Brixton Bugle November 2018

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BRIXTON BUGLE YOUR FREE

No 68 | NOVEMBER 2018

Published monthly in and for Brixton

ISSN 2397-852X

BRIXTON AT ‘TIPPING POINT’

Campaign warns of ‘drunken tourism’

VILLAGE ANNOUNCES LIVE DJ SESSIONS

A new music series with a mix of global sounds began in Brixton Village last night and more free DJ sessions are planned. Hondo Enterprises, that runs the market which is owned by the giant New York based hedge fund Angelo Gordon, said it had appointed local husband and wife DJ duo Chris Ellis and Cyndi Anafo – aka the Handson Family – to create a programme of events on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The couple co-founded the Brixton Villagebased lifestyle store United80 with Samatha Jane in 2010 and later created Snugg, a pop-up bar in the market with Binki Taylor, now director of the Brixton Design Trail, Hondo said. Chris and Cyndi have a residency at Near & Far at Peckham Levels and also co-produce a familyfriendly event with Mercury Prize nominated rapper and producer TY. Cyndi said: “My husband and I have a lot of history with Brixton Village and we’re thrilled to be able to curate an exciting programme of music events which pay respect to the area’s rich and diverse cultural heritage..” Alistair Maddox, Hondo Enterprises’ director of Brixton Village, said: “This is the first time in Brixton Village’s 81-year history that a music programme has been created for the market as a whole. We’re looking forward to building on Brixton’s deep-rooted music heritage.” Events for 26, 27 and 31 October are already planned.

Brixton is at a “tipping point” says campaigners against noise and anti-social behaviour in the centre of town. They say that, while it is becoming a “drunken tourism” zone from Thursday evening to Sunday night, both market traders and independent shops are struggling. Traders in Brixton Market are meeting soon (page 3) to discuss problems that they face. Sleepless Brixton, the campaign started by central Brixton residents in 2017, said it had been working with Lambeth council, the police and local MP Helen Hayes on a range of issues. It is calling for clarification on whether Brixton town centre is considered to be a residential area. If it is residential, the group says it should not be covered by opening hours set for “a major town centre”. It queried whether the Lambeth Local Plan of October 2018, that sets out proposals for a town centre “evening economy and management zone” and the approach set out by the council in the licensing plan are aligned. Its comments came as a council consultation on licensing, required by law every five years came to an end. Licensing policy sets out guidelines

for regulating any business that sells alcohol, offers entertainment or provides “late night refreshments”. Sleepless Brixton said: “Central Brixton is at a tipping point right now. “It has always been a lively, mixed-use area of predominantly shops and residential premises, with a number of bars, restaurants, clubs and music venues as a vital part of the mix. “But now it is becoming a drunken tourism zone, with a series of areas becoming hyperactive in the evening and night every Thursday to Sunday. “Both the market and many independent shops are struggling, as anything beyond the high street seems to be declining as a shopping destination. “Residential accommodation is being replaced or filled with temporary accommodation, whether short-term commercial letting or cheap hotels. This trend will increase the flood of hen-parties and drunken revellers who feel no attachment to the area.” A new five-storey budget hotel is due to be built soon on the site of Superdrug opposite

☛☛ continued back page Some of the UK’s leading employers were represented at Angell Town’s jobs fair for young people at St Johns school yesterday. The Futures Festival fair focuses on keeping young people in training, activity and work experience/employment. The community-led event welcomed contributing organisations that range from the grass roots to global. Each offered employment, apprenticeships, training, or support. AA At the event: Student Rakeem (left) with Malachi (centre) and Armarni of Big Local

COMMUNITY PAPER

BLOOMING LAMBETH! Prizewinners announced

MANDELA IN BRIXTON Grandson visits

HANG ON TO YOUR HAT New shop for Brixton

WINDRUSH

Something to learn about

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BRIXTON

Bugle SPORT

Dulwich Hamlet supporters protested after the club was evicted from Champion Hill

Deal allows Hamlet back home Dulwich Hamlet expect to be back at Champion Hill in four to six weeks after eight months away following talks between the club, Southwark council and Meadow Partners, the American private equity firm that owns the ground. The talks took place at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and were chaired by sport minister Tracey Crouch who had promised earlier this year to mediate in a dispute that saw Hamlet banished from Champion Hill. Southwark council has, for years, refused Meadow’s plans to develop the site behind Sainsbury’s on Dog Kennel Hill. Hamlet supporters’ trust co-chair Duncan Chapman said: “The club and the trust are both delighted that Dulwich Hamlet will be coming home to where, over many years, it has grown to become such an important part of our local community.” With crowds regularly exceeding 2,000, the return to Champion

Hill will also be a welcome boost to many local businesses on match days. The club has been playing its matches at Tooting & Mitcham’s Imperial Fields ground with reduced attendances, but still won promotion to the Vanarama National League South in May. Club Director Ben Clasper said: “We’d like to thank Tracey Crouch and our local MPs Helen Hayes and Harriet Harman for facilitating and attending the meeting which led to this positive outcome.” The club expects the work required to prepare the ground to take four to six weeks and will announce the date of the first home fixture as soon as upcoming cup fixtures have been confirmed. Meadow purchased the Champion Hill site for £6 million in 2014. In 2016 it sought planning permission from Southwark council to use it for housing and to build a new stadium on an adjoining site, saying it would transfer ownership

to the club supporters’ trust. The council rejected the plans because they didn’t have sufficient affordable housing. Earlier this year Meadow evicted the club after claiming it owed it £120,000 and that it could no longer use its own logo and club name. In a statement after the recent talks, the club, the council and Meadow said that Dulwich Hamlet had approached Southwark council to ask for support to secure its long-term financial security and to facilitate a return to Champion Hill. DHFC had requested a new lease from the council of the AstroTurf pitch there. This new lease, to be granted by the council, would run for the same period as an 18-month lease, to be granted to DHFC by Meadow, on the Champion Hill site. Both leases include a one-year rolling extension. The new lease would allow DHFC to use the AstroTurf pitch for all its sporting requirements

including match days. The statement said that “DHFC has agreed to meet the council’s aspiration for investment into the improved sporting facilities on that site for the benefit of both the club and the wider community.” Meadow has agreed to support the club’s return to Champion Hill on this basis. “In recognition of this,” the statement says, “the council has agreed not to progress activity on a compulsory purchase order in relation to the Champion Hill site for the duration of DHFC’s lease at Champion Hill, so long as it is on fair and reasonable terms, including allowing the club to retain match day income, bar-takings and catering proceeds.” Meadow is reported to have rejected a £10m bid for the site from Rio Ferdinand’s affordable housing company Legacy Foundation. The former Manchester United star grew up in Peckham.

Brixton Topcats’ Jimmy Rogers: Hard taskmaster and a generous man with a warm smile and an easy laugh Brixton Topcats’ legendary basketball coach Jimmy Rogers was laid to rest at Toxteth in his home town of Liverpool in October. Topcats, the club he founded in 1981, launched the careers of international basket ball stars including Luol Deng formerly of the Chicago Bulls. But he also provided support and encouragement to scores of Brixton kids. Bugle music editor Dave

Randall shares his personal recollections of Jimmy Rogers: For generations of basketball players, Jimmy Rogers was, apparently, a hard task master. When his legendary voice bellowed across the gym people reacted. It was, by all accounts, a tough but ultimately uplifting and inspiring experience. But for me and many others like me, Jimmy’s presence was anything but stern or

Jimmy Rogers commanding. In most of my many fond memories the great man has a rum in hand, a warm smile and an easy laugh. I think I first met him when I was playing guitar with the band Faithless. Jimmy was mates with vocalist Maxi Jazz and would frequent the after-show and end of tour parties that took place in venues such as the Brixton Academy. He was also a regular at the much loved Brixton venue Mango Landin’ and would drop in to various house parties around the neighbourhood including a few of mine.

It’s funny and slightly sad that we sometimes get to know people better on the occasion of their passing. I had no idea Jimmy was raised in an orphanage in Wales, and joined the army at the age of 15, for example. Nor was I aware quite how important he was in the world of basketball. He was a modest man. In every situation I saw Jimmy, he went out of his way to make the people around him feel welcome and included. He was great fun, very generous, and above all, kind. I’ll miss him.

the Tube station – involving the loss of one of Brixton’s oldest bars, the SW9. As the Last Bugle reported, the Local Government Ombudsman has ruled that Lambeth council had failed to consider 6,354 noise complaints. But it has taken action against an early-hours busker who has been the subject of regular complaints. After he ignored a written warning not to use amplified equipment on the street between 9pm and 8am, he was sent a “community protection warning letter”. When this was ignored legal proceedings were begun against him under the Control of Pollution Act 1974 and he was also served a community protection notice under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act 2014. The busker failed to attend two hearings at Camberwell Magistrates Court and has fines and costs of more than £1,000 against his name. The council was also successful in having an indefinite “criminal behaviour order” made against him. The council says it is continuing to monitor the town centre and exploring a long-term solution for nuisance busking.

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NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR PREMISES TO BE APPROVED AS A VENUE FOR CIVIL MARRIAGES AND CIVIL PARTNERSHIP I, Daniel Edwards, of Wild Garlic Food Limited, The Lido Cafe, Dulwich Road, London, SE240PA have applied to the London Borough of Lambeth for approval of premises in pursuance of the above Acts as a venue where civil marriages may be solemnised and civil partnerships may be registered. The premises to which the application relates is: The Lido Cafe, Dulwich Road, London, SE24 0PA. Regulations made under the above Acts state that premises can be approved by the Council if in their opinion and amongst other things: i. They are seemly, dignified and regularly available for civil marriages/partnerships. ii. They have adequate fire precautions, and other appropriate safety precautions. iii. They are not used solely or mainly for religious purposes, or have been so used but have subsequently been used solely or mainly for other purposes. Full details of the requirements that a premises must meet to be considered for approval can be obtained from the Licensing Section, London Borough of Lambeth, 6th Floor, International House, Canterbury Crescent, London, SW9 7QE. Any person wishing to inspect the application and the plans of the premises may do so at the offices of the Licensing Section, London Borough of Lambeth, 6th Floor, International House, Canterbury Crescent, London, SW9 7QE, by appointment only. Any person may give notice of an objection to the grant of approval. Objections must be made in writing to the Licensing Section at the above address and must be received within the period of twenty-one days beginning on the day on which this notice was published. application, and the maximum fine for which a person is liable on summary conviction for that offence shall not exceed level 5 on the standard scale (£5000).

2  NEWS brixtonblog.com 2018 NOVEMBER

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Consultation planned as more cuts loom Lambeth council will have to cut another £43m from its spending over the next 4 years as a result of continuing government cuts to local authority budgets. According to Cabinet member for finance Andy Wilson that’s more than it spends each year on waste collection, recycling, parks, libraries, children’s centres, roads and pavements and community safety. Most of the budget continues to be spent on the most

vulnerable residents, social care and children’s services. Money from government has already been cut by half – a reduction in spending by over £200m. The council workforce has been cut by 50%, “non-essential” services have been hit and the council’s attempts at “new ways of doing things to save money” particularly in relation to libraries have been widely condemned. Wilson appears on video at love.lambeth.gov.uk to set out the scale of the challenges

facing the council and urges residents to engage with the council by participating in a series of consultations on its plans. He says: “Over the next few months, we’ll be consulting on our medium term financial Strategy (MTFS) – which is our budget plan for the next four years. We want you to take part and tell us what matters most to you, what you see as essential services and where you think we could save money. It is a

massive challenge.” He adds: “We need you to help us make decisions that are right for Lambeth – to help us identify savings and produce a balanced budget in the fairest way possible.” The series of consultations will start in November. You can sign up at love.lambeth. gov.uk/budget/ Lambeth council, along with other Labour administrations, have launched a campaign, Breaking Point, calling on government to reverse cuts

implemented since 2010. Council leader Lib Peck along with other Labour councillors delivered a petition to Downing Street demanding that next year’s planned £1.3 billion cuts be reversed and a further £2bn in children’s services and £2bn in adult social care be invested to stop services from collapsing. The campaign calls for a restoration of council funding to 2010 levels over the next four years. AA Opinion – page 9 AA Lib Peck interview – page 8

Council urges Picturehouse to pay Living Wage Lambeth council leader Lib Peck has again urged Picturehouse, the owner of Brixton’s Ritzy cinema, to pay its staff and other employees the London Living Wage. A new Picturehouse cinema in West Norwood’s Nettlefold Hall will open during Living Wage Week – 5 to 10 November. It has been jointly financed by Lambeth council and Picturehouse and will share its premises with a council library. Peck said that the opening would provide the local community with “a wonderful resource for learning, culture and entertainment, with a fully stocked and staffed town centre library with excellent facilities and technology alongside a cinema and bar, with community meeting space and employment opportunities”. But, she said, “one major issue” was risking its success – the refusal of Picturehouse to pay the London Living Wage, which currently stands at £10.20 an hour. A new rate will be announced at the start of Living Wage Week. “I am once again urging Picturehouse to reconsider its position on the London Living Wage,” Peck said in a letter to Claire Binns, deputy managing director of Picturehouse Cinemas. “Since the venue will open during Living Wage Week, it would be an ample opportunity for Picturehouse to send a positive message by announcing its intention to pay the London Living Wage,” said Peck. As I have said before, I am happy to facilitate a meeting between Picturehouse and the Living Wage Foundation.” Peck said the Living Wage made sense for both employers and employees. It provided security for employees and allowed employers to recruit

Computer generated images of the refurbished building

excellent staff and to send a message of commitment to good employment practices. “Picturehouse’s current opposition to the issue puts you at odds with many employers across London, including other leaders in your own industry, including Curzon and the BFI.

