Sugar & Spice Art Zine

art zine

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Hello!

Thanks for picking up our Sugar & Spice art pack!

Sugar & Spice is an intergenerational project based in Tooting. Through a collection of projects, we are celebrating the people, the places, and the spaces which helped shape Tooting High Street as we know it today.

We’ve been uncovering the stories of sweet shops emerging from the war, the cinemas, the tailors, the libraries, and the curry mile. Our project is out to discover why Tooting was voted one of the coolest places to live before the pandemic.

It will culminate in a performance, a pop-up museum, and a digital art project to take heritage into unusual spaces in the summer of 2022. You can find out more about the project here: www.bouncetheatre.com

The activities in this pack are inspired by the work we are making.

If you make anything you’d like to share with us for inclusion in the final exhibit, please drop us an email – info@bouncetheatre.com

Happy creating!

Everyone at Bounce Theatre

With thanks to all the people collaborating on Sugar & Spice for their contributions to the project

tooting crossword puzzle

9

18. Name Tooting’s Corner. (4) Down

1.

2.

12.

17.

what’s in a name?

It is said that Tooting derives from the Saxon name Tota and the word “ing”, translating as “the people who lived at”. Although, online reading also suggested to us that that the name could come from the words “to tout” meaning to “look out” and relates to a watchtower that stood on the road to London – so the people of Tooting would be “the people of the look-out”.

We like the idea then of the lookout being full of small shops named after their founders. John Boot, Michael Marks Tom Sparks. John Lewis, William Timpson – are familiar names across many high streets.

Names tell people about who we are and our heritage. So, celebrate yours!

You can draw around your hands. Or use the ones we’ve handily provided. You can fill them one or both of them in.

Start with Your First Name

First start with your first name and write it down. Does it have a meaning? Do you know why you were called it? Do you have any nicknames? Does your name have any wider cultural meanings or connotations? Are there any famous people with the same first name as you? Does the sound of the word remind you of another? Write all these things inside the hand you have drawn.

Your Surname

Now move on to your surname. Where does the name come from? Did it have a meaning, for example some surnames represent a job that your descendants did or a place that they came from. Did your surname change if you got married? Write down your old surname if you like.

Free Writing

Free writing is an exercise where you write down your train of thought – literally writing down everything and anything that pops into your head. Try free writing for five minutes about all the things this exercise made you think of. There are no wrong or right things to write, just jot down your thoughts! What does your name say about your personal history? Do you live in the same place you were born? Have you travelled? Where is home? If you were a shop – what would you sell?

Who I Am- A List Poem

A list poem is a simple way of recording all the elements that make up our personalities. To make up your list poem, answer the questions below. There’s no right or wrong and you can write as little or as much as you like! Don’t worry about making it rhyme or using ‘poetic language’, just see what comes out.

Here are some prompts and suggestions for starting each line of your poem.

• Describe what you look like I am…

• Describe the town you grew up in - how does it look and feel? I am from…

• Describe where you live nowhow does it look and feel?

• Describe an important person in your life - what is their character trait? What do they look like? I am …

• Describe an unusual place you have been to - what was it like there? How did it make you feel? I have been …

• Describe a memory from a holiday that you loved - What were you doing? What was the weather like? What did it look like? I have been…

• Describe your favourite hobbywhy do you love it? When do you do it? You can list a few if you like! I am …

• Describe your favourite food and when you like to eat it - how does it make you feel? I am…

• Describe your favourite song and when you like to hear it - what’s the beat like? What are the instruments used?

I like …

• Describe a bad habit that you have - when do you do it? Would you like to give up? I am …

• Describe three good things about you. (Don’t be too modest!) I am …

• Describe something that lots of people don’t know about you - do you appear one way on the outside but feel different underneath?

I am …

• Describe something you’re afraid of - it can be something small like spiders or something bigger.

I am scared of…

• Describe something you’re grateful for.

I am grateful for…

• Describe something you’re hopeful for. I am hopeful for ….

Here’s one for inspiration!

I am 5 foot something with grey whispers running through my hair.

