Brixton Bugle September 2022

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BRIXTON BUGLE YOUR FREE Published monthly in and for Brixton

No 87 | SEPTEMBER 2022

ISSN 2397-852X

COMMUNITY PAPER

CONCERN MOUNTS OVER ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND CRIME IN BRIXTON

‘BRUISED BATTERED BROKEN’

Concern is mounting over increased levels of anti-social behaviour in Windrush Square and central Brixton.

Lambeth council has said that it plans to take action over the problems.

One local resident, who is considering leaving Brixton, said it was now “bruised, battered and broken”.

Two recent incidents have highlighted the problems around Windrush Square.

Graffiti was scrawled over the African Caribbean war memorial and a fire did extensive damage to one of the large doors of the nearby St Matthews church.

Residents of central Brixton are also reporting increased levels of anti-social behaviour and crime and say police appear powerless to tackle it.

Having seen the African Caribbean war memorial stand for several years as a spot dedicated to the memory of tens of thousands of Black service men and women, many of whom died fighting for Britain, local people have been distressed to see people using it as a seat.

A more recent arrival on Windrush square, the Cherry Groce memorial, commemorating the local woman shot in her bed by the police, also

attracts people who sit and play music.

A steel cabinet next to the war memorial has been broken into and it is believed that the electricity supply it contains is being used to charge mobile phones and power radios and other music players.

There has been damage to the monument’s surrounds and they are often littered with cans and broken glass.

The monument was surrounded with concrete planters not long after it was unveiled because it was being damaged by skateboarders.

Council notices urging skateboarders not to use Windrush Square continue to be ignored.

Dr Jak Beula spent a great deal of time and effort in establishing the memorial, which was opened on Windrush Day, 22 June, in 2017 with a full-scale military ceremony attended by the secretary of state for defence.

Dr Beula has written to Lambeth council leader Claire Holland expressing concern about the way the monument and the whole of Windrush Square has been “allowed to get run down”.

During a recent weekly clean of the memorial,

Graffiti on the African Caribbean war memorial in Windrush Square

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PORTRAIT OF A WINNER Top of the people’s poll

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BEER TODAY Brixton’s breweries

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JAZZ QUEEN Meet Helen McDonald

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TOUCHING DOWN … … in Philadelphia

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brixtonblog.com 2022 SEPTEMBER

2 NEWS

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from previous page he told her, “it came to my attention that graffiti had been sprawled over it”.

He said the apparent culprits were people who have recently been using the memorial as a central gathering point.

“On many occasions I, and other members of the community, have had to ask loiterers not to sit on the obelisks or plinth.

“In most cases they do move, but there have been incidents when asking them to do so has resulting in threatening and intimidating behaviour.

“This is unacceptable, and also an indictment of how this sacred space (labelled by the Evening Standard as the Britain’s most visible monument for diversity and inclusion), has been, like the entire square, allowed to get run down.”

Dr Beula spoke to the CCTV surveillance team at the council’s Shakespeare Road security centre who established that the monument was defaced between 1 and 2.30pm on a Friday.

Brixton Business Improve­ment District (BID) cleaned the graffiti-damaged areas at no charge.

Dr Beula noted that the council had provided planters in 2018 to protect the memorial from skateboarders, but told Claire Holland that responsibility needed to be taken to protect the memorial and Windrush Square generally.

He said the community is very proud of Windrush Square “but not what it has become in recent months”.

A Lambeth council spokesperson said: “We thank Jak Beula for his efforts in getting Brixton’s African and Caribbean War Memorial established, and for his efforts in maintaining it.

The council has also carried out cleaning and maintenance of the memorial.

“However, it is clear these efforts, and those of the council, are not enough to maintain the site and address anti-social behaviour in and around Windrush Square.

“So we are currently stepping up our work in the area in partnership with local police and the Brixton Business Improvement District group.

“Both the council and Brixton BID are increasing their warden patrols in the square and will carry out a review of the area to see what improvements can be made to discourage anti-­ social behaviour.

“We will work with Mr Beula on these efforts.”

Central Brixton resident Rob Goacher, one of

Skateboarders practise on a Windrush Square feature usually used for seating

Anti-clockwise from left: 7 A glass dumped in one of the planters that surround the African Caribbean war memorial and the cabinet that has been broken into 8 Damage to the steps of the memorial 1 Litter, including a tobacco packet, on the memorial

Fire damage to one of the doors of St Matthew’ church

Ambulance service workers attend a man found unconscious in Rushcroft Road, just off Windrush Square

many who have been plagued for years by latenight noise, public urination and worse, said he had faced death threats from young people and indifference and rudeness from police.

Brixton is “bruised, battered and broken,” said Goacher, who, in the past, he has been honoured in The Lambeth Community Awards with the “Bringing your neighbourhood together” award for the supporting vulnerable people in the area. The then Lambeth mayor, Donatus Anyanwu, presented the award at a Royal Festival Hall ceremony.

Rob Goacher said that a “town centre team” of 27 police officers had had no effect.

He said he has “a list as long as my arm” of failed police responses to 999 calls “where they simply have done nothing. Either they’ve not turned up at all or just looked at me like I’m stupid”.

The calls were about drug use, setting fire to bins, and kids breaking and entering local business premises. A fire was started recently in a central Brixton building.

He said illegal traders were fighting among themselves over pitches near the Tube station, but no action was taken. Other, legal, local street traders had to be licensed and insured if they were not to be barred from working. “So why is it alright for one or not for another?” Rob Goacher asked.

He said that a hospital mattress had been in the Tube station for several days – “two people were basically living there 24 hours a day”.

Daylight drug selling was also rife on many of Brixton’s busiest streets.

He said he and other local residents were dealing with and solving issues, while the council and police “did nothing”.

The only body that was doing anything, he said, was the Brixton BID (business improvement district); two BID staff patrolled the streets, but they had no power to do anything, he added.

Rob Goacher said a mobile phone used by the police town centre team is so ancient that it cannot record the number of anyone who has phoned it, so they cannot be called back.

“I’ve never, ever, had them answer it once,” he said.

One resident of Tunstall Road with young children had blocked their balcony so that the children could not see “people, peeing, injecting, having sex – whatever – in the alleyway right outside of the block”.

Police appeal for witnesses after three injured in knife fight Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward after an incident in Brixton that left three people in hospital.

Police were called to Josephine Avenue in the early evening of Saturday 20 August after reports of a group of men fighting.

A man in his 30s was found with stab wounds and was treated at the scene before being taken to hospital.

Another man was also found at the scene with stab wounds. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and was taken to hospital before being taken into custody.

A vehicle that was seen driving away from the scene was stopped by police in Coldharbour Lane.

Three men were detained and later arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. A taser was discharged to detain one of the men.

One of those held had a minor stab wound and was taken to hospital for treatment before being taken into custody.

Another man in the vehicle was also taken to hospital after he was found with stab wounds.

None those taken to hospital were found to have lifechanging injuries.

A further three men were arrested at the scene on suspicion

of attempted murder. They have been taken into custody. A total of seven have been arrested.

Multiple crime scenes were in place after the arrests and enquiries are continuing.

Anyone with information that could help officers is asked to call 101, with the reference 6117/20AUG. Information can also be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

SEPTEMBER 2022

brixtonblog.com

NEWS 3

Brockwell Park pitch would cost £800,000 With strong feelings both against and for plans to build a new artificial turf football pitch near the lido in Brockwell Park, Lambeth council’s parks and leisure services department has released a briefing on the scheme.

It reveals that the impetus for the scheme comes from a national planning exercise and that the total cost will be about £800,000, with £200,000 of this coming from the council and the rest from the Football Foundation.

The foundation is a charity established by the Premier League, The Football Association and government to provide grass roots football facilities.

Critics of the proposal have said that existing council pitches in Kennington and Larkhall parks have closed because it had failed or could not afford to maintain them.

The council said the Larkhall pitch reopened after replacement of the surface around midApril and that the a r t i f i c i a l h o c ke y pitch in Kennington Park is cur rently closed ahead of much needed resurfacing works and will re-open early next year.

Football Association guidance on the type of pitch planned for Brockwell park says it has a life span of seven to ten years and “strongly recommends” that a fund be established for the replacement of the surface. The cost of resurfacing this type of pitch is between £180,000 and £200,000 at 2019 prices.

The council said its parks team would manage the new pitch if it gets planning consent and that it is forecast to generate sufficient income to cover its maintenance and management.

A percentage of overall income from sports facilities in Lambeth’s parks would be set

aside each year for reinvesting back into existing facilities to maintain them at a good standard, the council said.

Donatus Anyanwu, council cabinet member for stronger communities, leisure and sports, said: “This new football pitch would be a valuable resource for our communities, young and old, male and female. Lambeth has one of the lowest numbers of playing pitches in London and we are keen to boost the offer.

“There are more than 100 football teams based in Lambeth. An online consultation with potential users showed significant interest from local clubs that, in some cases, have been unable to access pitches to train or play on in the borough.

“If Lambeth is to contribute to the growth in the popularity of the women and girls’ game and the recent success of the Lionesses, it needs new and attractive facilities.”

The briefing says that an existing cinder pitch which would be used for part of the new pitch is an “eyesore”. The proposed new pitch would also cover part of a wildflower meadow next to the cinder one.

The parks department briefing summarises “key points” about the plans, which both make the case for the pitch and address issues raised by objectors.

They say “there will be no net loss of biodiversity”, explaining: “Some scrub and approximately half of the

wildflower meadow” would be lost, but would be recreated in the conservation area immediately to the north of the planned pitch.

According to the briefing, “it is planned that the overall area created will be larger than the existing meadow”. New “scrub islands” would also be created elsewhere in the park.

Proposed floodlighting from 12-metre high poles would be “screened behind the existing line of trees”. The briefing says pipistrelle bats, which have been observed in the park, “are not disadvantaged by the LED lighting” and that “there is some evidence it is beneficial” to them.

Development of the artificial pitch is likely to reduce play on existing grass pitches, freeing up more space for informal recreation, the briefing asserts.

The council will m a n a g e t h e n ew pitch directly, with a full schedule of programmed activities. Many of these w i l l b e p rov i d e d by key community partners, primarily the St. Matthew’s Project, at no or low cost to participants.

The briefing says that the strategic partnership board for the park was unable to identify “a more appropriate location”. Some people have suggested that the existing areas used for football training along the Norwood Road boundary of the park would make a better site.

The briefing says the existing cinder pitch is 50 years out of date and “a wasted asset” with a deteriorating surface and retaining walls.

Brockwell Park originally had three Redgra (cinder) pitches. One is now the BMX track and the other became the wildflower meadow in 2019.

The required specification of a new pitch means that the last remaining old Redgra pitch space is too small.

Ritzy owner in trouble

Kingshield Pharmacy sold

Cineworld, the ultimate owner of Brixton’s Ritzy cinema via the Picturehouse chain, saw its shares drop by 80% recently amid reports of preparations for bankruptcy and the announcement of plans to close US cinemas.

Cineworld bought Picturehouses in 2012.

In 2017 it spent 2.7 billion on what was then the second largest US chain of cinemas, Regal. It said a mix of debt and a new share issue would fund the purchase. It said at the time that its largest shareholder, Global City Holdings, a Polish company which owns 28 per cent of Cineworld, would contribute.

In 2020 it took over the Canadian Cineplex chain at a cost of $2.1 billion.

A long-established Brixton retailer, Kingshield pharmacy on Brixton Road, has been sold. It dispenses an average of 5,600 prescriptions a month and occupies the ground floor of a three-storey property.

Property adviser Christie & Co, which organised the sale, said there was “huge potential” to develop the upper floors into “residential secondary retail use”. The floor above the chemist has housed an arts and crafts business for many years.

Kingshield was owned by Naishadkumar Patel for more 35 years and was sold to allow him to retire. The purchaser is Bhavesh Patel who has another two pharmacies, one of which is New Park Pharmacy on New Park Road in Brixton Hill.

The third Black Unity Bike Ride (BUBR), on 6 August saw more than 2,000 cyclists ride 15 miles from Leyton cricket ground in East London to Brockwell Park, via Brixton.

BUBR collaborated with BlackEatsLDN to create BUBRFest in the park, where participants could buy food and other merchandise from 20 Blackowned businesses on Black Pound Day.

All-electric buses on route through Brixton New all-electric buses have started to appear on the 322 Clapham Common to Crystal Palace bus route which runs through Brixton and Herne Hill on Atlantic and Railton roads.

A fleet of 11 Switch Mobility MetroCity single decker buses are run by Abellio and are the

first such vehicles to enter service in London. They were chosen specifically to navigate tight roads on the route.

Jon Eardley, managing director of Abellio London Bus said the company had been steadily increasing the size of its zero-emission fleet.

T h e l a u n ch o f f u r t h e r

state-of-the-art electric buses on route 322 in the coming months would see the company “cement our reputation for operating one of the cleanest bus fleets in the country”.

Abellio London is set to run 125 electric vehicles by 2023, with 17% of its overall fleet being zero emission.

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brixtonblog.com 2022 SEPTEMBER

4 NEWS

Bath Factory estate rent fears eased after meeting

Dawn Hill to be patron of Black Cultural Archives Dawn Hill CBE has become the first lifetime patron of the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) after stepping down from the board of trustees.

She was chairperson of the Black Cultural Archives for 12 years “I am immensely proud to be associated with Black Cultural Archives, a major accomplishment for the Caribbean and African communities in the UK,” she said.

“I was determined to see the archive collection properly housed and in a quality building that people would love to visit.

“This achievement has been against a backLEWIS PATRICK

Brixton, no stranger to open air music, had two special performances to enjoy in August. The Brixton Chamber Orchestra, in association with the Brixton business improvement district (BID) mounted a free Night at the Opera in Trinity Gardens. The orchestra’s first opera gala featured young singers Kathleen Nic Dhiarmada; Emma Jüngling; Dominick Felix; and Jacob Phillips.

Outside the Barrier Block on Jamaica independence day, a celebration organised by the Brixton Immortals domino club included a performance by musicians from the Rastafarian Indigenous Village in Jamaica.

Dawn Hill outside the Black Cultural Archives in Windrush Square, Brixton drop of discrimination, uprisings and a lack of funding over the last 40 years.

“Today the archives are being used by research scholars, teachers, historians, filmmakers, poets and the general public of all ethnicities.”

Dawn Hill has worked in the public realm for more than four decades. She arrived in the UK from Jamaica at 17 to train as a nurse.

She has held senior management positions in the NHS, social services, education, community and health organisations and in management consultancy.

She was also central to a group of young radicals whose mission was to record the history of Black people arriving and making history in the UK, and make it available for all.

Van Gogh guide volunteers sought Van Gogh House is looking for enthusiastic and confident people to act as guides for tours of 87 Hackford Road, where Van Gogh lived as a young man from 1873 to 1874.

Tours are usually on the last weekend of each month. They provide an insight into Van Gogh’s everyday existence, as well as a glimpse into the way ordinary people lived in Victorian London.

Visitors come from all over the world, so leading tours is always fascinating and enriching.

If you have been a guide before, the house wants to hear from you, but previous experience is not necessary.

The role provides experience of leading groups, presentation, of working in heritage and tourism and the opportunity to pass on knowledge about London’s rich history and culture that will inspire others. Travel expenses (inside London) are covered by Van Gogh House.

Suitable applicants will be invited to Van Gogh House on Saturday 3 September for a day to learn more about the role.

Fears about the future of the Bath Factory industrial estate across the road from the main entrance to Brockwell Park in Herne Hill have eased.

Tenants faced large rent increases after The Arch Company, which runs the majority of railway arch premises locally, took over the lease of the Bath Factory from the previous owners.

Network Rail remains the freeholder.

Local Greens, which was founded more than a decade ago to provide fresher, fairer and more local food for local families and neighbourhoods, was one of the tenants potentially affected.

Jean Bergin, managing director and founder of Local Greens, said that tenants had presented a united front at a meeting with senior Arch Company staff and that they were also fortunate to have Dermot Jones of South London Makerspace as one of their number. He is a member of Guardians of the Arches, a group launched to protect tenants after the The Arch Company took over most of the railway arches in Britain from Network Rail.

Local Greens and others were facing rent increases of more than 20%. This would have taken them into a category where they would have to pay business rates in addition to the rent rise.

Jean Bergin said “short-sightedness and greed” were behind such increase. Her fear is that they could lead to businesses which, like hers, serve the community, leaving and being replaced by “dark kitchens” preparing meals for delivery services. However, she was pleased at the outcome of the meeting.

A spokesperson for The Arch Company said: “We want the Bath Factory Estate to continue as a thriving home for small businesses.

“We have tried to make the transition from the previous intermediary landlord to The Arch Company as smooth as possible, including honouring all existing lease agreements, and will continue to do so.”

