Issue 19 mar 2014

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March 2014

‘Catastrophic’ budget to hit vulnerable hard

Inside:

BY ZOE JEWELL AND KAYE WIGGINS

Millions of pounds will be cut from support for elderly and disabled people and vulnerable children, under what Lambeth council describes as “one of the most challenging budgets in its history”.

In a move criticised by campaigners as “bad for older people and bad for younger people” the council has drawn up plans to cut more than £4m, or four per cent, from its budgets for helping older, disabled and vulnerable adults over the next year.

Councillors were expected to pass the plans on Wednesday (February 26), as The Brixton Bugle went to press.

Almost £1m of these savings come from cutting the use of residential care, which the council hopes to achieve by encouraging residents to stay at home and live independently for longer.

Chris Blake, from the campaign group Lambeth Save Our Services, said: “This budget is bad for older people who need residential care. It’s bad for younger people who depend on children’s services.

We have sushi at an old skool Brixton classic, Fujiyama, and find it is still as good as ever.

Review, p19

A volunteer takes us behind the scenes at the inspirational Baytree Centre. Features, p10

ANGRY: Pensioners demonstrate against earlier cuts in Windrush Square, Brixton “But where it is truly catastrophic is housing. Brixton currently has a desperate shortage of housing that people on ordinary incomes can afford. The council is currently selling social housing owned by the short-life housing co-ops and cutting the social housing budget. This will make a

bad situation much worse.”

A further £3.9m, or 6%, will be cut from services for children and young people. It is not clear how many jobs will be axed.

This includes a review of all staff working with vulnerable children, which aims to save £1.2m.

The measures are part of a

package that aims to cut £25m from the budget in 2014/15.

Cllr Lib Peck, Lambeth council leader, said: “The scale of the Government cuts is so great that it is inevitable that every area of the council will be affected. But we are determined to protect Continued on page 5...

HOW DO YOU READ YOURS? Tweet us pics of your Bugle in odd places for a chance to win a Brixton Blog bag @brixtonblog

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News The Brixton Bugle & BrixtonBlog.com are edited in Brixton by Zoe Jewell and Tim Dickens.

Both the website and newspaper are published by a not-for-profit community organisation. It’s run by a committed team of people from Brixton.

Brixton Blog and Bugle The Piano Club 9 Brighton Terrace SW9 8DJ » Tel 020 3730 1312 » @brixtonblog » @brixton_bugle » www.brixtonblog.com Circulation: 10,000 copies Readership: circa 15,000 For advertising enquiries contact Tous Davy: ads @brixtonblog.com Tel: 07507 150 701 NEWS newsdesk@brixtonblog.com DEPUTY EDITORS Luke Massey Kaye Wiggins politics@brixtonblog.com FEATURES Keith John Lewis features@brixtonblog.com CULTURE Barney Evison Ruth Waters arts@brixtonblog.com FOOD Miss South Lindsay Faller food@brixtonblog.com SPORT Laura Dickinson newsdesk@brixtonblog.com

ISSUE EIGHTEEN

Sub-editor: Jamila Omar Design: Claire Cranston-Selby Writers: Darwin AguirreTaipe, Phoebe Robertson, Katie Lathan, Darwin Aguirre-Taipe, Saskia Goldman, Bill Hicks Photography: Alistair Hall, Antonio Sansica, Rubina Pabani Cartoons / Illustrations: Kaylene Alder, Tim Bird Pam Williams, Bobby Groves Crossword: Josie Gardiner Proofreading: Kieron Faller Columnists: Ms Bennet, Alison Alexander A massive thank you to everybody involved in making this issue, and the Blog & Bugle project, a success.

www.brixtonblog.com

Roof repairs dampen spirits

BY ZOE JEWELL

Legendary local basketball club Brixton Topcats has been left without a proper space to train or hold matches after delays to the renovation of the Brixton Rec sports hall.

The sports hall floor was meant to be replaced by the end of January, with the Topcats training at Streatham Leisure Centre for the duration of the works. However, rainy weather has exacerbated existing leaks in the roof, ruining parts of the new floor and putting back the reopening until early March.

Jimmy Rogers, head coach at the Topcats, told The Bugle: “When they realized that the hall would be finished in March, Streatham Leisure Centre was booked out, so we’ve had no half-term basketball school. Training has been sporadic since the end of January.”

“We’re the biggest users of the space, but they decided to do it in the middle of the season!”

The Lady Topcats competed in the National Trophy Final against Leeds Carnegie on February 22

without having had any training in the preceding half-term week.

A Lambeth Council spokesperson said: “We appreciate the disruption to the Topcat’s training schedule has been frustrating and we have tried to accommodate them at Streatham along with existing clubs and other users of the new leisure centre. They’ve been very patient and we are pleased that they’ll be ‘back home’ in Brixton from next week.”

The problem has arisen out of a frustrating set of circumstances – GLL are responsible for repairing the floor, but Lambeth Council is responsible for the roof.

In October, Topcats basketball club pointed out that the ongoing roof leaks could jeopardise the new flooring if they were not dealt with first, especially during winter.

A council spokesman said at the time: “There are also repairs to the roof to be carried out, but these will not delay installation of the hall’s new floor.”

However, Topcats were proved right - it did rain, and the roof did leak.

COLLEGE PETITION Campaigners have called on Brixton residents to sign a petition to save the Lambeth College campus on Brixton Hill from being used as a new ‘Catholic ethos’ free school. They say there is a ‘huge need’ for further education in the area, and no demand for secondary school places. http://www.ipetitions.com/ petition/save-lambeth-college-inbrixton-no-free-school

SHARED WORKING A council spokesperson called the damage to the Rec “minimal” when compared to the terrible flooding that has hit other parts of the UK. The council has now repaired the roof and the floor will be finished in time for the reopening of the hall on March 2.

A survey of the Rec is underway to look at disabled access, spaces for a boxing venue and other improvements to the centre. More information can be found on the Brixton Rec Users page on Facebook.

Lambeth council is helping to set up a not-for-profit community workspace in the bowels of the Town Hall, in central Brixton. The Brixton Impact Hub will offer flexible workspace in the town hall and aims to be an inclusive option for start-up businesses and organisations.

They have also enlisted the help of the team behind the established Hubs in Westminster, Islington and Kings Cross. www.impacthubbrixton.net

‘Let’s find Dot’ campaign steps up with new reward

The pioneering The Clink restaurant, staffed by inmates and open to public diners, has launched in Brixton Prison. The diner took its first hungry customers on Wednesday February 26. The Bugle was among the first clients of the eaterie, check Brixton Blog for review and a full feature.

BY KATIE LATHAN

Dot, the beloved dog of Herne Hill florist Elaine White, is still missing after disappearing four weeks ago.

The terrier was last seen on Wednesday January 29 at Herne Hill station. It was initially thought that Dot may have boarded a train to Bedford, but CCTV released by First Capital Connect showed that she didn’t get on any carriages.

The CCTV was checked only after 148 people signed an online petition for the footage to be released.

A Facebook campaign, ‘Lets Find Dot’, managed by Ms White’s daughter and her friend Melanie Byrne, is ongoing.

Ms White has put up new posters in the area and is offering a cash reward for Dot. She told The Bugle: “Hopefully by offering cash, someone might think twice about bringing her back. She must be out there, with somebody. They would have found her by now if she’d been killed on the tracks.”

Ms White has officially reported Dot as stolen to the British Transport Police.

During half term, Ms White has been receiving inquiries from local schoolchildren, who are used to seeing Dot in the area: “They normally all come and play with her with her ball. I had three kids just today asking after her.

"I’ve been telling the kids that Dot’s gone on an adventure.

“It’s been harder for me this week. It’s just awful.”

Dot is micro-chipped, and so can be identified if scanned. Anyone with any relevant information can contact Elaine directly at her shop on 0207 733 2525.

Do you love catching up with all your news in The Bugle? Or enjoy getting the latest on the Blog? Both are produced by a dedicated team of volunteers who love Brixton as much as you do. But now we need your help to cover our rising costs, as well as to start paying some of our editorial team for their time. If you can spare a couple of quid, head over to

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PORRIDGE TIME

NIGHT MARKET The third Windrush Square night market is set to take place at the end of this month.

Stalls will be set up on February 28 and March 1 from 5pm until 11pm. Follow @Brixtonnightmkt on Twitter.

TOP TEACHING A planned free school for Brixton Hill has assured Lambeth council that it will recruit the "best teachers possible" when it opens its doors in September. The school was responding to a letter written by Lambeth council leader Lib Peck laying out her feeling that the academy could have a negative impact on surrounding schools. Trinity Academy claims to be a 'Catholic ethos' free school.

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News MAN SECTIONED A man has been sectioned under the Mental Health Act after setting fire to his home on Corrance Road on February 18. He managed to escape and was treated by the London Ambulance Service at the scene. The fire damaged part of his ground floor flat. Fire engines from Brixton and West Norwood stations had control of the blaze in under an hour.

MURDER CHARGE Three men have been charged with the murder of Babafemi Junaid (pictured below), who was stabbed to death near Stockwell Tube Station on February 7. Evan Edwards, of Stockwell Gardens Estate, was remanded in custody at the Old Bailey on February 17, where he will next appear on May 6. Two 17-year-olds, who cannot be named, have also been charged.

www.brixtonblog.com

Marathon effort from Seven owner

BY KATIE LATHAN

The owner of a Market Row tapas bar is preparing to run the London Marathon in order to raise money for charity.

Jonathan Rushton (right), aged 28, from Seven at Brixton, a tapas and cocktail bar, will take on the gruelling 26-mile challenge to raise vital funds for the premature baby charity Bliss UK. Having previously completed the Manchester Marathon, he is now training for the London run which will be held on April 13.

“I’m better prepared than last year,” Mr Rushton said. “This week I’ll be running the first 19 miles of the route. With the Manchester Marathon, I didn’t know the course itself, whereas here I can just drive to Greenwich and practice.”

Mr Rushton is aiming to raise £2,500 for Bliss UK, which offers support for families and specialist

training needed for medical staff, as well as research into the causes of premature birth. It’s a charity which he believes is of great importance: “It’s not just about medicine and incubators: it’s very reactive, providing family counsellors and support. It’s important to help families who deal with these issues.”

In the weeks leading up to the marathon, contributions from food sales at Seven will be given to help Mr Rushton reach his fundraising goal: “For one or two weeks, we’re going to donate £1 from every food dish, and customers will have the option to add a £1 donation on their bill.

“We raised £800 from the bar last year, so we’re hopeful for similar results this time around.”

Mr Rushton is planning to take part in another marathon next year, with the possibility of going abroad.

“There’s no better way to see a city. But there are lots of things to

CHEERS: Jonathan Rushton behind the bar at Seven, in Market Row consider: travel, accommodation charity, and it’s important not to and climate are all concerns. forget that.”

“Although I’d like to do good abroad, this isn’t about me: what http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ I’m doing has to be about the JonathanRushton

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News

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Council’s £100m sell-off

BY NISHA DAMJI

Lambeth council is set to raise over £100 million from selling off its properties across the borough, many of which are former so-called ‘short-life’ homes.

From April 2011 to December 2013, the council generated £85 million from the sales, with that figure set to rise to over £100 million by the end of next month, budget documents reveal.

Around £40 million of this has come from evicting and selling off the homes of a number of ‘short-life' tenants across the borough, some of whom lived in their homes for more than 30 years.

Lambeth United Housing CoOp spokesman, Julian Hall, told the Blog: The money raised so far is £8m in excess of the target Lambeth set themselves, but still they persist in breaking up communities.

I don’t know of any other UK local

authority that is evicting people to find its finances that are currently in reserve.

“Lambeth United Housing Co-operative have repeatedly presented the council with a plan that would save millions of pounds if they retained our homes as social housing. The savings involved are potentially up to £12m.”

Cllr Pete Robbins, Cabinet Member for Housing and Regeneration, defended the council's actions: “With severe government cuts to capital budgets for schools and affordable housing it is important that we use our resources efficiently.”

Cllr Robbins also stressed that the council's priority is to deliver “new council housing to help the 1,400 Lambeth households in temporary accommodation, the 1,300 severely overcrowded households and the 20,000 people on our housing waiting list”

However, the council confirmed that they won’t be ring fencing any of the money for social housing in the borough, it will instead go into the main council pot. A separate promise has been made to refurbish the remaining flats in Rushcroft Road.

Mr Hall added: “These evictions and sell-offs mean less housing stock is available, more people are added to the waiting list and none of the monies are being used to ease the waiting list by building new units.”

The figures don’t reveal the cost of carrying out the evictions such as legal fees, fees to property guardian companies or the costs relating to bailiffs.

A recent FOI request highlights that the council has spent over £1 million on a single contract with bailiff company, UK Evict, between 2009 and 2013.