“Paying the London Living Wage is good for business,” said Peck. “I am proud that Lambeth Council is a London Living Wage employer. We were one of the first councils to pay the London Living Wage.” Peck said that, in line with this commitment, all council-employed

library staff at the new West Norwood entertainment hub would be paid the London Living Wage. “As you know, in the agreement between the council and Picturehouse to redevelop Nettlefold Hall, it was not possible to make paying the London Living Wage a contract condition for workers employed by Picturehouse. “Yet,” she went on, “Picturehouse could show real leadership by announcing plans to pay the London Living Wage.” Backed by the cinema union BECTU, staff at the Ritzy have been campaigning to be paid the London Living Wage and for trade union rights for several years and have been joined in this campaign by workers at other London Picturehouse cinemas. Picturehouse is part of the profitable international chain Cineworld. It said in a statement that 25 new jobs would be created at the cinema and that all staff would be on fixedterm contracts paying a minimum of £9.99 per hour. This rate is based on a calculation that takes into account paid breaks for staff working an eighthour shift. “In addition to this base rate, and a range of staff benefits, bonuses are paid every month – making the West Norwood Library and Picturehouse among the highest-paid employees on the high street,” the company said. The modernist Nettlefold Hall in West Norwood already had cinematic connections before the joint council-Picturehouse deal that saw them both contribute about half of the £6 million development bill. The building and its surroundings were used to shoot scenes for Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange in 1971.

NOVEMBER 2018 brixtonblog.com

NEWS  3

Traders to discuss concerns Traders in Brixton Village and Market Row will hold their annual general meeting on 31 October. On the agenda at the Black Cultural Archives will be concerns about the future of the markets and Brixton as a whole. Both the village and Market Row were purchased by the New York based privately owned hedge fund Angelo Gordon earlier this year, Most of central Brixton’s commercial space has changed hands recently, much of it going from relatively small or public sector and UK-based organisations to massive multinationals. Sports Direct is now established on Pope’s Road. Hondo Enterprises is running the markets for Angelo Gordon. The still-closed railway arches on Atlantic and Brixton Station Roads are set to be sold by Network Rail to a consortium that includes Blackstone, the largest private equity real estate firm in the world, as part of a nationwide £1.5 billion deal. Traders and others are concerned that Brixton’s unique culture and the livelihoods of small traders whose efforts have made it so special could be jeopardised by these new developments. Elly Foster of the Market House venue on Coldharbour Lane and joint chair of the Brixton Business Improvement District, warned this summer that there could be more closures of independent businesses in Brixton after bailiff notices appeared on Fancy Funkin’ Chicken next door to Market House. She said independent businesses were being “wiped out” by sky-high rents and competition from chains that did not need to make an immediate profit in Brixton because they were doing so elsewhere in their chains. The latest chain to set up in Brixton will be BrewDog with a 22-tap bar. BrewDog promotes itself as a “craft beer company”. It is, in fact, a multinational that does not brew cask ale. In 2017 it made 343,253 hectolitres of beer. The newly expanded Brixton Brewery expects to start by brewing less than 10,000 hectolitres a year. Its maximum capacity would be less than 30,000 hectolitres a year.

Dulwich and West Norwood MP Helen Hayes (3rd right) with local winnners at the awrds ceremony in the Royal Society

Local volunteers and council win awards for work resettling refugees By Nick Jeyarajah

A community initiative working to resettle refugees locally has been recognised as one of the nation’s leading groups of its kind. Herne Hill Welcomes Refugees (HHWR) were joint winners of the Best New Sponsorship Group award at the 2018 Sponsor Refugees Awards. This came in the same week that its application to become an official refugee sponsor was approved by the Home Office. It was a night of success for more Brixtonbased refugee advocates. Khairunissa Dhala won the volunteer of the year award for her work with the Welcome Committee, whose volunteers are based in SW2. Simon Sandberg, who has overseen Lambeth council’s pioneering refugee resettlement work, won the Local Authority of the Year award on behalf of the council. Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood and “refugees welcome” advocate in parliament, spoke of her pride in taking part in

GOSPEL MEETS CLASSICAL Gospel and classical music will meet in Brixton on Saturday 17 November when the Brixton Chamber Orchestra joins Brixton Music Day Choir, Keshia Smith, David Billet and Marie Garrison, and The Smith Sisters in a community concert – Eternal Praise. It will be in the Brixton Seventh Day Adventist Church in Santley Street, SW4 7QG. Doors open 6pm. Admission is free and there will be an offering collection.

Activists plan to mark Uprising anniversary Brixton based arts activists Tony Cealy and Chloe Osborne are planning to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1981 Brixton Uprising in 2021 with cultural events. They want to bring grass roots organisations together to develop an “active and powerful” steering group representing all facets of the community to make “81 Acts of Exuberant Defiance” happen. They say that local organisations that have agreed to be partners in the project include Ovalhouse, the Brixton Pound, and 198 Contemporary Gallery as well as activists, artists and community groups. AA 81actsofexuberantdefiance.com

the event as a judge. She later took to Twitter to congratulate the Herne Hill group who she continues to support: “Moving, joyful evening at the #communitysponsorshipawards celebrating work of local groups across the country”. The Home Office approval indicates that HHWR has fulfilled a set of strict criteria to prove that it has the capacity to oversee the resettlement of a vulnerable refugee family. This has been the culmination of months of hard work in the form of research, community engagement, and meetings with Lambeth council and the Home Office by HHWR’s team of volunteers. The group, formed almost exactly a year ago, has featured in local and national press for the work in resettling refugees in Herne Hill. It works under the Home Office’s Community Sponsorship Scheme. Announced in 2016, the scheme allows community groups to play a leading role in making sure the most vulnerable refugees are resettled

as quickly and safely as possible. These groups must take responsibility for everything from finding a private property, language provision and formulating safeguarding strategies. As the government’s refugee policy stipulates that it prioritises only a small number of the most vulnerable refugees for resettlement, mental or physical trauma can be common among those being resettled. Community sponsorship groups must ensure that they have the necessary resources and access to relevant institutions to handle this care if needed. Refugees resettled under this scheme are less likely to suffer from the many dangers of isolation and culture shock, and are also more likely to find work and grasp the English language more quickly compared to those resettled by the government alone. AA If you would like to get involved or learn more, contact hhwelcomerefugees@gmail.com or follow @HHWR_.

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Design Trail installations still on view While this year’s Brixton Design Trail is now over, there are still opportunities to see two of its important installations. The 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning retrospective of artist and activist Jon Daniel is open until 16 November at 198’s Railton Road gallery. Admission is free. Daniel, who died in 2017, was an awardwinning designer and artist and one of the most prominent Black creatives of his generation. He created work that brought people together to challenge thinking and misconceptions. Flotilla, by Edible Bus Stop and Zac Munro Architects, is now installed in Brixton Village’s forecourt on Coldharbour Lane. Created for the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush, Flotilla tells the story in the form of an augmented reality “paper boat”. The project started as a response to conversations about the Windrush generation and how this relates to Brixton. As well as the creation of unique street furniture, audio narratives by members of the Windrush generation and their relatives describe their feelings at the point of arrival: their hopes and fears about a new life. The project uses a QR code linked to a SoundCloud page with audio clips of Windrush generation arrivals recalling their arrival. Local company Sixteenfeet Productions helped with the installation and Portobello Radio provided the clips.

New Brixton offices seek non-profit organisations International House, behind the police station in central Brixton and until recently council offices, is to start a new life as space for local enterprises – one of the largest in the country. 3Space, a company specialising in managing surplus commercial space to benefit local communities, won a contract to run the building for the next five years A refit, already under way, features the BuyGiveWork scheme in which space that is paid for by commercial businesses is donated to social enterprises and community groups. As well as another Brixton rooftop bar, there will be four hubs that focus on design, creativity and innovation. In one hub – Community Initiatives – fixed desks and hot-desking will be free of charge to local non-profit organisations. Desk spaces come with high speed wifi, access to kitchens, meeting rooms and event space. 3Space says: “We’re very keen to hear from smaller organisations of maybe one to three people who would be interested in our hot-desking options. The floor is going to be an exciting and bustling hub for local groups to work but also collaborate with each other and get support from other commercial companies in the building.” Applications close soon. To get in touch send an email to info@3space.org. Desk space in the Community Initiative Hub is free, but all fixed desk members will be asked to pay into a future rent deposit scheme to assist their move to new offices at the end of the 3Space project at International House. International House has been earmarked for redevelopment after the five years are up as part of the Brixton Central masterplan.

organisations, especially those that support young people into creative and digital businesses. Part of the strategy is to allow young people in particular access to better paid work in a fast-growing sector. “We plan to designate Brixton as a Creative Enterprise Zone and have just re-opened a former 11-storey council office building (International House) in central Brixton as London’s biggest affordable workspaces for organisations in the creative and digital industries,” the council said.

Brixton’s premier law firm. Established for over 30 years

Windrush water

Windrush Square is to get a new water fountain, thanks to a new £5 million Mayor of London fund to install 100 new water fountains across the capital. Florence Eshalomi, London Assembly Member for Lambeth, said it is vital to do everything possible to tackle plastic waste in London as well as enabling Londoners to keep hydrated on the go. The Brixton fountain will be one of the first 20 to be installed. Eshalomi urged councils, local businesses and organisations to bid for a share of the funding. A joint monitoring programme by the charity Thames 21 and the #OneLess campaign revealed that 55,533 plastic bottles have been removed from the Thames since 2016.

Xmas market

Council bids to be creative centre Lambeth council has launched a strategy to become London’s leading borough for creative and digital business. The strategy, put together over the last year with business leaders, education providers, trade bodies, young people and entrepreneurs, was launched at the National Theatre on the South Bank in October. The council is already making space available at International House and the new Town Hall for creative enterprises and community

SHORTS …

The council was highly commended in the recent Enterprising Britain Awards for its Lambeth Works project that has already led to the creation of six workspaces in the borough – Tripod and Pop Brixton in Brixton, Granby Space and Build Studios in Waterloo and the Health Foundry at St Thomas’ Hospital. They support more than 300 business and have created over 200 new jobs. It is hoped that opening up International House will add a further 850 jobs.

Crafty Fox Market will be back in Brixton this year at a new location – Downstairs At The Department Store on Ferndale Road – on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 December from 11am to 5pm. You can meet more than 80 traders with a different line-up on each day, enjoy a drink from the bar and tunes from Crafty Fox DJs as well as taking part in a drop-in workshop. Items on offer include ceramics by Hilda Carr, wooden flowers and wreaths by Anna Wiscombe, illustrated cards, prints and calendars from Alice Tams and Scandinavian design homeware from Jonna Saarinen. www.craftyfoxmarket.co.uk

Film Africa Film Africa, the Royal African Society’s celebration of African and African diaspora cinema, returns for its eighth year from Friday 2 to Sunday 11 November. Showing 39

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titles from 15 African countries, including 18 UK, EU and world premieres, Film Africa will take place at five venues across London including BFI Southbank and South London Gallery. The festival promises an exhilarating mix of film screenings, Q&As, panel discussions and live performances.

Crisis fundraiser Musicians against Homelessness who raise money for homeless people and help young musicians get exposure for their music is raising vital funds for Crisis the national homeless charity with a Halloween event on Wednesday, 31 October from 8pm to midnight at Shop from Crisis, 223-225 Walworth Road, SE17 1RL. Tickets £20 from Eventbrite.

Greenhouse gig Blooming Lambeth winner Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses is continuing its Gig at the Greenhouses series on Saturday 9 November (7-10pm) with unamplified performances from the Nest Collective, an acoustic folk club that pushes the musical boundaries of folk world and traditional music. Germa Adan, performing as part of a duo with Jobe Bakr-Sullivan, writes and performs vocal and stringed harmonies. She is influenced by the overlapping identity of cultures, especially in the Haitian, American and British folk. Merlyn Driver was born and raised on the Scottish island of Orkney, on a smallholding without mains electricity, and did not go to school until his early teens. This unconventional upbringing continues to inform his music, which is influenced by Celtic folk as well as a reverence for nature and open space. Tickets (£12/9) from bit.ly/Nest-GG.

