We designed it so nobody feels that they don’t belong here.

“It’s a truly inclusive space and we’ve done that by making it feel like home – you just happen to be working here.

“So that’s the first thing, but I think the more profound feeling that we expect from anyone that’s joining this space is to be inspired to work on their dreams. That’s what we’re here for.”

This is the message that really emerged from my time at Impact and it transcends anything that could be contained in the physical. Something that everyone I spoke to emphasised: the feel and magic of the place, built on people and community; on diversity and inclusivity. As Gerald, with his signature passion is quick to tell me: “When you come in here and you look on the wall, you’ll see it says Welcome Dreamers, and every quote on the wall is about dreams and it’s really because our community is, first of all, the most diverse co-working space, I believe probably in the world, but definitely in the UK. “And our community is often from under-represented backgrounds, from deprived areas that perhaps are lacking, are unemployed or at least are low income and have grown up in low-income families or areas, and have turned their back on that traditional employment route and are pursuing their creative side.

“And often what we’re trying to do is inspire them to believe they can do that and then support them to do that through either our programmes or just people they meet in the space.

“So two things (that form the basis of Impact)

AUGUST 2022

Take care of your skin – whatever its colour

IMPACT MEMBER: Khalid Khan Owner of fledgling fashion brand Figures, Khalid Khan joined Impact after seeing the building while walking around Brixton.

Like me, he was at first intrigued by how hidden the space was and the people he saw working above Market Row and this curiosity sparked a need to find the entrance. He says on the first visit he was welcomed with the signature community warmth and was made to feel instantly comfortable.

Khalid had arrived at a point in his life where he felt like all his friends had found their passions while he was still searching.

What he found is now his own clothing label Figures which really began to grow and develop with his membership at Impact as well as the mentorship and guidance he receives through their free Thrive programme, which is funded by Lambeth council to support local creatives and entrepreneurs.

Khalid selected his brand name for its

number one is inclusivity and number two is the inspiration to pursue the thing that you really want to do as a creator.”

Impact member Danielle Bowman of Found

by Few ( profiled below left) has worked in many other professional environments and says that, while she succeeded in the roles, she never felt completely comfortable in these spaces as, until coming to Impact, “I’d never walked into an office space and seen more than one person who looks like me.

“Whereas when I walk into here the majority of people look and sound like me and that goes back to the confidence and just not feeling like you have to change or adapt in order to fit in. I feel like I don’t have to do that here.”

Khalid Khan ( profiled above) says “when you go in there you’re met with a smile – it’s open.

“One of the beautiful things about it is you have a space where you don’t feel ideas will be judged or stomped on … a space that you could be creative, you could have an idea, be championed.”

A point which Andry McFarlane ( profiled below) reiterated: “There are all these people around me who believe in me and support me … It represents the demographic of our borough, members who are much older, much

“inclusive to all” quality: “We all have an age, we all use money,” he tells me. “The shape of a body, public figures like Malcolm X, anyone that stands for something. It aligns with my values. Americans say ‘it figures’, and that is what I want to inspire in clothing.”

Khalid wants to create an inclusive community through his clothing which inspires physical and mental health, good financial skills and real figures that can be role models in the local and wider community. As he says: “building something that you can use to shed light on the people that need it”, a legacy that can be passed down, using fashion as a sounding board to inspire future generations.

A figureslondon.com

younger, there’s a race diversity, there’s a gender diversity, there’s so much – able-bodied, disability. There’s a lot in there that mirrors what our community’s like. You’re not confident, you’re confident; it’s a space to be welcomed.”

Impact truly feels like a part of Brixton.

One moment you are walking through the market and the next inside its walls, effortlessly reflecting the beauty and diversity of our neighbourhood. It is everything big corporations want to be for “inclusivity” but fail because this is not something that can be bought or imposed with diversity initiatives, but rather grows naturally from a community built on care and acceptance.

Reading through the transcripts of my conversations with everyone at Impact I notice that they all really emphasise the value of belonging to a community; a community which is not competitive but confident, a community without pretence or corporate posturing but completely natural, empowered and, most of all, strong.

As Khalid says: “When you go in, you’re just met with that smile and it reminds you – whatever the world is like outside, there’s this space that doesn’t feel real but is real.”

IMPACT MEMBER: Andry McFarlane Founder of The Learning Moment, a company which helps companies and educational facilities thrive through a lifelong learning approach, and author of The Really Resilient Guide: Surviving and Thriving through Change, Uncertainty and Adversity at Work, Andry McFarlane was one of the original members of Impact, back when it was “Impact Hub”.

From the start, the community felt like a place where she and her business were at home and she has met many people who have become her clients or who she has become clients of, developing greater perspectives and skills through a natural pooling of talents.

Andry says that what is really wonderful about Impact is that they have always supported and championed her as a business owner, whose status does not change from fluctuations in its success.

She has really benefited at times, when

WELLBEING 9

external factors have caused instability to her business, through Impact’s giving back schemes, which allow members to help out on Impact events and courses in exchange for free desk space and membership, including helping set up a food bank inside Pop Brixton.

She wrote most of her recently published novel at Impact and says it was the balance of the space’s focus and professional qualities with its friendly warmth that really meant she could find a deep focus and her natural voice.

A thelearningmoment.org

Sandra Brown-Springer on why everybody needs to take care as the temperature rises and the sun beats down This July, temperatures soared in London and, since then, my skin has been feeling sore, tingly and slightly hot.

This has never happened to me before in the UK, and the fact that I had run out of sun cream didn’t help.

As soon as I could I went and bought a few litres of SPF 50.

My daughter had warned me in the spring that I should wear sunscreen all year round, that I needed to invest in more than shea butter.

I think that she’s right, and I wish I had heeded her warnings.

My skin is dark brown, and when I was younger I never used sunscreen.

When I was a child, we believed that we didn’t need it. This attitude has rubbed off on my youngest, although he used to wear it regularly when he was smaller and easier to control.

He was outraged when I recently encouraged him to use sun protection. “But I’m Black!!” he said, indignantly, as if this was news to me.

As if wearing SPF 50+ and having dark skin is mutually exclusive.

Then we did a funny dance which involved me trying to apply sun cream to his face while he ducked and dived in his efforts to escape.

Eventually I pinned him into a corner and slathered some on.

As I write this, it’s 39 degrees. Today is predicted to be the hottest day on record in the UK. People have been asked not to travel unless absolutely necessary and a Met Office warning, code red, has been issued.

I read an article earlier about a road melting in Surrey, then one about grass spontaneously combusting in Kent. Things, to quote Celine Dion, are getting serious.

While warm weather is very welcome, these high temperatures can be very dangerous.

Many people with paler skin have a healthy respect for the sunshine, while some people of colour I know seem to think, as I used to, that their melanin gives them immunity from sun damage.

I have learned that although

Meditations on Wellbeing with Sandra my dark skin gives me some protection, I am not super human. Right now, I‘m slightly sunburnt.

We should all develop a system to enable us to enjoy the sunshine while mitigating any possible damage.

People from countries like Dubai (yes, our weather is comparable to there today) don’t walk around unnecessarily during the hottest part of the day.

They arrange their schedules around the heat if they can, taking siestas, wearing light loose clothing and head coverings to protect themselves. They walk in the shade.

As UK temperatures continue to rise it’s practical to take similar action to protect ourselves from sun damage.

From my window I see people walking around between 12pm and 3pm in tiny vests and shorts, some topless, and it makes my skin hurt just looking at them.

We all need vitamin D, and sunshine provides lots of that.

But we can get this from a short walk in the late afternoon, or early in the morning.

UV damage is real and can lead to hyper-pigmentation, premature wrinkles, extreme dry skin, sunburn and blistering, sunstroke and in some cases it can lead to skin cancer. Even in Black people – remember Bob Marley?

More information on how to protect yourself and your loved ones from the sun can be found at bit.ly/NHS-sunsafe.

In short, wear sunscreen with SPF of at least 30, make sure it provides protection against UVA and UVB, Find out more about these two types of ultra violet radiation from the sun at bit.ly/SCF-UV-radiation.

Put sunscreen on the children and reapply frequently, wear hats, and clothing that covers the skin, stay in the shade and avoid long periods in the sun in the middle of the day.

And if this information has come too late, pure aloe vera gel (I get mine from Brixton Wholefoods) is amazing for soothing sore, sunburned skin.

But don’t let it get to that point!

Private studio offices, meeting rooms & event space just off Electric Avenue.

Membership starts at just £35/month.

AFFO R DAB LE CO -WO R KI N G Work | Learn | Connect

AUGUST 2022

COMMENT A problem for the world, not individuals It will surprise few people that Brixton Road is, once again, at the top of a list of dangerous places to breathe.

Planned reductions in local bus services will do nothing to help.

But their cause, a refusal by central government to fund affordable public transport in its capital city, is a frightening example of criminal negligence.

Transport in London is amongst, if not the most, expensive in the world.

Yet, once again, responsibility for doing something about an issue that is killing people is left to individuals.

Of course, if they are not be destroyed by ever-increasing pollution, proliferation of plastic waste, destruction of natural habitats across the world, and accelerating climate change, the lives of everyone will have to change.

It is the role of government in a civilised society to explain, organise and fund the changes we need to save the planet and the lives of people who live, and, we pray, will live on it.

Instead, we have one whose members are obsessed with reducing the role of the state at exactly the time that it is needed most.

Deadly pollution on Brixton Road – and elsewhere – is not just a problem for Brixton or Lambeth.

It is national, indeed worldwide, problem that can only be tackled by action on a national and worldwide scale.

If you have a complaint about the Brixton Bugle, see bit.ly/BBB_complain for how to pursue it Regulated by IMPRESS: The independent monitor for the press 16–18 New Bridge Street EC4V 6AG 020 3325 4288 complaints@impress.press www.impress.press

Our legal system is at risk of collapse

A criminal defence barrister protesting outside the Houses of Parliament in July this year

STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA IMAGES

BRIXTON BUGLE

OPINION 11

brixtonblog.com

A senior and highly experienced criminal lawyer working in South London explains the causes of a strike in the legal profession Why are criminal lawyers going on strike and should you care? How, if at all, does it affect you and your family? Isn’t the 15% increase in spending offered by the Government more than enough?