The Arch Company was formed by property giants Telereal and Blackstone and pledged, when buying 5,200 railway arches from Network Rail for £1.5 billion, to “remain particularly sensitive to the small businesses that have been long-term tenants of the Network Rail estate”.

NHS staff praised as London’s waiting lists fall The NHS in London says it has almost eliminated the longest waits for scans, checks, surgical procedures and other routine care. Since January it has treated more than 1,000 patients who had been waiting more than two years.

It said that this had only been possible thanks to the hard work of staff, making effective use of all available capacity through building new relationships and mutual aid arrangements across local areas, allowing for patients to be seen sooner.

From “super orthopaedic weekends”, to high intensity theatre lists, NHS staff across London developed innovative ways of working to tackle backlogs that built up through the pandemic and to keep people safe while prioritising those who needed urgent care.

The NHS said linking up systems is playing a key role in bringing down backlogs for elective surgery and prioritising care for those most urgently in need, including people waiting more than two years.

Along with the rest of the capital, staff in South London have been looking into innovative ways to tackle the waiting list for routine operations and procedures.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust has developed a “super-efficient but safe” programme to maximise the number of patients treated in one day.

High intensity theatre lists, known as HIT lists, focus on one type of procedure at a time, and take place at weekends. So far, the trust has carried out 15 HIT lists and treated around 300 patients across eight different surgical specialities, reaching even more patients on waiting lists for surgery.

Dr Imran Ahmad, consultant anaesthetist and deputy clinical director for anaesthesia and theatres at Guy’s and St Thomas’, led the organisation of the HIT lists.

“We have looked at every aspect of the patient’s pathway in detail to see where we can safely improve on efficiency, save time and parallel process in order to increase the surgeon’s operating time, by reducing

non-operative time,” he said.

“It requires a dedicated multi-disciplinary team and lots of preparation, which is the key to our success.”

Dr Chris Streather, medical director for the NHS in London, said: “I want to thank all staff across London for their unrelenting dedication and commitment to their patients.

“People who have been waiting the longest are now getting the care they need,” he said.

“This does not mean our work is done.

Staff are working together across London to ensure we see all patients who have had their care delayed by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic as soon as possible.”

“It is vitally important that anybody who has health needs continues to come forward.”

The NHS in London is now focusing its efforts on achieving the next target of the NHS elective recovery plan, with staff continuing their remarkable work to ensure all 18-month waits are eliminated

by April next year.

SEPTEMBER 2022

brixtonblog.com

NEWS 5

Council ‘deeply disappointed’ at police watchdog reaction to Brixton death in custody

Ferndale LTN to be permanent Lambeth council is proposing to make the Ferndale Low traffic neighbourhood (LTN) permanent and to introduce “improvements” to make the route healthier, more pleasant, and accessible for everyone.

The council said an extensive public consultation earlier this year found the majority of respondents “felt positively” about the scheme.

It said that, following feedback from residents and businesses, road improvements that support them have been included in the proposals.

These include an e-cargo bike rental scheme on Pulross Road, hosted by Papa’s Café, “rain gardens” at the junction of Dalyell and Combermere roads, and an improved crossing on Bedford Road from Ferndale Road.

The council said it would also review options for reducing through traffic on

Landor Road and extra space would be created in Ferndale Road West to allow vehicles to pass one another more easily.

A recently published monitoring report, the council said, found the volume of motor vehicles in the LTN had reduced by 47 per cent. Overall, traffic reduced by 6% – around 6,000 vehicles a day – on internal and boundary roads of the LTN. The number of cycle journeys on internal streets rose by 58 per cent, while there was a 55 percent increase in cycling on boundary roads.

Levels of pollution have reduced on some roads in and around the Ferndale scheme, according to the monitoring report, Cllr Rezina Chowdhury, cabinet member for sustainable lambeth and clean Air, said: “The current LTNs alone will not solve traffic issues across the borough, so we are looking at making further improvements in neighbourhoods and with our partners at TfL on main roads.”

Ian Taylor room as others in our community spoke about their own experiences, and reflected on what had happened.

“This latest announcement is deeply disappointing, and makes very clear that much more must be done to change the culture of policing.

“At Lambeth council we are already working hard to improve public accountability when it comes to policing the borough, whether that be around stop and search or how the police engage with local communities following incidents in their area.

“But it must be backed up by the Met responding to being put in special measures by developing new and better ways of engaging with communities, becoming more transparent and more reflective of the diverse city it seeks to serve.”

Speakers at the town hall meeting said that after the death of Ian Taylor, police officers threatened local people with arrest, claiming that he had been attacked.

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Lambeth council has expressed deep disappointment at the response of the Metropolitan police to complaints about its role in the death of Ian Taylor in central Brixton in 2019.

Ian Taylor, 54, from Brixton, died while in police custody after being detained in Coldharbour Lane near his home on 29 June 2019.

A coroner’s jury found on 20 May this year that his death was caused by acute asthma and situational stress, alongside two underlying health conditions, with dehydration as a further contributing factor. Police had not offered him water, despite having and using it themselves on a very hot day, and did not call an ambulance.

Footage from body-worn police cameras was played at the inquest.

The coroner re-referred the Met to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) with regard to comments made by one of the officers who arrested Ian Taylor.

The IOPC found no indication “that any person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.”

Dr Mahamed Hashi, Lambeth council’s cabinet member for safer communities, said: “Ian Taylor’s death has traumatised his family and shocked the local community.

“That pain was laid bare during a community meeting at Lambeth town hall in July when his relatives spoke with searing honesty and clarity about their tragic loss.

“They also spoke of their extreme concern about how information had been shared with them, and how this had made a terrible situation even worse for them.

“This shock and anger was reflected across the

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brixtonblog.com

6 COMMUNITY

2022 SEPTEMBER

‘Fantastic’ response to local tree crisis

From a mojito to a movement

Say ‘goodbye’ to high-vis vests and Lycra …

I’m 27 and have lived in London for four years and in Brixton for about a year.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been interested in topics related to inequality, global warming and resource allocation.

I’ve always believed that sharing could be a solution for a more equal world and to best distribute our resources.

I realised it was hard changing the way we consume because organisations’ goals are to sell more with the objective of making the most money, pushing us to buy in unreasonably large quantities. The more we produce, the more we consume. And the more we’re wasting.

One evening almost a year ago, I was making my special mojitos. For these, I needed just a handful of mint leaves, one or two stems. Before going to the shop, I happened to check my partner’s fridge and saw that his flatmate had some (already opened) in the perfect quantity needed. I rescued it from waste as his flatmate didn’t want it anymore.

The idea emerged: “I can save food from waste if I get it from someone I know and trust”. How impactful would it be if I knew my neighbours well and if we could benefit from each other’s surplus in order to stop food waste together.

This idea was validated after I saw that half of the world’s food waste is coming from people’s homes. It was obvious: we can easily stop a huge amount of food waste if we have a dedicated space to share surplus among our community of neighbours, whom we can count on and trust.

Neighbourhood champion Monir El Moudden has thanked Lambeth residents who volunteered to help save local street trees during the recent hot weather. “Communities across Lambeth have been fantastic, proving that anything is possible when we work together,” he told the Bugle.

“Thank you to the many volunteers across the borough who took part in the Street Tree Care Challenge initiative. A potential environmental crisis was avoided thanks to everyone who responded immediately to our appeal to save our trees.”

Among them were a dozen residents from Oval Quarter where Monir lives,

Brixton resident Camille Desprez explains her ‘Food Next Door’ WhatsApp groups and asks for volunteers to get involved

who acted to help local trees, bringing out watering cans, buckets, and even bottles to water our street trees.

“The response shows how much people care about the environment,” said Monir (right).

“Environmental services at Lambeth council have been very helpful, offering volunteers a supply of watering cans and training in basic tree inspection and care.”

Lambeth has 19,000 street trees and more than 15,000 trees in its parks.

A If you think that a council-owned tree needs urgent maintenance or have other concerns, contact Lambeth tree team on 020 7926 3542.

Brixton-based textile designer Coco Cripps will launch her Alluminate range of innovative cycling clothing at the Department Store on 8 September.

She was one of the first two recipients of residencies at Squire & Partners’ Department Store Studios workspace.

They provide a free year of membership for two young Lambeth entrepreneurs plus mentoring and access to the studios’ amenities.

The Alluminate 2022 range will showcase Coco’s new line of cycle wear

which says “goodbye” to high-vis vests and Lycra with clothing that, she says, will just “Alluminate like magic!” The concept, both delicate and utilitarian fills a space in a market dominated by masculinity, she says. It combines predominantly natural yarns with high visibility.

“It’s a more stylish idea of cycling and obviously the clothes can still be worn even if you aren’t on your bicycle … but if you wanted to go to the club,” she says.

The concept was born during the third Covid

lockdown when Coco got seriously into cycling.

“I was cycling around more and more and I’m like: ‘the reflective clothing is just so disgusting’.”

She was playing with the idea of incorporating reflective materials with more natural ones when a favourite stockist announced a new type of reflective yarn.

It was at this point in her experimentation that she found out about The Department Store residency opportunity, via the Brixton Project.

NETWORK AT IMPACT BRIXTON Impact Brixton’s next Creators Club happy hour is on 23 September and the next Last Friday is on the 30 September.

Last Friday sees more than 100 creators gather in Impact Brixton’s space above Market Row for what

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Face to Face classes or online sessions are available.

Email us at info@orangebow.org

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it says “is the most natural, fun and social networking event ever”, including board games and a quiz. A £5 ticket includes food and rum punch.

Creators Club happy hour happens in Impact’s Black Bar (pictured) with cocktails from 6 to 8pm for networking and an opportunity for local business people to find others to learn from and collaborate with.

Camille shares food with a neighbour I launched a WhatsApp group for my building in Brixton and “Food Next Door” was born. I went knocking on my neighbours’ doors, presenting the idea of sharing food surplus and more than 40 people joined the group, excited to be a part of it.

Ever since, the WhatsApp group has been thriving and precious food has been saved almost every week.

I have been working with the help of other volunteers to create five new Food Next Door groups, in Lambeth and Wembley and have gathered hundreds of members today with more members to be added in the following weeks. There are already hundreds of members in Brixton across four different Food Next Door groups. The number and the regularity of donations show the urgency for more neighbourhoods to benefit from a Food Next Door group to stop wasting as well.

Food Next Door now has nine new ambassadors in boroughs across London including Camden, Tower Hamlets, Merton, Croydon, and Islington. With their help, we estimate to onboard more than 200 members who will be able to share and save food.

Many communities already have an existing neighbourhood WhatsApp group. However, members have not thought to use them for food sharing. Four of our ambassadors are dedicated to this segment of the community. They engaged with them to see if they would be happy to start using their group to stop food waste and people were thrilled by the idea and are now onboard!

My mission is to create more and more neighbourhood communities in London. If we, as individuals, don’t change the way we consume together, nothing will change. We’ll continue throwing away food which could have fed hungry people.

Interested in joining our movement?

We’re looking for new ambassadors to add neighbourhoods to their own Food Next Door WhatsApp group, we’ll help you with the setup and playbook.

A Contact me via WhatsApp at +33669728635 or email camille@foodnextdoor.net

SEPTEMBER 2022

brixtonblog.com

COMMUNITY 7

Art show reveals ‘extraordinary concentration of talent’ in Brixton Loretta Yussuff won the people’s poll for the 2022 Brixton Blog & Bugle summer art show with oil on canvas work Portrait of Younger Brother.

She narrowly topped the votes cast by hundreds of people, but the entries were so good and voting so close, that three other artists were awarded runners-up prizes at the award ceremony.

They are Julie Bennett, with Basquiat (Yellow); Benedict Flanagan, with My Village on Electric Avenue; and Mark McLaughlin, who could not be at the ceremony, with Late afternoon in March, Brockwell Park.

Opening the ceremony at the exhibition in Brixton library, Blog & Bugle arts editor Leslie Manasseh, who organised the show, said everybody was saying that it was the best yet.

The first show four years ago had 50 works entered by 27 artists. “Today more than 80 artists entered over 150 works from which we selected the show,” he said.

It was an enormously diverse show. “We have perfectly rendered

landscapes alongside very bold abstract political statements.

“I think this reflects the essence of Brixton. This is actually a tribute to Brixton. Let’s not forget that everybody in the show lives no further than 10 minutes away from this building.

“It’s an extraordinary concentration of talent.”

Loretta Yussuff receives her award from Tim Gledstone Leslie thanked Rosella Black and Anthony Steel from Brixton library, Jimmy Davidson from Brockwell Art Services who donated a £250 framing voucher as a prize – dedicated to local artist Colin Failes who died last year.

He also thanked Binki Taylor of the Brixton Project who, along with him and Rosella, made up the selection panel for the show, and Tim Gledstone of Squire and Partners architects, whose model-making department once again provided the unique – and playable – Bugle trophy for the winner.

Loretta Yussuff began painting two and a half years ago, after drawing for three years before that.

Event will showcase opportunities in arts and heritage sector

Loretta Yussuff with her winning painting

Free music courses for young people

Julie Bennett, celebrates beneath her painting Basquiat (Yellow)

New plaque for once forgotten orchid artist Nelly Roberts A heritage plaque for the remarkable local artist Nelly Roberts will be unveiled in October at the Loughborough Road house she lived in all her life.

In April a plaque on Nelly Roberts’ formerly unmarked grave in Lambeth Cemetery was unveiled and the Loughborough Road Histories blog and Brixton Society launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a plaque

Tracey Gregory on Loughborough Road with the plaque

on her house. It reached its target in a few days.

On 15 October, it will be 150 years since Nelly Roberts was born in a room above what is now the Bon Bon newsagent on Loughborough Road.

On Sunday 16 October the plaque on the house where she completed thousands of orchid paintings for Royal Horticultural Society and others will be unveiled at 3.30pm.

Organisers are taking

Brixton’s Black Cultural Archives will hold its third Pathways: Seeing Ourselves, Hearing Our Voices event on Thursday 15 September, both in-person and online.

BCA Pathways is an annual career event, including workshops, talks, and a prospect fair, to encourage young people from groups under-represented in the sector to consider a career in arts and heritage. It is aimed at people aged 16 to 25 from the global majority.

BCA Pathways will inform people taking part of possible roles in the sector, career pathways and educational opportunities.

It will be hosted at the Museum of London, 150 London Wall, EC2Y 5HN and online.

A Details and booking at bit.ly/BCA-Pathways22

the plaque to neighbouring shops and places to tell people about this local woman, her achievements and her legacy.

Nelly was a largely self-taught botanical artist, who made a living from her art at a time when women had limited career options.

Her orchid paintings are still used today by the Royal Horticultural Society when making decisions about awards for orchid cultivation, said Tracey Gregory of Loughborough Road Histories blog.

Some of the orchids Nelly painted are no longer cultivated so her paintings are the only records of these plants.

On Tuesday 13 September Tracey Gregory from the Loughborough Road Histories blog will be at the Carnegie Library talking about Loughborough Road Histories and the small book it published in association with Brixton Society.

The talk, from 7 to 8.30pm, is part of the Lambeth Heritage Festival.

Booking is essential.

Email foclchair@gmail.com

Benedict Flanagan with his prize

Brixton-based charity Grooveschool is running two free programmes for young people who want to learn more about DJing and music production.

Amplify – Young Styles will run from September to January and is for 14–21 year olds who have some knowledge and eagerness to advance with their music-making skills.

Grooveschool 121s, supported by the Walcot Foundation, runs from September to July and involves free 1-2-1 or paired DJ and music production sessions. The programme is for people from a low-income background and who are facing barriers to their learning.

A To find out more email info@grooveschool.org.

brixtonblog.com 2022 SEPTEMBER

8 FOCUS

Negative thoughts and mindfulness Sandra Brown-Springer on mindfulness and those negative thoughts you imagined could not be got rid of

Richard Mensah’s Lambeth community globe in Windrush Square

Globes mark slavery education trail Lambeth council is taking part in The World Reimagined, an art education project designed to transform understanding of the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans.

Its trails feature temporary globe installations that will stand in cities across the UK until the end of Black History Month on 31 October. There is one in Windrush Square.

One trail runs from Peckham to Borough Market, over to the South Bank and Waterloo, on to Vauxhall and then down to Stockwell and Brixton, ending at Windrush Square, passing 11 globes in all.

Globes and other points of interest – like the home of Trinidadian revolutionary and author CLR James on Railton Road – are also shown on interactive maps on the World Reimagined website: theworldreimagined.org A community globe in Peckham and the one in Brixton were designed by artists working with local people.

Lambeth council is looking at opportunities to keep this globe at the end of the project and find a permanent home for it.

Cllr Donatus Anyanwu, council cabinet member for stronger communities, leisure and sports, said: “We are delighted to be a host borough for this important educational, engaging and creative project.

“It approaches a painful historical period in a way that improves our understanding of the impact and legacy of the slave trade.