Care, cops and homeless support for the chop in swingeing council cuts

Continued from page 1... our children and most vulnerable residents and we have worked hard to limit the impact compared to other areas.

“Our elderly and vulnerable people have told us they want to stay in their own homes for as long as possible and by working more closely with health and social care we will be able to do this and provide older, disabled and vulnerable people greater choice.”

She added: “We are focusing our efforts on prevention because we know that early intervention can

make a real difference to families and reduce the number of children entering care.”

Lambeth has also pencilled in much bigger cuts for the following two years.

Under initial proposals outlined in its budget papers, children’s services budgets will fall by 22% between now and 2016/17 and support for older and disabled people will fall by 15% in the same period.

Editorial: Budget Cuts p9

Where the axe will fall •Budget to be cut by £25.4m in 2014/15 •Net general budget for 2014/15 is £313.7 million •Council tax to remain frozen.

•Another £32.4m of cuts has been identified for 2015/16 and 2016/17 •Another £37.8m needs to be cut from somewhere – the council has not identified where.

•Residential care for adults: £950,000 will go from the budget this year

•Waste and the environment budgets will be cut by £2,090,000.

•£630,000 will be saved in a “redesign” of the early intervention service for early years children.

•The council will introduce a “universal care service”, which will mean a single referral point for all children and families.

•The contract for 23 police community support officers in the borough will not be renewed.

•Savings in housing will total £1,580,000.

•Homeless prevention payments to landlords will be reduced by £100,000. “Efficiency savings” will mean a further £100,000 cut from the housing budget.

“Rationalization of teams and posts” will mean £290,000 saved.

•Savings of £370,000 will be made in leisure and cultural provision by increasing prices and cutting arts funding by £110,000.

•Council expects to save £160,000 by “remodelling of financial support information, advice and advocacy services.”

Police assist bailiffs during violent evictions in Rushcroft Road in July

Payday loans fight

BY KAYE WIGGINS

Lambeth council has launched an investigation into the impact of “payday lenders” on the Brixton economy, in a bid to block them from opening new branches in the area.

Officers are compiling evidence about the ways in which the shops can harm other local business. The council intends to use this evidence in court if it is challenged for stopping the shops from opening.

Labour councillor Ed Davie told the Bugle: “There are now more than 10 payday loan shops within five minutes of Brixton tube station.

“The only way I can see of stopping these firms from opening more branches is by classing them as ‘unsustainable development’ when they apply for planning permission. But you need the evidence to do that.”

Cllr Davie said neighbouring Southwark council had attempted to take the same step with a payday loan shop near London Bridge, but had lost its case on appeal because it could not prove the firms were “economically unsustainable”.

He said economists had already done a piece of research that showed every betting shop in Lambeth with a fixed-odds betting terminal caused a net loss to the economy equivalent to two local jobs.

“That’s because of the money that is being sucked out of the economy,” he said. “If people are spending all of their disposable income on betting, it cannot be spent in other local businesses such as cafes, shops, pubs and supermarkets.

“We want to do a similar piece of research showing the impact of payday loan shops. Their argument is that they create jobs but if we can show their actual impact is damaging to local jobs overall, we will have a strong case to block future planning applications from them.”

He said he hoped the evidence would be ready in a few months.

SHARKING: Council protest outside Brixton tube last year

Bedroom tax bungle

More than 300 Lambeth households are due to receive refunds after being wrongly made to pay the “bedroom tax”, figures seen by the Brixton Bugle reveal.

Figures from Lambeth council show at least 333 households are in line for the refunds, a figure that is set to continue rising as council officers identify more people who were wrongly charged.

The refunds will be given to working-age residents who have

lived in their homes since 1996. A government error when drafting the legislation meant these people, who have been charged on average £14 to £22 per week since April last year, should not have been made to pay.

Officers at Lambeth council have identified 648 households who might be entitled to “bedroom tax” refunds. So far they have checked 502 of these cases, of which 333 were found to have been wrongly charged.

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News

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Urban stars Deng returns to Topcats out for soup roots with new academy kitchen party

BY DARWIN AGUIRRE-TAIPE

BY PHOEBE ROBERTSON

A crop of urban musicians are coming out in force to support disadvantaged members of the Brixton community this month.

Singers and rappers from all over the London music scene are to play a gig at Brixton Electric on March 21 to raise enough cash to buy a new van for the Brixton Soup Kitchen.

The soup kitchen not only provides food for those who need it and a place to grab a cup of tea, they also give job search support, housing advice and emergency shelter for those in need.

“We want to reach out to more homeless people” said founder and managing director, Solomon Smith.

“There are a lot of people around

Solomon Smith

Brixton who do not want to come in to the kitchen because the estate we are based in had a bad reputation in the 80s. We have a lot of clients in Vauxhall, Camden Town and also around Victoria and we want to be able to go to them.”

Singer XO Man will take to the stage with his usual mix of smooth vocals and British rap and Hip-Hop collective, Bakery Boys, also join the line up with their unmistakable Bakery Boys flavour. Bringing some glamour to the night, London girl Fleur will light up Electric Brixton with her usual soulful style and charm. Other acts performing on stage include Big Nasty, Rascals (Class 90), Troy and Tanika.

They’re getting together to help some of those 20-40 people a day seeking shelter from the cold and a hot drink or food in Brixton.

Homelessness affects all ages in our area. One Crisis report found a 43% increase in people sleeping rough in London from 2010/11 to 2011/12.

Brixton Soup Kitchen was founded after a particularly harsh winter and has since become a staple for some of the neediest in our community. This year the team at Brixton Soup Kitchen (BSK) have got the rappers on side for a much needed fundraiser, with £12,000 as the target, the money will go towards a mobile van to extend their lifeline.

Interview with headliner Fleur: Turn to page 16.

Youth put on walking shoes

Youngsters from Lambeth took on a 45km challeneg to raise money to take 30 at-risk young people on a residential outdoor education trip.

The social enterprise Young People Matter want to make just under £6,000 to fund the trip to Hindleap Warren Outdoor Education Centre.

Organiser Marcus Dawes said: “The walk was an overwhelming success. Despite bouts of rain and perpetual grey skies, over 60 children, youth, parents and wider community banded together under

the umbrella of community cohesion.

“Children as young as 5 chanted in unison alongside adults and seniors ‘I know I can, be what I wanna be, if I work hard at it, I’ll be where I wanna be.’”

Young People Matter has been operating for more than seven years, and the Valentines Youth walk attracted support from rapper Tynchie Stryder. www.youngpeoplematter.org

Former Topcats player turned NBA star, Luol Deng, is hoping to give back to the community that kickstarted his career with a new basketball academy.

The DENG academy will launch this summer at the Evelyn Grace Academy, Brixton and will partner with the likes of Nike and Reforming Black Britain.

The future of basketball in the UK seems to be in danger with funding being cut down by UK Sport and young people not taking it up at an early stage. But Deng believes that action needs to be taken to encourage more youth to take up the sport that transformed his life.

Deng said: “The game has given me so much and I want it to benefit kids and give them the same opportunities that I had. This is why launching my first-ever academy in my hometown is a huge deal for me.”

The scenes of riots in the summer of 2011 will live in the memory of the community, and this is why the new academy will aim to encourage young people not only to exceed in

SLAM-DUNK: Luol Deng, centre, with students at his summer school the court but also outside it.

Partnering with Reforming Black Britain and Evelyn Grace Academy it will seek to advice and mentor young people to choose the path that best suits them.

Reforming Black Britain founder, Jason Marriner said: “Using mentors in the school to help guide these younger kids is vital for growth

within the entire school and community.”

The academy has been successful in other parts of Europe and Brixton has the potential to continue this trend.

It will develop players by feeding players into Brixton Topcats Basketball club at the elite and grassroots development levels.

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News

www.brixtonblog.com

£85,000 Popes Road site competition Lambeth council have launched a competition for people who want to run a 4,000 sq m site in the centre of Brixton.

The council’s Future Brixton team have teamed up with the Brixton Market Traders’ Federation (BMTF) to announce the contest for the space formerly occupied by the temporary ice rink and, originally, by the Popes Road car park.

The ‘Meanwhile’ site will be given to a company or organisation

for two years, along with an £85,000 seed-funding grant, before it is totally redeveloped as part of the Brixton Central regeneration plans.

Cllr Imogen Walker said she was ‘delighted’, and that “the project presents a fantastic opportunity to support local enterprise and employment in Brixton, a part of London with a rich history, a bright future and an active and engaged community.

“While a challenging brief, we

hope to encourage innovation and creativity from bidders and a commitment to working with local businesses and residents.”

She added: “This is a chance to be involved at a very exciting time in the regeneration of Brixton, with all it has to offer.”

The council said that rather than leave the space empty they wanted to add to the “buzz about Brixton” while promoting local enterprise and employment. In addition to the winning ‘Meanwhile’ project, the space will also include 42 extra parking spaces for the public and market traders.

The Future Brixton website adds “We’re looking for a team who understands Brixton and we’ll want to know that you can develop activities with local residents and businesses.”

The competition closes on March 16 so if you have a viable, workable suggestion and think you’ve got what it takes you can read the full brief at futurebrixton. org/brixton-central/meanwhile-atthe-ice-rink/

TO ADVERTISE HERE: 020 3730 1312

CRUNCH: Two cars were written off on Crownstone Road. Pic: Twitter

Crownstone crush saga

Residents on Crownstone Road’s St Matthew’s Estate had a rude awakening in the early hours of the morning after Valentine’s Day when they discovered that a large tree had fallen over and demolished part of a newly constructed wall during the previous night’s storms, after winds yet again reached damaging gusts.

The London Fire Brigade were in attendance to ensure that upset car-owners did not attempt to

dislodge their vehicles from under the extensive foliage.

The incident was especially heartbreaking for many of the local children on the estate who have been enjoying their newly completed play area which lies dangerously close to the large blocks of fallen masonry. The play park is part of the ongoing extensive Lambeth council improvements which are taking place in the area.

Met moves top cop away from borough

BY TIM DICKENS

Lambeth's most senior police officer, Matt Bell, has been moved out of the borough by Met Police bosses after only two years in the top job.

Bell, who will be replaced by the Greenwich commander, Richard Wood, had previously said he wanted to serve out his police career in Lambeth.

But last month he got the call to tell him he was being moved to a new London traffic command unit.

He told the Bugle that he didn't want to leave the borough: "I am happy to take on another challenge but that doesn’t mean for one second that I ever wanted to leave Lambeth, because I didn’t," he said.

"I said when I came here I’d be happy to see my career out policing in Lambeth, but when the phone call comes and you’re told you're off to another job you have to embrace that and look for the positives in it."

Bell took over the top cop role at Lambeth following the departure of Nick Ephgrave in 2012. He received an MBE in June 2012 for his work leading police in Barking and Dagenham.

Following a damning inquest into the death of Sean Rigg in custo-

dy in Brixton police station in 2008, Bell pushed for the introduction of body worn cameras and CCTV mounted on the inside of police vans.

He said: "The cameras began here in Lambeth but they are now being rolled out across London. It started here and that’s as a result of working closely with the community and funding from the council."

Bell told the Bugle he was most proud of the how he had built up community partnerships over his time in office, and said that was key to changing the perception of police in the future.

"The biggest success I can have is draw people together, both inside the police and from the wider commuity. I have no doubt that we’re much more joined up now than we were two year ago."

Bell described his successor, who takes up his new post this month, as a "really experienced borough commander."

He urged Wood to listen very carefully to the community, adding: "They have been here an awful lot longer than anyone of us and it is really important to understand where they are coming from and work with them.

"Its about listening and understanding people and trying to move forward together."

Cllr Jack Hopkins, Lambeth cabinet member responsible for policing, slammed Met bosses for moving the borough commander after two years when he is "firing on all cylinders".

Hopkins told the Bugle: "I think Matt will be a huge loss for the borough, to have had him for only two years when we were promised three is just not suitable."

He went on to praise the experience of Richard Wood, who has a number of years leading a borough under his belt, and dealt with the aftermath of the murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich in May last year.

LOSS: Matt Bell in Tulse Hill and meeting Marcia Rigg, sister of Sean Rigg, in Brixton in 2012 (Pics by Tim Dickens) Left, Richard Wood

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News

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Petition calls for new Community squash club is go Overground stop at East Brixton station

BY TIM DICKENS Brixton residents have set up a petition calling on the Government to build a new station on the overland rail link at East Brixton.

Following news on Brixton Blog that the council has initiated a feasibility study on the project, reader Annabel Kerley began the online petition.

In her post, Kerley calls on the Department for Transport to build a London Overground station on the site of the old East Brixton station, which closed back in the 1970s. It has been suggested elsewhere that this could provide a form of interchange with the Victoria Line and Thameslink, as it would be located almost exactly in the middle of the two.

Kerley makes the valid comment that: “This would have a huge impact on improving a deprived area of South London”.