For those who work at the coal face of criminal justice, the whole structure is crumbling, as a result of government policy and determination to spend less money.

Spending less has been a huge success for the government. In 2011-12 the Government spent £1.37 billion on criminal defence work, By 2019-20 the headline figure had come down to £ 918m. In 2020/21 it had again reduced to £617m.

These figures include 20% VAT which goes straight back to the Treasury. It also includes payments to experts. It includes payments to solicitors and barristers. The money paid to the lawyers has to cover office rentals, business rates, accounts departments, secretarial support, insurance, practising certificates, training, office equipment, computer programmes, etc and only after they are dealt with can it pay salaries. Income tax and National Insurance then go straight back to the government, and so the net figure spent on criminal defence work was far below the headline figures.

The government commissioned an independent report by Sir Christopher Bellamy back in 2020 to see whether the cuts were causing any problems. This was at a time when inflation was below 2%. The answer was a resounding “Yes”. He reported that defence rates are some 30-50% less than those considered reasonable by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), and that there should be an immediate cash injection of at least £135m.

What happened instead is that there was a reduction of a further £300m in annual spend and the government has only now said that it will begin the process of increasing fees by the end of September 2022.

This means any cases which have already started will not receive an increase of any amount. The government has announced an increase of 15% or £135m. The Law Society says that the actual “increase” is far less than this.

The backlog of Crown Court cases has just

been published and now amounts to 58,271. In March 2019 the number of outstanding cases was 33,290 . In June 2021 there was an additional backlog of cases in the magistrates courts of 364,000. None of these cases will receive any increase in payment at all.

A significant factor in the backlog has been the closure and sale of court buildings such as Camberwell Green Magistrates Court, Balham Youth Court and Blackfriars Crown Court.

Another factor has been the government’s limit on the number of days that Crown Courts are able to “sit” – ie hear cases– on the pretext that every day a court sits costs money and the important thing is to save money. The Government sets in advance the maximum number of sitting days to be permitted.

Cuts to police budgets have meant that cases

prepared for the trial taking place in June 2022 and the barrister will need to prepare all over again in August 2023. If the original barrister isn’t available in August 2023 they will receive nothing at all for the preparation they carried out for the trial not going ahead in June 2022.

So how much does a solicitors’ firm get paid to represent someone at a police station on Christmas Day accused of rape?

Let’s say it takes them 90 minutes’ travel; they wait at the station for the officers to get their act together for another one hour; and then five hours in and out of interview.

The accused is released under investigation and then reinterviewed eight months later requiring a further number of hours travelling and waiting and a further interview.

The figure is currently a fixed fee of £218.09 plus VAT and reasonable fares. This is for the whole investigation and not per police station attendance. This can be less than £20 per hour: not as a fee for the lawyer, but a sum of money to pay for the firm’s overheads before paying the lawyer.

The fee payable to the solicitors’ firm for these two attendances on a rape allegation, and all the paperwork in between, is the same as if they had gone to the station once to represent someone witnessed by store detectives stealing a melon from Sainsbury’s.

For someone accused of domestic burglary and going to the Crown Court, having a two-day trial, requiring the solicitor to visit the client in prison on several occasions, and prepare all the paperwork, the fee payable to the solicitors’ firm is £423.26. If the client is advised that the evidence is very strong and that they should plead guilty the fee is reduced to £184.70.

The closest women’s prison is at Bronzefield, Ashford in Middlesex, a good four-hour return trip.

The hourly rate for travelling and waiting was reduced to zero many years ago on the basis that solicitors’ offices were bound to be close to the courts and prisons. Now that Holloway Prison is a block of flats and many of the courts have closed, there has been no reinstatement of the rate.

A lot of work carried out by defence lawyers is paid even less than this. For example, earlier this year I represented someone whose age could not be easily determined.

There were no fewer than five hearings at the magistrates court, and a referral to social services, before the court was able to make a ruling as to whether he was a child or an adult. One of these hearings took all day as the prison did not deliver the defendant to court until after lunchtime. The fee paid for these five hearings amounted to £150 – which works out at less than £30 per court visit with no extra payment for the correspondence and phone calls.

The average age of a duty solicitor is over 49, and between 2018 and 2021 the number of solicitors under the age of 35 plummeted by almost 35%.

There are now 1,067 firms of solicitors in the country with a legal aid contract. Ten years ago there were 1,652.

Younger lawyers are leaving defence practice altogether for the better salary and prospects as prosecutors, or other areas of law, or leaving the professions altogether. The age of criminal lawyers is increasing and experienced lawyers continue to leave the profession and firms close down.

Victims and suspects in criminal cases are left for month after month and year after year waiting for their fates to be decided by the police and the courts and the politicians simply don’t appear to care.

I receive emails from the Legal Aid Agency headed “Dear Supplier” – which just about says it all.

A client appeared at court on 24 February 2021, pleaded not guilty, and had a trial fixed for June 2022.

As the Crown Court did not have capacity to ‘list’ the trial when June came around, it has now been adjourned until August 2023 can take years from the date of arrest until someone is either charged with an offence or are told that the investigation is over and they will hear no more about it.

For example, a client appeared at court on 24 February 2021, pleaded not guilty, had a trial fixed for June 2022 and, as the Crown Court did not have capacity to “list” the trial when June came around, has now had it adjourned until August 2023.

This means that witnesses in this case will have had to wait over two and a half years in order to be able to attend to give evidence.

A defendant who denies the allegation will have to wait two and a half years to have the opportunity to clear their name. And, as far as the solicitor and the barrister are concerned, they have to be able to fund the case for two and a half years before being paid, and then won’t benefit from the so-called 15% increase.

It also means that they had to be fully

12 PEOPLE

2022 AUGUST

brixtonblog.com

‘Everything I did in my life required me to find balance’ The last time Thomas Yaman featured in the Bugle, he was a successful musician, now he is ‘on a mission’ to bring health and fitness to Brixton. Simone Richardson listened to his story

‘I love the vibe and energy of playing in Brixton’ Passing Brixton Tube, Simone Richardson’s day was lit up

by Nathaniel McKenzie-Peck busking on his saxophone.

She also listened to his story

Nathaniel McKenzie-Peck fell in love with the saxophone after being given a free one and lessons at school.

He was born and bred in Brixton Hill with his parents, dad Tony from Trinidad, who is a lawyer, and mum Steph, from England.

“Whenever I get the chance, I enjoy busking – in Brixton mainly – but I try to hunt out other spots in London wherever I can,” he says.

“I love the vibe and energy of playing in Brixton and the people really appreciate it as well.”

He started learning the sax when at Chestnut Grove secondary school in Balham in 2001.

It was an Arts Council funded school at the time, which meant he learn the sax for free and was given a one to practise with.

“Believe it or not, watching Lisa Simpson play saxophone on The Simpsons was my first inspiration to want to learn sax!”

Nathaniel says.

“I just fell in love with the sound of the instrument and as soon as I started secondary school I jumped on wanting to play instantly.

“After secondary school I ended up doing my BTEC in music performance/practice at the Brit School [a specialist performing arts and technology school in Croydon].

“I lived in Brighton for many years where I also did my BA in music production at Northbrook College. “I was lucky to have a really inspiring saxophone teacher and accomplished musician – Claire

Hirst – who got me playing and learning jazz.”

Nathaniel’s inspiration comes from across the board: “I listen to a lot of different music depending on my mood. I’ve got a lot of reggae and jazz records though, so I guess those are the two musical worlds I’m always vibing with.

“I think the first CD I ever bought was Roots Manuva – Run Come Save Me and his first album Brand New Second Hand … Dillinger, Cocaine … The Wailers, Catch a Fire album and Peter Tosh, Legalise It. “I was really into Red Hot Chili Peppers at the time, as well as a lot of rock/punk/ska as I got into my teens, like The Specials, The Beat, Sublime, Queens of The Stone Age. “Ethiopian jazz music really inspires me, such a beautiful style.

“Other than Lisa Simpson and her own inspiration, Bleeding Gums Murphy, I’d say Soweto Kinch is one of my biggest inspirations. I love the way he blends hip-hop with jazz, phenomenal sax player and clever rapper/MC he really knows the instrument inside and out and Nubya Garcia is a wicked sax player – love her music.”

Nathaniel has even called his sax Lisa after his inspiration from The Simpsons.

“I am in a band at the moment – Othr Wlrd – and I work full time doing bar work, so when I do get the chance to go out it’s usually in South London – Brixton, Peckham and other places.”

Nathaniel also writes and produces his own music. “I also have a sound system which is hopefully gonna be playing out regularly so watch this space!”

A Check out soundcloud.com/ rasamurai A Contact Nathaniel by email if you want him at any celebration: nattymakesmusic@gmail.com

Thomas Yaman was born and bred in Croydon, only managing to “escape” New Addington when he turned 23.He grew up there with his dad Kaya, of Turkish heritage, and late mother Dominique-Jean Noel from France.

Now he’s living in Brixton and working in his training studio in the Link building on Effra Road.

His love of acting, music and skateboarding led him to where he is today – a personal exercise trainer.

“I spent my primary school times at a private school in South Kensington, the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle de Londres.

“To be honest, after my mother died when I was eight, I stopped enjoying all my lessons apart from English. All my lessons were taught in French and it kept reminding me of my loss, so I asked to be transferred to an English school when I turned 15.

“I was only good at three things at my secondary school at Selsdon High School in Croydon.

Those were music, drama and physical education.

“I left to pursue in a career of acting, which left my physical education teacher distraught. Oh … how proud he would be now!