“The transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans has never really been properly addressed or taught in our educations system.

“For the sake of honesty, learning and avoiding the mistakes of the past The World Reimagined has a really important role to play for us all.”

An app and then website enable visitors to navigate the trails and to explore themes around the slave trade and racial

justice and how they connect to the local area.

Locations, themes and artists for the Lambeth globes are as follows: Emma Cons Gardens (Waterloo) – A Complex Triangle – Alvin Kofi Old Paradise Gardens (Vauxhall) – Echoes in the Present – Gail Stirling-Robinson Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens – Still We Rise – Vashti Harrison Stockwell Memorial Gardens – Expanding Soul – Dreph Max Roach Park – Reimagine the Future – Suchi Chidambaram The project is accompanied by an extensive learning programme, including community workshops, heritage trails, and school resources.

Expanding Soul by Dreph in Stockwell PICTURE BY MARK ALLEN

There is an exhibition of smaller globes, that have been created by local schools in Lambeth and neighbouring boroughs.

Three of these smaller globes are currently on display in Lambeth town hall’s reception area in Brixton.

Michelle Gayle, co-founder of The World Reimagined, said: “We know that the greatest force for progress and justice is people coming together in understanding, in conversation and in action.

“That is what we have seen so far in the artists, activists, schools, community groups, businesses and councils who have made The World Reimagined possible.

“And these thought-provoking, challenging and inspiring works of art that are now transforming the streets of our host cities invite us to understand it is not ‘Black history’ – it’s all of our history.

“And all of us have a role to play in the work of making racial justice a reality. So we hope you will explore the trails and join the conversation.

The official partners of The Word Reimagined are Sky, J P Morgan and Bloomberg.

Meditations on Wellbeing with Sandra

There is a record playing in your head. It’s been playing for so long that you may no longer notice it.

Are you aware of it? Is it telling you positive things, or not so much? If you think you do not know, take a moment to listen.

Turn off your screens, unplug yourself, take a moment to be aware – to just be.

Personally, I had an album of negative stuff that had been playing for decades. Here’s a small sample: “You Fool, Sandra, Why Did You Say/Do That?” and “Everybody Hates You”, and “You Think You’re So Smart. But You’re Wrong!”

There are scores of tracks on my old album. I believe that most people have a playlist similar to mine, hiding under the frantic activity of our minds while broadcasting pervasive messages.

Negative automatic thoughts (NATs) are a hidden part of many people’s lives. This is disturbing, but there is good news – we can change them.

We learned them from somewhere – perhaps from childhood, or work, or even social media. We can unlearn them, erase and replace them with positive phrases that empower us.

I have spent the last few years identifying my NATs and overwriting them with positive affirmations. Anxiety used to cripple me, to the point that I was sometimes unable to leave my home.

I searched for a solution for years, then I found a way of stilling my thoughts, which led me to the realisation that I am not my thoughts. My thoughts

are not necessarily trustworthy, and do not necessarily come from me. Here’s the discovery that really blew me away: If you watch your thoughts with no reaction, just paying attention to them – they fade away, or stop.

They do not like attention. This is mindfulness.

I think of mindfulness as conscious awareness of our mind activity, and meditation as practising ways to IGNORE mind activities, by focussing on watching the breath, or reciting mantras, listening to rainfall or a fan whirring.

There are many ways to meditate, and to be mindful, and if you decide to begin to discover your inner world you will find the ways that work for you.

Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power of Now taught me how to finally still my thoughts, after lots of failed attempts.

There are many other books on the subject of mindfulness and self-awareness, but this is the one I recommend people start with.

There are many wonderful things about each and every one of us. Perhaps you could make a list somewhere, maybe in your phone, about your positive aspects and read it daily.

Challenge yourself to add to it every week. Create automatic thoughts that empower you.

My favourite power affirmation from motivational writer Louise Hay is: “Everything is Working out for my Highest Good and Deepest Joy!” I still have NATs occasionally, but I have ways to manage them now. Mindfulness has brought peace, calm and joy into my life. I hope it does the same for you.

10 YEARS AGO

5 YEARS AGO

SEPTEMBER 2012

SEPTEMBER 2017

There was confusion at Brixton Recreation Centre after part of the ceiling collapsed into the cafe following a “major leak” which began on the fourth floor. Rec user Simon Nebesnuick said: “There was water everywhere outside the cafe. Staff didn’t seem to have a clue what was going on!”

Steve Whitmore, a special constable in Brixton was awarded the Chris Donovan Trust Award for his work with the Books in the Nick project.

He started it a year ago with the charity Give a Book. The aim is to give people detained in a Met custody suite access to a book, which they are able to keep.

SEPTEMBER 2022

BRIXTON BUGLE

COMMENT Brixton’s streets need action now Graffiti scrawled on a war memorial, a church door torched, skateboarders using Windrush Square, a pedestrian area, when there is a skatepark a mere scoot away that has just been refurbished for a cool half million. Why? It’s easy to blame selfish individuals, but it seems clear that many of the culprits – if not the skateboarders – may have mental health and other issues, with drug abuse high among these.

Somebody should do something about it, we tell each other. But it seems the problem is not big enough for the police to deal with and that it can take the council months or years to drag someone through the courts just to stop them keeping people awake at night.

It’s also easy to say that we should all take responsibility for trying to stop the worst excesses – not so easy when you’re walking across Windrush Square by yourself at night.

To start, we need to recognise that there is a problem and that Brixton is a special place with particular problems that brings.

People who raise the issue are not busybodies, neither are they gentrifiers, yuppies, incomers or any of the other slurs that fly about. Many have lived in Brixton their whole lives and contributed to it in many ways.

More priority must be given – by both police and council – to anti-social behaviour of all sorts. All the evidence and experience leads to the conclusion that if it is neglected, it gets worse and leads on to even greater problems.

That means resources and not just warm words. Should Brixton return to the state it was in 30 years ago, the cost in lost business rates and council tax would be great, as would the demand for more police.

Nobody can deny that the streets of Brixton need attention and everybody should make that a top priority.

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

brixtonblog.com

OPINION 9

Do we need a culture tax?

Surely it is fair to suggest that, if a business intentionally enters a location and piggybacks on a culture that has been built around its creativity, adversity or even struggles, that business should make some form of contribution to this culture, says Gerald Vanderpuye How has Brixton created a unique “culture capital” that many businesses and investors benefit from today? Is it possible to protect its authenticity? How can we build on it?

The conflict of culture – who protects, who builds and who exploits? What could we do to mitigate potential tensions arising from feelings of shared ownership of something intangible?

How is culture expressed?

Culture is a system that expresses the value of a group of people; their beliefs, their norms, their social practices, traditions and more.

A group’s culture is expressed through music, dance, art, designs, names, symbolism, ceremonies, architecture, handicrafts and narratives. These practices are always authentically created and hold intrinsic value to the originators. Extrinsic value is created when these expressions of culture transcend their originators.

Once people start to imitate norms and behaviours, the cultural value system increases in demand, and more people start replicating them. Individuals begin using these cultural symbols to represent their beliefs and social status, shifting the culture from an intrinsic to an extrinsic economic value for consumers.

These expressions turn into capital.

Business owners and brand experts recognise the value created through imitating these cultural expressions by a growing audience, and can leverage this cultural value as capital. In the same way they can leverage financial capital to grow, they can leverage this capital to grow by driving a brand preference to market their ideas.

Investors do this by promising their customers a taste or association with that culture through their products and services.

identity. The Brixton riots of the 1980s made Brixton synonymous with the struggle against overt oppression … to the point that Brixton started being name-checked by hip-hop artists from the US. Brixton stands for something – a new set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms and social practices which affect behaviours; it has to be from a place of authenticity.

Perhaps that comes from being marginalised by mainstream culture to the point where you are left with what is real to you, a feeling, a vibe, and it’s true to you, so you live it proudly.

Is authenticity the first ingredient of culture and creating culture capital?

More than 50 businesses now use the word Brixton as part of their products and services identity. Even organisations with no authentic connection to Brixton’s cultural history borrow or “exploit” the cultural capital created by its originators to market their services.

So how did Brixton create this cultural capital that the world wants to buy, borrow, and sometimes steal?

OLD BRIXTON vs NEW BRIXTON

Over the past 20 years, Brixton has been through regeneration and gentrification, and seen many new brands and businesses moving into the area to build their businesses.

This migration often caused tension

significance of a brand like Brixton Brewery, founded by two local couples who wanted to put Brixton on the map for great beer.

I had the chance to spend some time with their founder, Jez Galaun, while on a cultural trip to Harlem, when I discovered his genuine love for Brixton.

We agreed we would both live in Brixton forever if we could. We love Brixton so much; our Instagram handles are @Geraldbrixton and @mrbrixt0n.

Brixton Brewery has made and sold hundreds of thousands of beers to people who would have heard of Brixton for the first time.

There is no doubt that Brixton Brewery has benefited from the vibrant, colourful culture of Brixton, and there is also no doubt that its authenticity, creativity and commitment to Brixton have contributed significantly to the creation of its cultural capital.

I believe this is not black and white. Perhaps all businesses leveraging the culture capital will raise the profile of Brixton somehow, since more people become aware of the place, its people and its values. The issue is the balance of exploitation and contribution.

In the early 2000s, when no-one wanted to be in Brixton, you could argue that restaurants such as The Lounge and Satay Bar, which opened and have stayed in Brixton ever since, have added more to the capital than new businesses moving into Brixton and benefiting from what’s already been created.

Businesses, in the beginning, were more authentic to the cultural values (rarely signalling it). In contrast, companies selling products and services without a direct connection with Brixton often struggle to connect with the locals, often with lots of tension between these groups.

This got me thinking – if businesses intentionally enter into a location and piggyback off a culture that has been built around culture, creativity, adversity or even struggles, then surely it is fair to suggest that they make some form of contribution to this culture.

How can they help us elevate it … could they contribute to a culture tax? A culture tax could be a monetary contribution that supports cultural growth or direct support for community and youth groups. The money could go towards employment initiatives, poverty, entrepreneurship and many more schemes.

Could we welcome businesses to appreciate our culture, values, and capital as a huge opportunity to continue building our culture capital in new ways?

I am aware this may be a romantic idea, but why not dream of a world where we could both recognise communities building culture while celebrating and asking the businesses who want to leverage it to contribute to its growth?

A culture tax could be a monetary contribution that supports cultural growth or direct support for community and youth groups. The money could go towards employment initiatives, poverty, entrepreneurship and more

BRIXTON’S CULTURAL CAPITAL

Brixton is now one of the most prominent destinations in the UK and has the UK’s busiest nightlife; Brixton’s Tube station is the second busiest in London and Brixton is recognised as one of London’s coolest places to visit by many tourists. Undoubtedly, Brixton has cemented itself as the heartbeat of London’s culture of diversity.

From the colourful, spicy foods in the market to reggae music, Brixton became a place that belonged to the Caribbean community and other migrants whose shared experiences have laid the foundation for this new cultural

between new Brixtonians and “old” (original) Brixtonians. Of course, no real date separates the two groups, but generally, those who have been in Brixton for a long time consider businesses and individuals that have recently moved in as “New Brixtonians”, who are here to leverage its cultural capital and often do not contribute to it.

New Brixton is often considered white, middle class, and coming in to build businesses that serve outsiders rather than serving the existing community; they tend to offer goods and services that are marketed at a pricepoint out of reach for Old Brixtonians, whilst simultaneously reflecting their own culture back at them.

There is a general belief that the new Brixton exploits the cultural capital that old Brixton has built. Excuse the pun, but is it this black and white? Are old Brixtonians responsible for creating this capital, and is new Brixton responsible for exploiting it?

Besides the challenge of determining who even belongs to new or old Brixton, there is the challenge of determining who is using the capital and whose contributions are building it.

Without careful consideration, most old Brixtonians might miss the cultural

Gerald Vanderpuye is a co-founder of Impact Brixton and founder of the Virtue Collectors Club newsletter. This is an edited version of a post on the Virtue Club website – www.virtuecollectorsclub.com

brixtonblog.com

10 PEOPLE

2022 SEPTEMBER

Charles Mensah and his image taken at the Marcus Lipton centre in Brixton

Capturing the moment Photographer Charles Mensah captures moments in Brixton and beyond, Simone Richardson hears how it happened and will continue with style Paris born and bred, Charles Mensah grew up with his parents – Mum Florence, Ivorian and Dad Joseph, half Ghanaian and half Ivorian.

“I thank my mum and dad for always making sure that I was on point since I was a baby,” he says.

He went to three different primary schools where “The thing that I always also enjoyed the most since I was a kid is ‘to dress’,” he says.

Charles’ dress sense was on point through his parents influence and it eventually drew him to fashion photography.

When he went to Collège Henri Can de Bry-sur-Marne on the outskirts of Paris, Charles was more interested in activities outside of his studies, such as “playing football, doing judo, doing choir and doing Bible studies”.

He remembers telling his mother: “My grades are getting lower because I am developing interest in other stuff rather than my studies”.

“I went to high school prior to university. I was interested in dancing and fashion, which helped me to develop my confidence and creativity.”

His interest in photography began when he was eight years old He began taking photographs two years before he moved to London when he was 19. Now living in Kennington, he remembers how his passion for photography began “I started to take pictures in 2014 with my friend’s digital camera. I was using it to capture shows in Paris Fashion Week. I wanted to take every moment of the show during the catwalks.

“I got my first film camera when I was 21 and I am still using it, but from time to time I switch to my digital camera.

“Photography has never been something that I consider I could make money with, I always did it for the love of art and the memories I was creating and immortalising.

“I had paid opportunities to assist and be on set with photographers but not as the main photographer.”

“The photographers that I admire and respect for their work are Joshua Kissi, Joshua Woods, Chi Modu and James Barnor,

because of their strong identity and the footprints they created through their art.

“The first two photographers illustrate my vision of fashion by the vintage look, the tone of colours and their set designs.

The second two are well known for having pictures that became iconic. What I admire about all their art is the capacity to produce timeless pieces of work – whether it has been consciously or not.”

Charles loves to photograph fashion, portrait and documentary. “I like to take pictures of people, architecture and landscapes,:” he says.

He would like to be involved in fashion editorial for a magazine, a campaign for a fashion brand and to shoot his own documentary.

“Having a typical day for my photography will be to have prepared a good mood board with good references prior to the shoot. The rest is pretty much instinctive, I love to create in the moment,” he says.

‘Being a photographer is not about the camera, it is about the eye’

“This is what I love about photography; the fact that you can capture moments according to your own emotion and vision.

“As my big bro Darryl always tells me, being a photographer is not about the camera, it is about the eye.”

Charles explains how Brixton captured his eye.

“What I love about Brixton is that it is an area with authenticity and a true identity. Everyone embraces their origins and culture with pride. The Black Africans, The Black Caribbeans and the whites, everyone co-exists.

“I like to spend time in Brockwell Park with my friends or have drinks in Pop Brixton during the summer. I also love the range of food that we can find in Brixton Village which shows the diversity in the community.

“Three years ago, I went to the Black Cultural Archives Museum to see an exhibition about the first Black immigrants to the UK which was really inspiring.

“Last year I was on a shoot in the Marcus Lipton Community Centre as a model and BTS (behind the scene photographer for a project called Black Transmission directed by my big bro Darryl Daley, commissioned by the creative agency A Vibe Called Tech for the creative website WePresent.

“Brixton is a source of inspiration for my creativity because of its heritage.”

Charles is working on his website (due to be ready in September) chmensah.com.

A Contact him for photography – particularly any fashion shoots – via mensahcha@gmail.com

SEPTEMBER 2022

brixtonblog.com

PEOPLE 11

‘Life is safe here’ Brixton is not only a place of refuge for people from across the world escaping from violence and oppression, it is also somewhere they will find help and support from local people.

Simone Richardson spoke to Anahita Haghi and people she is helping Brixton is a place “you can effortlessly slip into and belong to,” says Anahita Haghi, founder and a director of Community Arts Box, a community interest company (CIC) dedicated to connecting marginalised groups like newly arrived refugees to the wider London community through the arts.

She is fundraising for an exhibition of art produced by the asylum seekers and others she works with.

One of them is Eman, a refugee who arrived in London last December.

Fleeing violence and persecution, she found a welcome in Lambeth, which became a borough of sanctuary in June.

Anahita Haghi is herself no stranger to a life of sudden departures and upheavals. She has lived and worked in Brixton for 10 years, but her previous life involved a long journey

Community Arts Box people (l-r) Nima Mardani, Charli Hooker-Hogan, Eman (who must conceal her identity for safety reasons) and Anahita Haghi Born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, she moved to Iran at two years old, leaving at the age of five, due to the Iran-Iraq war, and was moving throughout “my whole primary school life” – London, Tehran, Kuala Lumpur, and Perth, Australia, where she went to secondary school and studied for a visual arts degree at the University of Western Australia.