I am from the warmth of the Midlands – a Brummie lass Settled in Wandsworth

I am mother to two boys who wear half my heart each

I am a plant on plates – to make my body work better

I am anything by P!nk – strong, passionate, sometimes angry and always empathetic

I have been on a plane, alone, to fly halfway around the world for a chance on love

I have been into the sunshine and felt the joy of being a dot in the ocean

I am a runner in the making. Again.

I am trying to give up eating too much chocolate. Again.

I am resilient, hopeful and optimistic

I am quiet but strong, having touched the edges of life and returned back again.

I am not religious but believe I will live on in the hearts of others

I am scared of seeing a mouse in my house

I am grateful for my children, my husband and my home

I am hopeful for a kinder, better world.

Why doodle?

Doodling is a great outlet to give yourself time to be creative. It’s also said to be a cathartic exercise, as it helps your mind tap into your emotions, and can also reduce anxiety. Alongside this, it can be a fun way to improve concentration, come up with new ideas, and sometimes discover a little more about yourself. So, grab a piece of paper and a pen/ pencil and just let your hand take over – don’t try to draw anything; let natural shapes and patterns emerge by themselves. See where it takes you.

Doodle Shapes

Choose a shape (rectangle, triangle, circle, etc.) and use ONLY that shape (and various versions of it) to draw a picture. It’s amazing what can be created with such simple instructions. This example was done using only triangle inspired shapes. It might be a little more challenging than you think. Have fun!

Can you make the word Tooting out of triangles?

Can you design a shop front out of circles?

Can you make a plate of food out of squares?

Doodle Your Name

If your name was a logo, what would it look like?

One-Line Drawing

You could also try a oneline drawing. A drawing made by one single line, where your pen doesn’t come off the paper.

Try these:

• Your house, a bag, your favourite shops, a flower, an animal

d o o

Now try and imagine how to represent these words: Carpet bag, fruitier, cobblers, haberdashery, spirit merchant, cheesemonger, perfumery, chocolatier, Bananarama, Salt and Pepper, Rolling Stones, Journey, Radiohead, jelly shoes, fishnets, landline, walkman, cd, dvd.

creative writing ideas

Five Sentence Story

Write down the best shopping trip you ever had in five sentences.

Share the best meal you ever had in a local restaurant in five sentences.

Write down your greatest adventure in five sentences.

Or write down the greatest adventure yet to come in five sentences.

Here’s one of ours for inspiration:

The warm smell of spice told me I was home.

Here’s one of ours for inspiration:

Tired and hungry, I sat down on a hard wooden bench. Fading away in a crowd of strangers. Then they slipped a tropical plate of colour under my nose. It hit all my senses. In one mouthful they bought me back to myself. (Trip to ‘Get Juiced’ for lunch on a day full of busy workshops, and after little sleep being up with poorly children)

Write a Story in 10 Minutes

Think about something you love, something that makes a sound and something that makes you smell nice. Write a story that incorporates all of these objects.

Make a soundtrack of your life so far

Remember when music wasn’t on download? You had to go into a shop and buy a CD, a cassette tape, or a record. If you are young, they looked like this. Make a soundtrack of your life so far.

Here’s one for inspiration:

Write Lists

10 places you love visiting.

10 places you’d like to visit in the future.

10 places that you love to eat. 10 items that you’d like to wear. 10 things you’d buy if money were no object.

10 small businesses that you’d like to support.

Under the Sea Take on Me Babe Ok Computer You to Me are Everything Skyscraper

I’m still Standing All of you Rule the World You Can’t Touch This Stand by Me We Build this City Let’s Stay Together Don’t Stop Believing Let’s Dance

make a High Street Haiku

A haiku (pronounced ‘Hi-koo’) is a short poem, which comes from Japan. Haikus are now written in different languages all over the world. You can write a Haiku about anything, although they are usually used to celebrate brief, passing moments in time.