“After I completed my studies I joined a punk rock band for two years after I didn’t pass my audition to get into Rose Bruford, the drama school in Sidcup I wanted to continue my studies in.

“I think jumping up onto the piano in the audition room during

Thomas Yaman in his Brixton studio

my Grease – the musical – piece might have been the reason for me not getting in …

Unfortunately, my band Broken Tapes split up as I did with my girlfriend, so I decided to take my health and life a little more seriously, started to train again, took up boxing and running and tried to figure out how to eat healthy and put my efforts into auditioning for Rose Bruford again.

“After practising my three monologues I got in.

“I spent three years studying American theatre, which also meant spending my second year abroad in the United States – Texas.

“This is where things got really interesting for me. I started skateboarding much more when I

‘I was the only personal trainer with long hair at the time’ wasn’t studying, joined the rugby team and learned a few things about strength training.’’

Thomas then travelled to Turkey where his father’s family live. His time there led him onto many more paths – including film.

“I got a sponsorship for my skateboarding talent. While doing demonstrations for Adidas and joining competitions, I also recorded my first solo album – I hadn’t finished my musical journey.

“Although having had the opportunity to not only get a part in a Turkish film and loving the sponsorship I had, I decided that I wanted to follow a career in music.’’

Thomas came back to London, “with only enough money to pay for

a deposit for a flat in Streatham”.

He got a job as a baker in Covent Garden. “I used to skate to and from work with nothing in my stomach but a can of Nurishment and leftovers from the bakery.

“My mission at the time was to start a band. So I did. We were called Dogs Eat Shoes.

“Unfortunately, I fell in love with the drummer, Mary, who I continued my career in music with.

“We got married and busked every day [and were featured in the Brixton Bugle and Blog at the time].

They recorded three albums as Tommy and Mary. One of their songs was used on the TV show Tattoo Fixers and another in the smash hit series Peaky Blinders.

“Like every beautiful story, this also came to an end,” says Thomas.

“Mary and I went through a divorce.

“I went back to studying. Only this time it was hard. Learning anatomy and physiology, four months of solid studying, eight hours a day, wasn’t something I was used to. But I loved it. ‘’This all led me to where I am today. I got my level three personal training degree from the [US-based] National Academy of Sports Medicine,” says Thomas.

“Everything I did in my life required me to find balance in my work, private life and health. If one was off, everything could collapse, like Jenga.

“I work full time in my studio, helping my clients understand the way they have to train in order for them to live a pain free, fulfilling life.”

Thomas specialises in corrective exercise, weight loss, women’s fitness, behaviour change and fitness nutrition.

A You can find out more at boardybuildingfitness.com or speak to Thomas on 07984 549686.

A Socials: @boardybuildingfitness A A video with his personal story is at bit.ly/Insta-boardybuilding

BRIXTON, MEET HARLEM

DAY 1 WEDNESDAY 3 AUGUST THE HARLEM IN BRIXTON OFFICIAL LAUNCH PARTY 7pm Kick off the Brixton X Harlem Festival with the signature Harlem in Brixton cocktail launch from Market Row Rum. BARRIO BRIXTON

disciplines and experiences, accompanied by a DJ playing the best of R&B from US & UK playlists.

BRIXTON HOUSE

COMMON THREADS BREW EVENT 7pm Join the founders of Brixton Brewery and Harlem Brewing Co to celebrate the launch of their collaboration brew, Common Threads - a summery pineapple and hibiscus wheat beer.

Brewed specially for the Brixton x Harlem Festival, the beer, featuring a hand-drawn illustration by Brixton-based architects Squire & Partners, celebrates the ties that weave together these two iconic areas; their people, culture, arts and history. While a DJ spins a Brixton x Harlem playlist, pull up a stool, get chatting and raise a glass to the flavours that unite us.

BRIXTON BREWERY TAPROOM

NIGHT CAP WITH SPECIAL GUESTS 9pm Whilst we can’t say who the special guests will be, we can say that it will be amazing with local grassroots cultural producers and djs, Handson Family. The performance will take place at Brixton’s newest cultural venue Brixton House Theatre.

For a special invite to this limited capacity event, email hello@ handsonfamily.co.uk for a chance to be at the performance providing full name. (One name per email.)

BRIXTON HOUSE

DAY 2 THURSDAY 4 AUGUST HANGPARTY VIEWING 6pm An evening dedicated to celebrating the creativity of local artists from all

DEPUTY FRED LIVE & DJs 7:30pm - 10:30pm Deputy Fred was set up by Brassroots

founder, Jerome Harper, to cover for the legendary Fred Wesley of James Brown fame during Covid and the response was so killer, that the musicians decided to keep on jamming thereafter!

Supported by Poetic Funk DJs, this is a guaranteed floor fill session!

MARKET HOUSE

STRAIGHT POCKET WITH RENATO PARIS & FRIENDS 6pm - 10pm Renato Paris presents a special jazz jam session for the Brixton x Harlem festival at Pure Vinyl, London’s only Black female owned record shop in Brixton.

The premise is the same as ever - bring your instruments and jam with rising star Renato Paris who currently hosts his own night at Ronnie Scott’s as well as regularly touring and recording.

PURE VINYL RECORD SHOP

DAY 3 FRIDAY 5 AUGUST WALKING TOURS WITH KELLY FOSTER Across the weekend we will be hosting walking tours with historian Kelly foster. Explore Brixton and discover stories known and unknown, inlcuding Black Music, Black Women and The Empire Windrush. All information and booking through our website.

BUSINESS TALKS 5pm An evening of panel discussions and podcasts from Brixton & Harlem business owners and community leaders discussing the crucial topics of Regeneration and Culture Capital, and what this means for our twin locations.

IMPACT BRIXTON

CONVERSATIONS IN THE COMMONS: STUDIO MUSEUM (HARLEM) & LISA ANDERSON (BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES) 5pm Join danilo machado, Lisa Anderson, and Imani Jacqueline for a combination of presentations and group discussions.

The collaborators will reflect on the evolution of monuments and what it means to “monumentalize” in and for Black communities.

VIRTUAL EVENT

HANGPARTY: ART WORKSHOP 5:30pm A creative art workshop led by a facilitator who will guide you through the process and allow you room to express yourself, whatever you produce.

Resources will be provided, all you need is an open mind and a desire to create.

Everyone is welcome!

BRIXTON HOUSE

HANGPARTY: SPOKEN WORD WORKSHOP 7pm Led by Memo Brown, this spoken word workshop will use visual stimuli, prompts and group work to enable participants to develop their pieces of poetry. Open to all levels.

BRIXTON HOUSE

IN CONVERSATION: LYNNÉE DENISE & MARC THOMPSON 7pm Screening of New York native, DJ/ Scholar Lynnée Denise’s short TONI MORRISON INNA LONDON with Brixton born and bred activist Marc Thompson in conversation, sharing transatlantic tales about the intersections of being Black and Queer in the past, present & future.

Harlem Festival.

So come and join us for an evening of blended soulful sounds.

THE LOUNGE

BURLESQUE & CABARET 10pm Join us for a night of burlesque by Betsy Rose and cabaret by some of the finest singers London has to offer.

THE COURTESAN

DAY 4 SATURDAY 6 AUGUST

The day features lots of interactive workshops followed by the popular social dance that sees the best in block party style djs play Hip hip, Funk & Soul to a warm and lively crowd!

BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES

HANGPARTY: OPEN MIC NIGHT 6pm - LATE

Hang Party’s Open Mic is welcoming all the Creatives, regardless of experience.

If you perform music, poetry, spoken word, or comedy, book your free ticket either as an audience member or as a performer, to share your work with the Brixton community. All performers get a free drink! Afterwards join us at the bar with a US-UK DJ set till late.

BRIXTON HOUSE

BLACK CULTURE MARKET 11am - 5pm This special Brixton X Harlem edition will be offering diverse quality shopping.

Black Culture Market supports emerging entrepreneurs and new Black businesses of African and Caribbean descent with opportunities to sell their unique products and brands.

DOWNSTAIRS THE DEPARTMENT STORE

NOTORIOUS B.I.N.G.O 90s HIP HOP BOTTOMLESS BRUNCH 12pm - 5pm Enjoy a welcome drink before you tuck in to a tasty 2 course menu, with host and MC Missy Hypnotize mixing up an epic tropical storm with her impromptu performances and bingo calls, to swinging hip hop beats and some wild 90’s lip sync battles.

BARRIO BRIXTON

JAMAICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION 4pm - 11pm

BRXTN STUDIOS

A sound system celebrating Jamaica’s 60th Independence.

LOST IN BRIXTON

THE HARLEM BRIDGE: A CELEBRATION OF HIP HOP CULTURE FOR CULTURE 12pm - 7pm DJ CHRISTIAN ELLESSE 9pm One half of the local Brixton DJ couple, the Handson Family, will also be performing as part of our Brixton X

The Bridge is the brainchild of exdancer, cultural creative and lover of Hip Hop - Kate Scanlan. Originating on the Southbank, this all day event is an infectious family-friendly event that presents the best of Hip hop/Black party culture through dance, music, graffiti and then some!

HIP HOP OLD SKOOL JAM WITH SARAH LOVE & MR. THING 7:30pm - 10:30pm There’s no way we could celebrate Harlem and NOT have a Hip Hop party! We have heavyweight DJs Sarah Love & Mr. Thing serving up a blend of quality Hip Hop. What more to say, if you love hip hop, but DO NOT sleep on this!

BRIXTON VILLAGE COURTYARD

DAY 5 SUNDAY 7 AUGUST

elements of neo-soul, jazz, bossanova, hip-hop and psychedelic rock.

BRXTN STUDIOS

BLACK CULTURE MARKET 11am - 5pm Day two of the special edition market.

DOWNSTAIRS THE DEPARTMENT STORE

supper cloth to celebrate the art of needlework, half of the cloth will remain in Brixton while the other half is gifted to the Harlem community as a emblem of the twinning.