Her empathy for refugees and asylum seekers, she says, comes from her own background – a “sense of displacement, identity, belonging … always packing and leaving”.

“Community Arts Box is a grass roots CIC that supports marginalised communities through the creative outlet of arts,” she explains. “Through our work with these communities, including refugees and disadvantaged youth, we foster positive social impact, social inclusion and accessibility.

“Over the last seven months, we have led a community initiative ‘We Are Here’.

“We have weekly art sessions with asylum seekers who are currently stuck in a hostile and isolated environment, living in a hotel. This has

provided a safe space for self-­­expression and for their stories to be told through the arts. We have worked together to capture the essence of their experiences of being asylum seekers and, often, the trauma that shadows this.

“We want to share their stories with the world and are fundraising to set up a five-day exhibition, We Are Here, allowing their personal accounts to be seen and heard.

Helping Anahita with this project is Charli Hogan-Hooker, a Brixtonian of 38 years, who was born in Ireland. She is a facilitator, running art sessions.

Nima Mardani, Community Arts Box operations officer, is someone else who contributes as a volunteer. An accountant, among other things, he explains: “I feel more free than I have ever felt in life. It keeps my mind active, and I enjoy helping people.

“It is an opportunity to understand London more and to support fellow asylum seeker neighbours who are living in hotels – staying engaged and busy rather than isolated,” he says.

Nima is also participating as an artist for the

We Are Here exhibition.

Eman, a qualified architect in her own country, is one of many people to arrive in London “looking for a safe life”.

“People were being shot, arrested and imprisoned,” she says of her former life. “I just wanted a good life with freedom, peace and justice. So I left, as I didn’t feel safe working for the government there.”

She had been arrested for defying the military. She was released, but when she went home “it was like imprisonment”.

“My family helped me and they paid for my transport,” Eman says. “I had my passport and a visa. In the airport I was wearing big-size glasses and covering my face with my scarf because I might have been seen by someone who recognised me – and they always keep watching. So I escaped. Because of coronavirus you could cover your face with a mask – so I could get out!”

Now art helps her escape from bad memories.

“I live in a hotel in South London through the Home Office. Art sessions help us … having contact with other people. At our hotel there is no contact or community area.

“Drawing and sketching, and many types of activities at Anahita’s art lessons, help as a release.

“I have the freedom of art, using any colour I want. Sometimes I like black and white and sometimes other colours … it really helped me.

“Life is safe here,” Eman says. “When I look at the children and their life here, it is very nice for them. And I look to my children; I feel they have lost their lives there,” says Eman.

Anahita is looking forward to the We Are Here exhibition in October – date and venue to be confirmed – and is appealing for help to “bring the exhibition to life’’, saying donations towards its cost will be greatly appreciated.

A Donate at bit.ly/GFM-CAB or scan the code.

Still learning in a buzzing Brixton The Brixton X Harlem festival was happening Downstairs at the Department Store when Simone Richardson met Leanna Bowen, who, being born, bred and working near and in Brixton, was the perfect person to be there The Black Culture Market Downstairs at the Department Store in Brixton was buzzing with creativity from artwork to jewellery to bags – and to the African hair products of Leanna Bowen’s hair business – Nanela of London.

“I named my business Nanela of London because I live in London and Nanela is an anagram of my name Leanna. I wanted my brand to be personal to me.

“My name sounded too formal so I mixed the letters around and Nanela sounded beautiful and different, the E in my logo represents an Afro com, duafe in Ghanaian culture, which has also inspired my use of the colourful African prints and the products I make.”

Leanna was born and bred in South London. Both her parents’ – Paul and Angela – have Jamaican heritage. She went to Rosendale

primary school and Kingsdale secondary school in West Dulwich.

She now lives close to Loughborough Junction and trades at pop-up events in Brixton.

“I have always enjoyed art and being creative, Leanna says. “In secondary school when I was in year 8 and it was time to chose my GCSEs I knew that I wanted to do fashion and so I chose art and textiles and learnt how to use a sewing machine.

“This led to me choosing fashion and textiles in college and studying

women’s fashion for two years at Richmond Upon Thames College which led to fashion internships and fashion jobs.

“I later turned my skills and passion into a business making accessories using African print fabrics which have been influenced by my travels to Ghana.”

Leanna not only runs her hair accessory business specialising in adjustable satin bonnets, African print scrunchies and headbands, she is also natural hair blogger

@curl_lea_travel “where I share to inspire others to love and embrace their natural hair” and has also spoken at secondary schools about creative careers and Afro hair.

“I make my own collections with my sewing machine. My Nan helps with adding the elastic to the scrunchies and I rope in my family to help with packaging, inventory and pop-up events like this one.

The day went really well for Leanna at Brixton Meets Harlem.

“The turnout was really great. I sold

out of all my large-sized bonnets which was fantastic,” Leanna says.

“I got to meet loads of new and existing customers in person, and got approached for a potential documentary.

“My business is currently part time, but I work on it all the time and do pop-up events over the weekends.

“As a start up, I manage most, if not all, aspects of my business, from updating websites, sourcing fabrics/ prints, spreadsheets and a checklist of tasks.

“I have learnt so much and I am still learning. I enjoy seeing something I’ve made – knowing it will help the person wearing it on their natural hair journey and looking stylish in the process!”

Brixton is still central to Leanna’s life and work. “I love how Brixton is so diverse and full of so much culture. My grandparents have lived in the area for over 50 years, so I’ve always grown up knowing and loving the area,” she says.

“I sustainably shop and source my colourful African print fabrics locally in Brixton, supporting the local businesses. There is so much creative opportunity in the heart of Brixton – Create Foundation and Brixton Creative Works – who support local businesses like myself within the Lambeth/Brixton area.”

A Instagram – @nanelaoflondon A Hair accessories at nanelaoflondon.com A Shop in-store at Create Shop in Pop Brixton A #madeinbrixton

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brixtonblog.com

12 BEER

BRIXTON’S CRAFT BEER COMMUNITY

‘A rising tide lifts all boats’ Though many of them are tucked away in old railway arches and former disused spaces, it’s hard not to have noticed the influx of microbreweries to Brixton in the last decade, which is fast building a reputation as one of London’s best craft beer destinations. Polly Nash investigates Lockdown saw an acceleration of the trend to microbreweries trend, spurring people’s interest in home brewing, and encouraging customers to support independent local producers.

The number of commercial breweries in London has increased tenfold from 14 in 2010 to roughly 140 today.

With about 10 breweries and bottle shops within a 25-minute walk from Brixton Station, it’s become a popular destination for beer lovers.

There’s talk of a Brixton Craft Beer Trail. Keep your eyes peeled for more details coming your way.

For now, here’s a preview at some of our favourites.

Brixton Brewery, Hill says that breweries do well next to each other as patrons stop in for a couple of drinks at each.

All pints at Dogs Grandad are priced at £5.50, and every one is vegan-friendly. The best-selling New England Pale is a cool 4% ABV and uses light and fruity yeast.

If you’re feeling more adventurous go for the Black IPA whose dark colour is created by using roasted wheat and comes recommended by Hill himself.

DOGS GRANDAD BREWERY

BRIXTON BREWERY

One of Brixton’s newer breweries, Dogs Grandad opened in an arch on Brixton Station Road during the height of lockdown in February 2021. It’s a one-stop-shop where the beer is brewed, the cans are sold and the pints are pulled. Brixton local Alex Hill runs the whole operation.

Formerly a social worker for 20 years, Hill decided to turn his passion for home brewing into a career by setting up his own microbrewery.

“It’s exhausting and sometimes I work seven days a week, but I absolutely love brewing beer so it doesn’t really feel like work,” he says.

In his precious down time you might find Hill playing on the arcade machine in the taproom. “I always wanted an excuse to buy an arcade machine and it’s gone down really well. Loads of customers enjoy playing on it,” Hill laughs.

Located just a few arches down from

Brixton’s first commercial micro-brewery opening in 2013, Brixton Brewery has become a recognised brand supplying 2,000 pubs across the country and exports beer as far as Hong Kong and Bermuda.

It’s now owned by Heineken.

It’s safe to say they have come a long way from the days of delivering beer in a shopping trolley or in the family car with the kids in tow.

But the brand remains committed to its Brixton roots. As Jez Galaun, one of four co-owners, says: “We’re really trying to put Brixton on the map for great beer.

That’s what I get out of bed every day to do.”

The idea for this much-loved brewery was born just over a decade ago when two local couples met in what used to be the Hive Bar on Brixton Station Road, bonded over their love of the area and set out to start a brewery to make Brixton proud.

“You go around the country and people

A FAVOURITE fellow Brixton Brewery: London Beer Lab A BEST FOR: Brewing expertise straight from the source A FIND Dogs Grandad at Arch 550 Brixton Station Road, London SW9 8PF

know Brixton. They’ve come to a gig here, they’ve had a relationship here, they’ve bought drugs here … they’ve had an experience,” says Galaun. “It really resonates with people, and that’s what we want to package up and give to people in the medium of a can or a pint.”

When it comes to their best-selling brew, Galaun says the Reliance Pale Ale and the Coldharbour Lager are neck and neck, but he expects the lager will take top position thanks to the hot weather this summer.

“It’s a bit of a dirty secret in craft beer that brewers really appreciate lager,” Galaun confesses. “We’re obviously brewing other beers with a lot more intensity and flavour, but lager is a hard nut to crack in terms of creating a well balanced, really drinkable product.”

In refreshing contrast to the ever-rising prices at many London pubs, you won’t find a pint at Brixton Brewery for more than £5.20.

Keep your eyes peeled for their unmistakable branding in virtually every restaurant in Brixton Village and Market Row, including Fish Wings and Tings, which was one of their earliest partners.

A FAVOURITE fellow Brixton Brewery: London Beer Lab A BEST FOR: Easy & accessible craft beers A POP into the taproom at Arch 548 Brixton Station Road, London SW9 8PF

FRIENDSHIP ADVENTURE As you might have guessed, Friendship Adventure was born when two friends chatting over a pint decided they wanted to capture that sense of human connection and channel it into a tangible community space.

Located under a railway bridge on Coldharbour Lane, they have created just that. A favourite drinking spot for locals, you wouldn’t guess that this brewery is a relative newcomer to Brixton’s craft beer scene, offering a truly authentic drinking experience.

With the vast metal beer tanks standing tall in the taproom, you get to experience the benefits of drinking straight from the source, which you miss out on in a traditional pub.

There’s also a feeling of exceptionality that comes with drinking beers exclusive to the brewery, such as their new fruity IPA, the Salisbury Charm.

More often than not, at least one of the brewers is in the taproom for you to pick their brains, and the enthusiastic bar staff are generous with their tasters, allowing you to try before you buy.

Radim Zvanovec, brand ambassador at the UK arm of famous Czech brewery Budweiser Budvar, running a workshop upstairs at The London Beer Lab

MBER 2022

brixtonblog.com

Plenty of choice at The London Beer Lab

Brixton Brewery’s taproom on Brixton Station Road

‘There’s a great sense of community between taprooms.

We’re all in it together to try and make better beer’

BEER 13

London Beer Lab founders, Karl Durand O’Connor and Bruno Alajouanine, ready to roll with a local delivery via their eco‑friendly cargo bike

More than just a taproom, the brewers on Coldharbour Lane host yoga classes and other community events with their local charity partners.

This summer two dedicated patrons even got married in the space, seeing off six weeks’ worth of wine in one evening.

Neil Wates, co-owner and director at Friendship Adventure, says that the best thing about brewing is the sense of community.

“You’re not really rivals with your rivals, clients that buy us by definition will be buying from other microbreweries, that’s the nature of the beast really,” says Wates: “the rising tide lifts all boats.”

With all pints ranging from £4 to £6, you would be hard pressed to find a better deal in London.

You can find Friendship Adventure’s brews at local venues including Lost in Brixton, and a bespoke beer they made especially for Rudie’s Jerk Shack.

A FAVOURITE fellow Brixton Brewery: Dogs Grandad A BEST FOR: Friendly vibes and free popcorn A FIND Friendship Adventure at Unit G1, Coldharbour Works, 245A Coldharbour Lane, London SW9 8RR.

LONDON BEER LAB If all this beer talk has inspired you to brew your own, then London Beer Lab is the place to go.

They have been teaching the local community to brew for more than 10 years and, according to brand ambassador Tim Ellis, the tasting sessions cater to all audiences, “not just craft beer geeks!”

Deciding what to drink at their taproom can be a difficult task, with roughly 25 beers on the menu at any one time.

Their vast offering of nano-brews all begin with the beers that people at the workshops have made themselves, creating an ever-evolving selection of choice.

“The idea is to reduce waste,” says Ellis: “In big batches you risk wasting hundreds of litres of water and a few bags of grain

if a recipe doesn’t work. By doing it in nano batches we can play around with the brews which is good fun.”

This way the brewers at London Beer Lab experiment with a range of ingredients and recipes.

The most unusual beer they have on offer at the moment has to be the Peanut Butter Jelly Sour, which tastes a bit like blackberry jam with subtle hints of coffee and nuts.

Be warned though, according to Ellis it has almost every allergen in there: “apart from maybe crustaceans – we’re going to try and work those into a recipe soon!” he laughs.

It’s clear Ellis is passionate about the science around brewing, and wants to put Brixton on the map as a craft beer hub.

“There’s a great sense of community between the taprooms,” he says. “We’re all in it together to try and make better beer.”

Prices at London Beer Lab range from £4.50 to £9 depending on the ABV percentage. With the highest one at 9.1%, rest assured you’re getting your money’s worth.

A FAVOURITE fellow Brixton Brewery: Bullfinch Brewery A BEST FOR: Experimental brews A FOR the brewing workshops and taproom head to Arch 41, Nursery Road, SW9 8BP.

CLARKSHAWS If you ever find yourself in Loughborough Junction on a Saturday, get yourself down to Clarkshaws. Open just one afternoon a week, it’s the only chance you’ll have to visit this family run brewery, tucked away in yet another railway arch overlooking Wyck Gardens.

Previously brewing in Herne Hill, owners Ian and Lucy moved to this location in 2015 when the landlord was offering reduced rents to companies that brought something new to the area.

As well as the taproom, you might have seen them at some of our local fetes this summer, pulling pints from their mobile bar at Ruskin Park Dog Show and

Camberwell Arts Fair, for instance.

Slightly off the beaten track, the locals who know about this community watering hole keep Clarkshaws alive. This summer they even have Loughborough Junction’s own Mike’s Cider on tap, made just around the corner by a regular at the brewery.

Whether it can rival their best-selling “Hell Yeah!” lager is yet to be seen, but with all pints costing £5, it’s definitely worth a trip to the junction to find out.

A FAVOURITE fellow Brixton Brewery: Jez & the team at Brixton Brewery A BEST FOR: Mini Kegs (great for a barbecue!)

A WHEN they’re not selling at a summer fete, you can find Clarkshaws at 497 Ridgeway Road, London SW9 7EX

AND …

If you’re still thirsty after those, here are some more quality breweries and taprooms to visit in the area:

A AFFINITY BREW CO – Found at The Grosvenor Arms, 17 Sidney Road, London SW9 0TP A CRAFT METROPOLIS – Arch 263, 241 Coldharbour Lane, London SW9 8RR A GHOST WHALE CRAFT BEER SHOP – 70 Atlantic Road, London SW9 8PX A BULLFINCH BREWERY – Rosendale Road, Norwood, London SE24 9EH A CANOPY BEER CO. – Arch 1127, Bath Factory Estate, 41 Norwood Road, London SE24 9AJ A And, of course, there’s the Craft Beer Co on Brixton Station Road – famous for 15 minutes recently for selling (or not selling) Britain’s most expensive beer.

A 75ml bottle (same as a wine bottle) of Reforged 20th Anniversary Ale made by the AleSmith Brewing Company in San Diego would set you back £105, equivalent to £80.15 a pint. Buy it to take away and you get a third off.

brixtonblog.com 2022 SEPTEMBER

14 MUSIC PEOPLE

Straight Pocket – Renato Paris’ improvised jam session at Jamm on Monday nights is one of many highlights on the Brixton music scene – Simone Richardson spoke to two local performers, Helen McDonald and Andrew McLean

Jazz queen Being in three bands – one of which is her own – has ensured Helen McDonald’s exceptional voice is heard.

She was born in Birmingham to Jamaican parents – Olive and William. “My Mum and Dad passed away a long time ago when I was still a kid; rest their souls,” she says.

Helen moved when she was just one to Derby in the East Midlands before she moved near to Brixton in 1998.

She grew up with music. “I was introduced to jazz by my family and I have to say I love Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone.

“All three are the focal point of my show. I love all these very different singers for different reasons “I first found Billie Holiday when I was a teenager and I have been singing and listening to these artists ever since.”