She also adds that this would also provide better transport links to jobs and facilities in East London, as the current bus services are slow and indirect, the Tube is overcrowded and national rail provision disjointed. She suggests that there would be an increase in footfall for local businesses. Finally, it would assist with the ongoing regeneration of Somerlyton Road area and Loughborough Junction.

At the time of going to press, the petition had 400 supporters. epetitions.direct.gov.uk/ petitions/60358 www.brixtonblog.com

Brixton illustrated

Skin, singer from Skunk Anansie

SMASHING: Members of the new club celebrate its launch at the Rec with Adrian Grant, left. Pic by Darwin Aguirre-Taipe

BY DARWIN AGUIRRE-TAIPE Commonwealth gold medallist, Adrian Grant, dropped into Brixton Recreation Centre to launch the first ever squash club in the borough.

Grant, who won his gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in 2010, was at the launch of the Lambeth Squash Club on Thursday February 20.

The team behind the club say squash is not a very popular sport in the borough and the club seeks to change this.

Committee member Francis Gaibor said: “The club is necessary in order to have a development route for kids, before they always had to go elsewhere” “We aim to produce more national bound players, but also want people to come around have fun and learn how to play squash” Grant’s father and other volunteers will lead the training the sessions on Thursdays at Brixton Recreation centre, anyone who is older than seven is encouraged to join.

This month’s illustration was suggested via Twitter by Ben Wren who thought of Skin (Deborah Anne Dyer), musician and singer from Skunk Anansie, who lived in Brixton as a child. Ben will receive a free print of the image. Tweet your suggestions for next month’s notable Brixtonite to @kpictures.

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Letters

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YOUR TWEETS

My Secret Brixton

Some of your #Brixton tweets:

@_ma_mak Guyana Roti’s back on Brixton Station Rd. We LOVE Maureen! @Christiana_ LYC the youth mayor&deputy and cabinet members are partaking in a workshop at Brixton Rec today. Can’t wait!

Jamila Omar

@adamkeelan have you folks thought of looking at the new Lambeth website and its functionality? The parking permit renewal is a disaster!

Join the conversation in #Brixton by Tweeting us @BrixtonBlog or @Brixton_Bugle

YOUR PICTURES: Brockwell Park Lake on a misty morning

Brixton structured reality TV show

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It’s not ‘reality’. Programmes like 24 Hours in A&E are ‘reality’. If the finished programme bears any resemblance to the advert for cast it’s drama – people playing fictional characters. Given the tiny age range and specific occupations I doubt it will have any claims to represent ‘Brixton’. It may prove to have merit as a creative work or as entertainment, but it won’t be about the real Brixton.

Gert, online

New Brixton station?

It should definitely connect to either Victoria Line or Thameslink. Doing so would give Overground users another direct link into Central London (and relieve the Northern Line in the process, I’d imagine).

It would be a shame if Overground users were shortchanged!

A lot of these cost benefit analyses overlook social costs, or quality of life for residents. anonymous, online

Big thanks to dog walker Rachel Phillips, who sent us this beautifully evocative picture of visiting swans enjoying the peace and serenity of the park.

“Not Catholic school” Dear Editor, In your blog January 8th, 2014 regarding the Trinity Free school the headline reads “New catholic free school in Brixton Hill quietly launches consultation.”

This school is not a Catholic school. The article itself is clear that the school is a free school but the headline could be misleading.

Many thanks for your attention to detail in this matter.

Dr Anne Bamford, Director of Education, Southwark Diocese, via email

The

Foxes and overflowing bins

Whilst I personally have no issue having only one bin to share with my downstairs neighbour (in fact, we could easily manage with one of the skinny ones and we also share one food waste bin as we are both singletons and don’t produce that much rubbish), I do feel that the scheme has been pretty badly implemented.

Our next door property consists of four flats, all inhabited by at least two people, and they have only the one bin

between them so this is constantly overflowing and this is not only an eyesore but their rubbish is regularly left out for the foxes to help themselves to.

They really need a second bin for that number of people.

I also have to comment on the recycling bags… if you wash your food containers, as you are supposed to, there is no smell and therefore no temptation for the foxes.

Jane, online

Tweet us @brixtonblog Facebook ‘Brixton Blog’

by numbers

»£25.4M expected to be cut from the council budget in the next financial year »TWO cars crushed by a falling tree on Crownstone Road after a stormy night »400 signatures on a petition to reopen East Brixton train station »14 allotment sites to be found in Lambeth - all with waiting lists »ONE THIRD of Brixton children live in poverty, said a 2011 report »3,395 empty homes in Lambeth »20-40 people a day seeking help from the Brixton Soup Kitchen »£3 for a Brixton Buzz beer at Kaff Bar, 100% proceeds to the Brixton Soup Kitchen

Having recently joined the Brixton Bugle team as sub editor, Jamila has lived in Brixton for more years than she would care to remember. Here she shares her five Brixton hideouts...

Brixton Rec swimming pool Although I love the Lido in the summer, during the rest of the year the view as you swim towards the train platform and the clock tower of the old Brady’s Bar is quite surreal. And the water’s a lot warmer too.

The Queen’s Head

Always lively, always raucous, the Queen’s Head takes no prisoners when it comes to live music, where the sound quality has improved so much that sometimes even A-listers from Brixton Academy pop down for a jam session.

Barnado’s

I really don’t know what I’d do without this long-standing charity shop. I probably have a rummage here at least once a week, just in case I’ve missed anything, and try to donate something while I’m at it!

Brixton Jamm

With a huge variety of performers and DJs, I’ve been popping down to this old-timer on Brixton Road’s music scene for many a year now. In fact, I seem to remember that I had something to do with its name...

The Walled Garden, Brockwell Park

I escape to this oasis of calm year-round, to catch up on reading, make friends with a resident robin or admire the incredibly creative planting that is evident throughout the seasons. The bubble of the refurbished fountain is especially soothing.

9

Brixton Bugle March 2014

Comment & Analysis

www.brixtonblog.com

The Brixton Blog and Bugle Est. 2012

Every day 20-40 homeless people go to the Brixton Soup Kitchen to seek food and warmth; and they are only a fraction of those in need across Brixton. Homelessness is the sharp end of the squeeze on rents and social housing happening all over Brixton. This spring, a heavyhanded initiative by the Met police will target rough sleeping and begging in Lambeth, in some cases arresting rough sleepers or issuing ASBOs. Yet, as it becomes harder to afford rents and to get social housing, more people find themselves on the streets. According to Crisis, rough sleeping in England has risen by 37% since 2010. “We want to reach out to more homeless people”, says Soup Kitchen director Solomon Smith. You can help him do so by attending the fundraiser event at the Electric Brixton on March 21, with a host of local musicians performing in support of the kitchen.

Despite the demand for space, there are – tragically – still lots of empty houses across London. And there are other empty spaces too, so on page 12 and 13 we have an arts special looking at some of the projects which have turned unoccupied buildings into galleries, local Though not strictly Brixton, here's a thoughtful illustration by Bobby Groves about Southbank Skatepark farms and workshops.

On page 10, we feature an organization we have long admired, the Baytree Centre, and their work getting young girls and women into education. They have supported hundreds of women every year, offering everything from photography lessons to cookery and make-up workshops.

The trees on our street are weighted down with cherry blossom and sunny days in the past weeks have been a hint of what’s to come – springtime in Brixton has arrived rather early, and it’s making us yearn for the summer, the wildflower meadow in Brockwell Park and the multi-coloured host of roses that bloom in gardens all over town. If you want to get your garden ready in time, take some tips from Alison Alexander of the Brockwell Community Gardens on page 23.

BUDGET: A picture of London ZOE JEWELL, EDITOR

If you want to get a picture of the state of London in 2014 – the lines of power, the triumph of the rich, the sufferings of the poor - you would do well to read Lambeth Council’s draft budget for 2014/15.

Payday loans, deep debt, children with no primary school places, a chronic shortage of social housing, high rents, and many more people in temporary accommodation than ever before – all these and more appear on the pages of the proposed budget. A tone of despair, almost a loss for words, seeps its way into the proposals, because the coalition government is cutting such an extraordinary amount from the funding it gives the council – 50 per cent – that it is almost impossible to see how to make a dent on any of these growing problems with a disappearing pot of gold.

“Given the anticipated reduction of up to 50 per cent of our core Government funding”, goes the report, “it is clear that the traditional approach to deciding which services to provide and how to deliver those services cannot be sustained…

The Council is trying to ensure that those things that are most important and valued by the people of the borough continue to happen. However it is important to acknowledge that with £96m less money to spend it is inevitable that the way in which services are delivered in the future will change.”

Yes, that was £96 million in the last sentence. It’s not news that the council has to make such massive savings, but it comes as a shock every time. That £96 million is not the total of cuts made – £79.5m has already been chopped from the budget – but is what needs to be cut in the next three financial years. “The remaining challenge takes us into unchartered territory”, says the draft budget. For

the financial year 2014/15, the council has identified £25.4 million of cuts. It has found further possible savings of £32.4m for the years after that. But that still leaves £37.8m left to go…from where? No-one seems to know.

Presented at the financial scrutiny committee on January 21, the draft budget will go to vote in front of the council on February 26.

Most people in Lambeth will suffer in some way from these cuts and savings – waste disposal, roads, healthcare, education will all have to change – but reading the report, it is painfully clear that it is the poor and vulnerable who will really hurt, because they will have nowhere else to turn (private renting, private healthcare, private advice services).

In the breakdown of savings to be made, we learn that one in six Lambeth residents have been affected by benefits cuts and that “arrears and debts are increasing with Lambeth being one of the top three boroughs in London where payday loan usage is problematic”. But in the next breath, the draft proposes that “it will be very difficult to maintain current levels of service provision in the areas of advice, debt support and advocacy.” So there will be cuts of £160,000 to debt support services. There will, says the draft, “be a greater focus on preventing problems and intervening early before debt and arrears become unmanageable.” But with so many sinking into debt because of all the problems outlined everywhere else, it is unclear quite how the council with no money can really intervene early to help people broken by benefits cuts.

Perhaps the most crushing part of the draft budget is its section on housing.

There is no pretence that the council will be able to provide enough social housing, or even close to it. London’s future is dominated by private rents, it seems.

“There is very high demand for housing in Lambeth”, goes the proposal. “For most people, applying for social rented housing is not a realistic option…all those who need housing have to consider housing options, including private rented accommodation…there will be fewer services available and residents will need to be increasingly self-reliant in arranging their own housing.”

Chris Blake from Lambeth SOS told The Bugle: “where it is truly catastrophic is housing. Brixton currently has a desperate shortage of housing that people on ordinary incomes can afford. But the council is currently selling social housing owned by the short-life housing coops and cutting the social housing budget. This will make a bad situation much worse.”

Working on the Blog for the past four years, it has become clear that one of the only ways to make sure gentrification doesn’t displace people is social housing.

It’s something we have campaigned for time and time again. There will be some built when Somerleyton Road is developed. But that’s not enough – will we ever have the bravery to come up with true solutions to the housing crisis in London?

All this shows a silent group lurking in the draft budget – those who might actually profit from the cuts, those the council says it wants to attract to the area so that they can invest money in it. These are the private companies and individuals who have the capital to stump up where the council can’t. One common example of this is a developer who can afford to build a new mixed-use area consisting of retail and flats (some social or affordable, some private) and who then reaps the profit from the private rents.

So a London of debt and a London of profit, all held together uncomfortably in the Lambeth draft budget proposal for 2014/15.

10

Brixton Bugle March 2014

Features

Aspire within

BY SASKIA GOLDMAN

It’s now a few months since I became involved with a charity called the Baytree Centre. I used to walk past its home, an old converted warehouse on Brixton Road, every day to get my bus. Eventually, enticed by the banners that read “Changing Aspirations into Realities”, I decided to find out what the Baytree did.

The centre was set up after the Brixton riots in the 1980s, and began a social inclusion project seeking to promote positive cohesion in the community. Brixton was a divided place back then, but the centre’s mission was to tackle this social rupture through local women.

The Baytree Centre educates, trains and supports hundreds of women and girls every year. These are primarily recent immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, but also mums who want to further their education and give their daughters the best opportunities in life. The girls and women who come into the centre are frequently victims of marginalisation and isolation, and almost always suffer from a lack of access to services.

Much of what the Baytree Centre does is language-based. ESOL classes educate dozens of women every year, giving them better chances of gaining employment and feeling accepted. Without these services, women could become increasingly isolated, meaning that children and families would too.

This is the remarkable ethos of the Baytree Centre. Its programmes

often seek to serve girls and their mothers in tandem. I see this intergenerational approach as the most effective way to reach the most vulnerable people in the community. A mother might be learning English in order to find a job, while her daughters are part of the ‘Into School’ programme, which helps girls access Lambeth schools.