Discovering the benefits of stitching as a form of de-stressing, which encourages making as an antidote to modern life and a creating a sense of well being and relaxation..

MULTIPLE LOCATIONS INCLUDING BRIXTON HOUSE THEATRE

SUMMER OF SOUL SCREENING & OUTDOOR JAM 1pm - 5pm The Grammy award winning documentary Summer of Soul returns to the Ritzy to be screened as part of the Brixton Harlem Festival! If you have not yet seen this film, we highly recommend you view this wonderful piece of restored archive footage that looks at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. It features many of the legendary greats in Black music including Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Sly & The Family Stone & Stevie Wonder!

There will also be a warm up jam social with djs and dancers celebrating the outdoor street culture of Harlem & Brixton.

THE RITZY

ALCHEMY WITH DEMIMA & JJ SOUL 7pm DemiMa and JJ Soul present a special for the Brixton x Harlem festival showcasing powerful spoken word and music performances with live band! As the grand-niece of legendary South African Jazz musician Bheki Mseleku, Yogi DemiMa Mseleku is continuing the musical legacy of the renowned family. Deeply inspired by the rhythmic patterns of Zulu praise singers, DemiMa was drawn to poetry as an outlet for her expression early on. Her artistic ethos is the sonic and conceptual synthesis of her roots with

ALL WEEK BRIXTON X HARLEM SUPPER CLOTH DAILY, 12pm - 7pm Designed by Stitch School, the community of Brixton is invited to make their mark on the cloth to celebrate the twinning. Stitch School will be facilitating The Brixton X Harlem Supper Cloth throughout the festival.

We invite the community to join us around the large 3 metre embroidery table to leave their mark on the cloth.

Providing a space for people to sit down, slow down and feed their creativity through stitching and cocreating a communal Supper Cloth in wonderful environments.

Participants will be able to explore the wealth of embroidery stitches, learn together and create a communal

We are announcing more events daily, check out our website and socials for latest listings.

AUGUST 2022

CREATIVE BRIXTON 17

brixtonblog.com

MUSIC Adu – poet, journalist, designer – his first love was music

Musician, poet, journalist, designer and long-term Brixton resident, Adu, sadly passed away earlier this year. Maureen Alcorn, his close friend, spoke to Leslie Manasseh about the life and times of a much loved figure in the community

Born in the Ashanti region of Ghana in 1949, Adu quickly regretted his decision at a young age to sign up for a lengthy stay in the army.

He made a daring escape to Britain and considered his options. He was a skilled pattern maker and so used this creative talent and his boundless energy to set up a shop in Oxford Street selling clothes of his own design.

But his greatest love was always music.

He had learned to play the guitar in Ghana and his first album was released by President Records in the early 1970s.

When he moved to Brixton in the early 1980s he focussed on this passion and went from strength to strength.

Over the next 40 years, he wrote and performed music, made albums and supported

and worked with other individuals and bands.

His style was eclectic, fusing African music, rock & roll, hip hop and blues into a unique musical language. He had a great ability to crossover from one musical form to another.

His music was deeply personal but also a form of political activism – he wanted to use his music to help create a better, more just, world.

And so he combined lyrics about the state of the world with the rhythms of Ashanti.

Music was his passion but it also was his master – according to Maureen – “lifting him up but also letting him down, loving him but also torturing him”. All the while keeping him in its thrall.

He was a generous man, actively encouraging, supporting and promoting other creative people in their endeavours.

He selflessly used his contacts in the music business to help others and always focussed on the positive more than the negative.

He loved the vibe and the people of Brixton and was a very active and engaged member of the Brixton community.

So how should Brixton remember him? His manager Chris Carr said of him: “He was a champion of all music, an infectious spirit with a huge musical knowledge”.

Maureen would like him to be remembered “for his vibrancy, for his presence, for his creativity and positivity, for his friendship and his kindness”.

Adu will doubtless live on in the memories of the many people in Brixton, whose lives he touched.

Local councillor Jim Dickson has started a petition calling on the landlord of the Coldharbour Lane property used by the Junction music pub not to close it by refusing to renew its lease.

The pub is set to shut on 1 September.

Announcing this, its team said: “This is another huge blow to London’s live music scene and will be sorely missed.

“We’re looking to try to find a new site, but might not be able to, nor have the available funds.

“We will be having an assortment of gigs and parties coming up to the end. If you’ve been procrastinating about visiting now is the time!”

A The petition is at change.org/p/ save-the-junction-music-pub

The second single from the forthcoming album Soothsayers Meets Victor Rice And Friends is Flying East – a spiritual and warm instrumental ska tune in an unconventional three/four time signature, highlighting the Brixton band’s reputation for innovation and exploration

Dancing in the sunlight – music at the country show Back after a two year’s break, Lambeth Country Show was the place for dancing in the sunshine. Simone Richardson was at Brockwell Park to do just that

Rappers CHOZE (left) and Duppy perform with the Brixton Chamber Orchestra

Self-made clothes and jewellery, bites to eat, Vauxhall City Farm and other animals, the Village Green, medieval jousting, vegetable sculptures and an even more enjoyable mix of music on both days made Brockwell Park and Lambeth Country Show the place to be in mid-July.

Saturday 16 began with the admirable connection of Brixton Chamber Orchestra with local performers including rappers CHOZE (featured in our last issue), MegaMikes, Idris Miles, and Duppy, and soulful singers Anna-Lena Delga, Victoria Gold and Miss Moresha.

A vibrant Afrobeat from Brixton’s Soothsayers and their youth arm Youthsayers followed getting

the audience dancing and a deserved massive.

Reggae was predominant music on Sunday and brought an even bigger crowd of listeners – moving and grooving, and recording on their phones as they soaked in the vibes.

The Empresses of Roots, Soul and Reggae – Teshay Makeda, Aysha Loren and Dionne Reid – with Roots Soulja’s Band stood out on the main stage, giving a definitive soulful reggae fusion.

Drummers built the atmosphere for the renowned old skool reggae singer Horace Andy, who threw in a few classics, with many joining in as he sang “Money, money, money – money is the root of all evil.”

The good news about the country show is that it costs nothing to go and enjoy the music or any of the other events. So make sure you book next year’s dates.

18 FOOD & DRINK

brixtonblog.com

2022 AUGUST

REVIEW: NEGRIL

Jamaica’s Caribbean coast on Brixton Hill Polly Nash experiences flavours, colours, textures, and a bang on the head at Negril

Strolling to Negril on a balmy summer’s evening, it feels apt to be eating at a restaurant named after a Jamaican town known for its long sandy beaches and turquoise waters.

Luckily the flying ants out on mass today haven’t seemed to find Negril’s leafy garden away from the traffic on Brixton Hill, an oasis of reggae and Caribbean spices.

With the doors wide open, the indoor and outdoor areas merge seamlessly, creating an airy setting without feeling empty with just four tables of diners.

The menu, printed on A4 paper and decorated with the odd water stain only adds to the no-fuss, rustic feel of the place.

Being someone who suffers with acute indecision when ordering at restaurants, I’m relieved to see a relatively modest selection of drinks to choose from.

Perhaps the only thing to pull me from my Caribbean dream is the price list – you’d be hard pressed to find a Red Stripe in Jamaica for £4.50 – but even still it’s hard to resist ordering a bottle of the country’s favourite lager.

In the interest of being adventurous I quiz the waiter about their four rum-based cocktails,

they are brimming with knowledge about the ingredients and flavours of each drink.

We opt for one dark and stormy and one Caribbean breeze, and for someone who usually avoids such sugary concoctions I feel no envy towards the man on the table next to us drinking a Red Stripe.

To fellow cocktail sceptics, don’t be put off by the startlingly blue Caribbean breeze, whose refreshing pineapple flavour will do exactly what it says on the tin and transport you to the coast of Jamaica.

Two strong cocktails and one precariously rickety table create the sense of being at sea – luckily we have an abundance of food on its way to settle our stomachs.

Our lives are made easy by the fact that the namesake Negril Platter seems to include practically every starter on the menu, from salt fish fritters to jerk chicken and plantains, plus vegetable sides and myriad meat and fish options.

The owner of Negril, Latanya Christie, writes on its website that she wants her restaurant, a fixture on Brixton Hill for more than a decade, to educate customers about Jamaican food and serve organic, nourishing meals, which is evident in the menu of hearty Jamaican classics including ackee and saltfish, and braised oxtail.

Every plate on the Negril platter brings different flavours, colours and textures to the mix, providing various pairing opportunities.

Match the sweet and starchy plantains with

Grilled sea bass with sour pickled peppers

Dark and stormy and a Caribbean breeze the dark leafy green sautéed callaloo.

Or tuck into the smoky grilled sea bass with the sour pickled peppers, and douse the chicken – which is moist and tender – in its deep brown jerk gravy.

In other cuisines a sweet touch is sometimes added to meals as a garnish or flavour enhancer, but in the Caribbean plantains and sweet potatoes are staple ingredients and take centre stage at Negril.

If you can handle a bit of spice, you will love the chilli sauce made with scotch bonnets,

which is strong enough to pack a punch without overpowering the chilli’s distinctive tropical, almost fruity taste.

If you do overestimate your spice tolerance, have no fear, a serving of creamy coleslaw will sooth the heat while also adding some crunchy textural variety to the meal.

On another occasion I would order one of Negril’s ital dishes, a Rastafarian style of cooking and eating, which, in its purest form, is a strict vegan diet without any added salt or preservatives.

At Negril the ital options include a wrap made with plantains and vegetables, an ital stew, and an ital salad featuring jerk jackfruit.

With a host of vegetarian and gluten-free options on offer, this is an establishment that caters for one and all.

Unable to finish our sharing platter for two, my initial disappointment at seeing none of Negril’s famous homemade cakes on the menu is quelled slightly.

The current staffing crisis in the hospitality sector might have something to do with the absence of any puddings on the menu, but after such a satisfying main course I’m not sure I could fit them in anyway.