Helen McDonald wrote and sang in her own creation Time Travelling with the Jazz Queens, which she has performed locally at the Toulouse Lautrec in Kennington.

“I’ve always loved Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald and when I found Nina Simone I was in seventh heaven,” she says.

“I researched the lives of these three woman – watching films, reading their autobiographies and watching documentaries.

“I wanted to take people back in time with these artists. I wanted people to come Time Travelling with the Jazz Queens – that’s why I wear and use vintage clothes that were sourced for me by Anne O’Toole, the vintage expert and designer.

“I got a golden cape to take people into the future and tell their stories.

It was designed by Akua Ofosuhene.

“She is a fantastic designer in Brixton Village – my Local dressmaker – I wanted to make it Afro-futuristic.”

Helen has sung in many places in Brixton. “It’s always great playing in Brixton,” she says. “It’s about the audience, they are always rooting for you.

“The vibe is usually great in the Brixton venues. I loved playing with Yaaba Funk and Future Groove at Lambeth Country Show – great memories.’’

Yaaba Funk and Future Groove are the two other groups that Helen has been a big part of for many years.

Future Groove are an incredibly entertaining trio who do classic tunes as well as those Helen has written.

Yaaba Funk have been on the South London African scene since the late 1990s. Helen joined the band as a percussionist and singer.

Make sure you go and join her at one of her many events as well as popping along to Brixton Jamm where she joins the jammin‘ most Mondays. It’s free before 8pm. Even if it’s a fiver after that, it is definitely worth paying!

“It’s great playing at the Jamm with Renato Paris I have been supporting and singing at this jam since it was housed at Claudia Wilson’s Pure Vinyl on Ferndale Road before the lockdown.

“It’s a different vibe at the Jamm. but still such a great night. Never any jazz standards, just original music being made on the spot – and it always hits the spot!

Helen performing at Pop Brixton and, below, Straight Pocket

“It’s definitely the best jam in London. Great talents like Renato Paris and Sheila Maurice-Grey, trumpet player from Kokoroko, with other fantastic musicians.

Future Groove at the Windmill

Gardens Harvest Festival from 1 to 5pm on Sunday 25 September. Yaaba Funk play the Hootananny on Friday 7 October A helenmcdonald.uk A yaabafunk.com

My nickname is ‘Bullet’ because of my explosive style of playing Jammin’ at The Jamm, Andrew Roy McLean was drumming a recent Monday night away, being chief drummer at Straight Pocket.

He got involved in Renato Paris’ pre-lockdown sessions at Claudia Wilson’s Pure Vinyl on Ferndale Road and has also been enjoying it ever since it moved to Jamm.

Andrew’s love of music and its inspiration began at Stockwell Park secondary school, where he got an A+ in music GCSE. “I was given a VHS video tape at secondary school aged 11 from my drum teacher that exposed me to the likes of Dennis Chambers, Buddy Rich, Louis Bellson, Elvin Jones, Tony Royster Jr. etc – all very influential.”

So influential that it furthered Andrew’s interest and he went to Lewisham College where he passed with distinction in a BTEC national diploma in popular music.

“I started playing drums professionally at the age of 19 with the Sugababes girl group – four years with them, toured the UK and Europe.”

Andrew was brought up in Brixton by his Mum Whitma from Barbados and Dad Ransford from Jamaica and still lives in the Brixton area.

He always comes back to drumming here, despite working all over the world.“My nickname

is ‘Bullet’,” he says. “Why? …

Because of my explosive style of playing!”

The Jamm is far from the only Brixton venue to have heard Andrew McLean’s beats explode.

He recalls drumming Upstairs at The Ritzy, the Hootananny, “what used to be called The Fridge”, St Matthew’s Church, and the Jamm “when it was called Bar Lorca”.

Andrew began drumming his way around Brixton at the age of 11 due to the influence of hearing his brother – Don-E, drumming with the Steel Pan Show.

He also learnt piano and bass guitar and became a music producer too. His decision to be a drummer seems to have been the right one. It has seen him play for famous artists including Grace Jones, the Sugababes, Omar, Mica Paris. Ms Dynamite, and Ed Drewett to name just a few! He has even been on Blue Peter, the children’s TV show!

A few years back Andrew experienced a condition called hyperacusis – an increased sensitivity to sound and a low tolerance for any noise. Not great

Andrew at Straight Pocket and on the big stage

for a drummer.

It was so severe that he had to put his sticks down for two years.

He ‘is writing a biography about it – Drumming Acoustics - Lost Then Found. “I had severe pain trauma. When I got it everything was amplified. Everything is loud and I lost my balance. Even the sound of a knife and fork were excruciating! I went to the docs to check and it wasn’t an ear infection.

“I even had to wear hearing aids and lost music for two years.

I now realise the importance of

not taking your ear protection for granted and now I always wear special ear plugs for protection.”

Andrew has personally passed on his experience to others and given them great hope that their hearing will get better, as his has now eventually done.

Andrew’s love of drumming and living in Brixton has helped him appreciate living life to the full and making the most of every moment – Especially in Brixton.

“I love going to all the music venues in Brixton – like the Jamm, playing drums there – to live music at the Hootananny, the Ritzy – can’t go wrong watching a movie or two there!

“I also really enjoy eating out at Brixton Village – East of Eden if you want a nice vegan Caribbean or even V-Source, the plant-based kitchen opposite the lido … ask for Cindy or Delroy … lovely atmosphere and service “Brixton has a multicultural choice of delicious foods, spoilt for choice!”

Head to the Jamm on Brixton Road on a Monday evening to hear Andrew – free before 8pm and a fiver after to enjoy him drumming his heart out.

And look out for his book Drumming Acoustics – Lost Then Found.

A Insta: andrew_mclean_music

SEPTEMBER 2022

brixtonblog.com

15

FOOD & DRINK REVIEW: BRUNCH AT BELLEFIELDS

We try all the cocktails REVIEW: CHISHURU

Passion and joy on every plate Chishuru perfectly reflects all that is special and beautiful about Brixton, says Poppy Woods Chishuru is an enigma, a complete surprise that with every bite makes you say: “of course”. It welcomes you into its warm and comforting arms with a gentleness and vibrant joy that emanates from its head chef, Adejoké Bakare (right), to everything she touches.

After years as a home cook hosting dinner parties and supper clubs, Nigerian-born Bakare finally launched her own restaurant after winning the amateur category at last year’s Brixton Kitchen competition. Her years of home cooking, depth of knowledge and experimental genius uniquely position her incomparably brilliant West African inspired dishes. More on this to come, but let’s start at the start; starters.

Chishuru serves a set menu at a very reasonable £30/£48 per head for lunch/dinner. Both starters are given to every table (vegetarian and gluten-free options available on request) and today’s offering is ekuru and brown rice pancakes.

Ekuru, I say with the authority of someone who didn’t just learn this themselves moments ago, are dumplings of peeled beans, native to the Yoruba people of Nigeria and are everything you wish falafel to be but isn’t. They are moist and curiously both softer and more al dente than their chickpea counterpart, topped with a rustic pumpkin seed pesto and scotch bonnet sauce – just the first stroke

of genius in what I am soon to discover is an entire fresco. The rice pancakes are claggy in the most perfect way, almost mochi-like, and are topped with sweet carrots.

My mouth continues to crave their cloying texture for weeks to come.

Main courses of frejon (grilled mackerel) and asaro (smoked eel) announce themselves in a flurry of eclectic colour on neutral stoneware, as though grabbed directly from warm African waters.

We visit on a decidedly sunny day, but I am sure they would bring summer to even the most drab of London’s winter depths.

The mackerel manages that near impossible feat of perfectly crispy skin served on a bed of gentle coconut bean mash. My first experience of smoked eel is incredible, so much so that I have worried daily about the logistics involved in its domestic recreation.

Its texture must be sampled to believe and, like the mackerel, is

served on another gentle bed; this time of sweet potato mash jutted in shards of textural roots – an intermingling of sweet and salty that dances with every mouthful.

With my ignorant assumptions that mackerel and eel originated in the UK quashed, I will take them in this contrary form over our bland offerings any and every day.

We end the meal with a papaya and mango sorbet that is light and refreshing with a subtle hint of umami.

Just as we think Chishuru’s proclivity to provide abundant joys are satiated, and the tables around us are cleared and the sun reflected on the village’s domed roof has begun its golden descent, Chef Bakare comes to our table.

She tells us of the mackerel; of the return to the African coast after the abolition of the slave trade, of remembering one’s roots, of the Brazilian and Portuguese influences that – combined with imposed Catholicism and the fruits of a sea as sweet as its people’s now actualised dreams – brought fish to families on Friday. So now, perfectly situated in context, we bask in the afterglow of the food and sun in every sense.

The experience of Bakare’s unique enigma of a restaurant would be impossible to describe if it didn’t so perfectly reflect all that is beautiful and special about Brixton; it has heart. It brings vibrancy, passion and joy on every plate, every mouthful and to every person it touches.

Throw all your Mayfair chandeliers and Soho chained mortgage-demanding morsels at me and I, in a style much akin to their Central London waiting staff, will turn my nose up in favour of heart.

9 Market Row, SW9 8LB | chishuru.com | 020 3915 1198

Brixton’s most bourgeois of dining spots, which I previously described as “start-up couture” Bellefields, has recently welcomed a new head chef and extended its dining menu to offer the sustaining trend of alcoholic brunching, writes Poppy Woods.

While this is just a rebranding of day drinking that functions to override the dissonance between the conflicting wellness and party lifestyles of our young workforce, it cannot be denied that this same workforce deserves a release in any form from the bottlenecked stress of sustaining an ever more complex work-life balance.

Bellefields’ impeccable ingredient sourcing and Mediterranean inspired simplicity is a welcome change from the bottomless fizz and deep fried fare that seems set to continue springing up at an unsustainable rate all around us (an undeniable mechanism of contemporary cultural trends).

We have arrived in the midst of BrixtonXHarlem celebrations, which Bellefields approached with their signature minimalism and a wonderfully curated menu of Brixton/Harlem cocktails.

We try all of them, and despite brandishing bespoke twists for the event, they will continue to be delicious once the menu returns to business as usual after the celebrations.

I would particularly recommend

the “Rum cleared Punch” which is fruity and moreish and dangerously refreshing.

Bellefields’ new head chef, Luis Telo (who has a wealth of previous experience in fine dining, Japanese fusion and modern contemporary, and has worked as a head and executive chef at Black Ro, Hook and Theft and Sexy Fish), brings more Latin influence into the modern European menu that Bellefields already does so well.

Sat in the courtyard on yet another sweltering day, the Mediterranean theme continues with laid back service and a live

acoustic accompaniment.

We start with our server’s recommendations from the bites menu; lomo, a deliciously cured ham that demands nothing more than a drizzle of olive oil to electrify the senses, homemade pitta that is cloud like and comes with a rustic homemade hummus and a small bowl of olives. All are delightfully simple and positioned to allow their quality to shine through.

For mains, we select shakshuka, a nest of rich tomato sauce, elevated by slow cooked peppers

on which sits a perfectly dippy egg.

Next is the Bolognese which has been poached from the a la carte lunch menu, which, after quite some time in the courtyard we feel ready to approach.

The fresh pasta is really the star of the show here, and if you haven’t already, I would implore you to try it at your earliest convenience – on my last visit I tried the vongole and was very impressed.

The sauce is excellent in its own right and given at a ratio conducive to mopping. Another dish which I would recommend poaching from the hinterland between Bellefields’ brunch and lunch dining, is the moules-frites, an immaculately executed feat of simplicity.

The chickpea fritters were decidedly more brunchy and although somewhat incohesive as a plate, were delightful in their comprising parts.

We finish with a Harlem festival special, a hunk of delectable Nutella panettone from New York City bakery “Settepani”.

The vegan options are initially disapointingly salad-based, however, after chatting to our server we, or rather my sister who accompanies me on this trip, are relieved by the ability to substitute meat items in what she considers more engaging dishes.

On reflection, I can say with much assurance that start-up couture at Bellefields is alive and kicking and, if you have the means, should be imbibed with shameless bourgeois vigour.

9 Stockwell Avenue, SW9 9SY | 020 7846 8540 | bookings@bellefields.com

brixtonblog.com 2022 SEPTEMBER

16 FOOD & DRINK AWARD

PL ATFORM CAFE

Community cafe ready to re-open after crowd-funded refurbishment

Volcano Coffee Works managing director Tom Delaney

Coffee stars

Brixton’s Volcano Coffee Works won a top-level three stars in this year’s Great Taste listings with its Mount blend. It also got single stars for home compostable coffee pods and its Crisis Charity Exclusive Blend.

Volcano coffee has also been awarded stars in previous annual Great Taste listings.

Other local outlets to win stars include the Dulwich Pantry on Milkwood Road for their classic sausage rolls and chicken, leek and mushroom pies.

Loughborough Junction’s Platform Cafe is to reopen on 22 September.

The cafe says it will be better than ever, with healthy vegetarian lunches, homemade cakes, sourdough, pastries and barista coffee from Peckham’s Old Spike Roastery.

The Platform Cafe is at 2 Ridgeway Road, SW9 7AH, just over the road from the Loughborough Farm.

New opening times will be Tuesday to Friday 8am to 4pm and Saturday 9am to 4pm.

The reopening follows a crowdfunding campaign to refurbish the café, expand its capacity, and build on the community spirit which surrounds it and the nearby Loughborough Farm.

A kiosk and canopy outside the main building to serve takeaways safely in a covid-secure way will free up interior space and offer customers protection from the weather when sitting outdoors.

Improvements to the kitchen will allow staff and volunteers to meet increased demand and to develop the cafe’s planned expansion of its online activities.

The Platform Cafe will continue to provide a

much-needed community space, hosting talks, workshops, meet-ups, events, training and supporting local start-ups and food businesses.

During the pandemic, the cafe supported many people in the community, providing thousands of free meals to those in need, as well as regular check-ins through doorstep chats, phone calls and socially-distanced meet-ups to combat loneliness.

At the peak of the pandemic, volunteers delivered free meals to overworked mortuary workers at King’s College hospital.

They also worked with Carers4Carers, the Max Roach Community Centre, and Grove Adventure Playground, to provide free meals and support over summer holidays.

Due to the success of the campaign Power to Change and the Mayor of London match-funded portions of the donations raised.

The cafe opened in April 2017 serving vegetarian meals at lunchtime on Thursdays and Fridays. Run by the Loughborough Junction Action Group (LJAG), a local social action charity, it was the brainchild of volunteer Charlotte O’Connor, who saw the potential of the former toilet block in Wyck Gardens.

OPEN DAY

FINE DINING

Laundry menu The Laundry on Coldharbour Lane next to Brixton Village has teamed up with Julian Grounds, chief winemaker at Craggy Range Vineyards in New Zealand’s North Island Hawke’s Bay wine district, to create a four-course dinner matched to some of the winery’s best bottles.

On Tuesday 6 September, the meal is billed as an opportunity to discuss the intricacies of the New Zealand wine industry and taste some award-winning classic examples. Grounds was previously senior winemaker at Giant Steps in the Yarra Valley in Victoria, Australia.

Laundry head chef Sami Harvey says his philosophy is simple – sourcing quality seasonal local produce, where possible, and bringing it to life with careful consideration, respect and creativity.

The price of £70 includes the four-course menu matched with Craggy Range wines and service.

Your chance for a day at the distillery Brixton may have it’s own excellent gin, but it’s a youngster compared to the products of Hayman’s – founded in South London more than 150 years ago and still making gin halfway between Brixton and Balham All gin lovers are invited to Hayman’s summer spritz event on Saturday 10 September.

Its doors on Weir Road will be open from noon to 6pm and the distillery and its urban garden will be marking the end of summer with seasonal gin

cocktails at £8 each.

You can sip them in the garden, or next to the copper stills (above), while listening to the distillery’s resident DJ Blakey on his decks.

There is no need to book, tables will be available on a first-come-first-served basis.

The cocktail list includes Peckham Lemonade – a combination of honey mead and Hayman’s London Dry – made in collaboration with Bermondsey distillery Gosnells.

Seasonal gins will be available to taste at the distillery shop, with 15% off any purchase that includes a full-size bottle.

Hayman’s also makes “Small Gin” for low alcohol gin and tonics. It’s full-strength, but so packed with flavour, the distillery says, that only a thimbleful is needed. The 20cl bottle comes with a thimble and Hayman’ say it is enough to makes 40 G&Ts. A Hayman’s Distillery, 8A Weir Road, SW12 0GT

COMINGS AND GOINGS A licence application on the former The Crown & Sceptre at the top of Brixton Making its presence felt for some time Across the Brixton Road at number 462 A premises of Filipino restaurant Sarap in A Hill has been empty for some months. It is A now with a garish window display in the A “London’s favourite health-focused fast Market Row was in the name of Sea Garden offered for rent by estate agent Savills. Terms former Starbucks next to the Tube is Chopstix food chain” Leon is opening. It joins a chain of and Grill Ltd – currently a highly rated modern British seafood restaurant in Tooting’s Broadway market run by antique trade veteran Jimmy Luttman.

do not appear encouraging. They are instructed to let “by creation of a new short term lease outside of the security of tenure provisions … of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.”

a noodle bar chain that boasts “many stores across the UK and Ireland offering Pan-Asian quick-service food” for dining in or Deliveroo.