The Baytree Centre’s PEACH (Parents, Education, Achievement and Character) mentoring scheme has been running for some years, supporting dozens of girls and their mothers. The girls will receive one-to-one guidance through the tough transitions of primary and secondary school. They’ll be helped with homework; have a place to share worries and concerns and have confidence-building workshops with an emphasis on the development of the whole person.

Meanwhile, group sessions support mothers through the challenge of raising daughters so that they, too, can share experiences and learn from each other.

As a volunteer at Baytree, I have seen first-hand the power of the work they do and the ambition they inspire, from photography lessons, hairdressing and cookery to maths club. At half-term girls were also invited to group singing, a fun Masterchef-style cookery challenge, art classes and dance lessons. The Baytree also encourages an entrepreneurial spirit, offering business seminars to enhance women’s ambitions.

The Baytree Centre also strives

to offer a safe haven, one devoid of stereotypes of womanhood. This all-female space in the heart of Brixton encourages women to liberate their aspirations from the demands of their roles outside. Its emphasis is on personhood, and personal achievement.

In Brixton, an all-female area is particularly important. Official Lambeth statistics from 2010 state that “Lambeth has a high proportion of single-parent households with dependent children”. Research also shows that 92 per cent of such households in the UK are run by women, and children of single parent households are statistically twice as likely to live in poverty than those with couples. According to Lambeth’s ‘State of the Borough’

report in 2011, just over a third of children in Brixton live in poverty.

I feel that this is why women are such an important focus for charitable work in Brixton, and why an inter-generational approach to poverty and social cohesion works.

And this is why a centre like the Baytree must carry on, as it has done, and be supported in its overall mission: “Changing Aspirations into Realities.”

Sadly, small charities like the Baytree Centre find it hard to get funding. Funds are limited in a city like London, and in a needful borough like Lambeth. But where public services let off, small, focused charitable projects pick up.

I strongly believe that if projects like this one didn’t exist, we’d all notice.

www.brixtonblog.com

As citizens of this city, we are all implicated in the problems it seeks to tackle.

Through my volunteering at the Baytree, I have seen that their targeted approach to social cohesion works; that going through women to reach a community works. By giving women tools to break out of their classed and gendered roles, the Baytree is helping communities to challenge other entrenched stereotypes. Perhaps if charities like this one keep getting support of their own, we might begin to overcome wider social problems in Brixton and in this city as a whole, coming to understand all that it means to be a part of it.

Baytree Centre, 300-302 Brixton Road, SW9, www.baytreecentre.org

11

Brixton Bugle March 2014

Features

www.brixtonblog.com

the faces of

Cressingham

Gardens

Part III: Meet Pamela

The third part of a series in which our Features Editor, Keith Lewis, along with photographer Jeannine Mansell, meet some of the residents of Cressingham Gardens.

Pamela has a garden out back. But things won’t grow in it, on account of the sycamore tree that looms over it.“It covers the garden in shade,” she says.

But perhaps this shade was fortuitous – for while gardening is Pamela’s thing, she has taken her love of it and spread it amongst the community of Cressingham.

“I got interested and decided to do a master gardening course,” she tells me. “Things just grew from there really.”

Pamela’s enthusiasm towards community engagement was helped along with a bit of money from the Capital Growth Grant.

“This was essentially an ambitious Olympic incentive to get London growing the food it needed to feed the Games. The grant was £250,” she explains. “It certainly gave us a kick-start.”

So she walks me around Cressingham to show me what the community has been up to.

“One thing I do is go around the estate twice a week collecting food waste, to put in a compost tumbler to ferment into growing medium,” she tells me. “Most people get involved in that.”

We’re up near the ‘Teletubby Hills’, as many of the estates residents know the mounds of earth on the park side of the estate. And Pamela goes up to a green hexagon and unlatches a little hatch.

“Mind the smell,” she says, as she opens it up and drops the contents of a few food waste bins.

“We’re trying to get the estate as sustainable as possible,” she says.

Then there are the leaves.

“It seems crazy to me that the leaves which fall from these trees are then collected by a big lorry and whisked off some place else.”

It did seem absurd, I admit.

Pamela points to a small pen of chicken wire, used for holding the collected leaves.

“They should stay where they

land. Put back into the earth, that’s what I say. So that’s another thing we are doing. We make a leaf mould pile, so that crumbles down into a growing medium too.”

We walk around a few more, Pamela pointing out small beds they’ve been working on outside different homes.

“We also got a loan from Lambeth Living, for £500, to work on the community gardens around Cressingham,” she explains.

It is undoubtedly Pamela’s energy that won this financial help. She certainly keeps busy.

So much so that in October last year she won the Garden Organic Achievement Award (sponsored by Harrod Horticultural).

Pamela won because she has been an inspiration. She has engaged most of the community of Cressingham in her schemes to get involved in growing and make the estate look nice.

These aren’t her words though.

It seems to me that Pamela would never admit such things. In fact, it was a friend of hers who had suggested I get in touch.

“I enjoy the social opportunity that engaging with the community provides,” she says when I congratulate her on her award.

Certainly, as we go around the estate, there isn’t one person Pamela doesn’t seem to know.

You may have seen her yourself, wandering around Brockwell Park, taking groups fungus-foraging, or running the children’s group at the greenhouses.

She picks through a large bed used to grow produce, outside one of the resident’s homes, tugging at a few unwanted weeds.

“Pak choi was one of the first things we grew. And callaloo.”

Even walking around at this time of year, there’s all sorts.

Potatoes, cabbage, fennel. Pamela brushes her fingers through some sage.“Of course you don’t get buyin from everybody. Some people would still prefer to shop in Iceland than eat homegrown food.”

Then Pamela looks at me with a wry smile, like she’s about to confess something. She leans in.

“I’ve also embarked on some guerrilla mint planting… in resident’s front gardens… I usually ask, but sometimes I just stick it down. Let’s be honest, it brightens the place up.”

“I love this community. It’s why I call myself a ‘last time’ buyer,” explains Pamela. She doesn’t see herself going anywhere else. She’s been living on Cressingham for seven years now.

“I was originally born in London Hospital. I guess that makes me a Cockney,” she smiles.

“I like the diversity of Cressingham. A mixture of old residents and many first-time buyers. Quite often though, like anywhere, the first time buyers are interested in making a place better to sell up and move on.”

I mention the ‘R’ word.“All this talk of regeneration – it sounded like a nice thing really, if you ask me.”

And I guess, listening to Pamela, that regeneration is exactly what she is doing with her community gardening. Her work certainly brings the concept back to its core.

“What about security?” I ask.

“Of course, the council tenants are a little insecure. It’s natural for them to feel insecure and why wouldn’t they. There was one person on the estate that I remember pushing for a move to Margate, or wherever was being spoken about at the time. But I think most of these rumours are just talk.”

“Any gripes?” I ask.

“The drains don’t run away properly,” she says.

We were now stood, admiring a large bed on the park side of the estate. It’s mild for February. The birds are out, singing along to what they think might be spring.

“If I had my time over, I’d do a bird count,” says Pamela.

“Plenty of parrots,” I add, looking behind me at the park.

“Mmmm, parakeets,” she says.

“I don’t really see the point in vegetarian birds,” laughs Pamela.

I could see her point. After all, she has gardens to protect.

To be continued in the next Bugle...

12

Brixton Bugle March 2014

In FOCUS

Transforming empty space

Space is running out in Brixton and rents are sky high. Not a very promising environment for social and creative enterprises you might think, let alone for community farms. But, as our arts and culture team have found out, you’d be very wrong. In this special feature we reveal some of the projects turning Brixton’s unloved buildings and spaces into creative and community assets.

From an underground car park being transformed into the Remakery Brixton workshop, to an art collective running out of a disused pub, people of all walks of life are proving that there’s no such thing as useless empty space, just spaces waiting to be transformed.

Compiled by Arts Co Editors, Ruth Waters & Barney Evison

Making space for art

Lucy Binnersley investigates how Brixton East and Simulacra Studios make space for creativity just off Coldharbour Lane.

Nestled under the railway arches on either side of Barrington Road are two examples of previously empty spaces now filled with creativity.

Brixton East, a former furniture warehouse, maintains its original nineteenth-century character and offers space to rent for anything from art exhibitions to wedding receptions to theatre productions.

Owner Andy Luckett (pictured right) spotted the disused and distressed building eighteen years ago from the top deck of a bus. Covered in graffiti, with smashed windows and crumbling walls, the dilapidated building had suffered a hard knock life. Andy extensively and lovingly renovated the building back to life.

Quirky yet functional, the large open space has been completely reanimated to become Brixton East. While exhibition spaces can feel intimidating and exclusive, the fact that Andy also lives in the building and operates an open-door policy adds a uniquely personal touch. Andy wants residents and

neighbours to come round for a cup of tea, and wants the space to keep changing and be filled with all kinds of local cultural activity. The building, and Andy, are both firmly rooted in the heart of the Brixton community.

“My advice to any new development in Brixton is to give back as much as you take,” says Andy. “You will be surprised how generous people in Brixton will support you and will make it a success both spiritually and financially. Brixton has lost a great deal but should be gaining a great deal. It’s a gentle balance of give and take. The raw materials of Brixton should not be taken for granted and used for short term gain...Lambeth council, Network Rail take note.”

Just across the road from Brixton East is another space that has been successfully rejuvenated. Pouring creative energy into the veins of the Brixton community, the Simulacra Studio began renting the old Brixton East railway arch from Network Rail in 2012. Initially established in 2006, the studio led by Francois Boutemy has provided a venue for photo shoots and photography workshops.

Due to the quality of the work

done in the studio, high profile clients such as Ralph Lauren and NetA-Porter have been attracted to this unique space’s tardis-like layout.

Despite the studio’s success, Francois still very much sees his business as a part of the community.

From reclaiming unused wood and building materials to build the bar area, to the purchasing of essentials such as pizza from Franco Manca and beer from Brixton Brewery for the studio’s clients, Francois is keen to support fellow Brixton businesses in any way it can.

Brixton East and the Simulacra Studio, two previously neglected spaces on the same road, are perfect examples of how creative talent in Brixton can nurse victims of neglect into successful businesses and cultural venues. Without their vision, energy and commitment these two empty spaces would have likely remained as lost spaces.

Space can be hard to find and even harder to make use of. That is why Brixton needs individuals like Andy and Francois to make these empty spaces open spaces, for the more imagination we have, the more space we have.

Brixton East’s Andy Luckett. Picture by Antonio Sansica

Loughborough Farm The Loughborough Junction Action Group told The Brixton Bugle about their experiences transforming a tricky patch of empty space into a community asset, the Loughborough Farm.

Rescuing derelict pieces of land and putting them to good use growing food for the community is what the Loughborough Farm is all about. The project calls itself a patchwork of local growing spaces and as well as transforming the patch of overgrown scrub on Loughborough Road opposite Wyck Gardens, the farm has another site on Minet Road, opposite Loughborough School, that it is getting ready to clear.

The Loughborough Junction Action Group (LJAG) persuaded Lambeth council to hand over the sites on Loughborough Road and Minet Road on a temporary basis on the understanding that the sites would be handed back as soon as Lambeth decides what to do with them.

The site on Loughborough Road had been overgrown and aban-

doned for many years although locals recall playing football there in the 80s. When the site was finally cleared of scrub, a stash of guns and £40,000 worth of drugs were found.

There was even a rumour that went round for a few days that a dead body had been found. It was untrue but the story has become a local urban myth and still gets repeated.

The site on Minet Road was saved by Councillor Matt Parr who prevented it from being sold to a developer.

“Growing food on derelict land can be challenging,” Emily Myers, project coordinator warns: “The land can be overgrown with weeds, full of rubble and sometimes the soil can be contaminated. So other ways of growing have to be found such as raised beds or growing bags.

However, the rewards definitely outweigh the challenges.”

The growing is done in 100 giant builder’s bags, donated by Barratt Homes, and five months after the launch, the farm is still cropping salads which volunteers take home

with them. Any excess is given away for small donations to local residents.

LJAG has recently heard that it has successfully won a grant of £17,000 from the People’s Health Trust. This will allow the charity to continue employing project co-ordinator Emily Myers two days a week for the next year with enough money left over to put a small shipping container on the site to use for storage, a potting shed and training space.

“We are so pleased that so many local people are getting involved in the farm. Many people tell us how happy they are to see this piece of wasted space put to good use and the project is definitely bringing together people with a shared passion for growing healthy food,” Anthea Masey, Co-Chair of LJAG told us.

The site on Loughborough Road is open every Saturday from 1pm to 3pm although the volunteers often stay longer.

Picture: The Loughborough Farm by Antonio Sansica.

13

Brixton Bugle March 2014

www.brixtonblog.com Hannah Lewis, Project Coordinator of the Remakery Brixton told Ruth Waters about her experiences of transforming an empty space.