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BRIXTON LEGAL Pam Douglas is a solicitor with local firm Wainwright and Cummins. Each month, her column takes a common legal issue and explains it for readers

Children, parents and the law In years gone by, it was very common for busy parents to rely on older children to participate in running the home and keeping an eye on the younger ones. Some of us even had regular household chores that we were responsible for. In many other countries, both in Europe and further afield, this is still the norm. However, here in the UK, society’s attitude to children has changed significantly as a result of laws such as the Children Act 1989 and our improved understanding of children’s emotional, psychological and developmental needs. Effective parenting is becoming more and more of a challenge, particularly when work pressures, illness and family breakdown can mean that we have less time available for active supervision. To help us in our decisionmaking in relation to child safety, I thought it might be useful to look at the legal guidance in relation to some common situations:

responsible for the safety and wellbeing of the child.

Can I leave my child home alone?

Can my child get a job?

Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Nkosi Zwelivelile, visited London last month to promote a major exhibition celebrating the life and legacy of the former South African President and icon of the anti-apartheid struggle. He called in at Brixton – the scene of an amazing visit by his grandfather in 1996 visiting the Village (left) and Walter House – named for another anti-apartheid hero, Walter Sisulu. Mandela: The Official Exhibition opens on 8 February at 26 Leake Street, near Waterloo Station. Adult tickets are from £14.50 to 17.50 each. Under-12 and over-65 tickets are £15.50 each.

Can my child drink alcohol at home? We know that, in most cases, children cannot drink in public. But, strangely, provided that the child is over the age of five, there is no prohibition against children being given alcohol to drink at home or on other private premises. However, should your child come to any harm as a result, I very much doubt that “but it’s legal” would be a helpful defence. Allowing a child under five years old to drink alcohol is a very serious offence likely to lead to the involvement of social services as well as a criminal prosecution.

Can I drink alcohol while looking after my child? The law says that you can drink alcohol but you cannot be drunk in charge of a child under seven years old in public. If you do so, you risk a fine and up to one month in prison.

In the UK, a child can work partThat depends. All children are time from the age of 13. (There different. But, according to the are special exemptions for actors, NSPCC, babies and toddlers should musicians etc, who never be left alone can work when they and most children You have to be are younger). under 12 should not over 18 to buy However, there be left home alone for are very strict rules long periods. fireworks in the UK about working hours You might also be and conditions. For surprised to learn and that includes example, children that the NSPCC sparklers. It is cannot work for also advises against more than four hours leaving children also illegal to set without a one-hour aged under 16 home alone overnight. them off between break, they cannot work before 7am or The main concern 11pm and 7am after 7pm and they relates to a child’s cannot work during maturity which will or to throw school hours. determine their In Lambeth, any ability to deal with them in public employer wishing to an emergency. Most recruit a child needs to apply to the children under 12 would lack council for a work permit. the experience and maturity but, Finally, as it’s that time of year clearly, there are others who and one of my personal bugbears: would not. It is therefore for parents to Can my child buy fireworks? make that judgement call, bearing No! You have to be over 18 to in mind that it is a criminal offence buy fireworks in the UK and that to leave a child alone if it places includes sparklers. them at risk. It is also illegal to set them off Can my oldest child babysit between 11pm and 7am or to throw his younger sibling? them in public. The maximum fine is £5,000 or Again, that depends. But the up to six months in prison so, as a guidance says that no child under responsible parent, it is a good idea 16 should be left in charge of to make children aware before they younger children and, legally fall foul of the law. speaking, the parents will still be

Brixton heart charity shop helps to win home challenge Brixton came up trumps in the The British Heart Foundation’s Makeover Challenge campaign. Four interior design experts were challenged to create a room for under £500 in just 10 hours using only items from BHF ­charity shops. One of the creative teams, Interior Style Hunter and Girl About the House, got their bargains in the Brixton BHF furniture and electrical store and beat the challenge by creating a dining room space for £368. The challenge raises awareness of the bargains at BHF home stores while at the same time helping to raise funds for heart research and preventing items ending up in landfill. AA Visit www.bhf. org.uk/makeover for more information.

Local charities’ grant plea Lambeth charities are seeking help to win a share of the Tesco Bags of Help fund after being shortlisted to receive funding. Tesco is working with the environment charity Groundwork on the scheme, which gives grants of £4,000, £2,000 and £1,000 to local projects from the proceeds of carrier bag sales in stores. Voting is open in all Tesco stores in Lambeth from 1 November to 31 December. Customers cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out each time they shop. South London Cares is a community network of young professionals and

B R I X T O N ’ S

Fiorista

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T U B E

older neighbours who help and support one another. The BIGKID Foundation wants funding for its boys football programme, (above) which uses football as a tool to engage boys from areas of high deprivation in more positive activities, reducing the risk of social exclusion and youth violence. The Bags of Help project has already delivered over £60 million to more than 18,000 projects across Britain. Stockwell Festival won a public vote in local Tescos last year, gaining £4,000. AA Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.

F I N E S T

For 30 years the Zucconi family have been providing Brixton with fresh cut flowers from their stall outside Brixton underground station. Twins John and Simon, and their mum Carmen, look forward to seeing you.

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BRIXTON brixtonblog.com

2018 NOVEMBER

ARTS Art and books in another Brixton Book Stop Brixton, the free community library at 6 Somerleyton Road, swapped its London, UK postcode last month to visit the Peek a Boo(k) project in Kingston Frost Park, Brixton, Johannesburg, South Africa

to look at its free book store and to create art on T-shirts designed by the children who use the project. The Peek a Boo(k) project was founded by Derek Smith who works for Read Educational Trust (www. read.co.za). The trust provides books to children across South Africa. The project is managed by the @ brixtonbeautiful organisation that maintains the community centre. Illiteracy is one of South Africa’s most serious problems, stunting individual progress and economic growth. READ is dedicated to bringing about change.

The Peek a Boo(k) project is in the shadow of Johannesburg’s Sentech TV transmission tower, known as the Brixton Tower Established in 1979 and funded by local and foreign donors as well as private sector organisations, READ works alongside the South African Department of Education to implement teacher training and literacy projects in schools. While in Brixton, Johannesburg, Book Stop Brixton worked with young people from the Children of Fire organisation (www. firechildren.org), a charity that helps young people who have been severely burned

– often in shack fires – to be rehabilitated and also provides a home for them. Book Stop Brixton hopes to establish further links between Brixton UK and Brixton Johannesburg and to share the arts and experiences between communities. AAFor more information: www.claptwn.blogspot.co.uk www.read.co.uk www.firechildren.org Instagram: @brixtonbeautiful @soloone.blogspot.co.uk

Cressingham Gardens resident John, photographed in his kitchen by Mark Aitken when he was 89

Cressingham residents’ images for book Mark Aitken’s beautiful and moving Sanctum Ephemeral photo installation, some of which sits on walls in the demolition-threatened Cressingham Gardens estate, is to be published as a book. Thirty-four portraits of residents will feature in a hand-bound limited edition pressing along with an even more limited edition collector’s boxed set with a signed print. Local writer Howard Cunnell

and curator Zelda Cheatle contribute afterwords. The book will be available from Bookmongers or you can visit www.thedeepriver.org to reserve a copy or purchase one from December. In the meantime, the estate installation is exhibiting indefinitely so feel free to take a walk around and view the eight portraits. Further details of the book will be available in the next issue of the Bugle.

Oliver Comerford’s The longest road II

It’s Happening Now … in Peckham Opening on 2 November is the second in a series of international art exhibitions focussing on time in art. Bringing together the work of 28 artists from seven countries, “It’s Happening Now” is a multi-media show featuring painting, photography, sculpture, site-specific video and performances. Time

passing or passed – represented in a variety of ways -– is the theme which underlies and unites the work. The exhibition runs from 2 to 11 November in Safe House1, 139 Copeland Road, Peckham SE15 5NR. On Saturday 3rd at 3pm there will be a short talk with all the artists about the works in the exhibition.

NOVEMBER 2018 brixtonblog.com   CREATIVE BRIXTON  7

MUSIC

Where better than Brixton to dance away winter blues Late autumn is always a busy time in the live music calendar and November in Brixton looks particularly bountiful. Connoisseurs of quality hip hop should grab a rare chance to see Brooklyn’s  Talib Kweli  perform at the Electric on Wednesday 7th. For many music fans it was the hugely respected Black Star project – a collaboration with Mos Def initiated in 1998 – that first established Kweli among the hip hop greats. Since then he has released eight solo albums, in addition to numerous other collaborations, and has also found time for political activism. He’s been a prominent critic of police brutality and the prison-industrial complex, and has taken to the streets to show his support for Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, Palestinian solidarity and other grassroots movements. Expect incisive social commentary, new music and some sublime classics. Indie kids will be pleased to see

the return of acclaimed Korean guitar janglers  Say Sue Me  to the Windmill on Wednesday 14th. The gig is the final date of their current world tour, so join the party and help them celebrate a job well done.

Lovers of the London Latin scene will be donning their dancing shoes for  Conjunto Sabroso ’s headline slot at the Hootananny on Friday 16th. Led by multi-percussionist Wilmer Sifontes

from Venezuela and fronted by Colombian singer Luz Elena Caicedo, the band expertly deliver unstoppable dance-floor-filling grooves punctuated by hard hitting brass. Support comes from London based Colombian musical adventurers The Indios and Latin Grammy nominee Jimena Angel. All fine options. But my top tip this month is an evening showcasing new sounds from the West African diaspora and Congo at the Hootananny on Friday 30th. I first saw headliners  Onipa  raise the canvas roof at Barrio Afrika – the best late night spot for a blissed-out boogie at Shambala festival. Their website explains that their name means “human” in Akan, the ancient language of the Ashanti people of Ghana. They’re on a mission to connect through collaboration: “from Ghana to London, our ancestors to our children, Onipa brings energy, groove, electronics, afrofuturism, dance and fire!” Think Konono no.1 meets Shangaan Electro, Songhoy Blues and Débruit. The band was born out of a friendship between vocalist/percussionist KOG (Kweku of Ghana of KOG and the Zongo Brigade) and guitarist/producer Tom Excell (Nubiyan Twist). They’re joined onstage by Dwayne Kilvington (Wonky Logic) on synths and Finn Booth (Nubiyan Twist) on drums. Sharing the bill are top notch exponents of soukous music from Congo,  Kasai Masai . The band fuse their own fast-paced style of soukous and rumba with Congolese folk traditions, with lyrics written in Swahili, Lingala and Kimongo. The result is an absolutely irresistible, hypnotic and celebratory dance music. So if, as the nights draw in, the winter blues are starting to creep, why not step out and cast them off on the dance floors of our fantastic local venues. Dave Randall is a musician and author of Sound System: The Political Power of Music.

BRIXTON

HI-FIVE

Each month we ask a Brixton community member to choose five records and tell us why … Cat Yong became a Brixton resident in 2004. She is an environmental scientist, wildlife lover and a keen advocate for live music and small music venues in Brixton and beyond. 1. TRAIN SONG by ONE MAN DESTRUCTION SHOW Adam J Harmer effortlessly takes his one man multi-instrumentalism to the extreme by playing drums simultaneously with guitar, while alternating howling vocals with bursts of distorted harmonica. The result is a glorious raw, rootsy, rock ‘n’ roll riot that demands to be seen live and not just heard!

2. MOLIENDA by MALPHINO Looking like they just stepped out of the tropical sun circa 1935, this sharp suited cumbia collective got my feet moving to their swirling accordion, twangy guitar and flamboyant percussion manoeuvres when they played at the Hootananny earlier this year. This is a tune to transport you away from the autumn rain to a surreal island paradise!

3. RAPUNZEL by BY SLEAZE This dark yet humorous take on the Brothers Grimm fairy-tale, by the aptly named South London post-punkers, reminds me of evenings spent at The Windmill pub watching many a great band and chatting to friends and fellow Brixtonites. Sleaze host a semi-regular night (Sleaze in the South) at this venue which is well worth checking out.

4. JAAN PEHCHAN HO by MOHAMMED RAFI It’s not possible to avoid dancing frenetically to this high octane 1960s Hindi rock ‘n’ roller! This tune would occasionally play in the background at Radio Days vintage store in Waterloo (now sadly closed) where I would sometimes help out.

5. ALABAMA TRAIN by LOUISIANA RED Onipa: K.O.G and Tom Excell

Having started with a train song, I now finish with one! This song is an old favourite of mine and pairs Louisiana Red’s baritone vocals and raw harmonica blues beautifully with the underlying paired back guitars and plodding drum rhythm. To me this is the perfect song for a night in with my record player.