Brixton is not the only new venue for the chain.

more than 40 in the former Doddle delivery base and, before that, the much-missed Clarks shoe shop. The new outlet is due to open on 20 September.

SEPTEMBER 2022

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17

WHAT’S ON Brutality, bestiality and Brixton – find them all at Lambeth Heritage Festival

Bring your memories to the Rec on 15 September

The tenth Lambeth Heritage Festival led by Lambeth Archives and the Lambeth Local History Forum takes place throughout September. Its line-up of more than 40 events reflects the diversity of the borough. We have picked out some that feature Brixton as well as borough-wide ones.

The free LAMBETH LOCAL HISTORY FAIR at St John’s Church, Waterloo, gets things going on Saturday 3 September, from10am to 4.30pm.

The historic, Grade II* listed church will have just re-opened after a major restoration project.

Members of the Lambeth Local History Forum will be on hand and there will be local history publications on sale.

Talks on the day include “That region of brutality and bestiality across the water” – How Londoners saw Lambeth, by borough archivist Jon Newman at 1.30pm Walks include BRIXTON’S BLUE PLAQUES on Sunday 4 September, two hours starting at the Tube at 2.30pm. Free, donations welcome, but booking essential via bill@linskey.org.uk OLIVE MORRIS HOUSE – GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN on Thursday 8 September in Brixton library at 6pm is a Brixton Society talk about the architecture, personalities and politics of the premature destruction of Lambeth council’s Olive Morris House on Brixton Hill and its future. Opened as the council’s housing office and subsequently named after a leader of the local 1970s squatters’ movement, it’s now gone. 6–8pm. Free, Booking essential via bit.ly/OMHouse Lambeth, a MUSLIM HISTORY WALK, on Saturday 10 September starts at Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, Tea House Theatre, 139 Vauxhall Walk, SE11 5HL, at 10.30am. Abdul Maalik Tailor’s tour explores some of the borough’s Muslim connections, from the development of mosques and Turkish baths to individuals such as Duse Mohammad Ali, the teacher of Marcus Garvey, who have now been largely forgotten, but were of great importance in their era. Booking essential, contact: halaltourismbritain.com/guidedtours/ lambeth-tour There will be guided tours of BRIXTON WINDMILL on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 and

Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 September. The 40-minute tour to the top must be booked in advance at brixtonwindmill.org/visit, or just turn up for a shorter guided tour every 20 minutes from 1pm to 4.40pm.

A 75-minute BRIXTON MARKET HERITAGE WALK on Saturday 10 September from 2.30 to 3.45pm will take in the street and covered markets as well as the high street. It starts at the corner of Brixton Station Road and Beehive Place. The £5 fee includes a booklet. Booking essential: bit.ly/ MktWalk Not only home to a prison and a windmill, BRIXTON HILL also has waterworks and had trams and connections with early telegraphy. A 90-minute walk round Brixton Hill with a Blue Badge guide starts at 12.50pm on Sunday 11 September at the windmill. £12, £6 concessions, children free. All proceeds to Brixton Windmill. Booking essential: brixtonwindmill.org/ visit/guided-walks LOUGHBOROUGH ROAD HISTORIES is an illustrated talk by author and local resident Tracey Gregory at the Carnegie library from 7 to 8.30pm on Tuesday 13 September, telling some of the stories of the people and places of Loughborough Road. Free, Booking essential: foclchair@gmail.com REVISITING BRIXTON REC is an opportunity for users to help document and record the often neglected history of the Brixton Recreation Centre. If you have photographs and trophies, or medals, memories and stories, bring them along to an event at the Rec from 6.30 to 8.30pm on Thursday 15 September.

All memories and materials will form part of the collection at Lambeth Archives.

Free. revisitingbrixtonrec.org.uk BRIXTON WEST OF THE HIGH STREET is a walk exploring the backwaters behind the big stores.

From 2.30 to 4pm on Sunday 18 September.

Story Trails will bring history to life Brixton library will be at the centre of Lambeth Story Trails – part of a national exploration using new technologies to bring to life untold stories from the past.

It uses immersive storytelling to bring those stories to life through 3D internet to reanimate public spaces.

Using the Story Trails app, and helped by local performers, audiences will experience local history where it happened. Town squares, local libraries, streets and cinemas will be

transformed into virtual portals through which to explore stories of historical change in 15 places.

There will be two free performances in Brixton library, coinciding with the Lambeth Heritage Festival, on Saturday 10 September from10am to 6pm, and on Sunday 11 September from 11am to 5pm.

The app uses augmented reality experiences that remix British Film Industry, BBC and Film London archives.

Inside the library you will fly through a virtual

map of Lambeth made up of 3D models, and audio stories captured on location.

You will also have the opportunity to explore further stories via bespoke virtual reality experiences on headsets.

Visit https://story-trails. com/locations/lambeth Outside the library, you can enter a “virtual story portal” to begin your Story Trails experience. Guided by the app, you will be led at your own pace along a route with a choice of story trails to follow.

Free. Booking essential. For details of meeting point, and to book, email info@brixtonsociety. org.uk The Ritzy hosts a Clapham Film Unit screening of a collection of LAMBETH-RELATED SHORT FILMS on Thursday 29 September from 6.30 to 8.30pm. They include Chaplin Was Here

by Darren Zlatareff; Blood Film by Karolina Raczynski; People’s Piano by Tom Rochester and Maureen Ni Fiann; Brixton Bustle by Shaun Clark; Under the Stone by Charlotte Bill; Surviving Suicide/Mental Health Tree

by Elizabeth McMullan; and Bronze Woman

by Ego Ahaiwe. Free, booking essential at bit.ly/CFU-Lambeth-shorts The sixth annual WINDMILL LECTURE – Milling at Brixton Windmill, Past, Present and Future – looks at how the Brixton-based milling business established by John Ashby in 1816 survived until 1934, and how Friends of Windmill Gardens volunteers have been milling flour once again since 2014 as well as how flour production might change in the future. At the

Brixton Windmill Centre in Windmill Gardens park from 7.15 to 9.15pm on Wednesday 28 September. Free, booking essential: brixtonwindmill.org/events/annual-lecture/ One of several month-long events that are part of the festival is an exhibition curated

by Karolina Jonc-Buczek exploring the experiences of POLES WHO SETTLED IN SOUTH LONDON shortly after World War II and reflecting on the Polish identity, culture, and heritage through the decades. It includes Home to Home, Polish community portraits by Urszula Soltys which confronts stereotypes. From 1 to 30 September at West Norwood Library.

Heritage Playback Stories is a INTER-GENERATIONAL STORYTELLING project which aims to celebrate Lambeth heritage using personal stories as source material. Life stories are volunteered by audience members and then enacted by storytellers and musicians. There will be five free events in September. Use 492kornaklub.com/contact to get details.

A bit.ly/Lambeth-Heritage -2022

BRIXTON UNITARIAN CHURCH Est 1839

SUNDAY CONCERT SERIES

AUTUMN CONCERTS

BOOK HERE

Tickets £8, £4 (concessions) including wine / light refreshment & nibbles The Scintille Quartet: German Classics for the Summer’s End 25th September 2022 12pm–1pm Beethoven String Quartet in F major Op. 18 No. 1 Schubert String Quartet in D minor D.810 ‘Death of a Maiden’

Brixton Wind Ensemble directed by Jason Taing 23rd October 2022 12pm–1pm Raff Sinfonietta Taneyev Andante for double wind quintet Gordon Jacob More Old Wine In New Bottles

Bryony Lloyd (folk singer/guitarist) 20th November 2022 12pm–1pm Folk singer-songwriter Bryony Lloyd makes her debut at Brixton, with her healing and lyrical original songs

Handel’s Messiah Part 1 directed by Jason Taing 4th December 2022 12pm–1pm Formed of university and conservatoire choral scholars and graduates, the choir and ensemble take on Part 1 of this glorious masterpiece

EFFRA ROAD CHAPEL, SW2 1BZ WWW.BRIXTONUNITARIANS.ORG | https://bit.ly/3Py9H5Z

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18 WHAT’S ON

2022 SEPTEMBER

Knock Down – Brixton theatre on the move Brockwell Park community greenhouses will host the Siobhán Parr Duo on Sunday 9 October

Something for everyone at Herne Hill Music Festival With 26 performances dotted around Herne Hill from Brockwell Park to the Half Moon, and music ranging from klezmer through classical to country and soul, it is guaranteed there will be a performance to your liking at this year’s Herne Hill Music Festival – 7 to16 October. Scott Greig has the details Freddie Benedict and Friends will open the festival with Jazz with the Junction at the Half Moon with Brazilian tunes, jazz standards, modern classics as well as original songs on Friday 7 October at 8pm.

That same evening, commemorating the 400th anniversary of the 1620 sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers’ Mayflower, The Friends’ Musick Choir, in full period costume, invite you to hear the tale of that fateful 66-day voyage across the Atlantic in words and music in Herne Hill United Church at 7.30pm.

The following morning at 11am at Herne Hill Baptist Church, Mrs H and the Sing-along Band bring a unique and infectious blend of musical fun for children – and adults – who can sing and dance along to a mixture of folk, soul, Afro, Latin and dub.

Later that day on Saturday 8 October at 3pm, Herne Hill will be singing on at St Faith’s Church with four local choirs invited to perform, including Vocallective, the unauditoned, self-proclaimed “friendliest choir in London”, the Note-Orious Dulwich Choir, who pride themselves on raising funds for youth health charity Redthread, Raise the Roof who are now based in the Carnegie Community Hub following a 20-year residency at the Horniman Museum and Sing4All who are a friendly choir for over 60s in South London.

The choirs will be singing hits from classic pop, musical, and medieval to millennial.

That evening in St Faith’s Church at 7.30pm, the first classical concert of the festival will be by another local South London gem, enSEmble26. Eleanor Meynell on piano and Ellie Fagg on violin will bring some outstanding performances of the Beethoven violin sonatas.

Funds raised will go directly to developmental charity Practical Action.

At 8pm over in the Prince Regent, local band Casino Moon will return to the festival with their own indie-folk and Americana-inspired songs on voice, guitar, mandolin and lap steel.

Sunday 9 events take place in the local parks.

All Saint Concert Band perform classical, pop and film hits outside Brockwell Hall at 2pm.

At Ruskin Park bandstand, King Groovy and the Hornstars, one of London’s premier big bands will be bringing you the music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Quincy Jones.

Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses host the Siobhán Parr Duo at 3.30pm singing classics by the likes of Van Morrison, Lucinda Williams, John Prine and Sam Cooke.

Choral Evensong at St Faith’s Church at 6pm will have one of London’s most accomplished chamber choirs, Pegasus Choir, taking you back in time with English renaissance works.

On Monday 10 October, Jazz Jam, led by

Roger Humbles, returns to Off the Cuff.

Aspiring jazzers who would like to display their skills, gain experience, or just relax and enjoy a great evening are invited to come along.

On 11 October, highly rated folk group Three Cane Whale will debut at the festival in the Prince Regent with acoustic sets on mandocello, bowed psaltry, zither and chimes.

On Wednesday 12, the Half Moon will welcome the acclaimed Errol Linton Band.

On Thursday 13 the South East London Folk Orchestra present an evening of toe-tapping tunes and ceilidh dancing for all ages in St Saviour’s Hall at 7:30pm.

Worldwide-performing trio Gemini will be raising funds for St Paul’s Church’s organ restoration with “Pipe Up!” on Friday 14 at 7.30pm. The group will perform works by Mendelssohn, Chopin and Hugh Scrapnel on clarinets and piano. Entry is free but donations to the restoration fund would be appreciated.

That same evening at 8pm the festival welcomes salsa band Orquesta Mambarito, who will be setting alight the floors of Off The Cuff.

A further fund-raising concert will take place the following morning at Herne Hill United Church with Coffee Morning Music on Saturday 15 at 11am. The Nigel Grice Trio will perform mellow jazz tunes in aid of the Norwood and Brixton Foodbank.

Later on at St Faith’s Church, Lambeth Wind Orchestra will be performing Music for all the Family – songs and melodies from film and stories which children of primary school age and beyond will love.

Another fundraising concert, Rocking for Refugees will see The Long String Hawkers and Blue Spike playing Americana, bluegrass, and country through indie rock and punk at 8pm at Off The Cuff.

The festival concludes on Sunday 16 October with the popular Junior Mic Open Concert at Off The Cuff at noon.

Later, at 3pm, there will be more music coming from the Greenhouses in Brockwell Park with the Oysland Band, a five-piece klezmer group who embody the new generation of Jewish roots music with an exuberant and soulful cocktail of wedding tunes and lamenting lullabies.

Southwark Sinfonietta will close the 2022 festival on Sunday 16 October with a programme of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 6 in F (Pastoral), Walter Leigh’s Concertino for Harpsichord and Strings and Two preludes from Elgar’s symphonic poem Falstaff, which is expected to be another sell-out event at St Faith’s Church.

A Visit hernehillfestical.org for more information and to book.

Five important Brixton sites will host one-off creative performances over a weekend for Knock Down – Brixton.

Created by Brixton House theatre and the women-led and run Dropped Tea theatre company, the event will focus on upholding and preserving Brixton’s vivid history.

Peckham and Camberwell have been the previous subjects of Knock Down productions Designed as a “weekend of performance, promenade style”, Knock Down – Brixton will show theatre and creative performances in five iconic Brixton venues – Lambeth town hall, the Black Cultural Archives, The Ritzy cinema, Round Table Books in the Granville Arcade, and Brixton House theatre. Audiences will move from one performance to another as a group, experiencing Brixton’s culture between venues.

Directed by the acclaimed actor and creative Rebekah Murrell, Knock Down – Brixton’s line-up includes work from Top Boy’s Michael Balogun, Brixton Bard Alex Wheatle, Thea Gajic, Sola Olulode and Jennelle Reece-Gardner.

Organisers said the theatre project is focused on maintaining Brixton’s history whilst drawing attention to London’s multifaceted communities, voices and experiences.

It will disrupt “what we know ‘theatre’ to be”, allowing history, community and performance to be explored in the same space and time.

The event is a collaboration between local talent and local businesses to celebrate and explore the memories and stories of people who call Brixton home.

The five artists raised in Brixton will create short pieces exploring their relationship to the area they grew up in. The Dropped Tea company, was formed by theatre makers Jesse Bateson, Nassy Konan and Eva BradleyWilliams, who were born and raised in South London.

ALEX WHEATLE MBE will be at Lambeth Town Hall which was built in 1908, He will use the circular steps beneath the clock tower overlooking Brixton Road and Windrush Square for one of the pieces.

SOLA OLULODE – at Black Cultural Archives – is a British-Nigerian artist who creates delicate portrayals of queer love through her figurative works influenced by Yoruba Adire textiles.

BCA will host Sola’s powerful pieces in its upstairs meeting room.

THEA GAJIĆ – at the Ritzy Cinema – is an actor, writer and director born and raised in South London. Her first short film Run was selected as BFI Postroom’s Pick of The Month, Short of The Week and won New Talent Award at BFI Future Film Fest. She is now developing her debut feature film Surviving Earth with the BFI. Upstairs at The Ritzy will host her pieces.

JENNELLE REECE-GARDNER at Round Table Books is a 27-year-old poet and writer, who has performed her spoken word pieces in venues around London. They touch on themes of womanhood, social/racial injustice, and the trials and tribulations of trying to find one’s identity. Round Table Books is an inclusion-led bookshop selling books for every reader and celebrates under-represented children’s books, writers, and illustrators.

MICHAEL BALOGUN – at Brixton House – is an award-winning actor born and raised in Lambeth. During time in prison, he found his passion for acting and, once released, gained a place at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. During the pandemic he performed the one-person show Death of England Delroy which reopened the National Theatre, and has also performed in the hit Netflix shows Top Boy and You Don’t Know Me. Brixton House is the new theatre on Coldharbour Lane with a mission to create spaces for its community to connect, create and enjoy.

Dropped Tea have a passion for making work that celebrates and amplifies London’s lost voices through multi-disciplinary forms of storytelling in communities.

The trio aim to unearth untold stories, centring the voices, memories and experiences of people with a longstanding connection to areas, against the backdrop of a changing urban landscape.

A Knock Down will take place over the weekend of 7–9 0ctober.