I must warn all customers who are six feet tall to mind their heads on the way to the bathrooms. After receiving a nasty bump on mine at the end of our meal, be wary of anything I’ve written here and go and visit Negril to decide for yourselves!

132 Brixton Hill, SW2 1 RS | negrilonline.co.uk | 020 8674 8798

REVIEW: EFFRA SOCIAL

Where they get the margaritas and marketing right Can the Effra Social be the spot for everything your night might want? Poppy Woods thinks it could Brixton is throbbing with the heat of London summer and a long day at the county show as we walk to Effra Social.

The backs of our legs are sticky and the roads a stalemate as we enter through its fluorescent gate.

Inside it is shaded and cool, an oasis of calm despite being full to capacity. We are greeted by staff who, despite the chaos, remain serene and move effortlessly through the crowds.

Almost immediately we are brought margaritas, a cool and salty balm from the heat and only £5 on Mondays.

With cocktails becoming ever sweeter I am pleased that they have kept to traditional recipes and even their strawberry and

passionfruit flavours retain this integrity.

As we sink deeper into our conversation I am also pleased to note that, despite its popularity, we are not shouting to hear each other and as time and a second margarita slips by we are delighted by the quick and abundant spread that is brought to our table.

We have ordered two small plates, a sharing platter of nachos and a vegan hotdog to snack on and feel smug and slightly overwhelmed as the tables around us stop to look at the food that almost fills our table.

The bruschetta and padron peppers are fresh and feel more Mediterranean than the

Margaritas – not too sweet

pub grub we expect in the UK. The nachos are very adequate, elevated by a rich cheese sauce and fresh guacamole and the vegan hotdog has been properly thought through rather than its

Food almost fills the table

usual function as afterthought to placate the non-dairy crowd.

Effra Social had certainly come a long way from its Conservative Club roots, attracting Brixton’s young, professional crowd.

89 Effra Rd, SW2 1DF | effrasocial.co.uk | 020 7737 6800 | effrasocial@portobellobrewery.com

Since being taken under the new ownership of the Portobello Brewing Co. it has rebranded as the spot for everything your night might want; the faraway tree of destinations.

Initially, I dismiss this as a check impossible to cash.

However, as we sit there I look around as friends catch up over cocktails and couples lock eyes over burgers; a large party in matching t-shirts toast the birthday boy and people dance with the anticipation of the evening towards the DJ. When I visit in the daytime, people are working, making the most of the shade the venue affords as well as their free coffee and I am persuaded that this “place for everything” might be a marketing ploy they can actually cash, particularly for the ever-growing yuppie community.

| BOOKINGS@BELLEFIELDS.COM | @BELLEFIELDS_BRIXTON

20 LAMBETH COUNTRY SHOW

brixtonblog.com

2022 AUGUST

Lambeth Country Show in July enjoyed what may have been its best ever weather – it was certainly the hottest

Old favourites Chucklehead cider and the Brixton Society were back after two years

Creator Hannah of Red Line Action (left) with her Tree of Hopes (above) which was hung with cards made by children as part of the letsgozero.org campaign to achieve zero carbon schools by 2030

Cavalry of Heroes in the main arena

South London Samba

AUGUST 2022

brixtonblog.com

LAMBETH COUNTRY SHOW 21

West Norwood based Ceilidh Tree got people dancing on the Village Green, despite the heat, and possibly because of the Chucklehead

ABOVE: Members of Youthsayers play with Brixton band Soothsayers on the main stage LEFT: Rappers CHOZE (left) and Duppy performed with the Brixton Chamber Orchestra BELOW: Victoria Gold sings Under The Sea from Disney’s The Little Mermaid with the orchestra

Winner of the Lambeth Horticultural Society’s carved vegetable contest was as Florence Creffield with her Rih-yam-a: pregnant with her and A$AP Broccoli’s baby

22 WHAT’S ON AUGUST 2022

2022 AUGUST 22

brixtonblog.com

WHAT’S ON

What can the kids do?

As the summer holidays loom ahead, what is on offer to keep local children active and occupied? Here is just a selection from the many options …

St Matthews Project

The new guides celebrate in Windrush Square

Now you can walk with qualified Lambeth guides The first graduates from Lambeth’s new tour guides course will be offering walking tours throughout the borough.

The new graduates are now eligible to join the Lambeth Tour Guides Association (LTGA) the first borough-wide guiding association South of the River and practise their trade in Lambeth and beyond.

Lambeth-based Morley College suggested the timing was right for a guiding course for the borough.

It is nearly 50 years since the City of London and 40 years since the borough of Islington created groups of qualified guides.

Established guides worked together to produce the content for a year-long course at Morley’s Waterloo campus.

Lambeth town hall and mayor Pauline George hosted a graduation ceremony for the first successful students.

They had devoted a full year to their studies, with three assessed elements: a written project, an internal guiding site (Lambeth town hall) and an external walk.

Newly qualified guide Sarah-Jane Miller said: “I am so excited to be graduating as a member of LTGA. I can’t wait to show people the many fascinating hidden gems of my home town and bring to life stories of local people past and present.”

Guided walks in Lambeth are, of course, not new, but this is the first time the borough has been treated as a single entity for tour guides.

Applications are open now for the second year-long course starting in September this year.

No previous experience is required – just a willingness to learn about Lambeth and develop presentation skills.

The course mixes tuition on guiding skills with learning about the diverse history, architecture, tourist attractions and facilities of Lambeth.

It consists of 30 evening sessions on a Thursday and 15 sessions on Saturday mornings or afternoons.

Students will be required to devote additional time to self-study and to complete of assignments.

The newly qualified guides with mayor Pauline George in Lambeth town hall in Brixton

Enrolment is by application form and successful interview.

For more information on prices and timetable see the Morley College website.

The first LTGA walking tours are

Kennington Uncovered

Saturday, August 13, 11am Thursday, September 15, 11am

Discover an elegant listed Georgian Square, Prince Albert’s idea of model housing, visit the home of cricket, and discover what the Jacobite rebellion and Field Marshall Montgomery have in common.

Industrial Lambeth

Thursday, September 22, 11am

Join Lambeth tour guide Jenni Bowley to find out how the marshy acres of Water Lambeth become a hive of industries and trace the development and demise of munitions factories and glassworks of the mid-seventeenth century to the vinegar works, potteries and breweries of the nineteenth.

Vauxhall and Nine Elms.

Where did that spring from?

Wednesday, November 16, 11am

A riverside area larger than Monaco is being redeveloped to provide 20,000 new homes and 25,000 jobs … explore its past and future.

The St Matthews Project offers free football for boys and girls aged five to 18 and a meal every day in Brockwell Park.

Free second-hand football boots in good condition are available on request. Plus other goodies and events.

Every Monday to Friday, 11am to 1pm from Monday 25 July to Friday 26 August.

Tulse Hill side of the park near the tennis courts and what was the bowling green.

The project’s Saturday Club and girls-only club sessions start again after the holidays on 10 September.

thesmp.net/ summer-holiday-activities-2022

Grove adventure playground

Grove adventure playground’s free summer play scheme runs Monday to Thursday from 10.30am to 4.30pm for five weeks, from Monday 25 July.

The playground is open access with no booking required. There will be a free hot lunch every day.

“This is a big summer of fun, with a programme of free play, sports, arts and crafts, competitions, dance, yoga, water fights, trips out, and much more,” says the Grove.

Grove Adventure Playground, 18 Gordon Grove, SE5 9DT groveadventureplayground.com; groveplayleada@gmail.com; 07393365718

Triangle

Triangle, London’s oldest adventure playground, is celebrating 65 years of play with another summer of free meals during school holidays Founded in 1957 by Marjorie Porter MBE, The Triangle, in Oval, has provided free play to thousands of young people.

Alongside activities including 16 play types for children between six and 17, the Triangle offers fresh fruit and snacks daily and hot lunches during school holidays free of charge.

The holiday meals are from Lambeth council’s Summer of Food and Fun, part of the Holiday Activity and Food grant successfully obtained by the Triangle. Last year 376

young people made a total of 8,603 visits to the playground.

Triangle Playground Ashmole Street, SW8 INE 07900 475 143 triangleapg@gmail.com triangleadventureplayground.com

Black Prince

The Black Prince Trust is offering free classes for local residents aged eight to 18 for five weeks (25 July to 26 August) over the holidays to boost physical activity and participation.

A range of activities will be available on weekdays from 10:30am to 4pm, including basketball and boxing, football, fitness and multi-sports.

Classes will include: Boxing: Tuesday and Thursday 10.30am-12pm for under 18s Basketball: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10.30am-12.30pm for ages 8-12 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 1.30pm-3.30pm for ages 13-17 Multi-sports: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 1.30pm-3.30pm for ages 8-12 Football: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10.30am-12.30pm for under-18s Fulham Kicks: Tuesday and Thursday 12pm-4pm for ages 11-16 There will also be 30-minute workshops on topics like nutrition and healthy eating, employment, and mental health.

As usual, Black Prince Trust will also be giving out healthy lunch alternatives of approximately 80 meals per day, free to everyone who has booked their place.

A The Black Prince trust has a 2.5-acre site at the heart of the Ethelred Estate in Kennington. For more information and to book, visit: blackprincetrust.org.uk

Theatre Peckham

Theatre Peckham is offering 14 to 18-year-olds a free five-day visual arts course – Blank Canvas from 1 to 5 August from 10 am to 3.30 pm. Workshops will cover photography, digital art, urban art, illustration, collage and painting.

To join, submit a digital portfolio of no more than four pages, a couple of paragraphs, or a three-minute video, explaining your interests and why you’d like to join, to projects@theatrepeckham. co.uk (send only one of these options).

Spaces are limited.