8  AGENDA brixtonblog.com 2018 NOVEMBER

Win some lose some

With the May council elections won and millions more in government funding about to be lost, Linda Quinn asked Lambeth council leader Lib Peck how she thinks it’s going It’s a difficult time for local councils and social care to stop these vital emergency many (including Conservative-led ones) are services from collapsing; and restoring in danger of going under as another round of council funding to 2010 levels over the next government cuts hits their budgets. four years. Local authorities are expected to Although delivering services on an cut another £1.3 billion from already ever-tightening budget is a central concern, stretched finances. Peck says there have been achievements Not good news for councils who she’s proud of. have already cut to the bone. Services, A year after the Lambeth Equality like libraries, that are not required by Commission Report was published, she says law have been the first to go, despite there’s a lot to feel very positive about. widespread protests. “One of the key recommendations we In advance of the October national budget wanted to draw attention to was the raising more than 120 organisations called on of achievement of young Black Caribbean the chancellor to invest in young people. boys in particular and we’ve launched Aim Lambeth was among the local authorities to High – a programme of work in schools back the call. They all fear that council-run around Black leadership that has engaged children’s services are at the point where over 800 school children. they will struggle to maintain them. “It really is about lifting people’s Breaking Point, a new campaign, launched aspirations and as well doing the work by Labour Party controlled councils, is in schools to make sure that one-to-one calling on government to reverse mentoring and day-to-day cuts to services for children experience encourages young that have been implemented ‘All our employees boys’ ambition.” since 2010. The other area she points to and 98 per cent More than 6,000 councillors where the council has done well of contractors signed a petition that was is its Living Wage campaign. delivered to to 10 Downing Street are paid the “All our employees and 98 per by campaign leaders including cent of contractors are paid the living wage’ Lib Peck, Nick Forbes, leader living wage. of Newcastle City Council “We’re still working with and Rishi Shori, leader of Bury council in some bigger employers to get them in the Greater Manchester. same place. We want to encourage business Peck was among other Labour councillors to acknowledge it’s not a burden but good for demanding that the prime minister and their business.” chancellor end austerity in local government She applauded the work of the borough’s by reversing next year’s planned £1.3bn cut Business Improvement Districts on the issue. to council budgets; immediately investing She acknowledged that there were still £2bn in children’s services and £2bn in adult challenges that the council needed to

Lambeth council leader Lib Peck joined Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council (second left) and Rishi Shori, leader of Bury council in Greater Manchester to launch the Breaking Point campaign address in its own employment practice. that they don’t want to let it go. The workforce, in general, is under-repThe council is planning an event in resentative of young people, and adults December, led by Cllr Sonia Winifred, with disabilities. cabinet member for equalities and culture, Its second challenge is that it has the to report on the implementation of the biggest local authority BME workforce after recommendations of the Equality Report. Brent in North West London, but a signifiAlthough Peck welcomed the government cantly white management. This is an issue announcement that councils will be able to that the trade unions have been raising with use their rent receipts to build housing, she the council for some time. says there is a lot to sort out and the detail is Peck asks: “How do you not yet there. attract senior BME staff “We won’t be able to do all ‘We won’t be into the organisation?” The the borrowing we need on the council is considering a pilot of housing revenue account,” able to do all the applications from which people’s borrowing we need she says. names have been removed. It That means the council still on the housing is also looking at extending needs an outside vehicle to revenue account’ management training to a wider build and Homes for Lambeth spread of grades. will be that company. She also acknowledges that “We’re committed to building tackling racism and non-conscious bias is an homes and investing in the homes that area – as it is for most organisations – that we’ve got.” Asked if the legislation would requires more work. make a difference to decisions the council “It’s one of things I was very keen to get on has already made – like the demolition of its top of. One of reasons the equality commisCressingham Gardens estate, she says it will sioners are still engaged. I was very clear I not make any difference. “The analysis is didn’t want talkers, I wanted doers. It’s great pretty much the same, although contested.”

Local and global – the Brixton Review of Books Brixton’s thriving literary scene has a new presence – the Brixton Review of Books. Grace Waters turns the pages With an ethos of making literature and the creative arts accessible to everyone, the Brixton Review of Books is a (relatively) new presence in the South London community. Founded by writer Michael Caines using a £3,000 grant from the Royal Society of Literature, the quarterly literary newspaper has been in circulation since the beginning of this year. I met Alice Wadsworth, one of the editors behind this new literary movement. Awarded the grant for showing an “intention to turn the usual tired give-aways into something that could provoke and expand an appreciation of literature in London”, the BRB

BRB invites readers to send it images of themselves reading it champions the work of small and independent presses. Copies are handed out for free by its contributors and can also be found at book shops, libraries and galleries across Brixton including Brixton Pound, Brixton Library and Bookmongers.

Entirely self-funded and running on the grant, advertisements and subscriptions that cost a tenner for a year, BRB is produced by a group of volunteers who are already involved in literature – Michael Caines and a number of its

editorial team write for The Times Literary Supplement. They are determined to support as many local and independent voices as possible. The focus is on books from small and independent presses, as well as works in translation. Alice says: “We want to cater to as diverse an audience as possible, with a little something for everyone.” The volunteers also want to encourage budding authors who are just starting out to submit works for their review – they are looking to champion local and perhaps under-represented voices in the community. Tapping into the immense diversity of its potential audience, the BRB commissions reviews from an eclectic mix of voices with varying interests, featuring both established and not so established writers. The team is passionate about hearing from new and emerging presses and is constantly on the look-out for untapped areas of literature, including fiction and

poetry. “We see ourselves as local and global; based in our South London community but, through this, we are in conversation with a wider diaspora,” says Alice. As well as engaging Brixton commuters with their newspapers, BRB also puts on regular events, allowing their local readers and book-lovers to come together under one roof. “It’s always so interesting to see what our reading community actually looks like,” says Alice. The next event in the calendar is on the 7 November at the independent Review Bookshop on Bellenden Road in Peckham, starting at 7pm. The free event will see writers Will Eaves and Jennifer Hodgson do short readings of their latest works – Goldsmiths Prize nominated The Murmur and The Unmapped Country (her edition of stories and fragments by Ann Quinn) respectively, followed by a Q&A session. Keep an eye out for issue three of BRB which is out now.

NOVEMBER 2018 brixtonblog.com

OPINION  9

BRIXTON BUGLE

COMMENT

Predators on the prowl Many of the most cunning predators – and that includes humans – rarely kill their prey outright. They prefer to inflict damage on a victim at minimal risk to themselves and then wait until it is too weak to resist an attack or dies of its wounds. That approach to getting what you want may be effective, and would no doubt be taught in detail if wolves or killer whales went to business school. But, for the victim, it involves hours, or even days, of misery. And, all the while, a whole herd of family and friends with big horns and sharp hooves stand by and watch it happen. And what has that got to do with Brixton? Predators, big ones, are now in Brixton. Recent transactions mean that very substantial parts of the town centre now belong to massive multinational companies. The New York based hedge fund Angelo Gordon owns the Village and Market Row. Blackstone, the largest private equity real estate firm in the world, is half of the consortium that is buying Network Rail’s arches, including those in Brixton, Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction. At least we know who these owners are. The owners of the building that houses the SW9 bar – due to be demolished to make way for a budget hotel – are hidden behind the company registration regime of the Isle of Man. But hidden, or all too obvious, for these companies nothing is personal. It’s just business. And these prowling predators have tax, planning and other laws and regulations in their side. So if we hope to retain the best of Brixton and to avoid the bland fate of other property hotspots, we are going to need to assemble and energise as many allies as possible. Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is just across the border in Southwark. It managed to get the local council and a Conservative government minister intervening on its behalf. There may be something to learn there. If you have a complaint about the Brixton Bugle, see bit.ly/BBB_complaints 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

Green Party councillors were among Defend the 10 campaigners outside the Lambeth council meeting in October

A financial and PR disaster The Defend the 10 libraries campaign – fearing Lambeth council may be planning more cuts to the library service – says: Please just leave it alone; the council’s eccentric ‘reforms’ have been a financial and PR disaster In 2015, Lambeth announced “Culture2020”, a plan to save £800,000 a year from the libraries budget from April 2016. It blamed savage cuts to local government. We fully sympathised with the cuts argument. But the plan made no sense. The library service had offered an alternative plan to set up a community/staff trust – funded so simply that it was explained in just three lines. It would have kept all 10 libraries intact and saved the full £800,000 a year, from 1 April 2016. It wasn’t even looked at. Instead – despite huge public opposition – the council cabinet voted for a bizarre mishmash of wheezes that included funding two trusts to run individual library buildings, another trust to pay “charities” to take over activities run by librarians, spending £3 million to install gyms in three libraries, another £1.2 million to subsidise a commercial cinema, and removing all staff from four of its 10 branches – among other things. Yet all this would make only half the required annual saving. Never mind that massive extra capital spending. Defend the 10 had to threaten legal action to force the council to reconsider the library service’s plan. It did. But it dilly-dallied for

months before announcing in March 2016 that this plan could not be implemented by April 2016. However, two years on, not one single element of Culture2020 has been successfully implemented. Worse – it has saved nothing – but has added extra costs of at least £7.6 million! For example, two gyms have (mercifully) failed to materialise.The third, at Carnegie library, still won’t open for months – and is costing Lambeth over £3 million to install. GLL will run the gym rent-free for five years. A generously-funded “community trust” – which has never had any contact with the community – is still battling Lambeth for a deal, while complaining that the council’s damage to building and garden will make it much harder to get income from it. And … The trust at Upper Norwood Library “Hub” was funded for two years – by more than it cost to run the library – to help it become self-funding in 2018. It has failed. Lambeth will continue funding it for at least three more years. West Norwood library’s cinema is opening a year late – and the cost to Lambeth has ballooned to £3.4 million. Picturehouse will use the building rent-free for at least four years. The library will have to pay them service charges to occupy space (in a councilowned building!) Minet and Carnegie libraries were closed for long periods, but they still paid all their buildings costs such as rates, insurance and utilities – plus a huge added bill for security guards. Neglect at the Carnegie has caused repeated water damage to walls and floors. The council evicted the businesses who rented desk spaces at the Carnegie. These paid

around £5,000 a month, so £150,000 has been lost – and counting. At Waterloo, the council has spent lavishly – £200,000 – on consultants to refit the library as a “Meanwhile Space”. It’s unclear whether this has generated any profits. It cost just £130,000 a year to run the library. The real cost is paid twice over by Lambeth residents – first through extravagant use of taxpayer funds and second through damage to a much-loved, much-used service. We have lost four full-service libraries, with all they offered to the many people who need help, advice, IT support and staff-run activities. They have been replaced by smaller, almost staffless “neighbourhood libraries”. Our recent in-depth survey shows that the new “neighbourhood libraries” are barely used, while an ordinary staffed library had 937 visits in a week. The loss of professional staff has been devastating. Information on the finances of Lambeth’s libraries is hard to find. The council releases important figures hidden among innocuous tables in larger reports. It seems as if the council would rather the true financial picture were not revealed. The council continues to double-down on the defiant rhetoric. It repeats incessantly that Lambeth “still has ten libraries open to the public”. That much is true. But it’s not the whole truth. A popular service which ran perfectly well on under £4 million a year (from a total council budget of over £1 billion), has been badly damaged – with £7.6m wasted. It’s difficult to avoid concluding that the changes to the library service were not about money, but ideology. AA http://defendthe10-lambeth.org.uk

56 Brixton Hill (entrance on Horsford Road) London SW2 1QS

Open Mornings

Open Evenings

Thursdays 9.45-10.30 am

Wednesday 28th November 5-7 pm I Tuesday 12th February 5-7 pm I Monday 25th March 5-7 pm

Formula 24+ … here we come!

We reported in the Bugle in September about the launch of the UTC's innovative new BTEC Level 2 engineering qualification 'Performing Manufacturing Operations', based on designing, constructing, testing and racing two Formula 24+ electric cars. Progress is certainly well underway and, as you can see, students have constructed some key elements of their vehicles including the chassis and electric motors. They have wired their cars and set up the steering geometry (basically the angle of the wheels!) and are now looking to produce some of the more bespoke elements of the vehicles. This will include the bodywork which will be in UTC colours, of course, and students have already 3D printed their own steering wheels based on a Formula 1 steering wheel design – small but heavy – good for handling apparently!

This course has really promoted creativity and competition amongst our students. We are simulating a work environment with staff acting purely as the facilitators. The students themselves are leading and managing their teams and have had the opportunity to take on meaningful roles within their respective teams. Andy Errington, Lead Teacher – Engineering

design. engineer. innovate. www.southbank-utc.co.uk

020 7738 6115

info@southbank-utc.co.uk

@SouthBankUTC

Southbankutc

Southbank_utc

NOVEMBER 11  COMMUNITY brixtonblog.com 2018 brixtonblog.com 2018FEATURE  NOVEMBER 11

Your clothes can help to fashion a sustainable world

Brixton artist raises funds for landfill site community by Anna McKie An artist from Brixton is raising funds to support a project helping families who live in South East Asia’s largest landfill site. Lawrence Blackburn says the money will help the community of 3,000 families living in Bantar Gebang, a landfill near Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, where, every day, 6,000 tonnes of rubbish is dumped. The BGBJ project, which translates as “The Seeds of Bantar Gebang”, serves families who make about $2 a day by salvaging valuable materials. It is a community asset functioning as both a hostel and a hub, serving both visitors and the local community. Housed in an old plastic storage facility, it provides education, in particular, to the children who live there. Blackman, 36, hopes to use the money to help boost the community’s education and skills, particularly for children, with the goal of self-sustainability, as well as aiming to raise awareness in the UK. He will visit BGBJ for the second time in November. “The experience of being there left a huge impression on me and I felt more people should be aware of it, and places like it,” Blackburn says. “The project I am running in November aims to build on this experience, with cultural exchange as an essential part of the trip.” “The money I have raised will go towards helping to build the community in BGBJ and running the project there. BGBJ is constantly developing its site to better the opportunities there: from basics, such as building safely, to installing internet and computer access, a powerful tool to enable and motivate particularly the young people there,” Blackburn told the Bugle. “Being there myself, I will be engaging and recording the community and conditions, as well as running workshops and other

activities both educational and creative.” The centre already creates its own income by selling beauty products made on site and conducting tours, but there is still a long way to go before it is self-sufficient, Blackman says. Community co-founder and leader Resa Boenard said: “When people come to BGBJ some of them will spread the word to other people after they visit, and it will bring more awareness to other people to know about us. I call it indirect help for BGBJ. “BGBJ is so special because we are the only one hostel and hub in the world located right in the landfill. BGBJ respects diversity that’s why many people come to help and develop our hub,” Boenard says. Blackman is an artist and practitioner who has lived and worked across the world. “As well as my ongoing creative practice, I have a focus on community work, aimed at cultural exchange and enablement,” he says. He has lived in Japan and Korea, where he was an educator and artist and also involved with the community in Seoul, particularly as a supporter of the LGBT+ community and its ongoing human rights work, and in the creative arts. He was an organiser of Look But Don’t Touch, a national touring exhibition that visited four cities. He has also taken part in community building projects in North Horr, Kenya and worked in the UK with young people from challenging environments. He recently completed an MA at the University of Arts, London, and has been published and exhibited internationally. The University of the Arts London has now pledged to support the BGBJ project, in the form of an Instagram takeover and then possible future projects such as talks, exhibitions or seminars, Blackman says. AAHis target is £2,500 you can donate and find out more at bit.ly/Loz-BGBJ.