Dropped Tea is Jesse Bateson, Eva BradleyWilliams and Nassy Konan – who were all raised in South London

International dance is first for Brixton House Change Tempo is a triple bill at Brixton House theatre from 12 to 13 October, part of Dance Umbrella 2022, London’s annual international dance festival.

Three international artists will perform at the Brixton House’s first Dance Umbrella event, exploring themes of transformation, transmission and representation.

Combining Philippine folk dance, classical, hip hop and vogue Joy Alpuerto

Ritter from Germany dances Babae, which is inspired by the “masterpiece of strangeness” Mary Wigman’s Witch Dance.

Linda Hayford from France uses popping to communicate her state of mind in a solo creation Shapeshifting. Working with composer Abraham Diallo, her style conjures an otherworldly existence as she passes from one form to another.

In the profound solo work O Samba do Crioulo

Doido by Brazilian artists Luiz de Abreu and Calixto Neto, choreography is passed from one Black body to another.

Calixto Neto’s documentary O Samba do Crioulo Doido: Ruler and Compass is featured in Dance Umbrella’s digital programme providing insight into the making of and passing on of this radical work as Abreu “transfers” it to Neto following his recent experience of sight loss.

SEPTEMBER 2022

Sound portrait of Atlantic and Railton roads

Ain Bailey’s sound work, Atlantic Railton, gathers memories and resonances of lost spaces in Brixton, allowing listeners to hear how communities continue to feel the belonging, connection and impact that these places held.

It featured at the Serpentine Gallery last year and is now available as a podcast in the gallery’s Sound Gallery series of artists’ audio commissions which ask people to listen actively and consider how we navigate the world.

It is one of four Sound Gallery commissions released to coincide with the Serpentine Pavilion 2022 and is available on Spotify, Apple podcasts, and elsewhere.

Atlantic Railton was commissioned by Serpentine Civic and Serpentine Education for Listening to the City which drew on ideas of the 2021 Serpentine Pavilion being a “holding space” for many stories of life in London, and engaged with the sound landscapes of specific neighbourhoods.

Atlantic Road and Railton Road “were significant locations for movements and groups such as the Black Panthers, Brixton Black Women’s Group, and the 1981 Brixton uprising,” the gallery says.

“Bailey draws on these histories, weaving familial and personal relationships with sites of community organising active between the early 1970s and early 2000s, including Brixton Neighbourhood Community Association, Big Up and Lambeth Women’s Project.

The composition consists of field recordings, archival sounds of protest, traditional steel-pan songs played by Matthew Phillip from Mangrove Steel Band, and the voices of Bailey’s collaborators: Sharon Elliott, Claudette Parry, Ego Ahaiwe Sowinksi, and Marc Thompson.

“Atlantic Railton is a dedication to people and places which are no longer with us,” says the gallery.

A A YouTube video of a live event at the gallery last year that was an extension of Ain Bailey’s work is also available: youtu.be/KgTNFy2fQvU

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WHAT’S ON 19

Discovering the dark side of John Ruskin

Nicolette Lares hopes her film gets people thinking about hidden histories

Brixton Behind the Signs by Nicolette Lares is a half-hour documentary film essay looking at three sites in Brixton with commemorative names – Ruskin Park, Poets Corner and Windrush Square – to understand more about their past and present.

It highlights the stories behind the signs, exploring themes of racism, resistance and regeneration.

It is informative and thought-provoking and takes the time to let viewers think.

It also includes Linton Kwesi Johnson reading his devastating work Sonny’s Lettah (Anti-Sus Poem), best know from his performance of it on the 1979 dub poetry album Forces of Victory.

“I used to cycle around Brixton listening to podcasts during the Covid lockdowns,” says Nicolette.

“Even though I grew up here, it was only during the pandemic that I started to notice Brixton’s street names.

“Some of them were famous, like Bob Marley Way. Others had clear connections to Brixton, like Windrush Square. But there were some I’d never heard of and I wondered how they got there.

“Then I saw that Lambeth had launched a review into street names with links to colonialism.

“I started looking at what the review covered and what it didn’t. It left out people like John Ruskin – who has a dark side which the film talks about.

“It also celebrated sites

like Windrush Square, but didn’t explore their complicated histories.

“I wanted to fill this gap with the film, and explain some of the less obvious links between Brixton’s past and its present.

“I hope the film gets people thinking about these hidden histories. It would be great if it inspires people to discover new ones too.”

Nicolette made the film while studying for a part-time MA on culture, diaspora and ethnicity (bit.ly/Birkbeck-CDA-MA).

She would be happy to set up a discussion about her documentary if people are interested, and is looking for opportunities to show it in public.

A See it at vimeo.com/732999674

Lambeth Open The first weekend of October will see artists and crafts people across Lambeth opening their studios and workspaces to the public in another Lambeth Open.

Doors will be open from 10am to 6pm, 1 and 2 October and admission will be free.

Lambeth Open showcases the huge range of creative talent in the borough as well as art spaces that are too often hidden in many neighbourhoods.

Visitors will be able to see inside the artist’s studios and exhibition spaces for a unique personal insight into the individual technical processes.

A Details at lambethopen.com

Brixton Nights book launch

Strange that one should launch a book called Brixton Nights in Putney, but that is what was happening on Friday 26 August. Poet and author Amy Tollyfield was promoting her first novella in Putney Waterstones.

Brixton Nights charts the life of Christina, a young lesbian woman, who once lived in Brixton and now lives in Hull.

It follows a tempestuous journey through young adulthood and into early adult life, including many losses and heartaches along the way.

Working-class, female and gay, Christina has the odds stacked against her, before she and her rebellious brother Kyle are given a new home with a kind lady named Simone.

A olympiapublishers.com/book/brixton-nights

Digital and dance combine to convey the inescapable tides of life and death A unique and ground-breaking contemporary screendance production is coming to the Ritzy in October.

Fountain explores the intersection and significance of water in Black histories and experience. It has been created by dance visionary, choreographer, educator, writer and activist Alexandrina Hemsley and is touring the UK this autumn.

Fountain blends dance and digital watery environments to explore “tidal cycles of repair, loss, bereavement, joy and intimacy”.

It draws on “the symbolism and psycho-­ geography of water as inevitably linked to Black histories, embodiments, experiences and mental health”.

Digital visual effects conjure watery states as three dancers, Shahada Nantaba, Rickay Hewitt-Marti and Rudzani Moleya, shift between being seen, mirrored and camouflaged by water.

Fountain explores the significance of oceanic passages and colonial carving up of water and identities, and the water in our own bodies and the inescapable tides of life and death.

Alexandrina Hemsley founded her Yewande 103 organisation in 2020 to formalise her

work in the contemporary dance field as choreo­grapher, performer, writer, mentor and educator.

With the vision of advocating and pushing for change against systemic racism and ableism in the dance sector, Yewande 103 centres the experiences of Black, disabled artists and audiences to build an ethical and inclusive model of dance production.

“Fountain explores ways water can hold, care, wash away, as well as draw on and reclaim space; be that physical, emotional or

psychological,” said Alexandrina Hemsley.

“This will be an access-led screendance production to promote Black, disabled leadership in dance, to support and bring about change for artists who face health-based marginalisations.

“My vision for Fountain arose after years spent turning towards water within my poetry and independent screendance work as a metaphor for my own experiences of mental health.

“I have strived to make a work that takes the autobiographical and expands it into an invitation to consider and encounter each other; to build creative universes which hold, show and protect Black bodies in all our multiples.”

Dancer Rudzani Moleya said: “I hope that together we have created a unique and timely work that can really heighten awareness and appreciation of Black experience and existence.”

A Short trailer: vimeo.com/736089405 A Long trailer: vimeo.com/736090667 A Ritzy Brixton: 30 October picturehouses.com/fountain A youtu.be/A2g-iwsD7lQ

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20 WHAT’S ON

2022 SEPTEMBER

OUR SELECTION OF GIGS AND MORE IN BRIXTON AND NEARBY WED 24 @ UPSTAIRS AT THE RITZY

The Outerglobe FEMXLE DJ RELAY will be the perfect pre-carnival jump-up with the best vinyl reggae. Guest DJs will play half hour sets and hosts Miss Feelgood and Debbie Golt will take over later on.

7.30–11.30pm. Free.

THU 25 @ HOOTANANNY

Hoots’ BEER GARDEN BEATS sees DJs playing Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 5 to 9pm in the garden. Free.

FRI 26 @ POW

Supa Dupa Fly carnival takeover at POW with DJs Sandra Omari (BBC 1Xtra mix DJ), G-Starr, Pavlos, and host Teddy. Expect 90s, noughties HIP HOP, plus newer jams plus Afrobeats and dancehall. 9pm–4am. £10-£16.50.

SAT 27 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

Start early at the Windmill with the House Arrest FAMILY BBQ with Beige Banquet; House Arrest; Tommy Cossack & The Degenerators; Sheiva; Freddy Merkky; Plutoz Beach; The Me; and Robert.

4.30pm. £7.

SUN 28 @ HOOTANANNY

Head straight from carnival to Hootananny for the Reggae Sunday CARNIVAL SPECIAL with Brother Culture; Evidence Music; Little Lion Sound & Derrick Sound; Mad-X; and more. 5pm-midnight. Free.

MON 29 @ RITZY

But I’m a Cheerleader is a 1999 US satirical teen comedy romance. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan Bloomfield, a high school cheerleader whose parents send her to a residential in-patient CONVERSION THERAPY camp to cure her suspected lesbianism.

Guess what happens … 8pm. £7.90.

TUE 30 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

Four bands for £6. Is there better value anywhere else in London? We doubt it. The Orchestra (For Now) is six friends and as BAROQUE as it is electronic; CIX plays “deconstructed hyperfolk”; Bella Unwin offers beeps, boops and funky loops; Slow Cooked is your favourite cellist’s favourite cellist. 8pm, doors 7pm. £5 + £1 service charge.

WED 31 @ POW

DRAG BINGO with a rising star of the East London queer performance scene, Just May, who uses popular culture, low-brow looks and a wicked sense of humour to take audiences on a trash-infused pop journey. Happy hour all night, plus buy one get one half price on pizzas. 7-11pm. Entry free.

SEPTEMBER THU 1 @ UPSTAIRS AT THE RITZY

MON 5 @ CARNEGIE LIBRARY

TUE 6 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

THU 8 @ HOOTANANNY

Bukky Leo’s Black Egypt collective in a show that celebrates Nigerian SYNTHESIZER whiz, the reclusive William Onyeabor. Bridging funk, disco and Afrobeat, his revolutionary style was unique for the time and place in which he grew up. 8–11pm. £13.22.

FRI 9 @ BRIXTON ?

Brixton-based Sofar sounds presents another SECRET event – the venue is revealed to ticket holders 36 hours before it is due to begin. They are promised two or three short sets from performers from all musical genres, and sometimes even spoken word, comedy or dance – curated by Sofar’s booking team to be diverse and varied. 7.30pm, up to three hours long. £24 from bit.ly/Sofar-090822

SAT 10 @ POW

It’s 10 years since Up On The Roof first brought together CARNIVAL LEGENDS Norman Jay MBE and Sancho Panza (Matt Brown and Jimmy K-Tel) at POW Brixton. Support this year from Lisa Loud, Mister Shiver and Si Kurrage, Rob Alldrittn and Chris Wheatley, and Hotel Room Hosted By Simple Groove DJs Tom Baker, Michael Diamond and Ben Holt.

3pm–3am. £17; £11.20 before 5pm.

SUN 11 @ HOOTANANNY

Salsa and son from Hoots regulars Sarabanda with an improvised jam session – listen and dance to topclass CUBAN music. 7–11pm. Free.

MON 12 @ JAMM

If it’s Monday, it must be Straight Pocket hosted by Renato Paris, the great IMPROVISED JAZZ session.

Take your friends, take your instruments for live music as you’ve never seen it before. 6–11pm. Free before 8pm–£3 advance.

TUE 13 @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

FRI 2 @ PHONOX

SUN 4 @ POP BRIXTON

The Brixton Vintage KILO SALE is back at Pop on September 3 and 4 with more than six tonnes of vintage, branded and retro clothing at just £15 a kilo.

Entry is free, just turn up and shop; bring your own bag. Cash, card, Apple Pay, Google Pay. 11am–5pm.

The Trinity PUB QUIZ promises lots of prizes including a £50 bar tab for winner, bottle of wine to second to last place and a rollover jackpot of up to a £500 bar tab. 8–10pm. £2 per player; max of 6 per team.

WED 7 @ DOGSTAR

Speak No Evil returns with “explosive contemporary JAZZ” from Rosie FraterTaylor, who blurs the lines between jazz, folk, pop and soul, and Beyond The Blue, a fusion-focused septet influenced by jungle and drum & bass. 7:30–11pm. £13.22.

Heavyweight HOUSE hero Harry Romero is on the decks for the headline spot at a day and night terrace party Freedom club event with the emphasis on dancing. Plus Bambossa/Defected and more guests TBA. 5pm to 4am. £19.25.

MON 26 @ TRINITY ARMS

There are BACHATA and salsa lessons and a dance party every Wednesday at the Dogstar. Lessons are open to all – no experience or partner needed 6.30pm–midnight. Class and party £10; party only £5, bulk purchase discounts.

With a career spanning more than 30 years ,Café Tacvba are widely recognised as MEXICO’s leading alternative rock band with their mix of rock, indigenous folk, electronic and punk. 7–11pm. £35.50.

SAT 3 @ JAMM

Observe the HARVEST FESTIVAL with the windmill’s free family event celebrating the annual wheat harvest and the histories and crafts of milling and artisan bread making, with live music, fun games for children, and craft workshops for both adults and children. Organised by Friends of Windmill Gardens.

1–5pm. Free.

O.zone returns! Redefining DnB as drum & baritone, Tash Keary and Joe Henwood – O. – add dubs, loud noises and heavy beats. Edna will play her strippedback guitar songs. 8pm. £6.

The first Thursday of the month brings us Lost World Live to The Ritzy, hosted by Tee Stone and DJ Prince G, and featuring special guest headline sets, OPEN MIC slots, DJ sets, game shows and giveaways.

7.30–11.30pm. £7 advance, £10 door.

After making his debut a few months ago, Yung Singh returns to Phonox for four Fridays in September, each featuring YUNG SINGH alongside some of the finest selectors. Tonight with Darwin and Tailor Jae. 9.30pm–4am. £22.40.

SUN 25 @ BRIXTON WINDMILL

The Carnegie library on Herne Hill Road hosts free BRIDGE sessions on Monday afternoons. They are free and there is no need to book. At the moment, it is not possible to teach complete beginners, but existing players of all standards are welcome to have fun and improve their game. 2.15–5.15pm.

WED 14 @ HOOTANANNY

THU 15 @ DEPARTMENT STORE DOWNSTAIRS

The Dynamite ART FAIR 2.0 is Downstairs at the Department Store from 15 to 18 September. The private view on the 15th includes a live projection mapping and creation event hosted by KASSEUS. Doors 6pm. Event 9–10pm (no entrance after 8.45pm). Free, register at bit.ly/Dynamite-2-private

FRI 16 @ ROUNDHOUSE

OK, so it’s north of the river, but SOUL II SOUL will be bringing their legendary beats to the Roundhouse.

The multi-million-selling double Grammy winners first gigged live at the Fridge in Brixton, now the Electric. General public booking opens 6 September at 10am. Doors: 7pm. £42.64.

Organising an event?

TUE 27 @ CROWN & ANCHOR

Errol Linton at the Effra – see him at Hootananny onthe 28Effra September Errol Linton at – see him at Hootananny on 28 September

SAT 17 @ BRIXTON …

Learning Through the Arts presents When Brixton Went on Fire: 40 Years After, a WALKING TOUR OF BRIXTON led by Blue Badge guide Angela Morgan to discover the landmarks of the 1981 Uprising and find out how this defining moment of Black British history shaped Brixton today. 11am-1pm. £5. Tickets: bit.ly/ Brixton-fire-40

SUN 18 @ GRAFTON DANCE CENTRE

A bus ride from Brixton, the Grafton Dance Centre in North Dulwich hosts the Cactus Club LGBT TEA DANCE. Join with or without a partner for gender neutral partner dancing from ballroom to line dancing. 2–6pm. £10. Find out more at thecactusclub. co.uk/teadance.html

The Crown & Anchor’s Tuesday night QUIZ, hosted

by Dave, has cash prizes for the top two teams and third place gets a bottle of wine. 7.30pm start. £2 per player.

WED 28 @ HOOTANANNY

Brixton insiders know you can catch him for free most Wednesday nights at the Effra Hall Tavern, but this is our opportunity to see ERROL LINTON play his reggae-inflected electric blues on a bigger stage.

7–11pm. £13.22.