24 LISTINGS

brixtonblog.com 2022 AUGUST

OUR SELECTION OF GIGS AND MORE IN BRIXTON AND NEARBY JULY

FRI 5 @ PHONOX

WED 27 @ JAMM

Open Decks is a no-fuss opportunity for bedroom DJs who are keen to debut, students graduating from house party gigs, and the selector who’s never played to a LIVE AUDIENCE. Usual food and drink on offer for audience. To be considered for a slot in JAMM’s outdoor space, fill out the details on a Google form: bit.ly/JAMM-open-decks. 6–10.30pm. Free.

THU 28 @ DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY

Jennifer Sliwka curator of Reframed: Woman in the Window for an introduction to the EXHIBITION. She will explore how the “woman in the window” has been important to different cultures across the globe. 7–8.30pm. £12. Book via gallery website.

FRIDAY 29 @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

BLESSD, said to be Colombia’s next big REGGAETON star is at Electric Brixton directly from Medellin. Part of Colombia’s new wave of reggaeton artists, he will perform many of his hits. Plus DJs. 6.30om–10.30pm. £33.42.

SATURDAY 30 PURCELL ROOM

First of two nights at the Queen Elizabeth Hall’s Purcell Room on the Southbank.

Futuristic DUB TECHNO duo Space Afrika in a performance that intersects with readings chosen by writer and critic Ellah P Wakatama, exploring the Black experience through a fantastic lens and opening a dialogue between past, present and future. All against a backdrop of digital landscapes created by artist Alistair MacKinnon. 7.45pm. £15.

SUNDAY 31 @ POW

What better way to round off the weekend or month than the return of PoW’s free LIVE BAND IN THE PUB night and former residents MFU on every last Sunday with three hours of multigenre music from laid back funk through soul grooves to upbeat blues and psychedelic rock.

Email info@pow-brixton.com with name, booking size (up to 6) and arrival time. Doors 6pm, music 7–10pm. Free.

AUGUST MON 1 @ RITZY

A Ritzy Culture Shock – The Craft. Troubled 16-year-old Sarah Bailey makes three unlikely friends at her new school in LA. They’re WITCHES. Sarah too has the powers of a natural witch and joins the coven, only to learn that meddling with magic has consequences.

8.45pm. £7.90.

TUE 2 @ HOOTANANNY

Edgy Satsuma promotes undiscovered FUNK AND SOUL sounds from new London artists, with The Fix; Of Ghosts and Other Forms; and Disco Lizards, 7–11pm. £6.12/

WED 3 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

It’s 44 years since JILTED JOHN hit the UK singles chart. Now he’s at the Windmill – with a full band – for a one-off gig supported by London punk stalwarts The Guitar Gangsters and cabaret-punk eccentrics Monkish. 7.30pm. £15.

THU 4 @ BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES

On the first Thursday of each month, in collaboration with Poetic Unity, the archives present Blaxcilence, an ONLINE POETRY event celebrating Black culture via Instagram live with spoken word artists from 18 to 30 years. To perform, email: info@poeticunity.org.uk with the title Blaxcilence. 7pm. Free.

SUN 14 @ BRIXTON WINDMILL

Bone Soda roll are at Phonox every Friday in August with EXCITING LINE-UPS. Tonight: Piri & Tommy, Louke Man and more. 9.30pm–4am. £16.90.

It’s the windmill’s annual ART IN THE PARK event – be inspired by the historic windmill and its surrounding park as you draw or paint with friendly advice if required. Bring your own paints – or drawing boards, pencils and other materials available. Children and parents can choose from a variety of workshops.

Most activities are free, but donations for materials are welcome. Home-made cakes and hot and cold drinks on sale plus windmill merchandise. 1–5pm.

SAT 6 @ JAMM

It’s the 60th JAMAICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY, so there’ll be celebrations all over Brixton. Jamm hosts a reggae brunch. Jerk chefs in the yard, retail and beauty vendors, plus quizzes and games dominoes, table and garden games to rum punch making, and a dance hall queen competition. Noon to 5.30pm. £16+BF.

MON 15 @ JAMM

MON 8 @ BRXTN STUDIOS

Mental health charity Mind Over Matter celebrates its fifth birthday at the studios above Market Row with South Sudanese poet Becksy Becks and South London SPOKEN WORD artist Big Scoop, plus an open mic. Doors 6.30pm.

Show 7.30–10pm; music to 11pm. £8.06.

TUE 16 @ POW

The POW QUIZ hosted by The Big Fat Quiz Co who “put fun first” promise a night of trivial shenanigans where you can win free drinks, cash, and bragging rights. 8–11pm. £2 per person (cash only) max six in a team.

TUE 9 @ POW

PSST … Brixton-based Sofar Sounds hosts SECRET PERFORMANCES in intimate settings in more than 400 cities around the world. With a global community of guests, hosts, and artists, its experiences focus on creating a lasting connection between fans and artists.

7.30–11pm. £20 (from sofarsounds.com).

WED 10 @ HOOTANANNY

Another Monday night Straight Pocket improvised JAM SESSION with Renato Paris at Brixton Jamm. Bring your friends and instruments – plus cocktails inspired by sponsors Hennessy. Free before 8pm. £3 advance. £5 door.

WED 17 @ HOOTANANNY

Madame Jazz, champion of London exciting FEMALE JAZZ performers, returns to Hoots with the biggest line-up to date: Zoe’s Shanghai, a Paris-based four-piece; B-ahwe. jazz and future soul singer/songwriter; Bryony Jarman-Pinto, vocalist and flautist; Amy Gadiaga, bassist and

Battersea-born R&B/soul singer Kadeem Tyrell epitomises soothing ALTERNATIVE SOUL and effortless R&B. His mother and aunts were gospel singers and his father a DJ. He is generating a buzz, so head to Hoots and find out why. Support from Kemi Ade. 8–11pm. £10.

THU 18 @ S L BOTANICAL INSTITUTE

The South London Botanical Institute, at 323 Norwood Road, SE24 9AQ, opens its beautiful

Dendê Nation, the UK-based samba/reggae bloco, will run workshops through August centred on samba and reggae in at Lost in Brixton Village. Guests will learn and celebrate these rhythms through dance and drumming. A final performance on Saturday 28 August will see performers from London schools, community groups, and dancers from Bristol led by Vero Leopoldino parade through the markets’ avenues. The classes are on Mondays 1, 8, 15 and 22 August from 6.30 to 8pm.

Tickets: £5.50, bit.ly/Dende-Nation-Brixton vocalist; and DJ Ella Knight with soulful house & nu jazz. 7pm. £13.22.

THU 11 @ DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY Take a long lunch break and head to Dulwich to hear assistant curator and PhD researcher Lucy West discuss The art dealer and the art museum in Britain, 1780-1850, an examination of the roles and practices of ART DEALERS and agents in the reception and re-evaluation of pre-1500 European painting in 19th century Britain. 12.30–1.30pm. £12.

FRI 12 @ BRIXTON HOUSE Your last chance to take part in the theatre’s Tune! vinyl record STORYTELLING project where you can play your favourite records and share your love for that song. Bring the family.

Dancing is allowed. 5-7pm. Free.

SAT 13 @ POW Part of the wider #Jamaica60 Brixton celebrations, POW’s CARNIVAL warm-up event features DJs Pharaoh G and Kash Jones, and more on the decks, plus live guests over two outdoor terraces, and two indoor rooms – dancehall, reggae, soca, Afrobeats, rap and more. 3pm–3am. £16.30.

Organising an event?

GARDEN so you can explore with a glass of wine on a summer’s evening and meet the gardener to find out more about its planted borders.

Plants and gifts will be on sale. Refreshments available for a suggested donation. 6–8pm. £5 via Eventbrite.

FRI 19 @ POP BRIXTON

SUN 21 @ LOUGHBOROUGH CENTRE Auntie Jean’s AFRIKAN CULTURE Market at the Loughborough centre, 105 Angell Road, SW9 7PD, is a family and community event, and not only a place to shop for unusual items.

It features invited guest speakers on a wide range of issues, plus free drumming lessons for children and workshops on health and wellbeing. It is also a platform for local talent, and for promoting businesses and services.

1–9pm. £3, tickets via Eventbrite.

MON 22 @ WHIRLED CINEMA Outfit sees Leonard, a tailor who makes suits on London’s Savile Row, having to outsmart a DANGEROUS criminal gang to survive a fateful night. Also on 23, 24 and 28 August (at 5pm).

8pm. £12.

TUE 23 @ MYATT’S FIELDS Enjoy an evening stroll and enjoy nature with Incredible Edible Lambeth (IEL), discovering hidden GREEN TREASURES. Meet at 6pm outside Angell Terrace Communal Garden (Rossiter Grove, SW9 7DA) and wander and explore until 7.30pm – identify wildflowers, plants and visit community gardens. Free for IEL members (donations welcome)– join IEL for free at incredibleediblelambeth.org/join

WED 24 @ RITZY UPSTAIRS Vinyl Sisters and the Outerglobe female DJ relay. REGGAE sets played by a mix of experienced and upcoming womxn DJs, every third Wednesday of the month. Vinyl Sisters Miss Feelgood has held crucial residencies in Brixton over many years and Debbie Golt began DJing with Rock Against Racism in the late 70s. If you are a womxn with a great reggae vinyl collection and would like to play in the relay, get in touch with via the Outerglobe Facebook page. 7.30–11.30pm. Free,

THU 25 @ BLUES KITCHEN Gospeloke is a gospel-style KARAOKE knees-up.

You perform alongside a 15-piece gospel choir … 7pm. £15.

FRI 26 @ SLIME PLANET Slime Planet in Loughborough Junction offers one-hour workshops for kids in all things slime. They make their own, adding glitter, scent and more. As well as learning about the science of SLIME, they end the workshop with a giant slime. At Arch 494, Rathgar Road, SW9 7EP. Book via slimeplanet.co.uk. £15.

SAT 27 @ HOOTANANNY

Faded take over Pop for a free DAY PARTY with DJs playing hip hop, RnB, Afrobeats and bashment plus food and drink from the regular outlets. Get there early to avoid disappointment. 6pm to midnight. Free, but book via shoobs.com.