Where is Remakery Brixton based and what do you do?

We are based at 51 Lilford Road, SE5 9HY. The space is a former garage block (1000 sq m floor area, previously containing 40 garages) beneath a block of flats on Paulet Road Estate. We have converted the space into shared workshops for makers, artists and businesses that re-use, repair or upcycle waste materials.

We’re not fully open yet as building work is ongoing, but some re-use projects (including wood recycling, furniture upcycling and re-upholstery) are already underway on site.

How did you end up based in this space?

In late 2009 a group called Remade in Brixton, part of Transition Town Brixton, wrote a proposal to create a re-use centre, a space for collaboration and innovation to reuse and repair resources that would otherwis-e go to waste. We sent our idea to some contacts at Lambeth Council, and at our next meeting,

councillor Steve Bradley told us about this disused garage block in his ward which had been derelict for several years and was attracting crime and anti-social behaviour.

When we saw the site we were excited about the potential, and brought together a steering group from an assortment of local re-use projects working with a wide range of resources: wood, textiles, furniture, bikes, electronics and more.

Was it a challenging space to build your enterprise from?

Yes, definitely!

What were the main challenges you encountered?

The space was pretty grim when we first got access to it. It was full of flytipped rubbish – mounds of rubble, a burnt out car, a dead fox, and some garages containing what looked like all of a dead person’s possessions, were among what we cleared out in 2010.

One ongoing issue is that it’s naturally dark – it’s on the lower ground floor and is very long, so only the two ends get daylight - the darker areas were unpleasant to work in until our new lighting got installed! Also, it was designed as a garage block not a workspace, so

there were engineering and building control issues around issues like ventilation and fire safety. Being located below flats, we’ve also been careful to lay out the space in a way that will minimise noise disturbance.

Remakery Brixton

What do you hope your transformation of the space will give to the community?

The aim of the Remakery is to gather people to share ideas and uncover the value in all of our overlooked and wasted resources. What will emerge can’t be predicted, but on any given day you might find an orchestra of musical instruments made from scrap, benches for a local park being made from reclaimed wood, an inventor refining a pedal-powered washing machine or a new bike trailer design.

Locals can drop into repair sessions to get a hand fixing everything from a kettle to a garden shed.

Classes in sewing, carpentry, bike maintenance or computer repair aim to give the people of the community the knowledge and confidence to be more savvy consumers.

Pictures: Left, Co design day 2012 at the Remakery and above a volunteer at work in the space.

The Effort Collective

The Effort Collective is a group of DIY artists who make attention-grabbing and often subversive art on a tiny budget, holding everything from film screenings to art installations to gigs. Effort Collective member Vanessa writes about the group’s struggles to find spaces for their projects and the support they’ve had from the Brixton community.

The Effort Collective has worked out of empty spaces all over London. To us empty spaces don’t just mean abandoned buildings; they can be the backroom of a pub before it opens or the lull before lunch in a restaurant. Many businesses have spaces that could give artists the opportunity to develop, though they may not be aware of it. Working with local businesses has made us feel part of the local community and we’ve had a great time filming promos for our events in Brixton.

Empty spaces have been vital to our artistic practice. Most London-based artists will tell you that lack of space is their biggest obstacle. One of our first London projects was a play called Shoebox which was rehearsed in an abandoned warehouse in Elephant and Castle where a group of activists lived with permission from the owner. Despite the almost freezing temperatures, we had the space to create a devised

Studio Space

show which was performed in three different London theatres.

Support from the Brixton community began with our partnership with Music Bar on Brixton Hill, now a Tesco. The landlord, CK Flash, gave us free rein over the pub’s back room during the daytime. Over two years the room hosted theatre rehearsals, auditions, band rehearsals, film shoots and set construction.

Our local base made it easy for us to host events at the Windmill around the corner. Local businesses (notably the Crown and Anchor) have also allowed us to use their premises as locations for film shoots.

Sadly, many abandoned buildings and historical landmarks are now being taken over by chain restaurants, supermarkets, and kitschy, aspirational conversions. But Brixton has great potential as a hub of artistic creativity, particularly given how community-minded we’ve found its residents and businesses.

There’s also a fight to conserve and revive community buildings, so we are very much looking forward to the launch of new Brixton landmarks such as the Black Cultural Archives, and new community and arts spaces.

Picture: The Effort Collective at work in Brixton Hill’s Music Bar, now a Tesco Express.

Local author and artist Zelda Rhiando tells us about her experience as a tenant of a studio in Granville Arcade.

“I found that back when the market was only about a third occupied five years ago, we had a lot of freedom, and it was very quiet!

The artists had keys to the market and 24-hour access. The Spacemakers Project was a lovely time - we were able to take those spaces that were empty and fill them with art - getting lots more people involved with the market, and also increasing awareness of the artistic community there.

Since all of the units have been rented out things have changed though. There’s a lot more noise, access to the doors is often blocked by restaurant tables and other furniture.

ASC successfully appealed the market owner’s attempt to evict all of the artists just over a year ago, but it definitely feels like a more precarious existence now. That said, they are still brilliant studio spaces, and the market is a constant inspiration. I would like to see artists using them more, and more awareness that creative spaces are good for the community. I’d love to see spaces like that being used by artists, writers and musicians.”

Empty space in London: the facts

In 2012, 3,395 homes were empty in Lambeth.

Source: emptyhomes.com

Brownfield sites account for 2.5% of the entire area of Greater London Source: london.gov.uk

London is home to almost two thirds of all artists’ studios in the UK. Source: Cultural Metropolis Report

There are 14 allotment sites in Lambeth at the moment, each with long waiting lists.

Source: Lambeth Council

In September 2012, a new law came into effect which made squatting in homes punishable by up to six months’ jail and fines of up to £5,000.

14

Brixton Bugle March 2014

Features

www.brixtonblog.com

Brixton pub low-down Since Christmas we've been busy reviewing Brixton's watering holes for the benefit of locals and visitors alike. So, tens of pints and a few bulging bellies later and we're nearly there. But we figured our loyal Bugle readers would appreciate a little taster before they go live on the Brixton Blog...

The Space Original décor and furnishings are vintage and quirky, yet homely and unpretentious. Its days as the home of the local Conservative Club seem like yesterday. There’s also a beautiful dining area tucked away out the back.

The Punters An eclectic mix. On the weekend it is packed to overflowing with young professionals out to celebrate weekend freedom. Yet in the chilled out weekday evenings there is more chance to go local character spotting.

The Booze A great draught selection. Kraft beer is also available and the wine list is well composed. It’s just a shame they don’t do cocktails.

The Grub The food menu offers traditional British food with a continental twist. Starters include hummus and pitta bread and baked camembert followed by mains of steak sandwiches, burgers, risotto followed by brownies or cheeseboards. Perfect comfort food for these cold winter evenings.

The Damage Totally reasonable. A quality three course meal can easily be bought for around £20. The drinks are also reasonable. You feel like you’re getting value for money.

An Interesting Fact The pub is supposedly haunted...I don’t want to start any rumours but I swear the portrait of Winston Churchill that takes pride of place in the Front Room winked at me...

What’s a bit rubbish?

Its popularity on the weekend means the pub has to operate a one-in-oneout policy from around 10pm.

What else they got in the bag?

The Effra Social has a diary packed with events. A monthly reggae night (every last Sunday of the month), weekly jazz evenings, a weekly quiz (Tuesdays), and a live band every Friday. Plus, keep an eye out for

plays and comedy nights.

To sum it up…

A suitably eccentric tardis of a pub.

By Lucy Binnersley

The Dogstar

The Booze There’s a basic range of quaffable bevs. Choose from a couple of cask ales, lagers and your usual spirits selection.

The Grub Posh pizzas vary in price from £5-8.

Neither size nor quality is compromised by the cost.

The Damage A cheap night is easily achieved if you stick to pints, which linger around the £3 mark, and house spirits.

An Interesting Fact London’s ‘first DJ bar’ has survived for nearly two decades. As part of the ever-expanding Antic collective, its legacy is deservedly lairy.

The Highlights A purveyor of party vibes, The Dogstar brings a familiar razzle-dazzle to Coldharbour Lane. You’d struggle to find a soul who hasn’t spent at least one Saturday bent over the bar, screaming for jägerbombs above 90s club classics.

What’s a bit rubbish?

Weekends are typified by youngsters out on the razz. The only thing disappointing is that you’re probably getting a bit too old for it.

What else they got in the bag?

The Dogstar is a real crowd pleaser.

Expect little and you’ll get a whole lot. Comedy nights to Audio Sushi.

To sum it up...

A party pal from times gone by, The Dogstar dominates the disco like Bez from Happy Mondays.

By Isabelle Hope-Urwin

Craft Beer

The Space Lets get one thing straight; this is by no means a ‘pub’. It’s a bar - with a slightly rough-aroundthe-edges sparsity. Think dive bar meets student union.

The Punters During the week, small groups of older men are scattered amongst the odd young couple, even one or two lone drinkers.

Weekends though, it attracts a much livelier crowd of ale guzzlers.

The Booze The mammoth menu boasts London’s largest selection. It’s crammed with local and international brews.Be it Stout or Saison, Dunkel or Doppelbock, Pilsner or Porter - discerning beer drinkers, welcome to Utopia.

The Grub Peckish punters can nibble on thinks like scotch eggs, pork pies and a typical selection of ‘posh’ nuts and crisps. If you’re looking for a hearty meal, look elsewhere.

The Damage Prices seem to be pretty varied and depend on what you choose. Worth asking, some hit the pricier end!

An Interesting Fact There are over 230 different types of cask ale, kegs and bottled beer to choose from.

The Highlights The beer. And the extremely helpful staff that guided you towards brews they think you’ll get along with.

What’s a bit rubbish?

Interior feels like an afterthought.

A few cosy seating options would encourage people to relax and work their way through more of the beers.

What else they got in the bag?

They host a range of events including beer-tasting sessions that start from a reasonable £15.

To sum it up…

Expert list, amateur surroundings.

By Addyson Pope

Pic: House of Whatever

Effra Social

Rubina Pabani

Kaff Bar

The Space Deep leather couches and armchairs occupy one end. The rest of the bar is filled with simple wooden tables and mismatched chairs. Dim lighting and relaxed, warm atmosphere make this relatively bare space feel exceptionally cosy.

The Punters Tartan scarves, rolled-up corduroys and hemp moccasins aplenty. But you’d not feel unwelcome in workboots or a suit and tie.

The Booze Don’t go looking for a great selection of beers. The behind-the-bar fridges, however, are full of some reasonable wines and other tantalising refreshments. More importantly, they contain all the ingredients for some understandably famous cocktails.

The Grub Pick your base, then pick your Louisiana style toppings. Put your own twist on already interesting and delicious nosh. Fun – and it’s cheap, tasty and substantial. Kaff bar is now open daily for breakfast South American style too.

The Damage A fiver for a truly tasty feed. Three quid for the cocktails. Beer pretty standard.

An Interesting Fact Chaka Khan shows up every now and then. Once she even tore her own pantyhose off, apparently.

The Highlights The food. No, the cocktails. No! The big painting of a toucan smoking a joint on one wall.

What’s a bit rubbish?

There’s an awkward space in front of the bar dotted with a table or two.

The fact that it doubles as a dance floor should explain any sparseness though.

What else they got in the bag?

Cake. The Cake Club is a delightful mix of cabaret entertainment and a community baking project. Confused? See it and you’ll believe it.

To sum it up…

Pub? Restaurant? Bar? Kaff is happily confused about where it sits – you could call it a hangout. And a great one at that. By Sam O'Flaherty

15

Brixton Bugle March 2014

www.brixtonblog.com

Improve s ’ d l i h c r u yo s l l i k s y d stu Kumon’s maths and English study programmes work to improve your child’s skills, develop their confidence and inspire a passion for learning.

To unlock your child’s potential, contact your local Instructor and quote ‘BUGLE’ for a free assessment.

Brixton Study Centre Yasmin Fitzpatrick 020 7737 1697 kumon.co.uk

16

Brixton Bugle March 2014

Culture

www.brixtonblog.com

REVIEW: Open Water Swimming at Photofusion Arts contributor Sarah Solomon went along to local photography gallery Photofusion to review the current exhibition Open Water Swimming by documentary photographer Tessa Bunney. Supported by Arts Council England, the showcase incorporates two studies of human interaction with the environment, Järvenjää/Lakeice and On the Board, giving a powerful glimpse into the world of open water swimming.

Järvenjää/Lakeice is an exploration of the city of Jyvaskyla in central Finland, with its vast expanses of more than 188,000 lakes. Tessa spent several days travelling around Jyvasklya to photograph the lakes.

Shot in winter, her striking photographs depict the power of the elements and the steely determination of Jyvaskyla’s ice swimmers in harsh conditions. “My interest in open water swimming goes back to my interest in different landscapes and how we use them for ourselves, in this case for leisure,” she says.