Brixton’s TRAID on Acre Lane is part of a UK-wide charity tackling environmental and social problems caused by the production, consumption and disposal of clothes. Now TRAID has launched a London-wide “23 per cent” campaign to encourage us to reduce our clothing footprint. Research for the charity found that in Lambeth: ●●23% throw clothes in the bin ●●15% buy clothes at least monthly ●●54% said that clothes not fitting is their reason for throwing them away Huge amounts of energy and water go into the production of clothes that end up in landfill. It takes 2,700 litres of water to make a T-shirt. The 23 per cent of unworn clothes

is the energy equivalent of powering 50,000 homes for a year. TRAID keeps clothes in use for longer by making it easier to recycle them, including free home collections, recycling banks and shops. Funds raised by TRAID go to global projects benefiting the people and places making our clothes – from supporting cotton farmers to grow an organic crop to supporting retailers eliminate child labour in supply chains. “The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of the huge volume of clothes not being worn, and to ask people to take action by passing their clothes on to TRAID,” says Andrea Speranza, campaign manager at TRAID. “By doing so, they will be supporting United Nations Sustainable Development

Goal 12 to ensure more sustainable consumption and production. “Cheap fast fashion is powering rising consumption and production, placing unsustainable demands on finite resources to produce clothes which are poorly made, barely worn and quickly replaced. “From carbon emissions and use of water in the production of clothes, through to landfill and incineration when clothes are thrown away, the fashion industry can have a devastating environmental impact.” AATRAID Brixton, 2 Acre Lane, SW2 5SG. Opening times: 10am-6pm Monday to Saturday, 11am-5pm Sunday. 020 7326 4330 AAYou can book a free collection at bit.ly/Traid-collect

Independent and individual The former Jobcentre on Brixton Road has reinvented itself as Brixton Mall – a place where new businesses have a home in a series of well-designed kiosks. Brother and sister run Hatrick Apparel is one of them. Michaela Betram and brother Junior Knight (right) combine knowledge and experience of running a shop, management skills and a flair for what will work in the shop with support for young local designers and manufacturers. Junior says: “We remain independently owned and run and are proud to put our customers first. “We’ve grown up with fashion stuff, I buy in what I think at the time is going to work. It’s not too personal and I wear 90 per cent of what’s in the shop. I want to stock brands from small designers that lots of people are into. “Streetwear, comfort wear they all look alike and there’s only a couple of places you can buy them from. But if you buy from here, it’s individual and understated. People like to look different.” The next step for Hatrick Apparel is to cater to kids from 3 to 12 years, and to customise hats on the premises.

AAHatrick opening hours are 11am to 6.30pm. AA#hatrickapparel

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12  INCREDIBLE EDIBLE LAMBETH brixtonblog.com

2018 NOV

‘ I like peo like plant the outdo AABEST GARDEN IN BLOOM: Colwyn House, Lambeth North – an example of how a space can be transformed and brought to life with colourful flowers

,,BEST GARDEN ANYWHERE ELSE: Amputee Rehabilitation Garden – this new Rehab garden at Lambeth Community Care Centre in Kennington is helping patients to develop functional skills, improve dynamic balance, improve mental health and put salad and home grown vegetables on the menu

The Blooming Lambeth Awards Ceremony in October shone a spotlight on community gardening, food growing and food activism across Lambeth. From windowsill planting in Underground stations, to gardens in schools, parks and on kerb sides, to a mindfulness garden at a fire station and a rehabilitation garden for amputees, residents of Lambeth worked hard over the past year to bring spaces in the borough to life. These projects have been recognised by other members of the community and nominated for one of ten Blooming Lambeth Awards organised by Incredible Edible Ther Lambeth (IEL) on behalf of mome Lambeth council. building Both are keen to people wa highlight the value that community gardens improve th bring to neighbourhoods, and build workplaces, schools and local comm the public realm. focusing There were 99 and gro nominations for the awards this year, testimony to the fact that the interest in gardening and food growing is increasing. In a world of increased urbanisation and isolation, being close to nature, getting “down in the dirt”, sharing in a community endeavour and understanding where our food comes from is vital. The Blooming Lambeth Awards are an opportunity to show off growing projects that have had a major positive impact both on individuals and on communities. The beautiful Garden Museum on Lambeth Palace Road was the setting for the awards ceremony attended this year by around 200 people from across Lambeth. Some 28 prizes were distributed to winning and highly commended gardens, gardeners and innovators.

VEMBER brixtonblog.com   13

ople. I ts. I like oors’

It was an opportunity for IEL members to meet each other, to have a say on the direction they want the organisation to move in, and a chance for the IEL team to highlight its activities in the past year. Membership of IEL is free and open to all. Together we collaborate to support one another and appreciate the Lambeth gardening and food growing movement. Bron Wolfe of Wolfe’s Shrubs, one of three winners of the award for innovation, said: “I am delighted to be chosen for this award. “Incredible Edible do so much great work with good food locally. It’s a real honour to be part of that.” Community Gardener of re is the year was Fabrice Boltho entum from Myatt’s Fields Park, around who grew and distributed anting to an astounding 40,000 seedlings to 70 community heir health gardens this year. d up their Asked why he grows the munity by seedlings, he said: “I like g on food people. I like plants. I like owing the outdoors.” Incredible Edible Lambeth aims to support these different growing projects, inspiring community leaders and food enterprises. Janie Bickersteth, chair of Incredible Edible Lambeth said: “We are extremely proud to support so many diverse, local food projects. “We want to help bring people together by making connections between communities, growing spaces and food entrepreneurs popping up across Lambeth. “There is momentum building around people wanting to improve their health and build up their local community by focusing on food and growing. “We are amazed by the commitment of the community gardeners in supporting more people to grow food and are really excited by the growers who are turning their produce into food businesses.”

JJWINNER OF INNOVATION: Ruskin

Park ploughed some of its land with two magnificent shire horses and then grew three rare strains of heritage winter wheat (Miller’s Choice, Madeiran Landrace and Purple Naked Spelt), buckwheat and two varieties of broad beans on its top field. Celebrating traditional and organic methods of food growing, Ruskin Park is working with local residents and schools to help show where our daily bread comes from. Even in central London we can benefit from the joys of growing wheat! This is a collaboration between Friends of Ruskin Park, the Friends of Windmill Gardens and the Brockwell Bake Association. Pictured: Tom Nixon with Heath (left) and Nobby from Operation Centaur in Richmond Park Pupils from Brixton’s Hill Mead primary school learn about wheat

AABEST GARDEN IN A PARK, JOINT WINNER: Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses’ beautiful large site includes an orchard

(pictured), a wildlife pond, a perennial meadow, a series of demonstration vegetable plots and gardens, an apiary (for bees) , a walled herb garden, ten compost bays, a play kitchen and three greenhouses. BPCG helps people grow through learning, and learn through growing, seven days a week, it runs a drop-in garden volunteering scheme, school visits, family events, courses and workshops

DDBEST GARDEN

IN A PARK, JOINT WINNER: Streatham Common Community Garden – a great example of community activity to grow good food

AABEST GARDEN IN A SCHOOL: Heathbrook Primary, Clapham – a great example of whole school buy-in to food growing and embracing the outdoors as a key learning space. The school worked with Natural Thinkers to create an outdoors programme and is now providing training for schools across London

GGBRIXTON: Firefighters created a ‘mindfulness garden’ on the rooftop of their station.

All four watches worked with local environment groups to give firefighters a space to unwind, reflect and relax. A beekeepers group from Kennington Park provided bee-friendly pollinators. Crews recycled wooden pallets, turning them into garden furniture, including their own bee hive. London Fire Brigade’s Green Champion, Simon Jakeman donated his award-winning garden from the Hampton Court Flower Show. Green Watch manager Mat Rosendale oversaw the project. He is a Blue Light Champion for the brigade – one of a group of volunteers who promote awareness of mental health in the emergency services

THE BRIXTON POUND IS:

A pay-what-you-can COMMUNITY CAFÉ using surplus vegetarian and vegan ingredients.

The original urban LOCAL CURRENCY with the world’s best-looking money!

Delicious Vegetarian & vegan Community -focused

The amazing BRIXTON FUND supporting grassroots projects and charities.

Last chance to buy rare Brixton Pounds!

Choose Brixton Pound to cater your event We are now available to hire for catering events: snacks for talks and workshops, hot meals for community meetings, buffets at art exhibitions, one-pots for corporate events. Whatever your budget, let us feed your guests using some of the finest ingredients saved from landfill.

We can also deliver on- or off-site workshops for five to 15 people, teaching practical techniques for making dishes from surplus and preserving leftovers. Whether you’d like a pickling workshop, fermentation demonstration or cooking class, we have skills-based learning programmes to suit your organisation.

Our inventive veggie and vegan menu is inspired by the donated ingredients we receive, and executed by our talented team.

Contact Cafe Manager Sean for quotes and enquiries on kitchen@brixtonpound.org or 07985 773109

What’s On in November Pay-what-you-can reiki every Monday 10:00 – 13:00

Laughter yoga Thursday 22 November at 11:30

Knit and natter every Monday at 13:00 Life drawing every Monday at 19:00

Evening yoga, relaxation and meditation every Thursday at 18:30

We Can Sing community choir each Monday night at 19:00

Pay-what-you-can osteopathy every Friday 9:00 – 13:30

Pay-what-you-can community yoga every Tuesday at 11:15

Poetry and Shah (open mic poetry) Friday 3 November at 18:00

Mindful Emotion every Tuesday at 21:15

Pindrop sessions Friday 23 November at 19:30

Social drop-in (Disability Advice Service) every Wednesday at 14:00

Kids Kreate every Saturday at 10:30

Guitar lesson drop-in every Weds from 14 Nov at 19:00

Cost of Love storytelling evening Sunday 25 November at 19:00

We are definitely not bringing Christmas into November but we’ve just released beautiful collectors’ packs of first editions which will make ace presents (any time of the year). They are uncirculated, mint condition and therefore extremely rare. When they’ve gone, well, yes, they’ve gone. The pack contains an Olive Morris note, a James Lovelock note, a CLR James note and a Vincent van Gogh note. And they’re just £25. Email thomas@brixtonpound.org if you’d like one.

Café and basement space available for hire daytime and evenings at very reasonable rates. Open for radical thinking, delicious food and excellent coffee from 08:30 Monday – Friday 09:00 Saturday

Brixton Pound Café 77 Atlantic Road SW9 8PU 020 3581 2850 brixtonpound.org

15  brixtonblog.com 2018 NOVEMBER

FOOD & DRINK REVIEW: TURTLE BAY

Turtle power Nick Buglione makes a trip to Turtle Bay a family affair I used to sympathise with mums and dads taking the kids out to eat. Total chaos and mass confusion meets barely suppressed stress and borderline hysteria. Now I have become them. Restaurant choices revolve around “who does good baby chairs?” (Wagamama, Pizza Express), “do the kids eat free?” (Bodeans) and is it the kind of place that “can cope” (any local Italian trattoria or pizzeria) with infantile disruptions. If the food is OK along the way, Brucie bonus. So the massed ranks of the Buglione family hit the high road for some totally tropical tastes. The pit stop is Turtle Bay, who have sussed that familyfriendly does them no harm whatsoever. Little Turtles menu, colouring in books, non-alcoholic cocktails (and a happy hour so parents can doubledown medicate). A smooth, relatively entry level intro to Caribbean-lite cuisine with a reggae reggae soundtrack. So we kick off with an almost embarrassingly big platter of cocktails. Think authentic meets day-glo showiness. Wray Sour, overproof rum, blue curacao and lime, Beachcombers Zombie, rum combos, absinthe, grenadine, lemon and pineapple and One Love, Passion fruit liqueur, dark rum, passion fruit and coconut syrup. Sky Juice, a slush-puppie of pomegranate, pineapple, orange and lemon juices and Fizzy Mango smoothies for the kids.