Party with the The Busy Twist Carnival fusing the sound of Afro, Latin and UK bass music with GLOBAL beats. With Blackboy, Kasai Masai and Emily Dust. 9pm–3am. £9.18.

SAT 20 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

SUN 28 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

The summer Weird Sin BARBECUE ALL-DAYER returns with Hadda Be, Post-punk inflected stomps and melancholic indie-pop; Slant, Five heretics on an unrelenting quest to escape the mundane; Mummy, addictive hooks, heavy, stoner grunge; Industry Standard, post-modern punk; Play Dead, South London punk; UHR, art-punk three-piece; Meme Detroit, high-octane indie-grunge laden with riffs and a whole lot of melody; Doris, mummycore legends in “splendid tabards”; Future Primitives, elements of post-punk, indie, grunge and shoe gaze. 3.30pm. £10 (includes barbecue).

It’s the South London PUNK Collective BBQ. With Sick On The Bus, anarchistwood, P.I.G, Backstreet Abortions, Slow Faction, Chain Of Panic, Swaraj Chronos, and Anymal Function.

Doors: 2:45pm; first band: 3:15pm; music until 11pm. £10 OTD, including BBQ.

MON 29 @ TRINITY ARMS The Trinity;s Monday night QUIZ is hosted by Question One Quiz, not just the UK’s but the World’s premier quiz and trivia company, they say. Two-hour quiz starts 8pm. Max six per team. £2.

listing@brixtonblog.com

AUGUST 2022

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WHAT’S ON 25

JAMAICA 60 AT JAMM

Celebrate the sixtieth Jamaica Independence Day on Saturday 6 August at Brixton’s Jamm with food, drink, music and more.

Grab a Wray Rum Punch on arrival to get the party started as some of London’s best jerk chefs battle it out to feed you with classic and special dishes.

Retail and beauty vendors will offer clothing and accessories plus hair and beauty products.

There will be quizzes and games, including traditional dominoes, table and garden games.

The rum punch making challenge and dancehall queen competition have prizes including cash and limited edition t-shirts and trophies.

Resident Reggae Brunch DJs will combine old and new school tracks along with our hosts and there will be big party vibes guaranteed. An overall celebration.

A £16 ticket includes entry and rum punch hour (12-1pm).

Saturday 6 August, noon to 5.30pm.

Brixton Krav Maga session

The mental side of self defence The hospice nursery used to have two large Burmese mountain dogs that pulled a little cart around the gardens and would take the kids for rides. Could you, or someone you know, be in this image? The hospice would love to know.

Making a modern hospice Voices That Shaped Us: A Modern Hospice in the Making is an interactive oral histories exhibition focused on the past six decades of St Christopher’s Hospice which works across South London.

On Saturday 6 August it will welcome visitors to its Centre for Awareness and Response to End of Life (CARE), where the exhibition can be seen for the first time.

Guests will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the hospice’s past, present and future. There will also be extra family fun activities on the day so that everyone feels welcome.

The exhibition was born from an idea raised by long-standing members of staff, who saw that memories of the early hospice pioneers were being lost.

A National Lottery Heritage Fund grant enabled the hospice to create the unique oral history archive of more than 70 interviews with nurses, social workers, hospice volunteers, fundraisers, doctors, administrators, patients, family members, maintenance staff, and students.

The open day is free and be between 11am and 3.30 pm at St Christopher’s CARE, 51-59 Lawrie Park Road, Sydenham, SE26 6DZ.

JASON REYNOLDS AT THE LIBRARY

Jason Reynolds, the best-selling children’s and young adult author will be in conversation with Alex Wheatle, MBE, the Bard of Brixton, in Brixton library on Tuesday 16 August from 3.30 to 4.30pm, Organised by Book Clubs in Schools, this is an opportunity to hear Jason discuss his recent novels – illustrated superhero adventure, Stuntboy, in the Meantime and the powerful three sentence graphic novel examination of the year 2020, Oxygen Mask.

BUENA VISTA RITZY

Buena Vista Social Club, is a movie with performances of extraordinary music

by Cuban musicians, who had been almost forgotten outside the island in the US boycott of Cuba, but were brought out of retirement

by Ry Cooder. Showing on Sunday 21 August at 12pm in The Ritzy’s Screen 5.

LEARN DANCEHALL

Acclaimed dancehall teacher Miss Rose will run classes at BRXTN Studios on Wednesdays August 3, 10, 17, and 24 from 7:30 to 9pm. Professional dancer Miss Rose is part of the Supa Nytro collective. Tickets, £10.50: bit.ly/BRXTN-MissRose

HALLUCINATORY DREAMSCAPES

Alex Harvey will discuss all things Tom Waits and his new book Song Noir – exploring the first decade of the singer’s career in Los Angeles – at Brixton library on Tuesday 9 August from 6 to 8pm. Using music, images and stories, Harvey shows how Waits absorbed LA’s wealth of cultural influences to combine the spoken idioms of writers like Kerouac and Bukowski with jazz-blues rhythms, and explored the city’s literary and film noir traditions to create hallucinatory dreamscapes.

Ollie Goodwin finds out why Krav Maga self defence is popular in Brixton

But there’s a whole host of mental aspects too. It helps an individual with more than just conventional self-defence. For Simon, avoiding and being able to cope mentally with harrowing situations is one of, if not the most, important aspects of Krav.

What is Krav Maga? Well, let’s give you the technical “The whole posturing in the build up to violence answer first. Its literal translation is “close combat”. actually comes from a very primal part of the brain, Krav Maga is a form of self defence that started in the and what we help people to do is to understand that 1930s – later developing in Israel throughout the 80s. and have strategies to deal with it in a logical manner It was soon picked up in the USA by the FBI and to defuse the situation. Most of the time, it’s just words other defence forces – and there are now schools and nothing physically violent even needs to happen. across the world; even right here in Brixton.

“So this is one aspect of what I like to call the Simon Pither set up the UK sector of the European mental side of self defence.”

Federation of Krav Maga in 2015 and is a black Not only will these skills come in handy should, God belt instructor with more than 25 years of martial forbid, you need to defend yourself. But the day-to-day arts experience. side of it is also a huge selling point of Krav.

He’s played a pivotal role in getting things up and “It breeds confidence. It’s that ability to feel assured running in South London. in situations you might not have previously. Talking “I was one of those kids that grew up in the 70s and with Simon I get the sense this is an important part of 80s watching Bruce Lee movies,” he says. his sessions.

“It was a real eye opener at the time as there was “It’s tremendously empowering for everyone. nothing like it around and I remember watching and Certainly from my point of view. The level of physical thinking ‘I want to do that one day’. competence breeds a level of mental confidence.

“We wanted to take a bit of the technical “The point is that we train and learn how to stuff out and pick up bits easier to learn, defend ourselves for the purposes of being useful, and effective. a more confident and beneficial member “Brixton is a really big centre, of society. really popular, there’s people from “It’s empowering, it’s about all walks of life there. I knew we understanding your physical could teach all sorts of people, it’s environment and practising been great.” how to deal with both verbal and For many people this shadowy physical confrontation. form of self defence seems somewhat “If you can do this and make friends shrouded in mystery. But it provides along the way, it’s got to be a good thing Simon Pither (right) the tools for people to feel secure in for all sorts of mental health reasons.” at work confrontational situations as well as Simon explained. bringing mental positives along with it.

With a growing club here in South London Simon talked me through a bit more and explained: and a passionate and knowledgeable teacher in “The way I have described Krav Maga for years is that Simon, the benefits of Krav are clear. Whether it’s it is a martial art turned on its head. to feel safer when walking alone, becoming part of a “Krav is all about simplicity. It’s all about – ‘If this community, or just for some unconventional exercise happens, what can I do?’ there’s so many positives that can be taken away from “It very much starts from the problem and asks you the sessions. to find the solution based on a few simple principles.

“If you’ve heard about Krav Maga but were unsure To me that is what sets it apart – it’s solution-focused.” about coming because you did not know what to Something else that defines Krav Maga compared to expect, please just come along to an intro session. I other martial art forms is its effectiveness. will guarantee you three things: You will have a better The style of self defence relies heavily on both idea of how to defend yourself; an understanding of mental and physical aspects; it can be picked up fairly the principles of Krav Maga; and you will leave with a quickly as Simon explained. smile on your face!” Simon says.

“I show people very basic techniques, and then A Sessions take place at Corpus Christi Church I show them a very extreme threat and how that Hall, 11 Trent Road, SW2 5BJ. The club is basic technique can help to resolve that extreme offering introduction sessions. If this sounds threat. They learn in 20 minutes these really useful like something you would like to get involved in, techniques for very extreme situations.” visit brixtonkravmaga.com.

26 CREATIVE BRIXTON

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2022 AUGUST

A lost paradise on Railton Road Works by one of Brixton’s iconic figures, Pearl Alcock, are once again on show locally.

Thirty-five years after her solo show Mood Paintings at 198 Gallery in 1989, Pearl Alcock is back with a new exhibition on Railton Road, not far from where she used to live and run her café and shebeen.

On until Sunday 14 August, Coming Home, at 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning at 198 Railton Road, celebrates Alcock’s life and explores her legacy in the current age of social justice, racial equality and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Part of the gallery space will be transformed into a café.

The exhibition is a rare chance to experience Alcock’s creations, with 46 works ranging through abstract paintings, landscapes, figurative drawings and sketches.

Full of patterns and movement, her colourful

body of work is reminiscent of a life in a different world, perhaps a lost paradise, says the gallery.

Coming Home depicts Alcock’s creative journey of reinventing herself and invites the viewer into her vibrant and intimate subjective realm.

Alcock, who was born in 1934, became an artist by accident at the age of 50.

Unable to afford a birthday card for a friend, she made one herself, using magic markers.

This was the beginning of her creative journey. She started painting and drawing at night by candlelight and produced more than 300 artworks, some of which were acquired by collectors Monika Kinley and Victor Musgrave to form part of the Outsider Art collection now gifted to the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester.