Each composition in the Järvenjää/Lakeice series reflects a moment of intimacy, calm and in some cases solitude, and highlights a need for contemplation and relaxation away from the fast-paced, technology-fuelled reality of 21st-century living.

It is evident that Tessa developed a strong relationship with her subjects, allowing her to closely document an activity that represents simplicity and a desire for contact with nature.

The second collection of photos, On the Board, portrays the Serpentine Swimming Club (SSC) in central London. Established in 1864, this open air swimming club meets at the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park every Saturday throughout the year to race, in all weather conditions.

The lake itself was created in 1730 and has a rich history as a place for people to meet and swim together.

Tessa’s photos and photofilm expose personal, modern-day experiences of the Serpentine, reflecting a continuation of the human interac-

tion with the lake that has occurred since its inception. Visitors can listen to SSC members talking about their encounters with the lake, and hear about the immense feeling of exhilaration they all share from their early morning swims in the lake’s cool waters.

Tessa’s documentation of the London and Jyvaskyla open water swimmers makes for some interesting comparisons and contrasts between the two groups, from the age

of the participants to finer details such as their attire. Ultimately the exhibition highlights a commonly shared enjoyment of open air swimming, with both its social and solitary benefits.

Open Water Swimming is showing at Photofusion on Electric Lane until 14th March 2014.

Photographs © Tessa Bunney, below from the series On the Board, 2011-12; left from the series Järvenjää/Lakeice, 2010-12

INTERVIEW: Fleur, singer On March 14 up and coming songstress Fleur will headline the Brixton Soup Kitchen fundraiser t Brixton Electric. As the east Londoner prepares for her big gig south of the river, we asked Phoebe Robertson to get us the lowdown...

“I was always singing from a really young age, always singing around the house”.

Aged 16 Fleur entered the X Factor TV talent competition and this kick-started her career in the music industry. With caramel curls and a soulful voice Fleur cites Erykah Badu and Beyonce as female recording artists that inspire her.

“I watched and listened to every tune on Beyonce’s new album” Every one? “Yes, ‘Drunk in love’ I wasn’t sure when I first heard it, but I heard it one time and it just clicked” It’s the concept, she explains, that is the real inspiration. “When it first came out I watched the whole album! I really enjoyed it. The visual concept of the album was original, no one else has done it”.

With an urban style it’s not hard to see why DJ Fresh asked her to collaborate on his tour. Tracks she’s made like ‘One in a Million’ have been remixed so many times you’d be hard pushed to not hear it on a night out.

Hailing from Walthamstow and living in east London has shaped her tastes. From Bob Marley to burgers she’s absorbed London’s mix of cultures and loves exploring the city.

Her favourite thing to do in London?

“I love finding new places that serve great food like new markets” Currently working in the studio on new material and continuing to tour with DJ Fresh she is excited about bringing her east London energy to Brixton, you can expect great things from Fleur this summer.

To help Brixton Soup Kitchen get their mobile van come down to the Fundraiser at Electric Brixton on 21st March, doors open a 7pm.

To advertise here email ads@brixtonblog.com

Or call Tous on 07507 150 701

17

Brixton Bugle March 2014

Culture

www.brixtonblog.com

Putting the past in its place

The Brixton Bugle’s Barney Evison met local poet and community figurehead Michael Groce for a long overdue chat about his work putting poetry into practice.

Brixton poet and reformed criminal Michael Groce is a man on a mission. With his friend and business partner Philip Davies, he is working hard to lift young people out of poverty. His courses - Groce Conduct and Unlock - coach young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and long term dependency on benefits towards full-time, sustainable self-employment. I met Michael and Philip in Lounge on a cold January evening to find out more about what they’re up to.

“I didn’t want to just be known as ‘that guy whose mum got shot’ or ‘that guy who sparked the riots’” If the name Michael Groce is familiar to you, it may be for a reason other than his poetry. He is famously the son of Cherry Groce, the Brixton resident who was shot by armed police at her home on Normandy Road in 1985, sparking Brixton’s second major riot. At the time, Michael was involved in gang crime and drug dealing and the incident which led to his mother’s shooting was a result of police reports that he had a gun at her address. After seeing his mother’s picture on television and learning of the rioting, Michael came out of hiding and turned himself into the police.

It’s hard not to see this as a defining moment for Michael. Does he think he’d still be a poet if his mum

hadn’t been shot? “I don’t think so,” he admits. “I’d probably still be on the street, selling drugs.” He had numerous encounters with the police in his youth, with around 50 separate convictions and 15 spells in prison. The past holds a lot of pain for Michael. His mother, who survived the shooting but was paralysed from the waist down, died in 2011. Her death hit him hard, forcing him to take a year out from his busy life of writing and community work.

Michael Groce is not a man to stay serious for long, and makes Philip and I laugh when recounting stories from his earlier, madder days. He remembers his stint cutting inmates’ hair in Brixton prison.

After a change of scene, he asked if he could be the barber but neglected to inform anyone that he’d never cut any hair before. “First guy I cut, I was on the phone with one hand, asking my friend how to do a short back and sides. I became the demon barber of Brixton prison,” he chuckles, “everyone had a Number 2, the whole jail looked the same!”

He wrote a poem based on his experiences in prison, ‘Canteen’: “that was the most used word in prison.

Everyone associated it with food, whatever language they spoke when they heard it they came running!”

Michael turned his back on a life of crime and drug addiction to throw himself into poetry and community work. He’d harboured a desire to write poetry from a young age, inspired by buildings named after poets at the school he attended in Sussex while in residential care.

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Michael Groce in Brixton “People told me not to be a poet when I was younger. They told me it was a waste of time.” What drove him to ignore them later in life?

“I didn’t want to just be known as ‘that guy whose mum got shot’ or ‘that guy who sparked the riots’ - I wanted to be known for something else.” Recognition initially came in the form of the Cheltenham Poetry Prize, which he won in 1998.

He stunned the audience at the festival, getting through to the last round and performing a poem about his mother: “At that point people there suddenly realised who I was, they recognised my familiar name.”

Michael still wants to distance himself from his younger, angrier self: “People have this image that I’m enraged. Now, I don’t enrage, I engage.” As the discussion turns to his community work, I ask whether poetry is still an important part of what he does. “Poetry underpins everything,” he says firmly, “poetry cuts through culture, it’s a common language.” The poem ‘Unlock’ frames the ethos behind the programmes that Michael and Philip run, and his prison poem ‘Canteen’ is the basis for an ex-offenders training programme with the same name. They target young people, often men, who are reliant on benefits and help them set up their own businesses to become self-sufficient.

They see self-employment as a way in which people can use state support like tax credits constructively to build themselves a sustainable future.

In their own words, Michael and Philip’s programme “doesn’t go for the low hanging fruit, but wants to harvest those at the top of the tree.” They actively seek out troubled youths, venturing into the darkest corners of Lambeth, places they know where gangs and drug users hang out, squats and street corners. They criticise other community programmes for expecting that people will come to them, as opposed to going out into the community and finding those who need help. Philip is no stranger to troubled inner city areas himself, originally hailing from Moss Side, the infamous Manchester neighbourhood that earnt the city its nineties nickname ‘Gunchester’.

When I ask Michael if policing works in Brixton today, he says there is still a way to go in terms of police presence and accountability.

“Policing does work, but they still need to make sure they go into the darker areas.” I ask him if he was surprised by the lawful killing verdict in the Mark Duggan inquest in January. “No. I made the prediction beforehand that it would be lawful killing and my friends wouldn’t believe me. The law has to be like that - it’s there whether we like it or not.”

“People have this image that I’m enraged.

Now, I don’t enrage, I engage.”

@brixtonblog

Mothers Cries

by Michael Groce Mother cries can’t be buried Tears run afters death, The empty space is now replaced By words, marked on the grave And the young child asking About the “Loved one lost” Is one of the saddest sights yet?

Rest in peace the words say But what peace is there to gain With the sound of the police bullets Marked with another child’s name But we give our child the name To mark the beginning of life But how short life really is When the bullets is sent on “its Lawfully flight” Up in arms in anger The Police bullet making life cheap But whatever happened to the old saying “We are our brothers keeper” Flowers around the graveside Whose name will mark the next tomb?

As the echoing cries of another one dying Can no longer have the room For after death there’s life After service or enquiry, people grieve For the mark of death doesn’t touch one The mark of death runs deep

18

Brixton Bugle March 2014

Food

www.brixtonblog.com

Recipe: Soused herring with rhubarb and ginger

poach it, pickle it, make syrups, sorbets and sauces, roast it, and serve it raw. We’ve even used it as a replacement for citrus in cocktails.

Rhubarb & Gin Sour, anyone? It provides a foil for anything fatty or creamy, be they savoury or sweet. Rhubarb chutney is a perfect accompaniment to blue cheese, whilst as a sharp compote it makes a fine counterpart to roast pork or duck. If all else fails, what could be better than a classic rhubarb crumble?

Have a go at this recipe, or experiment with your own. Go lose yourself in a rhubarb triangle...

Nicholas Balfe, owner/chef of Salon restaurant in Market Row

BY NICHOLAS BALFE The sun is streaming as I write, and with our veg boxes full of purples, greens, russet and amber, it feels like the bleakest months of winter may well be behind us (touch wood)...

But it’s the flashes of pink that I find most exciting at this time of year. Stems of rhubarb, standing tall in all their slender glory.

I look to Yorkshire for the first of the season’s crop of rhubarb. It’s the forced, indoor variety – grown entirely in darkness – which arrives first, a good couple of months before its outdoor relative. It will almost inevitably have been grown out in the sticks somewhere north-west of Wakefield – The Rhubarb Triangle, as it’s known. It sounds almost mythical, like a forgotten, Tolkien-esque land, inhabited by majestic crimson plant life, stood swaying in the dark.

The area has been home to the UK rhubarb industry for centuries, evolving in tandem with the Industrial Revolution. Originally, production relied on a by-product from wool

Soused herring with rhubarb and ginger

milling as a fertiliser and the abundance of coal, which was used to heat the huge ‘forcing sheds’ the crops are grown in. Legend has it that in the largest of the sheds you can hear the creak of the rhubarb as it pushes its way further up into the darkness. Even to this day, it is picked by candlelight.

In the restaurant, rhubarb adds colour and acidic zing to both sweet and savoury dishes from pretty much the beginning of January to somewhere towards the end of March. We

Sousing is a classic method of preserving fish, originating in Northern Europe. Here, the acid of the rhubarb acts more as a marinade than a preserving brine, adding a depth of flavour, and cutting through the oily flesh. If you can’t find herring, mackerel or sardines work just as well.

First, poach the rhubarb. Heat the ginger beer in a saucepan with the fresh ginger, sugar, vinegar and shallots. When it begins to simmer, add the rhubarb, cover, and leave to stand for at least ten minutes. The rhubarb should retain some bite, and the liquid will be pink and still warm.

Season the herring on the skin and flesh sides with salt. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan on a high heat. The pan needs to be hot.

Place the fillets skin side down in the pan.

There should be an audible sizzle. Don’t move

INGREDIENTS (Serves 4 as a starter) 4 large fillets of herring (ask your fishmonger to fillet and pin bone the fish for you) 2 stems of rhubarb, cut into 1cm chunks A piece of ginger, 5cm approx, sliced thinly A shallot, finely sliced 300ml ginger beer, e.g. Ossie’s Fresh Ginger A pinch of sugar A dash of cider vinegar Salt Olive oil A small bunch of dill Horesradish cream, to serve the fish at all for at least three or four minutes, by which time the skin will have unstuck from the pan, and become crispy. Remove the fillets from the pan, and place in the warm rhubarb and ginger liquor. Leave to stand for a few more minutes in a warm place so the flavours meld together. The acid in the liquor will continue to cook and flavour the fish.

Transfer the fillets to serving plates, and dress with some of the rhubarb and ginger liquor, a few chunks of rhubarb, and a few shallot rings. Drizzle with olive oil, top with some dill fronds. Serve warm with a spoonful of horseradish cream.

Salon, 18 Market Row, www.salonbrixton.co.uk

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Brixton Bugle March 2014

Food

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Review: Lightness of being at Fujiyama

BY LINDSAY FALLER

Time was short. My friend had 45 minutes to keep me company for dinner before he jetted off to Bikram Yoga, ambitiously hoping to meet girls while sweating excessively. We needed to eat quickly and relatively lightly.

In my previous experiences with Fujiyama, service has been patchy and repeatedly requesting a glass of tap water is not unusual, but we decided to risk it.