THU 29 @ UPSTAIRS AT THE RITZY

Queen Nanny Legendary Maroon Chieftainess, a film by Jamaican-born US-based filmmaker Roy T Anderson, examines the mysterious figure that is NANNY OF THE MAROONS, Jamaica’s sole female national hero. The screening will be followed by Q&A. Doors: 6.30pm. Film 7pm. Ends 9pm. £9.21, tickets from bit.ly/Ritzy-Nanny-290922

FRI 30 @ MARKET HOUSE

The Trinity PUB QUIZ promises lots of prizes including a £50 bar tab for winner, bottle of wine to second to last place and a rollover jackpot of up to a £500 bar tab. 8–10pm. £2 per player; max of 6 per team.

Beyoncé fan? You’re in luck. Market House hosts BEYONCÉ Bingo which, it says, will be the ultimate party-meets-games night of fun, with team games, dancing, Bey songs, prizes and lots more, including three Beyoncé inspired bingo games, a DJ playing non-stop Beyoncé hits and Beyoncé themed prizes and free drinks to win – including for best dressed and dance-off competition. Food by Wingmans (Yes, we did consider a bingo wings joke). Doors 6pm; DJ 7pm; bingo 7.30pm. Tickets from £12.50.

TUE 20 @ DURNING LIBRARY

OCTOBER

MON 19 @ TRINITY ARMS

The Durning Library in Kennington presents an illustrated talk by Martin Humphries on famous local resident CHARLIE CHAPLIN, who was brought up in Kennington, mainly by his mother Hannah, and was a music hall performer until he was five. Poverty meant he had several local addresses. 6.45–8pm. Free.

Refreshments £3 donation.

WED 21 @ HOOTANANNY

The Lovers Of Invention, an eight-piece South London Frank ZAPPA TRIBUTE band play blues and progressive rock tinged with jazz – a sound to take you back to the late 60s. They aim to faithfully reproduce Zappa’s original sound while also exploring the spirit of his live variations. 7–11pm. £10+booking fee.

THU 22 @ WINDMILL BRIXTON

Nottingham-based Blood Wizard, Cai Burns, has the warm familiarity of folk music, but song structures are ATYPICAL and tighten and loosen between harder-edged sounds and more softly acoustic wanderings. 8pm. £8+booking fee.

FRI 23 @ BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES

POETS CORNER has been South London’s most consistent spoken word night since 2015. It’s an intimate spot to enjoy poetry and spoken word performed by some of the UK’s best up and coming poets. Doors 6.30pm. Show 7– 8.30pm. £8.50.

SAT 24 @ JAMM

Heatwave returns for the final day & night terrace party of the summer with 11 hours of DANCING and house duo Catz ’N Dogz with more acts to be announced. 5pm–4am. £17.50.

SAT 1 @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

Start a new month with Electric’s largest OKTOBERFEST to date. The venue will be transformed into an “all-singing, all-dancing Bavarian beer hall” with sausages, schnitzel and beer, and live oompah music from The German Jukebox, and DJ Danny Vito later. 1–8pm. £23.70

SUN 2 @ HOOTANANNY

Inspired by the West African griot repertoire, Kadialy Kouyate is a singer-songwriter and KORA player from southern Sudan who, since his arrival, has played a significant part in enriching the London musical scene. 8–11pm. Free.

MON 3 @ EFFRA SOCIAL

If it’s Monday, it’s LATIN at Effra Social, with Latin music and margaritas (favourably reviewed in the last Bugle) for £5 all day.

TUE 4 @ BLUES KITCHEN

Enjoy bourbon cocktails, local beers and southernstyle barbecue, burgers and buffalo wings to a soundtrack of blues, soul and rock n roll at the Kitchen’s BARRELHOUSE BLUES night. Live music from 9.45pm. Free entry.

WED 5 @ JAMM

Wednesday is OPEN DECKS night at Jamm – a welcoming space open for local DJs of any level to play in front of an intimate crowd. To play: submit a mix via the Jamm website: bit.ly/JAMM-open-decks … or you can just go along to listen with happy hour from 6 to 8pm. 6–10.30pm. Free.

listing@brixtonblog.com

22 WHAT’S ON

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2022 SEPTEMBER BLACK CULTURE MARKET

Black Culture Market will be back at the Department Store on Ferndale Road on Saturday and Sunday 1 and 2 October at the start of Black History Month.

The usual mix of food, fashion, music, stationery, art, books, jewellery, homeware, skincare, toys, health & beauty and more will be on offer, with different traders each day from 11am to 5pm.

Distrust and anger West Norwood’s excellent South London Theatre (SLT), based in an old fire station, has, as usual, an ambitious line-up of productions coming up. One of them is Woyzeck, by revolutionary Georg Buchner, who died at 23 in 1837 before completing it, is about a man plagued by haunting voices and paranoia.

Franz Woyzeck tries to make sense of things and fails. Struggling to make ends meet, he lends his body to medical experimentation.

But his distrust and anger spirals until, in an attempt to make the real and imagined voices stop for good, he takes a knife …

Woyzeck is a story about ordinary people in difficult circumstances with a lower class “hero” who is also the villain of the piece and all of the “better classes” are shown to be lacking in morals or basic humanity.

It touches on anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, oppression of the lower classes, and self-righteousness of the upper classes, “It could almost be a commentary on post-Brexit Britain”.

Buchner left four versions of the play, which have been reworked ever since. Now the SLT we has adapted the text to suit its cast, while remaining true to Buchner’s vision.

It runs from 13 to 17 September.

A Details and tickets: southlondontheatre.co.uk

Some 32 Lambeth-based performers make up the intergenerational cast of Windrush Playback.

They have been meeting and rehearsing weekly since Windrush Day on 22 June and are now looking for invitations from the community to perform their Windrush Playback Stories.

If you have a forthcoming event or community gathering they would be delighted to perform for you. For further information, contact Tony Cealy via 492kornaklub.com or on 07956 877358.

STREATHAM FESTIVAL

The 2022 Streatham Festival runs from 7 to 16 October. Events will range from the Streatham Strut with live music; StreatArt featuring local artists; LitFest literature festival, and Eye on Streatham, a photography extravaganza. New, exciting local projects are also promised. More details next issue.

A streathamfestival.com

Last chance to enjoy a greenhouse gig this year The fourth and final Mambista in the Park of 2022 at the community greenhouses in Brockwell Park is on Sunday 4 September before the night returns to West Norwood’s Portico.

It features DJ Gerry Lyseight and the Claude Deppa/Clare Hirst Band whose music has influences from township jive to Brazilian samba and Jamaican reggae, with Clare Hirst (ex-Belle Stars) on saxophones, and Claude Deppa on trumpet and flugelhorn.

Clare has played with The Communards and Mica Paris and has been an integral part of Hazel O’Connor’s touring band. She also played with David Bowie at Live Aid. Claude Deppa was born in Cape Town and played with Miriam Makeba, Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath, Carla Bley and was part of Hugh Masekela’s touring band.

The first three greenhouse gigs were both a joy and sold out, so good luck if you haven’t yet got a ticket. 6.30 to 10.30pm. Music £12, food £6.

A Tickets and information at bit.ly/BPCG-Mambista-Sep22

When Brixton was stiflingly suburban

BRIXTON LIBRARY EVENTS

Friends of Brixton Library are supporting two events there this month. On 14 September a short course will continue the work on the friends’ project Brixton Local Heroes (pictured) previously made with craft group members during lockdown thanks to tutors Rachel Heywood and Cici Washburn. Funding is from Community Connectors South London, Listens South London, South London and Maudsley NHS, and Project Smith. On the same day from 2.30 to 4.20, the friends’ autumn bazaar will showcase creative and health and wellbeing workshops including t-shirt painting and badge making.

PROSECCO AND BINGO-QUIZ

George Kelly sings with Michael “Bammi’”Rose at the August Mambista in the Park

Cattivo is Italian for “naughty” and the restaurant and cocktail bar of that name opposite the Department Store on Ferndale Road may be living up to its name by offering bottles of prosecco all night on Wednesdays for £10. From 7pm, you can also play its “bingo-quiz”.

A play set in 1926 Brixton is being revived by the Finborough Theatre in Earls Court for the first time since it was performed in that year.

Brixton 100 years ago is seen as an example of “stifling suburbia”.

Distinguished Villa is billed as both a humorous study of suburban manners and a serious look at limits placed on young women in the roaring twenties of the last century.

It was the first play of the distinguished Irish writer Kate O’Brien. When it premiered in the West End, the play was a hit, despite being censured for its outspoken views.

Mabel Hemworth rules her home and husband with a rod of iron. She expects others to follow her “nice” example of domestic life.

Her rule-bound world is turned upside down by the arrival of Frances, a lodger who holds modern views about what life can offer.

Independence, romance and a life beyond stifling suburbia beckon. The consequences will be life-changing for everyone.

A The play runs six days a week, no Mondays, from Tuesday 6 September to Saturday 1 October. Details and booking: finboroughtheatre.co.uk/production/ distinguished-villa

SEPTEMBER 2022 Stockwell skatepark in central Brixton has re-opened to the public after a £500,000ncil. cou makeover led by Lambethrs a now All types of wheeled ride the enjoy improved flow around ce park, with more inviting spaed for beginners and refresh seating the council said

IN PICTURES BRIXTON

SPORT 23

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SPORT EXTRA

Julian’s primary school, West Norwood, won the girls league

How local primary school football has led the way Lambeth & Southwark Primary Schools Football (L&SPSF) last September became the first football organisation in England, and possibly the world, to ban heading in football.

The decision followed concern about the possibly damaging effects of heading on professional footballers.

Since 1997, L&SPSF has provided competitive football for local primary schools. It organises 9v9 mixed sex and 7v7 girls-only games.

Except for the 2020/21 season, which was affected by Covid, it has offered league and cup football to local schools every year.

It was recently invited by Radio 5 Live to talk about its heading ban after the FA announced in July that it is to pilot a ban in under-12 football, starting in the 2022/23 season.

The L&SPSF season runs from September to June with schools from both boroughs participating. Most are from Lambeth, with Brixton schools Corpus Christi, Sudbourne,

Fenstanton, Loughborough and Holy Trinity taking part.

In the Covid-hit 2019/02 season there were 38 schools playing 9v9 football, of which 14 also had girlsonly 7v7 teams.

On resumption in September last year after the blank Covid-affected 2020/21 season, it had 25 9v9 teams and 12 7v7 girl’s teams.

Rosendale Road playing fields in Herne Hill host games through the school year and Dulwich Sports Ground in Turney Road from late

GIRLS UNITED FC

Brixton-based Girls United FA is once again running its Love the Game programme in partnership with Nike, providing girls with free football sessions in South London. It starts on 12 September. Visit girlsunitedfa. org/nike/lovethegame to find out more or to book a space.

September to Easter. Alleyn’s School is also used from January to Easter.

Fenstanton of Tulse Hill won the A Division title in the 2021/22 9v9 competition and the Magazine Cup, a historic competition started in the 1930s by the South London Schools FA. In the B Division, Woodmansterne of Streatham Vale won the cham­ pionship after a playoff.

In the girls-only league, Julian’s of West Norwood finished top.

L&SPSF fixtures resume in late September and all Lambeth and Southwark primary schools are welcome for both 9v9 football and girlsonly 7v7 football.

Following the recent success of England Lionesses, L&SPSF says it is pleased to offer even more girls the opportunity to play football.

A Interested schools should contact league coordinator Gary Cornforth at gary.cornforth17@outlook.com for details.

A The league website lpsfl.com has details and news of all activities.

Oval Invincibles Jack Leaning (l) and Nathan Sowter pose for the 360 degree photo booth Brixton – in the shape of the Prince of Wales’ Afrobeats n Brunch all day rooftop party – hosted the launch of the Oval Invincibles team campaign in The Hundred, the new-format cricket competition which began in August.

Players from the men’s and women’s teams partied with locals at the event – chosen because of its focus on music and entertainment, key elements of The Hundred, which combines a short, fast format of cricket and “incredible entertainment beyond sport”.

Aylish Cranstone, Grace Gibbs, Danielle Gregory and Kirstie White from the Invincibles’ women’s team – which won the first The Hundred competition last year – and Danny Briggs, Jack Leaning, Matt Milnes and Nathan Sowter from the men’s side joined partygoers at the event.

The eight Invincibles players helped get the party started by taking a turn in the DJ booth, used the 360 degree photo booth and provided the judging for a hotly contested dance off. They also joined in games of giant Jenga and virtual reality cricket.

BRIXTON

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Peter Clarke out the Streatham Youth Centre and, below, announcing his choice of university

SPORT

Ollie Goodwin witnesses the start of a career that will begin by taking a local youngster from a Streatham youth club to a Philadelphia university A packed out Streatham community hall waited with bated breath to find out where Peter Clarke, one of their own, was going in the USA to play college football.

“I’m happy to announce I’m choosing Temple College, Philadelphia, GO OWLS!”. The room erupted into cheers and whoops.

This once young lad – who owes so much to the community around him – was going to the big time.

Peter grew up in Streatham. The Streatham Youth Centre on Conyers Road where this was all taking place is very close to his heart.

Surrounded by his friends and family, he was drafted to one of the top college football sides in the States. There was also a host of NFL academy coaches and heads watching over as an up-and-coming tight end made a huge move towards the professional game.

“I started playing when I was 12/13,” Peter said.

“They ran a American football programme in my school so I went there. I was naturally gifted.

“The coach was like ‘look you should take this up’ so he sent me to a grass roots team – London Warriors up in Selhurst. I played youth flag, youth contact and then got into the academy. One thing led to another, to another – and here we are today.”

He’s a big lad. At 6 foot 6 and 235lbs he fits the tight end mould. It’s a role in American football that has a bit of everything. Being big, quick and athletic Peter had the perfect set-up.

But that’s only half the battle and, through hard work, dedication and a drive from within, he’s worked his way up through the ranks.

It certainly hasn’t been easy for the boy from South London. The NFL academy here in London has also been huge in helping him progress to the player he is today. He was surrounded by his coaches and teammates as he made the next step.

“When I found out about getting offers from

getting and I’m so grateful for that.”

One of the things that struck me most about Peter was how well he spoke. He’s a mature person. At just 18 years old, with massive moves like this happening around him, it would be easy to get lost in the bright lights.

But he seems grounded, humble and driven to take his career to the next step.

For him it’s because of where he comes from, the people around him and how hard it’s been to get here. He isn’t ready to throw that all away.

“If you don’t stay grounded, you stop working,” he says. “If I stop working then I’d be right back here where it all started, I want more than that., I don’t know what else I would do. I’m living the dream right now! I’m going to a division one college, everything set up for me.

“If I mess this up, I’m not just messing it up for me. I’m messing it up for all the people who helped get me here. I’m messing it up for everyone that comes from this area.”

As Peter makes the next step; he strikes me as someone who will always be looking back at where he’s come from; forever grateful to those people that got him there.

But he knows what he wants and what it’s going to take to get there.

“Obviously I want to make it to the NFL. I haven’t come this far to stop now. I want to not only play in the NFL but provide for my family and provide for my people.”

As Peter moves on to the next step of what will hopefully be a successful career; he leaves Streatham behind.

But it will always be his home and a place that means so much to this promising youngster.

A The Streatham Youth Centre is run by Streatham Youth & Community Trust charity which was founded in 1946. Its annual general meeting and awards take place on Monday 12 September from 6.30 to 9pm at its Conyers Road youth club. syct.org.uk

‘If it wasn’t for my scholarship I wouldn’t be going to university’ colleges I was very emotional,” he says. “I don’t come from the most privileged background.

I came from a working class house, single parent household.

“If it wasn’t for my scholarship I wouldn’t be going to university. We didn’t have much, you know. So when I got that first offer from a college I literally cried. I was just so grateful. Every time a new offer came in I was so emotional.”

For an 18-year-old, the maturity Peter speaks with is truly amazing.

Standing in front of those that mean the most and helped him all the way, you could see the

love he has.

But Peter also has that unquantifiable ability.

His voice echoes as he stands with his shoulders back and chest out. Everything that comes out of his mouth comes from a genuine place. This community has supported him and helped get him to where he is today.

“This place means so much to me. When I first arrived at this youth centre I didn’t have anything. No boots, no training kit, nothing. I came from that background.

“But the youth centre got me boots, they got me my kit, they got me the stuff I had no way of

Dulwich, fighting to the last, record a second win

Scenes from the Brixton Cycles’ Madison at Herne Hill velodrome – a highlight of the racing season there. It showcased thrilling Madison racing (fa left) and more, with some of the UK’s best riders going head-to-head in exciting track cycling

Dulwich Cricket Club recorded only their second win of the season against Old Wimbledonians on Saturday 20 August.

They remained at the bottom of the table, but were equal on points with Wimbledonians and, like them, were just four points behind Beddington and nine behind Stoke D’Abernon.

Dulwich needed to win again away against Beddington on 27 August.