She gained mainstream recognition in 2005,

Untitled, 1980 a year before her death, when she was shown at the Outsider Art exhibition at Tate Britain.

Alcock was a member of the Windrush Generation, arriving in the UK from Jamaica in 1958.

Scenes from Urban Art 2022 on Brixton’s Josephine Avenue, back after a two-year Covid absence. More than 80 exhibitors took part. Despite its smaller size than in the past, the event raised a record £4,200 split between four charity partners who supplied the volunteers: Anchor Group; Southside Rehabilitation Project, Holy Trinity and Jubilee primary schools.

© Estate of Pearl Alcock She moved to Brixton and opened a bridal shop on Railton Road. The basement soon became a shebeen – an unlicensed bar – which became a safe space for the Black gay community.

AUGUST 2022

brixtonblog.com CREATIVE BRIXTON 27

Debut feature is snapshot of a changing Brixton The Dunns of Brixton is a full-length debut feature film directed by Kevin Conroy Scott. Shot in Brixton, the comedy was due out on Amazon Prime in late July.

The producers say it is a neighbourhood film that “talks beyond its neighbourhood”.

Its characters include women who have left their 20s behind to become mothers, but become marginalised and unfulfilled, and men who have succeeded in careers but feel alone and frustrated, and children who do not understand their parents’ anxiety.

Eleven-year-old Clarissa Dunn’s mother cannot get her journalism career back on track, and her father is four years late delivering his novel. While her parents are dealing with their beleaguered marriage, Clarissa proves to be the wisest writer of all

With the help of his producer wife, Landa AcevedoScott, Conroy Scott says he is seeing to recapture the spirit of micro-budget American indie film like Clerks, She’s Gotta Have It, and Slackers and embrace the restrictions of location and budget – in this case, less than £60,000.

All the actors, both

professional and non-professional, live in and around Brixton, and the film was shot exclusively in its streets and parks.

The team say they set out to make “a love letter to the changing face of Brixton”, while also celebrating the different types of families that make it what it is today.

“Each family goes through their own epic struggle on a day-to-day basis, striving and straining in their own way to find meaning and happiness in their lives,” Scott says.

“It’s a part of cinema that goes under-reported these days. I wanted

to walk in the footsteps of great divorce movies like Scenes from a Marriage, Kramer vs Kramer, and The Squid and the Whale to show just how dramatic everyday life can be when a family is split in two.

“Ever since the infamous riots in 1981, Brixton has been synonymous with conflict and renewal, a metaphor for the spectre of divorce itself, no matter your creed or colour.

“I hope we’ve captured a part of Brixton that will serve as a snapshot for our times in many years to come.”

A thedunnsofbrixton.com

Brianna Douglas as Olive Morris

Short film prize for Ballad of Olive Morris The Ballad of Olive Morris by Alex Kayode-Kay, featured in the previous Bugle, was best short film at the Windrush Caribbean Film Festival awards.

Alex Koyode-Kay’s film records an incident in the early life of Brixton activist Olive Morris.

The Ballad Of Olive Morris sees a 17-year-old Morris

assaulted by police officers after she tried to prevent a Nigerian diplomat from also being assaulted, and arrested under false pretences by Metropolitan police officers.

Its release coincided with the anniversary of her death on 12 July 1979.

The festival’s best film

award went to Patricia Frances for Art of Oppression which uses documentary format to allow three diverse female artists to use their art to speak about marginalisation and injustice.

A View a trailer for The Ballad of Olive Morris at bit.ly/BOM-trailer

Film London recognition for local collective Clapham Film Unit has been awarded funding from UntoldStories, the Mayor of London’s fund to make change and tell new stories in the capital’s public spaces. The unit’s project, Where are the Women?, will celebrate London’s women mural artists from 1980s to 2022. A first event was in at Stockwell’s Hall of Fame, when the WOM grass roots street art collective of London based female artists organised a street art jam and a graffiti workshop for young people.

A Find out more: london.gov.uk/untoldstories

The locally based TAPE collective has been named as a Film London Lodestar for 2022.

The annual list honours innovative creators and practitioners to watch from across the capital.

Selected from a pool of hundreds of people, the Lodestar scheme reflects the breadth of talent across London’s screen industries and seeks to reinforce upcoming Londoners making great strides globally.

TAPE says it is a curatorial collective working across film production, distribution and exhibition, challenging traditional ways of filmmaking and working to demystify the industry for marginalised voices.

With the support of the BFI FAN Exhibition Fund, TAPE created a screening programme, Touched, a witty, intimate and unapologetically sexy selection of films by women and non-binary filmmakers that open up space for wider discussions about self-love, intimacy and longing.

TAPE also curated a programme at BFI Southbank called But Where Are You Really From?, celebrating mixed-heritage in filmmaking, and subsequently took that on tour in cinemas across the UK. They curated and programmed 30 film events in their role for London Short Film Festival 2022.

BRIXTON

Bugle SPORT

‘Imagine that, a Brixton Topcat in Buckingham Palace’ “Imagine that, a Brixton Topcat in Buckingham Palace.”

That’s how Luol Deng responded on Instagram to receiving his Order of the British Empire at the palace, with his mother there to see it.

One of nine children, he arrived in London with his family who were refugees from the civil war in South Sudan.

The former Chicago Bulls basketball player got the award, made in June last year, for his work for charity and with welfare and community organisations.

“I will always be thankful for the opportunity provided by UK for me and my family as a refugee,” he said.

Twice an NBA All-Star and a former Great Britain international, the former Brixton Topcat played at Brixton Rec with the late Jimmy Rogers.

“What made it so profound for me was not about validation or a title. It was about the transcendent power of sport, which has been my primary tool for giving back to the places that have played a role in my life,” he said on Instagram.

“South Sudan is who I am, but I’m eternally grateful to England for granting my family asylum. South London helped raise me, and is where I forged my lifelong relationship with the sport that changed my life forever. I am where am because of Brixton basketball.” He said he was proud of contributions he has been blessed to make to grass roots sport through the Deng Top50 and Deng Academy.

“This felt like a book end to representing England at the 2012 London Olympics and seeing my face on the £5 note in Brixton,” he said of the visit to Buckingham Palace.

“And inevitably, this moment is most meaningful because I was able to share it with my mother, who I aspire to make proud in everything I do.”

Luol Deng with his mother Martha at Buckingham Palace ©LUOL DENG/INSTAGRAM

The bouldering hall is 18 metres long

BlocFit will hire you climbing shoes

Here’s just the place for the social climbers of Brixton Rock climbing has gone from a niche sport to a worldwide sensation and you can find out why in a railway arch off Coldharbour Lane, says Ollie Goodwin

For many people climbing seems like a bit of a fringe hobby; clinging to the side of a wall might not be everyone’s idea of exercise – it’s easier to have a kickabout with your mates at the park isn’t it?

However this once niche hobby is certainly on the come-up, and BlocFit Climbing and Fitness on Coldharbour Lane, are hoping to find some more climbing enthusiasts here in Brixton.

BlocFit was set up with an open mind.

Whether you’re a climbing enthusiast looking to continue progressing, or are new to the climbing world, their qualified coaches can help experienced or aspiring climbers at any level achieve their goals.

There are a lot of elements to climbing – physical endurance, raw strength, of course, but also the mindset of working out the best route to your destination. There’s a lot of things in play.

The converted railway arch now hosts climbers with a huge bouldering room and loads of other equipment.

“Climbing is so hugely beneficial,” Dave Culver, the man behind BlocFit, told me. “If you are one of those guys that doesn’t like going to gyms and standing about watching other guys

working out or going on running machines and you want something more active. If you want an active kind of fitness that’s gonna give you strength and get ripped, climbing is just amazing.”

Amazingly, the site only took three weeks for Dave to set up in Loughborough Junction. “We opened this arch up in February 2020. It has been going really well.”

It’s a cool space. There’s something there for every climber. Whether you’re a novice like myself, or an enthusiast looking to push themselves, BlocFit has you covered.

“We’re very old-school here,” says Dave.

“We’re really community based; one of those places where everyone knows everyone and we’re also really friendly to newcomers.”

The gym’s 18-metre bouldering room has a range of angles and difficulties. Walking around it impressive to think Dave put this all together in just three weeks.

There’s a huge range of difficulties and climb styles from enduranceboards, campusboards, fingerboards as well as a gym area including weights and kettlebells – Pretty much everything you need for your body to be climb ready.

It’s a small but intimate operation. Dave has put a lot into the set-up, you can tell There’s

a vibe you probably won’t find at a bigger commercial climbing wall.

“It’s a great place to meet people, very popular on first dates,” he says. “It’s really social.

“Once people start, they just get a bit hooked.

It opens up loads of new avenues for people.

We also do massive barbecues every couple of months, socially it’s really beneficial and also it’s really good for your mental health, or so I’ve been told! There’s lots of positives” The guys at BlocFit run introduction sessions, so if you’re looking to hone your skills or just need some fitness that doesn’t involve hitting the local gym for the fourth time in a week, Dave will be more than happy to have you.

“It’s about trying something new. Don’t get put off; stick with it. We get a lot of people saying ‘Oh, I’m too overweight’, but it’s not about that,” Dave says.

“You don’t need to be able to do a pull-up.

People will always be welcome. We’re inclusive and happy to get people into climbing – that’s what it’s all about.

“We have friendly staff, there’s always someone on hand if you don’t know how to do something. We even hire shoes!”

A You can check their website at blocfit.co.uk

DULWICH CRICKET CLUB LOSE AGAIN

Dulwich cricket club’s position in their first season in the first division of the A J Fordham Surrey championship worsened when they lost to top-three club Spencer. They ended the day in a relegation spot just two points above bottom club Stoke d’Abernon, but 23 behind Beddington immediately above them. They were due to play Valley End, fifth in the ten-team table, at home on 30 July.