Wrapped around our starter, an all-dive-inand-get-your-fingers-dirty Just Jerk platter with jerk wings, glazed pork ribs, beef patty, jerk chicken flatbread and sweet corn fritters. Demolished like locusts descending on a field of ripe crops. And kind of indulgent fun watching childhood bravado meet some of the hot sauces. That’s how they learn right? Turtle Bay is an almost bewildering array of Jerk pit, BBQ, spicy One-Pots, sharing platters, salads, Carib-sides and hot breads. In a slickly assembled shanty-town cantina themed Montego mish-mash dining room. Mrs B went for the Curry Prawn hot pot, slowly simmered king prawns, mango, sweet potatoes, spices, rice and flatbread. I stayed jerky with sirloin and coconut callaloo spiced fries and plantain. Kids plundered chicken flatbreads and burgers from the Little Turtles menu. And it was all fine. The seafood one-pot was a nicely spiced autumn warmer, my steak came right (medium rare) and was pleasantly jerky, the platter was a nice intro to everything and the kids happily had their fill. Cocktails took the edge off family planning challenges and dad enjoyed pointing out who was coming out of the speakers. It might be a slightly manufactured soul but Turtle Bay knocks the paltry soul-less experience at places like Giraffe into the long grass and I have fed a family of five without breaking the bank or eating overpriced slop just ’cos they don’t hate children (almost anywhere in the West End or a lot of the South Bank). Having spent this very same day surviving the obscenely overpriced disgraceful “catering” at LegoLand, Turtle Bay is an almost Zen-like kids dining experience where the adults can have a restaurant ambition beyond basic survival. And they do “kids eat free” in the school hols.

382 Brixton Road, SW9 7AW | 020 7737 2264 | turtlebay.co.uk | @turtlebayuk

OPEN 9AM TO 5PM EVERY DAY

T &A

Steak, prawns (left) and a Caribbean colouring-in book for the kids

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TRATTORIA FRANZINA, STILL IN BRIXTON INFO@FRANZINATRATTORIA.CO.UK 07802 473444

LUNCH - DINNER - APERITIVO - TAKEAWAY - CATERING

16  FOOD & DRINK brixtonblog.com 2018 NOVEMBER REVIEW: NANBAN

Orient Express Tim Anderson’s Nanban is always worth another visit I know, for many, he is kind of persona non grata these days, but my favourite Woody Allen quote, to paraphrase, is “I live in New York as I can get Egg Foo Yung delivered to my apartment at 3 in the morning. The fact I never do is irrelevant”.

Which has always seemed to sum up Londoners’ attitude to London. We like all this opportunity, but we mostly ignore it. Since Brixton exploded with places to eat, ditto my attitude to local dining. I love all the variety (in principle) but as I walk through the door of Tim Anderson’s Nanban, I realise its been at least a couple of years. Anderson, non-self-appointed poster boy for Brixton pop-up goes perma-site, as I am sure he gets

bored of reading, is the MasterChef Professionals winning “offbeat” chef fusing classic Japanese dining with flavours of Brixton. Japanese soul food as he calls it. With something off-piste and seasonal flirting through the menu. Like the tongue in cheek “Third best Scotch Egg in London”, tea pickled egg wrapped in pork mince with Scotch bonnet bamboo shoots and garlic chips, panko breadcrumbed with tonkatsu sauce. Tim likes tea-pickling eggs. Scotch egg and cocktails is a good combo and Nanban do some nice cocktail creations. Pink Lady, Bombay Sapphire, shochu, fresh raspberries, lychee juice, apple juice, lemon alongside a Gimlet, Bombay Sapphire and sweetened lime juice, straight up. The egg is good, supercrispy with a soft(ish) yolk and interesting spicy twinges. There is also an impressive (for a local place) menu of sakes, and “how so new South-London” that our choice was Kanpai sake, created in that hotbed of Japanese brewing, downtown Peckham. The Nanban menu is a fusion of snackery, small plates and main courses to pick through. We had perky Hanetsuki Gyoza, sachets of dry-aged pork gyoza with crispy ‘wings’ alongside the scotch egg,

then shared some big plates – Tom Yum seafood ramen, lemongrass and lime leaf broth, thin noodles, king prawns, mussels, squid, bean sprouts, seafood sawdust, fresh lime and chilli oil and Tuna Poke, sashimi grade raw tuna with wakame, Maui onions, macadamia nuts, yuzu-pickled radish, gem lettuce, sesame oil and sweet ponzu, served with crispy gyoza pastry and edible flowers. There are some interesting flavours living here, the tuna tartare is the star of Mrs B’s fusion salad and my ‘signature’ ramen is exactly the warming, spicy, fragrant and meaty seafood big broth that would

426 Coldharbour Lane, SW9, 8LF | 020 7346 0098 | nanban.co.uk | @NanbanLondon

DIY COCKTAIL: BARRIO’S PINA PICANTE

Hot stuff Tequlia time at Brixton’s home to pimped up caravan booths, bottomless boozy brunches and latin-flavoured nights out. Simple to make, refreshing to drink, with a sharp hit of tabasco and chilli. Cut price “Amigo hour” is every day until 8pm.

INGREDIENTS

NN 50ml Casco Viejo Bianco Tequila NN 25ml pineapple juice NN 25ml freshly squeezed lime juice NN 25ml Agave syrup (or use honey) NN 25ml egg white NN 3 dashes Tabasco sauce NN half an orange slice NN 1 green, 1 red chilli for garnish

METHOD

NN Fill a hobster glass/ tumbler with cubed ice NN Shake all ingredients except the garnishes NN Pour over ice NN Add orange slice NN garnish with chillies barriobars.com/brixton

warm everybody and anybody from Brixton supper clubbers to a dock worker in Osaka. With a tea pickled egg of course. Homely. Nanban is the kind of place you can pop into for a quick, price friendly supper (or lunch) or you can push the boat out a bit. Its user-friendly, with what I assume is classic Japanese cuisine, interestingly pimped with flavours of Brixton market. Tempura okra was the special tonight. Deep down the food here is reassuring rather than avant garde but if you want a chunky ramen in Brixton, Tim Anderson is still your go-to guy.

FOOD & DRINK  17

NOVEMBER 2018 brixtonblog.com SMALL PLATES LA BARRA

CATTIVO

BLUES KITCHEN

STUDMUFFIN

Taco loco

Italian Job

Bottoms up

Muffin to it

New pop-up in town, the guys behind Killa Dilla and Tacos del Rey bring their slow roasted meats and twisted Mexican tacos to Market Row. Try eight-hour pork shoulder with burnt pineapple or vegan mushroom adobo with cashew crema and guacamole. With magaritas, tequila and mescal. @labarralondon

Albion & East, the smartypants behind Canova Hall, extend their creative colonisation of the old Bon Marche building with Cattivo, a southern Italian all-day café and bar. Expect slowsimmered pasta sauces and deep meaty ragus flecked with chilli heat from Calabria and Sicily, all dressed up in stylish trimmings. cattivobar.com

Americana behemoth diner Blues Kitchen is hosting bottomless brunches packed with “hair of the dog” drinks, smashed avo, brekkie burgers, creole crab benedict, buttermilk pancakes, huevos rancheros and healthy granolas and grains. Washed down by a lively blues soundtrack. blueskitchen.com

More street food snack attack options for the Pop drinking crowd. Tongue in cheek bun-meisters StudMuffin will be pimping their muffins with all sorts of bold flavours. How about the all-day breakfast muffin, filled with sausage patty, maple bacon, truffle egg mayo and a smoked potato cake or Crispy brie, sweet maple bacon, tangy pecorino and fresh spring onions? popbrixton.org

Sustainable seafood: Simon Whiteside

ROE

MEET CLAPHAM

Sea container

Pop goes the veg

Simon Whiteside, seafood chef behind Hook, is opening Roe in Pop, small plates championing sustainable seafood from the British coast. Check out sideways seafood creations including Poitin ceviche with cucumber and coriander and Sea Bream with tamarind and lime dressing, chilli, pickles and pancakes. roebrixton.com

Clapham is getting its first vegan pop-up with The Meet (geddit) serving “indulgent plant-based comfort food” and “playful vegan cocktails” under a Clapham North railway arch. Dominic Taylor, of Jam Tree fame, revamps popular millennial dishes into indulgent vegan alternatives. The Meet @ Fu Manchu, 15 Lendal Terrace, SW4 7UX

Slow-roasted: La Barra

Bottomless brunch: Blues Kitchen

Come on down to Electric Avenue’s favourite Caribbean restaurant and takeaway. Here at Healthy Eaters we serve freshly cooked, great value, great tasting authentic Caribbean food over the counter with speedy and friendly efficiency. So stop by for a take-away or sit a while and eat in. We have a downstairs eating area and we are open early lunchtime right through the afternoon.

17 Electric Avenue

Brixton SW9 8JP www.healthyeaters.co.uk 020 7274 4521

Healthy Eaters supports the London Living Wage

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BOOKINGS & MORE INFO: WWW.POW-LONDON.COM | 020 7095 1978 467- 469 BRIXTON ROAD, BRIXTON, LONDON SW9 8HH

19  brixtonblog.com 2018 NOVEMBER

WHAT’S ON

‘There are places in Brixton from back in the day that are still here’

Still around after more than 20 years, being burnt down and spending four years closed, Café Cairo epitomises the Brixton spirit. James Perrett finds out how “We’re still here,” say the people behind one of Brixton’s longestrunning bars. “Come and see us!” Their long-standing establishment, Café Cairo, sits tucked away on Landor Road, in that stretch between Brixton and Clapham. Behind a red façade, Café Cairo opens out across two floors; beyond the bar is a sprawling courtyard of tented corners, hand-crafted Egyptian dividers, plump lounging cushions and a pizza oven. Café Cairo opened its doors in 1996, the creation of former BBC reporter David Lodge. After travelling to Egypt for work, David fell in love with the culture and brought it back to the UK in the early 90s as a tent in Glastonbury. The current space, built by David himself, remains not just a bar but a community hub for artists; a live theatre stage, a belly-dancing studio, a cinema. “David was doing this in London before anyone else was: mixing café, nightlife, culture,” bar manager Aaron Molloy told me over Brixton Electric IPAs. Everything you see in Café Cairo has been built by David, Aaron and girlfriend Rhiannon Parry (also David’s partner in business) – it’s all DIY, recycled and eco-friendly. Rhiannon said: “It’s literally our blood sweat and tears, this creation. It’s always been a labour of love.” The bar burnt down 11 years ago on 4 November 2007 in what the couple still believe was an act of arson. They closed for four years, a group of them keeping the name alive through Café Cairo Events; designing and decorating spaces for parties – a house

party here, a church in Nunhead there. But the call of Cairo was strong and they spent a year rebuilding it from the ground up. Rhiannon said: “It was all still here like a ghost town, just sitting here for four years covered in dust and ash.” Current Café Cairo serves only locally sourced drinks with all mixers homemade from scratch. “We believe if you have better alcohol you get intoxicated in a better way, you get happier,” explains Aaron. “With organic ingredients there’s no sulphites which are what give you a headache.” They’re more than happy for you to come and drink mint tea at midnight, too, or tuck into vegan chocolate and vegan pizzas. Aaron and Rhiannon want to promote the eclectic range of events the café hosts; from their “wild” Halloween party, to BeLLy BoX, a small cabaret night with hand-picked “very odd, but brilliant” acts. “All different types of people come through the arch,” says Aaron. “You don’t want to stay at home? Come to Cairo. You want to go partying but you’re a bit too scared of big crowds? Come to Cairo. You just want to hang out and watch a film? Come to Cairo.” Rhiannon adds: “We’re not trying to be original. We just want people to know that Cairo has been in Brixton for so long. People need to know that there are places in Brixton from ‘back in the day’ that are still here. We’re still here, we’re still going, come check us out!” AA For opening times and contact details, visit www.cafecairo.co.uk AA Facebook: Café Cairo

Take tea and relive the No Colour Bar Dance Lambeth Age UK is putting on a Tea Dance at the Town Hall as part of this year’s Black History Month celebrations. The dance commemorates the Lambeth No Colour Bar Dance held in the Assembly Hall in 1955. The Mayor of Lambeth at that time welcomed immigrants from the West Indies and invited equal numbers of local residents to help new neighbours get to know each other. Tea, coffee and cake will be on offer as well as three hours of ballroom, Latin and sequence dancing. Doors Open Tuesday 30 October at 1pm. Dancing finishes at 4pm. Entry is £5 and must be pre-booked at eventlambeth.co.uk/teadance. Tickets are also available from Brixton Library or from 0871 220 0260.

A5 Flyer Portrait

210mm x 14 8m m Remember to delete or hid this laye r.

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T: 01702 460047

10pm – 3am

Entry £3 Bleed Area remember to extend any colouring or images into this 3mm bleed area to avoid white lines appearing during th print finishing stages.