It’s not surprising I keep coming back. The restaurant sits there quietly on Vining Street, with its red façade and glowing interior, and serves consistently splendid food. Flavour and colour place it seamlessly as an integral part of Brixton’s diverse cultural fabric. Queues had begun to form on this particular Monday night, and I was a bit nervous that I would be left to finish a Salmon Chilli Men all on my own. Of course, I am not sure I should admit that I pretty much know the menu by heart. In my 10-plus years in this part of the world, I have eaten at Fujiyama more times than I can remember. It featured highly when I was a student because their beef donburi was cheap and cheerful, delicious and filling. As I got older (and became gainfully employed), I could finally afford the sushi, thrilled to find decent and comparable versions of the sushi I ate as a girl, as fresh from the Pacific as it was exotic to my Oregonian taste buds.

To keep our meal on the lighter side, we focused on sushi - tuna roll, spicy salmon roll, Dancing Eel and Rainbow rolls. Three sides were thrown in just for fun: miso soup; spinach ohitashi; and agedashi tofu, where traditionally the tofu is rolled in katakuriko (potato starch) then fried. Fujiyama’s version is more of the tempura ilk, and whilst the result is light, crunchy batter over hot, silken tofu, the real flavour comes from the umami-rich dashi sauce: sweet, salty, brothy.

The spinach ohitashi was less thrilling this time around, and although presented as a beautiful little hockey puck of compressed steamed spinach and garnished with fried shallots, spring onions and sesame seeds, the dressing seemed a bit sparing and the dish was a touch bland. The soup consisted of white miso, tofu and spring onions; the creamy broth warmed and satisfied to the core.

The sushi arrived and we dived in. The Dancing Eel roll was filled with avocado, masago (roe), cream cheese and cucumber, and topped with grilled eel, sesame seeds and drizzled with yakitori sauce. Hot, cold, crunchy, creamy, salty and sweet, it was a marvellous combination of taste and textures. The Rainbow roll was elegant and colourful, with layers of fresh tuna, salmon, red snapper and avocado, filled with more

cucumber and masago, and a bit of crabstick and mayonnaise. Light and fresh, it was a nice balance for its more hefty eel companion.

The tiny gems of tuna rolled in rice and seaweed were perfect little morsels and the spicy salmon roll was delicately piquant, with a bashful heat that perked up after the first bite. Both soaked up wasabi-laced soy sauce nicely.

Equally impressive was the service. We were in and out with time to spare. Water came when requested, as did the bill. Still relatively inexpensive, I predict Fujiyama will remain a stalwart of the Brixton dining scene long after the spotlight begins to turn its focus towards the next foodie hotspot. As I walked my friend back to the Tube, he pondered on the lightness he felt after such a substantial meal. It must be down to the quality of the food, he said.

I can’t help but agree.

Meal for two including service, no drinks £43.76.

Fujiyama, 5-7 Vining Street, SW9

Picture by Tim Mitchell. timmitchell.co.uk

20

Brixton Bugle March 2014

What's On We’ve just had the most gorgeous sunny weekend and, bizarrely, the cherry blossom seems to be out in Brixton already, so our hopes are high for a sunny, springy March.

Here’s hoping the weather doesn’t dash them, but either way Brixton has lots to offer this month...

•

FRI FEB 28 The Windrush Square night market is on tonight from 5-11pm. There will be classic London trendy street food, including ‘Fundo Pizza’, ‘The Brownie Bar’, ‘Colonel Tom’s Gumbo’ and ‘The Bell and Brisket’ food vans.

• SAT MAR 1 The Bakers and Flea Market will be on Brixton Station Rd, 10am-5pm today. A combo of cakes and bric-a-brac – perfect for a Saturday wander.

•

SUN MAR 2 If it’s a gorgeous day, go for a walk around Brockwell Park, grab a coffee at the Lido Café or even, if you dare, jump into the Lido pool.

• MON MAR 3 Join us for a

jaunty jog around the park. The Brixton Blog runs around Brockwell every Monday from 7pm, meeting at Windrush Square. Currently we are embracing the warmer weather and feeling rather jolly about it all.

www.brixtonblog.com This is about the huge redevelopment about to take place on Somerleyton Rd and the council is currently consulting us all about it – so get your thoughts in now, while you might be able to make a difference.

Today there’s an outing planned to Woodberry Down in Hackney and the Manor House Development Trust to “find out how the community shaped this development”. It’s first-come, first-served, so book on futurebrixton.org. 9am-12noon.

•

WEDS MAR 5 Two important Somerleyton events coming up.

The Prince of Wales, Chris Tofu (Electro Swing Club), Jon Bongly (Secret Swing) and Sacha Dieu (Stranger than Paradise) present the launch party of Brixton’s new Electro Swing monthly: Count Basie’s Electro Zing! A night full of the best sounds from the 20s to 50s remixed, from jump jive to booming beats. 10pm-4am, £5 adv and £8 otd.

• THURS MAR 6 And if you

aren’t usually free in the daytime, then this Somerleyton event will be better for you and is even more important – it’s about the housing plans for the development. We think that’s the biggest issue in Brixton right now so if you want to keep the pressure up for social housing, this one is for you, from 7-9pm at 6 Somerleyton Rd. Lettings policy, rent levels and tenancy agreements will all be up for discussion.

• FRI MAR 7 Comedian Eddie

Griffin is at the Brixton Academy tonight, hosted by ‘UK King of Comedy’ Eddie Kadi and featuring a line-up of other British comedians, as well as guest performances from singers such as Angel. 8pm, tickets at 02academybrixton.co.uk

• TUES MAR 4 Praise be, Mau- • reen has found a new location for her Guyana Roti joint, this time in a shop on Brixton Station Rd. The truly delicious rotis with generous fillings are cheap and choices include goat curry, saltfish stew and callaloo.

Editor’s Pick: Count Basie’s Electro Zing, Prince of Wales, Mar 14

SAT MAR 8 International Women’s Day! Celebrate all the women in your life, please, thanks.

•

SUN MAR 9 Jamaican legend King Yellowman made his name during the 1980’s as a dancehall performer and has been influencing worldwide stars ever since. HipHop giants such as Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G have drawn

inspiration from his music and he remains a key figurehead in the classic dancehall/reggae scene.

Joining together with controversial musician Dillinger, of ‘Cocaine in my Brain’ fame, they return with another cracking show at Hootananny Brixton. 8pm-12am.

• MON MAR 10 The Folk Up at

the Queen’s Head kicks off Mondays in true Queen’s Head fashion with a merry knees-up to the sound of local musicians. Folk Up will tickle you silly with compères Hank Dog the ringmaster and glamorous assistant Annaliese to entertain you. This Brixton landmark knows how to party so don’t be shy and head inside.

•

TUES MAR 11 The Effra Social’s traditional Tuesday quiz night always gives as good as it gets.

With winner takes all and prizes for second place to second last, quiz-

master Tommy McArdle will ensure a mix of brain-teasers and good old local competition. At £5 per team and teams of six it’s a fun and affordable night with friends. 8pm.

•

WEDS MAR 12 Everyone knows the Spanish love their food and their football. If you like either then head to this night at Gremio de Brixton. Great tapas with what promises to be a good game, you couldn’t ask for a better mix.

Champions League football present what has already been an incredible clash between two great clubs this year. Manchester City face Barcelona at the Nou Camp, be prepared for a passionate and lively atmosphere and some sizzling Spanish flavour. Kick-off 8:45pm.

•

THURS MAR 13 Get yourself down to the White Horse for a bit of pre-weekend funk. Laying down the best in independent funk

and hip-hop, it’s tough not to shake a leg to some classic tunes at the BrxtnFnk night. Always worth a visit, you can even boogie with the pool cue if no one else takes your fancy.

8pm-12am.

•

FRI MAR 14 A genuine gem of a night, Total Garage takes over Plan B in Brixton with garage legends Oxide and Neutrino heading the line-up. This South London duo need no introduction but if you need a reminder just listen to ‘Bound 4 Da Reload’. If you like quick two-step beats and house vibes you’ll love Matt Jam Lamont.

Already familiar with Boiler Room heads, this DJ whips up a room and you won’t be able to stop dancing.

Also playing are Sunship and Larry Sun, a local lad with an awesome taste in Garage essentials. If you want an authentic Garage skankout to So Solid vibes then this is the night for you. 10pm-5am.

Editor’s Pick: The Rest is Noise, Upstairs at the Ritzy, Monday Mar 3 Inspired by Alex Ross’s book The Rest is Noise, this night brings ‘mind expanding music, ideas and discussion to the Ritzy Cinema’. Illustrated talks and live performances kick off a discussion about the music of the twentieth-century in its social and political context. It’s like a book club, but for music. This month, they’ll be taking a look at the music of the Weimar Republic, including Kurt Weill. Just bring an open mind. From 7.30pm and free.

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Brixton Bugle March 2014

What's On

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•

SAT MAR 15 It’s no secret that we at the Brixton Bugle love the Windmill and Saturday nights in Brixton just wouldn’t be the same without a vibrant offering from this Brixton Hill icon. Afropunk offers up a serving of ‘The Guys’ with The Connectors with their essential hard rock tunes. Also performing their unapologetic punk rock are Elephant 12 and Yinka Oyewole brings his musical fusion of funk, hip-hop, soul, rock to the stage. 8-11pm.

friends and pop up Brixton Hill to the Elm Park Tavern to try out their popular quiz night. From 8.30pm, it costs £1 per person and the winning team gets £35. It’s always a full house, so to guarantee a table text or call 07852 345 974 to book a place.

Over at another pub, the Effra on Kellet Rd, the Lambeth Renters group will be meeting at 7.30pm to discuss ways to protest about rising rents in the area.

• SUN MAR 16 Cheer up the • end of the week with some Sunday reggae beats. Effra Social is running its Give Me Power night, an ever growing free reggae event, featuring the Powers Band and special guests.

8pm-midnight.

• MON MAR 17 For a special

Monday night meal, try the excellent New Orleans fare at Kaff Bar, including slow-cooked Cajun pulled pork, jambalaya or soft shell crab in a po-boy, roti or taco. All cooked up by Chef Myers, a trained NOLA cook.

•

TUES MAR 18 Take some donations to the Food Bank at St Paul’s Church on Ferndale Rd from 10.30am-1pm today. The shopping list for the goods they need most is published here in The Brixton Bugle every month.

• WEDS

MAR 19 Each and

every Wednesday you can go to the Electric Social on Acre Lane to give the open mic night a go… or just support the emerging artists there.

It’s from 8pm-11pm, is free and there is even a house guitar available on request.

Competition time

• THURS MAR 20 Grab your

Win two tickets to Errol Morris’ documentary about Donald Rumsfeld, ‘The Unknown Known’, plus a Q&A with the famous director himself on Wednesday March 19.

To get your hands on the prize, answer the following question

by March 8:

FRI MAR 21 If you work

in Brixton, get down to the Food Corner on Brixton Station Rd today for some jerk chicken, Eritrean curries and a wide variety of other food offerings. From 10am-3pm.

•

SUN MAR 23 It’s a night for some serious musical appreciation at Ritzy Upstairs, where the Kevin Davy Quartet will be playing tracks from their latest album. Kevin is an acclaimed left-field jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer with the likes of Lamb, Adam F, Finley Quaye and Sugizo. He has worked in the left-field of jazz and contemporary music, across the genres of jazz, drum & bass, improvised music, electronics and soundscapes.

It will be a night of sonic delights – we promise. Doors: 8pm, free.

• MON MAR 24 The first time

the Ritzy have organised a major staff exhibition - this is a collective exhibition on Human Rights as part of the Human Rights Film Festival.

7pm, free.

•

TUES MAR 25 The Ritzy’s notoriously hard film quiz, Bigger Boat, is on at Upstairs at the Ritzy

Which other famous director said he would eat his shoe if Errol Morris ever completed the film ‘Gates of Heaven? a. Wim Wenders b. Werner Herzog c. Joshua Oppenheimer Please send answers to competitions@brixtonblog.com

tonight. Make sure you bring a film boffin with you! Doors open at 6.30pm, tickets £4.

•

WEDS MAR 26 A great way to get stress out of your system, join in communal drumming with the Hand Drumming and Afro-Brazilian Percussion class at The Grosvenor, 7-10pm. The threehour classes are taught by Brazilian percussion expert Sam Alexander and you’ll have access to a wide range of drums and other percussion instruments. All for £7 a head.

Roehampton University launches a Editor’s Pick: National Science Week Human Rights Short Film family activities at Brockwell Park’s Competition in association with Community Greenhouses, Mar 22 The Ritzy Cinema and the Human Discover your inner boffin life of plants under the microWatch scope.

Film Festival with a host of Rights family-friendly Lab coats and goggles

science activities to celebrate optional. Free, drop-in event National Science Week down at (but donations welcome!). the Community Greenhouses.University Contacthas Beth on education@ Roehampton teamed up with We guaranteeThe thisRitzy willCinema be brockwellgreenhouses.org.uk to celebrate the return of the first Saturday morning or call 07427 685714. 10.30amHuman Rights Watch Film Festival this you have ever the spent learning 12.30pm.