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Trim Your job will be cut on the solid black line, any images or text placed in incorrectly .

Safe Are a Keep all your information inside the white area. Remember to use hig h resolution images (300dpi) for the best results.

414 - 416 Coldharbour Lane - Brixton - London - SW9 8LF

20  WHAT’S ON brixtonblog.com 2018 NOVEMBER

Jamila Omar rounds up a November selection of gigs and more in Brixton and nearby FRI 26 OCT @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

TUE 30 OCT @ 02 ACADEMY

Travelling collective Cirque du Soul bring their blend of colour, magic and dance, and transform the Electric into a twisted circus of misfits and freaks for a HALLOWEEN SPECIAL. Step inside the haunted mansion for a night of madness and mayhem, while the air will be soaked with the freshest collection of house, disco funk and soul this side of Chicago. 10pm-5am. £10-£20.

Despite having a busy few years with an array of creative projects, JOHN GRANT isn’t slowing down. Currently putting the finishing touches to his long-awaited fourth solo album, he’ll also be gracing the O2 Academy Brixton stage for the first time this autumn. With support from Two Medicine. 7pm. £37.25.

Phonox gives a warm welcome to its new SATURDAY NIGHT RESIDENT, ESA. The South African DJ ushers in a new era as he makes the Brixton club his home. Originally from Cape Town, Esa’s sets marry his South African heritage with high energy house, disco and world music, ready made for the dance floor. 9pm-4am.

WED 31 OCT @ HOOTANANNY

Brixton VEGAN MARKET celebrates its first birthday and last market of 2018 with an open mic street party. Enjoy international street food; shop for eco-friendly gifts and products, and enter charity raffles in support of Brixton Food Bank and FRIEND Farmed Animal Rescue. Also Xmas-themed art workshop.PLUS Enter the special tie-in event at Craft Beer Co – The Brixton Vegan Market Pub Quiz. 11am to 4pm.

SAT 27 OCT @ BRIXTON JAMM For one night only, experience a Halloween FUNK AND SOUL EXTRAVAGANZA. Halloween doesn’t have to always be about gruesome tales, so instead celebrate the good times as Riot Jazz bring their unique flair to proceedings. 10pm-5am. £6-£15, more OTD.

SUN 28 OCT @ POP BRIXTON I Like It Like That presents a Sunday dance, food and chillout afternoon with SALSA ON VINYL, a relaxed but musically rich afternoon of salsa dura, guaguanco, son montuno, cha-cha, descargas, guaracha y pachangas by a beautifully diverse and talented group of DJs and record collectors who will play in rotation to keep the flavour rich and spicy. 5-10pm. Free.

MON 29 OCT @ HERNE HILL VELODROME This weekly cycling event with DASL (Disability Advice Service Lambeth) is part of its inclusive sport and physical activities programme for people with limited mobility. Try tricycles, tandems, hand cycles and more. 10.30am-12.30pm. £5 to cycle.

NOVA presents The River, one of the hottest new INDIE ROCK BANDS around and buzzing with energy. Expect to hear rousing choruses inspired by bands such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Peace and Wolf Alice. Supported by Ste Forshaw. 9pmmidnight. Free.

THUR 1 NOV @ PRINCE ALBERT Donald’s Fun Promotion Groove On Up OPEN VINYL NIGHT. Expect crowdpleasing old skool, classics, legends and anthems music from the 70s, 80s, 90s & 00s with slices of classic soul,and roots. Feel free to bring along your own vinyl discs. 8pm-midnight. Free.

FRI 2 NOV @ CAFE CAIRO New to Cafe Cairo is this bi-monthly DANCING EVENT with your hosts Tom Whiskey Kitten and DJ Codename Sparrow playing four-to-the-floor soul, Bowie, Indie nuggets, Party bangers and Psych, with special guests too. 9pm2am. £5.

SAT 3 NOV @ PHONOX

SUN 4 NOV @BRIXTON STATION ROAD

MON 5 NOV @ POP BRIXTON

Gurpreet from Brixton Yoga teaches VINYASA FLOW, a shared, fun, community experience set to an eclectic and modern soundtrack. With a strong focus on the flow of breath, Gurpreet’s classes work you hard in the early stages, slowing down into a gorgeous movement meditation to close. 6.20-7.40pm. £7.

BRIXTON’S CAFE CONTINENTAL Centrally situated on the corner of Brixton Road and Brixton Station Road where you can sip a cappuccino, a glass of wine or a beer al fresco on the spacious pavement terrace outside and watch the world go by. Or you can enjoy the aromas of Arabica coffee mingling with freshly baked panini’s and Italian home cooking in the cosy interior. There is downstairs seating as well. Drop by and say hello to Enza, Mario or one of the family.

TUE 6 NOV @ HOOTANANNY

Cecil Reuben presents Olas Boss and Jahrevelationmusik SKA REVIVAL night on the first Tuesday of the month, with a mix of reggae, rocksteady and ska. 9pmmidnight. Free.

WED 7 NOV @ OFF THE CUFF

Herne Hill’s Off The Cuff Bar presents a night of LIVE MUSIC from local singers and songwriters each and every Wednesday. Well worth a look. 8pm. Free.

THUR 8 NOV @ EFFRA HALL TAVERN

A great weekly LIVE JAZZ session at this much loved classic Brixton boozer each and every Thursday night. 9pm-midnight. Free.

FRI 9 NOV @ POP BRIXTON

Tangy Events presents REGGAE N THAT – an eclectic showcase celebrating the rich history and diversity of reggae and other genres of vintage Black music. From Studio 1 originals to current producers and releases, ska and rocksteady to heavy roots and hypnotic dub, no corner is left untouched. Tonight’s lineup features Reuben Vibes and Mr Gibbon plus guests. 7pm-midnight. Free.

SAT 10 NOV @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

A former member of an alternative rock band from New York, Angolan artist ANSELMO began making projects as a solo artist. In January 2006 he released his first album Love Stories. That year he was nominated by the Channel O Music Video Awards in the Best R & B and Best Director categories, and by the MTV Europe Music Awards in the Best African Artist category. 10pm-4am. £25-£35.

BREAKFAST? We do a Full English (halal, veg and vegan). Or try one of our delicious breakfast paninis, a cheese and honey roast ham muffin or a freshly baked croissant.

LUNCH ? Our menu has some tasty new additions — ravioli with spinach & ricotta or Nduja spicy Italian salami and tagliatelle, each in a cream and garlic tomato sauce. There is pasta with tuna, black olives & red onion, a lighter selection of salads with new spicy coriander or grilled chicken, with choices of coleslaw, potato salad and rice. We have falafels & hummus with salad plus many more salad plates to choose from.

photos SpotOn Social Media

FANCY A CAFE CLASSIC ? We are ready for you with our sausages & mash with gravy, or succulent chicken escalope with cream of mushroom sauce. Your choice of chips or mash, of course.

25 years: Three generations of Family Schifano serving great coffee to Brixton

4 1 3 BRI XTO N R D , LO N D O N SW9 7DG | 020 7978 8417 | SANMAR INOBR IXTON@YAH OO. COM

NOVEMBER 2018 brixtonblog.com WHAT’S ON  21

Jamila Omar rounds SUN 11 NOV @ CLUB 414

Grassroots Live Music. A weekly Sunday night that looks set to encourage and inspire grassroots LOCAL TALENT. UB40 trumpeter Patrick Anthony leads the experienced house band, with resident DJs and Caribbean food available too. 10pm-3am. Free.

MON 12 NOV @ EFFRA SOCIAL

Comedy improvisation show Duck Duck Goose host their IMPROV JAM plus guests in the Effra Social’s Churchill Lounge every Monday. You can simply watch or join in. 7.30-11pm. Free.

TUE 13 NOV @ POP BRIXTON

Fine wine purveyors THE NEW ZEALAND CELLAR hosts a tasting with winemaker Mike Paterson from the Corofin Vineyard in Marlborough who specialises in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. 6-8pm. Free.

WED 14 NOV @ 02 BRIXTON ACADEMY

Off the back of a barnstorming tour through the UK supporting the release of her brilliant second album, Tell Me How You Really Feel, COURTNEY BARNETT is coming back for round two. 7pm. £29.40.

THUR 15 NOV @ POP BRIXTON

An introduction to COMPUTERS, smartphones and IT for our older neighbours. Equipment will be provided but personal phones, laptops and tablets can be brought to the sessions. The class is led by Pop member, KHK Technology, who redistribute refurbished IT equipment to schools and other organisations. Six places per session. 10-11am. Free.

FRI 16 NOV @ HIDEAWAY

The latest project from Brand New Heavies founder/songwriter and drummer Jan Kincaid, as he teams up with Fellow Heavy and renowned vocalist Dawn Joseph to bring MF ROBOTS to this Streatham venue as part of the London Jazz Festival. Doors 7pm. Show 9pm. £17.50.

SAT 17 NOV @ PRINCE OF WALES

Renowned for intimate and hedonistic parties including alfresco daytime events on the Prince Of Wales wonderful Terrace, DEEP INTO SOUL have continued in 2018 to bring you some of the biggest international DJs alongside some of the UK’s finest on the house scene. For their end of year party they have teamed up with Mi Casa Es Su Casa. 10pm5am. £15.

SUN 18 NOV @ HOOTANANNY

Rootmaster presents Brazilian singer songwriter ALEH FERREIRA with a crack band of Brazilian and British musicians, playing songs that mark his career. Having made his debut with the reggae band Bantus in the mid-1990s during a national tour with the legendary Wailers, he helped revive Banda Black Rio together with Wilian Magalhães. 9pm-midnight. Free.

MON 19 NOV @ OFF THE CUFF

Heads Up at Off The Cuff is a weekly Monday JAZZ JAM SESSION. The house band (Heads Up) will play the first set from 8.30ish then open up for a jam session at 9.30ish. Come along and bring your instrument. 8.3011pm. Free.

TUE 20 NOV @ THE WINE PARLOUR

Now a five-year institution on Railton Road, The Wine Parlour, in one of its regular Wednesday events, hosts a relaxed TASTING of five quality Italian wines accompanied by artisan cheese and charcuterie with a Wine & Spirit Education Trust qualified tutor. 7.309.30pm. £35.

WED 21 NOV @ QUEEN’S HEAD

Musicians from all over London will be playing a mixture of genres on stage at WICKED WEDNESDAY JAM. Join Aurora Dawn Aka (Alabama 3), Laura Ibáñez (Brixton Gypsy Jam) and James Lawrence (Ronnie Scott’s Ruby Sings Jam) in this weekly event calling all musicians, singers, MCs, the local musical community, global family and beyond. 10pm-3am. £3.

THUR 22 NOV @ PRINCE OF WALES

Thursday nights at the Prince of Wales are dedicated to late night LIVE JAZZ and have been running weekly for four years, making it something of an institution. Expect to see special guest musicians/vocalists dropping by for a jam with house band The Banger Factory and industry heads popping by for a late night tipple. 11pm-3am. Free.

FRI 23 NOV @ DOGSTAR

DJ Mathlete hosts the main room for DOGSTAR FRIDAYS, spinning funk, soul, hip hop, house and more. 9pm-4am.

SAT 24 NOV @ 02 ACADEMY BRIXTON

Vocalist, producer and multi-instrumentalist EDEN blends organic and synthesized instruments to create a unique and visceral sound. With his debut album Vertigo he’s setting his sights high, starting with a huge headline show at O2 Academy Brixton. 7pm. £20.95.

SUN 25 NOV @ HOOTANANNY

Rootmaster presents Amaraterra who will release the rhythmic and rapturous power of southern ITALIAN AND GREEK traditional music – pizzica, tarantella and rebetiko – enhanced by a contemporary London twist. Beware: the tarantella is named for the tarantula spider and victims of its bite – pizzicu – dance until they die. 9pmmidnight. Free..

MON 26 NOV @ @ BLUES KITCHEN

Sexy BLUES tunes paired with a side of succulent and saucy ribs. Each and every Monday night. 8pm-midnight. Free.

TUE 27 NOV @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

French sensation JAIN promotes her second album Souldier in Brixton in a tour taking in Barcelona and Cologne. The music broadens out from the Congolese rumba of her first, Zanaka with influences from of Kendrick Lamar, Tito Puente, Fairuz and Bob Marley. Doors 7pm. £18.48.

WED 28 NOV @ CLUB 414

The much-loved local club is home to the weekly Brixton LATE NIGHT JAM, hosted by Be Atwell and Reverend D Wayne Love of Alabama 3. They invite local musicians to come on down to play in front of a live audience to gain vital experience needed before moving on to bigger and better things. 10pm-3am. Free with flyer b412. £3 or £5 after.

THUR 29 NOV @ ELM PARK TAVERN

On the last Thursday of each month the kitchen team at this refurbished boozer cook up a storm at their new seasonal SUPPER CLUB. Talented chefs create a seasonal menu featuring ingredients that are at their best at that time and which we all should be enjoying. Five courses for £28. 7-10.30pm.

FRI 30 NOV @ @ GREMIO DE BRIXTON

In the majestic crypt of St. Matthews Church, this Spanish TAPAS restaurant/bar promises style and seduction. DJs play commercial house on rotation from 10pm at weekends, with a live saxophonist from 11pm. Open until 3am. Free.

Agnès Varda and JR in Faces Places

What’s on at Whirled London Short Film Micro Film Festival Sunday 28 October | 8:15pm The Micro Film Festival screens 10 short films each year that are shortlisted by a five-person committee of volunteers from the London Short Film collective. The final selection is chosen by LSF staff and then goes back to the committee for award choices. These shorts are chosen from hundreds of submissions from all over the world. Total running time three hours. Tickets from bit.ly/LSF_MFF-2018. More details at londonshortfilm.com. The Guardians Monday 29 to Wednesday 31 October | 8pm Sunday 4 November | 6pm It’s 1915. In Xavier Beauvois’ The Guardians, (Les Guardiennes) a mother and daughter take over when the men of Paridier farm in the Deux-Sèvres region of western France leave for the front. The women work tirelessly. Hortense, the mother, hires a young ward of the state to help – Francine, who believes that she has finally found a family. She attracts the attentions of a son, Georges, at home on leave. Then the Americans arrive … Walking India Thursday 1 November | 8pm To discover the story of India’s Independence, Olie Hunter Smart walked the 4,500-kilometre length of

Bewitched in Brixton

Studio 73’s new exhibition #iamawitchbecause opens on 9 November with a performance by the artist, Ana Escobar. The show explores the witch and the supernatural. Notions of witchcraft and female power have often been conflated – almost always by men – with terrible consequences for some women. So it will be interesting to see how this relationship is addressed in a contemporary manner. Ana Escobar works predominantly with photography, multi-media installations and live performance. The show will include satellite events which promise some unusual audience participation opportunities. #iamawitchbecause is the first exhibition of the 73Takeover series that will explore the concepts of “artist as curator” and “curator as artist”.

India over seven months, seeking out untold stories of Independence and Partition. His route saw him trekking over snow-bound Himalayan passes, battling intense heat in the northern plains, and being drenched by monsoon rains as he walked through the rural heartland of the country. Olie immerses himself in the culture and is invited in by many of the people he encounters, from whom he records shocking and heartfelt first-hand accounts of India’s struggle for freedom gained 70 years ago. He had never made a film before. Faces Places Monday 12 - Wednesday 14 November | 8pm Sunday 18 November | 6pm In the year of her 90th birthday, Faces Places sees Belgian-born Franch filmmaker Agnès Varda forging an unexpected collaboration with photographer JR on a road trip. The two share a passion for images and how they are created, displayed and shared; Varda through cinema, JR through his outdoor installations. They set out in JR’s photo booth-enhanced truck, exploring rural France and meeting its residents – all the while creating large-scale portraits plastered across unconventional locations. A Cannes Film Festival award-winner and Academy Award nominee, Faces Places is a charming and life-affirming look at not only the subtle power of community, but also the inspiration that comes from the most cross-generational of friendships.

It’s that time of the year

The lead-up to Christmas, is the perfect opportunity to create a hand-stitched gift, while supporting the Bloody Good Period campaign. Half of the proceeds of a three-hour embroidery workshop will go into tons of sanitary products to help the campaign around the world. It’s on Sunday 25 November from 1 to 4pm in Brixton’s Bureau Of Silly Ideas,18 Valentia Pl SW9 8PJ. The workshop will be stitching tampons, period cups and sanitary towels of all kinds. You need

no previous embroidery knowledge, as Jess De Wahls will get you started on all you need to know. You will be able to choose from different designs with all necessary materials provided. AA The cost is £65. AA www.jessdewahls.com

FEAST IN THE ARCHIVES

Each October the Friends of Brixton’s Black Cultural Archives open them up to host Feast in the Archives. Bring your family to share nostalgic memories over a blend of cuisines that have been carried into Black British communities and delve deeper into the archives for an afternoon of food, memories, history and archives. Sunday 28 October, 3 to 5.30pm. Tickets are £25 and include a Sunday lunch buffet. All proceeds go towards fundraising for BCA.

22  COLUMNS brixtonblog.com 2018 NOVEMBER GARDENING GEMMA PASHA

POSY BERNSTEIN’S DATING DIARY

Planting for winter

A snippet of future fantasy

It is a common misconception that gardens die into nothing over Winter, and are a place which offer nothing at all apart from Spring, Summer and Autumn. But there is a lot of things you can plant, add to your garden to make it look wonderful all year round. You might not be sitting there for lunch, but you might find yourself enjoying the odd evening enjoying the fresh air, peace and quiet, star gazing and toasting marshmallows on the fire pit. When I offer advice or take on a planting project, my first priority is to make sure that there is not only an abundance of plants and colour through Spring and Summer, but that there is also something happening in the garden in the winter months which makes the garden still look full of life rather than a soggy bed of rotting leaves. First, you need to establish a base of evergreen shrubs which retain their leaves over winter – Choysia or Daphne for example. These look good whatever the time of year. Pick something that also flowers during the Spring. I saw a Christmas camillia at Kew Gardens which blossoms beautiful pink flowers over Winter. There is nothing like Winter-blooming plants to lift your spirits during the colder months. Shrubs such as winter hazel, witch hazel and honeysuckle offer colour and fragrance at a time when you need it most. Early bulbs, including snowdrops, species crocus and winter aconite will even pop up

Devon Dylan was found on AnApp (where else?)*. We met in a very loud, very sweaty pub in Clapham, which was fitting, because although Devon Dylan is from Devon, he could equally be called Clapham Callum given his wardrobe, voice, face etc. I liked that we knew some of the same Devony places. In fact, my 13-year-old self would have been thrilled with me for going on a date with a boy who was both two years older and who used to rent out paddle boards on Blackpool Sands. What a dream! It is probably a good sign on a date, if when you are kicked out the pub at closing, you try and find somewhere else to go. The only place open was a more loud and more crowded bar. The waitress obviously noticed our repeated cries of “I CANT HEAR YOU” and came over to us. “I’m sorry it’s so busy, but you should come another night – earlier maybe?” “Oh, don’t worry,” I replied. “We were just glad somewhere was open.” It shouldn’t be charming when men maybe slightly undermine what you’ve said to an external party, but when Dylan muscled in with: “Thanks so much, we’ve been planning to come here a while actually, we should definitely come again, shouldn’t we?” I near melted. Why is it so lovely when boys you hardly know pretend you are in a an actual real relationship? I wish I didn’t find it so like, well, wonderful, but I do. Maybe it’s the

through a shallow cover of snow, giving you hope that Spring is not far away. When choosing your herbaceous plants, be mindful of planting plants that will flower for large chunks of the year. Elysium Boules Mauve, or Salvia Hot Lips (inset) are fantastic – cheap, low-maintenance and flower for absolutely months. Hellebores are also a fantastic choice, the Winter or Christmas rose spreads nicely and offers beautiful flowers in the dead of Winter. Grasses are very on trend, and are also evergreen. which can really add some depth to any flower bed. Choose something with interesting colours for added interest. In addition to this, start pruning trees and shrubs in late Winter before they break dormancy. Don’t prune early bloomers until after they flower or you will lose this season’s blooms. Research pruning techniques for each variety before you start to obtain the best results. I always make sure that window boxes, hanging baskets and containers are cleared out and filled with nice seasonal plants – Cyclamen, pansy, ivy and hellebores make an excellent combination. 66 There is no need for your garden to look dead over Winter, for more help, hints, tips and advice please contact The Gardening Girl on 07826 551353.

sense of possibility, like it’s pretend but also it so could be real – it allows for this snippet of future fantasy. Or, maybe it’s because someone pretending we are in a long-term relationship is the closest I have ever been and ever will be to true love. Yes, thank you, correct: woe is indeed me. Dylan walked me home and kissed me at the end of my road. I would class it as a good kiss, but that might have been because despite it being dark, the air was still warm, and I was wearing a white linen dress and it felt all summer-love-ish. Not to say Dylan wasn’t/isn’t lovely – and a little bit funny, but I can’t decide if I really like him. Of course my Jack-Wills-clad, surfer lusting early-teen self would be totally and utterly in love with him, but can I really pursue something just to make her happy? Also, 13-year-old self was very into the Tory thing, because it was kind of in, wasn’t it? If we really think about it, it was probably Jack Wills that caused Brexit. So maybe I don’t like him, because I, Posy Bernstein, move with the times, and the changing political climate has occurred alongside a changing political Posy. So, despite boys fancying me being glorious validation, the fancying (alongside cosy checked shirts, posh boy banter, and a stellar knowledge of the South Devon coastline) is not quite enough to make me fall in love. Having said that, I have not grown up enough to refuse a second date with Dylan so, I’ll talk to you next week. Lots of love, Posy x x x *Please, if anyone knows where else, do tell me immediately.

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NOVEMBER 2018

Hill Mead HERALD Interview with a Windrush descendant

OUR OWN WINDRUSH JOURNEY Hill Mead is

Year 6 watched news reports and read articles to map out the key events of the Windrush scandal and to understand the vocabulary used. They studied interviews and then created their own through role play based on real and fictional interviewees. Below is Maliea’s interview.

immersing itself in the story of the Empire Windrush to celebrate the 70th anniversary of its arrival. Each year group is finding out about the Windrush Story and then researching a specific aspect. So all our Hill Mead Herald articles until the end of the year will be about our journey of learning about this significant event. Year 1 are exploring Jamaican heritage around Brixton; Year 2 are exploring the journey; Years 3 and 4 are finding

A working wall display – pupils’ work is added as the topic develops

I could not believe my eyes

Year 2 has been thinking about what would have happened to the passengers on the Empire Windrush once they arrived in Britain. In particular, we explored, through drama, the main differences between London and Jamaica. White sandy beaches and hot sun had been replaced by cold, rainy air. Would they find the job they so desperately wanted? Would they miss home? When we all arrived it rained and I missed home. There were no sunny beaches and palm trees any more. It was so cold it made me shiver. I wish I was on the beach with sand on my feet. We got off the boat, we were so amazed we saw new cars and shops. I saw a really big building it was like it was touching the sky. Finally, I found a place to stay. After a while I liked London. I got a job as a cleaner and got loads of money. “ By Ricky When I arrived it rained and it was very cold and the cold made me miss my home. I wish I had sand in my toes and see the palm trees. I just miss my home a lot and I wonder if I will sleep well. When I got off the boat, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I saw big buildings and bright lights. I finally found a job. My job was working in the hospital. It was really hard and I was really happy.” By Ayoub In England it was so cold and too hard to look for a job. I couldn’t find one, it was impossible. This is so tiring and my eyes are getting dried out. I am going home and will try again another day.” By Oluferanmi

A diary from the Caribbean

out about the cultural impact

Year 4 has been imagining what it was like hearing about opportunities in England at the time of the Windrush …

of the Windrush Generation; Year 5 are researching the economic contribution and Year 6 are focusing on the recent scandal

Year 4 pupils are exploring Brixton and using old photographs to find out what it looked like in the last century – when the Academy was the Variety Cinema

Year 3 display on The Windrush Child, a poem by John Agard

Dear Diary Today I was walking back from work when I saw a gigantic poster saying “Come to England” and on the poster I saw people working in an office and children learning in a big classroom. I was so amazed I nearly dropped some very important papers. I was a teacher. I ran home and told my wife and children. “So,” said my wife, “Shall we go?” “It seems fun but I’ll miss my friends,” said my daughter. “What if it isn’t as good as it looks and we can’t turn back,” said my son. Then, my wife left the room and came back with five big bags. We decided to go to England. By Zyanna

An interview about the Windrush Scandal with Barrington Marriott, to be broadcast at a later date. INTERVIEWER: You travelled to Britain in 1970. At this time did you have the correct paperwork? BARRINGTON MARRIOTT: I had the correct paperwork. Despite this, I was persuaded that I didn’t need the paperwork at all. Unfortunately, the Home Office took the Windrush Generation’s landing card slips to an anonymous tower block and destroyed them. INTERVIEWER: How has this situation affected you? BARRINGTON MARRIOTT: This problem has taken over my life. So I’ve just given up on hope. I cry myself to sleep every night. Sometimes I can’t even sleep! I had severe problems when I came to England, and now I might get deported back to my country of origin. I’ve lost my job. What else am I going to lose? INTERVIEWER: How else has this news affected you? BARRINGTON MARRIOTT: “News” is not what you call this. Call this torture, that’s how I feel. I feel tortured. This torture has become my evil nemesis, who tries anything to stop my life from taking its daily course. I’ve lost my job, now I have no way of getting any money. This government is very inept, and they betray people with laws and policies. INTERVIEWER: Do you have any relatives or friends that are going through the same thing as you? BARRINGTON MARRIOTT: I have family who are facing the same hostility as I am. I’ve got many Caribbean friends who are also dealing with this “hostile environment policy”. This was so bad for some of the people I know that they flew back to the Caribbean. Ultimately I’ve given up on hope, but not on rights. So fight for your rights! INTERVIEWER: Thank you Barrington for taking part in this interview.

Year 6 are studying the Brixton Tube mural