March. how to create a grasshead THURS MAR 27 It’s Thursman, or even pondering the day so we’ decided to recommend Rohehampton wonders of surface tension University students are invited a pub quiz at the Trinity Arms to enter with floating flowers. the Student Human Rights Short Film this time. Exercise those wellCompetition by submitting a short film These and all sorts of other watered brain cells with some devilhighlighting one activities to appeal to all curi- of the themes of this years’ ishly difficult questions from resident Deadline quiz-master Simon. Enjoy the beer, ous individuals,festival. whatever their for entries is March 1. the company and the competition. age, will be free for all. You Even if you don’t win something, it’s show their film at the Ritzy can even checkWinners out the will inner a great evening out.

8.30pm Cinema in Brixton on Saturday 22 March!

Image from The Beekeper Courtesy of Derimker

•

H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H

Mon 24 Mar, 7.00

The Ritzy collective: Human Rights Exhibition A human-rights-themed exhibition showcasing the artistic endeavours of Ritzy staff helps to mark the return of one of the most exciting and important events in our calendar: | The Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

GOLDFISH

LINE UP:

(LIVE)

20.04.2014 WWW.SEETICKETS.COM

WANKELMUT GET PHYSICAL BERLIN

ELECTRIC BRIXTON WWW.ELECTRICBRIXTON.UK.COM

10PM - 6AM Electric Brixton, Town Hall Parade, London. SW2 1RJ +44 (0) 207 274 2290

WWW.GOLDFISHLIVE.COM

This project by a host of in-house artists highlights this year's festival themes: Armed Conflict and the Arab Spring; Human Rights Defenders, Icons and Villains; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights; Migrants’ Rights; Women’s Rights and Children’s Rights.

The exhibition aims to inspire positive change, encouraging viewers to reflecton the importance of human rights and how they help to build stronger communities worldwide.

Image from Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus, Courtesy of Dogwoof

22

Brixton Bugle March 2014

Cartoons

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Brixton Bugle March 2014

Columns

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GREEN FINGERS: What to grow in March

A date with Ms Bennet

Our dating columnist on the Waterloo. For our third date he trials and tribulations of cooked me dinner and desert, all completely gluten free, had the dating in Brixton...

ALISON ALEXANDER Brockwell Community Greenhouse The association between madness and March feels apt for gardeners. This month heralds the start of spring and three months of glorious gardening mayhem. This year we’ve scarcely put the old season to bed than the new is upon us at full pelt.

The weather is so warm that plants expected to flower in April or May are already advertising their colourful wares to insects that should be nestled down cosily for another couple of months. How often do you remember seeing daffodils, snowdrops and wild fruit trees flowering side-by-side? Our honey bees have been on the wing most of the winter.

Practical work in the garden In the herb garden, we’ll cut back dead flowering stems that we left for overwintering invertebrates (assuming there were any!). This will make the garden look tidier and leave space for new growth.

We’re sowing vegetable seed outside and under glass. Broad beans

will be the first to go in outside.

Tomatoes, aubergines, pumpkins, squashes and the many exotic vegetables that need warmth to germinate and a long growing season will be the priority inside on a heated bench.

Our border in the Walled Garden will be planted in June and the display we’re planning with Lambeth Council for the Chelsea Fringe Festival will be created in late May. To have good-sized plants ready, we need to sow now to ensure three months of growing time. This also means we’ll have plants ready for you to buy from the Greenhouses or at our new Herne Hill market stall in mid to late spring.

We’re looking forward to a rainbow of colours for our 2014 pollination theme: from lipstick red Cosmos ‘Ladybird’ to the violet glow of the sea holly Eryngium ‘Purple Sheen’ via sunset-yellow Californian poppy and the 70s psychdelia of the tobacco plant Nicotiana ‘Lime Green’.

Perhaps the biggest attraction for pollinating insects will be the wildflower meadow. First sown with a mixture of annuals and perennials two years ago, it is self-seeding well but we’ll re-sow again this year to increase the variety of plants. We’re aiming to beat our 2013 pecies count of 32 British native wildflowers. Why not try it yourself?

Creating a wildflower meadow or window box The essential points to bear in mind are to keep soil fertility low and remove competition from vigorous grasses and perennials. The most sustainable and organic way of doing this is to cover the patch where you want to create your meadow with some old carpet. Blocking out the light kills off what’s growing underneath. Don’t use fertiliser, just let the seeds grow. Make sure the area doesn’t dry out after sowing. As if.

For a window box or planter you can use garden soil mixed with compost or just a low nutrient compost and scatter the seeds on top.

Some people find mixing seeds with sand helps them sow more evenly.

There is lots more technical advice out there about soil stripping, soil inversion and layering with sand. We managed without this at the Greenhouses but it does depend on your conditions. For more information, there is excellent advice available online by Nigel Dunnett of Sheffield University, Colin Reader of Wildflower Lawns and Meadows and researchers at Emorsgate Seeds.

For community gardeners, Capital Growth’s networking event at Lambeth Town Hall on March 10 will feature a session on wildflower meadows as well as advice on four crop rotations and planning a team day at your garden.

Other training to look out for this month: •

Glasshouse growing at Brockwell Greenhouses on March 1 and Science in the Garden, a family session, on March 22.

•

Seasonal Food Growing at Rosendale Allotments on March 23.

•

Planning your plot at Streatham Common Community Garden on March 2.

•

Fruit tree and bush pruning at Myatt’s Field Park on Saturday March 15. brockwellgreenhouses.org.uk @GardenBrockwell

When I was 23 I was obsessed with a man I met at a work event. Only problem was, he wasn’t with me.

He humoured me and took me out for dinner, but after one or three ignored texts, I got the message.

He was 35, director of an organisation and pretty sure of himself.

I wondered why someone like him would ever want to have anything to do with me.

Four years on, I’m shopping with mum and we are looking for somewhere to eat. I remember going to a great restaurant with Mr. Director, but can’t remember where. So I email him. ‘Hi, not sure if you remember me, but do you remember where we went?’

After a few exchanges, he mentions going for a drink and we do.

So now I’m 27, he is 38 and somehow, while my 23 year-old self is loving this, the situation seems to have reversed itself. He can’t believe how much I have changed. And I have. I was so naïve with a slight air of eau du desperation. Drinks turned into dinner, which turned into a walk along Waterloo Bridge and ended with an embarrassing case of PDA at the station, not my finest hour.

The second date coincided with my birthday. He took me out to the theatre the day before, greeted me with champagne and took me to dinner after. More PDA at

fire going, and opened a bottle of prosecco...

More dates continued: cinema, dinners, movies on the sofa.

Then this man, overly enthuiastic, texting me all the time, Mr. ‘Why don’t you ever text me’, ‘when am I seeing you next’, went and did exactly what every man so far has done and gave me THAT speech.

“I hope we are on the same page here, I don’t want you to get disappointed, we are just having fun”. At what point did I become a ‘good time girl’?

Then it dawns on me that actually maybe this time it’s not me. I need to know my own self worth.

I was indulging an old fantasy, which was doing nothing for me.

I’m 27, not bad looking, occasionally clever and funny. That’s when it all stopped being fun and I decided that this isn’t something I can carry on with.

Plus, all those trips to North London were making me appreciate Brixton so much more. I’d fallen a bit out of love with it recently and had been finding it all a bit too trendy and a bit too in your face and claustrophobic.

Sometimes you just want to walk down the market, hair a mess, shuffling around in Uggs without fear of those hipsters pointing and laughing. But two months of travelling to North London has put everything right. So, thank you, Mr. Director.

Public notice LICENSING ACT 2003 APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF PREMISES LICENSE DUGARD AND DAUGHTERS has applied to the London Borough of Lambeth for the grant of a Premises Licence, in respect of the following premises: DUGARD AND DAUGHTERS LIMITED UNIT 286 MILKWOOD ROAD HERNE HILL, SE24 0EZ which would authorise the following licensable activities: SUPPLY OF ALCOHOL - MONDAY TO FRIDAY 9.30AM TO 8PM AND SATURDAY 9.30AM TO 5PM AND SUNDAY 10AM TO 4PM OFF LICENCE The record of this application may be inspected during normal office hours at the Licensing Section, London Borough of Lambeth, 5th Floor, Blue Star House, 234-244 Stockwell Road, London, SW9 9SP, or via the licensing authority's website, at www.lambeth.gov.uk/licensing A responsible authority or any other person may make representation to the licensing authority in respect of this application. Representations must be made in writing, either by post to the above address, or by email to licensing@lambeth.gov.ukand must be received no later than 26TH MARCH 2014.

It is an offence to knowingly or recklessly make a false statement in connection with a licensing application, and the maximum fine for which a person is liable on summary conviction for that offence shall not exceed level 5 on the standard scale (£5,000).

24

Brixton Bugle March 2014

Sport

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Get fit do good

BY LAURA DICKINSON PICTURES BY GOOD GYM Good Gym Lambeth began only six weeks ago, but it’s clearly caught on.

On a dark, damp Tuesday evening in February, 25 runners have turned up for the latest form of group exercise to come to Brixton.

Good Gym, claims founder Ivo Gormley, provides an opportunity to combine exercise and community work for people who don’t have the time to do both.

Runners gather at 6.45pm every Tuesday outside Yum-D on Market Row, Coldharbour Lane. I joined them for a 1.5km run to Myatts

Fields Gardens where we cleared mounds of leaves and dead wood to help Streetscape, a Brixton-based social enterprise that provides horticultural apprenticeships to long-term unemployed youth.

“It’s like a flash mob,” explains 29-year-old local resident Lauren. The Good Gym runners help with labour-intensive tasks that both keep them fit and help community groups with jobs that would otherwise take much longer, such as painting, clearing debris or gardening.

Good Gym was born out of Ivo’s frustration with gyms: “They’re such a waste of energy. You’ve got

all these people working really hard and not really achieving very much, lifting things that don’t really need to be lifted.”

“The idea behind Good Gym,” explains Ivo, “is to make it as easy for people to do something useful as it is to go to the gym.”

Sceptics might ask whether this is little more than an opportunity for feel-good fitness that doesn’t provide a sustainable source of support for community groups. But Good Gym members beg to differ.

“It goes far deeper than these group runs,” argues Lauren.

“Through these runs you find out where help is required in your local area so you can independently search those things out. Once you’ve made connections with your community, you’re not going to want to give them up.”

Guy Watts, co-founder of Streetscape, also counters the critics: “Having 45 minutes of 30 people’s time saves our team two days’ work.

I’m also hoping that people will learn about our organisation and take part in what we’re trying to do. There are many reasons why it’s good for us.”

Streetscape runs apprenticeships in landscape gardening for 18 to 25-year-olds who have been out of work for longer than 6 months.

The apprentices work towards a NVQ qualification and spend the rest of their time on site, working

in residential, commercial or community gardens.

“Working with Good Gym on projects like this allows us to spend more time teaching apprenticeships rather than cleaning a depot in the park,” he adds. “All of what they’re doing is helping us become more efficient and sustainable as an organisation.”

Guy also argues that Good Gym might provide one solution to the challenges that community gardens around London face.

“We want to keep parks looking as beautiful as they do but with budget cuts that’s not easy. Having volunteers to help with planting, weeding and strimming might be one way to help keep London’s parks beautiful.”

Good Gym began in Bethnal Green in 2011 and has rapidly spread across London. In other areas Good Gym members have provided support to local people by running at least once a week to see an older person in their area, to deliver the paper, do odd jobs or simply check they’re OK. “It’s one of the most important things we can do as people who live in cities, make sure that older people aren’t left on their own, that we make sure we reach them,” says Ivo. The aim is to start something similar here in Brixton and Ivo is in discussions with the Adult Social Care Department at Lambeth council to ask who in the

local area might benefit.

The Good Gym’s weekly runs are not the most intense exercise on offer in Brixton. If you want a physical challenge the weekly Park Run in Brockwell Park is more demanding. But if you’re looking to do both sport and volunteering, this might be a good match.

Runners don’t need to register; you can turn up on the day. Good Gym is free to join, although a voluntary contribution of £7.95 a month is welcome and pays for a physical trainer for the runners.

90% of Good Gym members do pay this contribution, perhaps testament to the value they think the group brings.

“We’re not changing the world by sorting out these leaves in this park, but we’re contributing when otherwise you might be on your own in the gym watching television. That’s 100% better,” says Ivo. “But we’re not making any grand claims that this is solving everything.”

“Anything we do is better than going to the gym, and that’s the comparison.”

Find out more about Good Gym at www.goodgym.org/lambeth Runners meet each Tuesday at 6.45pm next to Yum-D on Market Row, 409 Coldharbour Lane.

Find out more about Streetscape on Twitter@Streetscape or at www. streetscape.org.uk