In English, it is often said that a haiku is made up of seventeen syllables (that’s the sound a vowel like A or E makes), in three lines of five, seven, and five. Today many haiku poets are not so strict and write haiku with different line lengths. Take a look at these different versions of one of the most famous of all haiku, the ‘Old Pond’ by the Japanese poet Basho: Furuike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto - Basho

Harry Behn has chosen to use the traditional 5-7-5 syllable lines and lots of detail:

An old silent pond... A frog jumps into the pond, splash! Silence again.

- Translated by Harry Behn

Robert Hass decided to write

a simpler haiku, with shorter lines, leaving more space for the imagination:

The old ponda frog jumps in, sound of water.

- Translated by Robert Hass

Can you write one about Tooting? Here’s a few for inspiration

St. George’s strip lights, Greeting new life, soothing tears, It starts, and ends, here.

Tooting Market love, Pierogis and haloumi, Dancing cheek to cheek. Granada, Broadway, Bus belches and curry fumes, Bec, Lido, Common.

Plate by plate, food goal, Warm, slow curries, proper real, Tooting warms my soul.

You know you’re “Tooting”, Those long, sunny queuing days, The Lido Heatwave.

Squares, this was played using a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil. A grid of dots, equally spaced about half an inch apart (12.5mm for our modern friends!), was drawn on the paper. The size of the grid depended on the number of players. The first player would join two dots together, then the second player and so on. The first player then drew a second line and so on. The aim of the game was to complete a square.

If this was accomplished, initials were written in the square to indicate whose it was, and the player continued until no square could be drawn. Towards the end of each game, it was possible to make a number of squares in one turn. There was a modicum of strategy in this simple game. The player with the greatest number of squares won the game. I loved it.

Hangman, usually two players play. One is the host, the other the victim. The host draws an empty gallows, chooses a secret word and draws short lines for the number of letters in that word. The player asks if a certain letter is in the word and makes a note of the letter so it’s not asked for again. If correct, the host inserts the letter or letters (if repeated) in the correct places on the blank lines. The player guesses another letter and so on. If the letter is not in the word the rope on the gallows is drawn in, followed by the head, neck etc. The aim of the game is to guess the word before being hanged. You can give the victim more guesses by not drawing the gallows in first and using those lines as their guesses.

Noughts and crosses, two players compete, taking it in turn to draw a nought (first player) and then a cross (second player) to achieve a line of three either, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. I think most children/ adults would know how to play this. Extract of research from the team working with Meet & Make Spaces Tooting.

join in - Share your memories

Fancy getting involved in our project.

We are collecting stories of Tooting from the 1940s to the current day. If you have lived in / visited / worked in the area and care to share, here are some of the things we are trying to find out!

• What is your relationship with Tooting?

• What is your relationship with Tooting?

• How long have you known the area?

• If you lived in Tooting, whereabouts in Tooting did you live?

• What do you or have you loved about Tooting?

• What do you think of or remember about Tooting High Street?

• Did you have a favourite shop/place to visit?

• Where did you buy clothes from in Tooting?

• What innovations do you remember changing the High Street?

• Where is your favourite place to eat in Tooting?

• Have our shopping habits changed much in your opinion?

• Why did you like it so much?

• What made/makes Tooting fantastic?

• What’s the best thing you’ve ever eaten in Tooting?

• What’s the best memory you have of Tooting?

• If Tooting was an animal, what would it be and why?

Send your answers to lauren@ bouncetheatre.com. Or read on if you’d like to write something inspired by them.

WRITING YOUR STORY

This looks at autobiographical writing, telling real stories from our lives. It is inspired by the Moth Club, which celebrates the art and craft of storytelling. Since the pandemic, they have been hosting virtual story slams.

As a warm-up start by engaging your senses.

Write about a taste that you love - What does it remind you of? Is there a memory, person or place attached to it?

Write about a smell that you love - what does it remind you of? Is it a food, a perfume? A place?

Write about a sound that makes you laugh - what does the noise feel like? What do you associate it with?

Plan your story

Think about your answers to the questions in the last section. Or, perhaps you have another story about Tooting to share. Imagine you are telling this story on stage at an event in front of an audience of people that don’t know you. Your story should have a beginning middle and end. These questions will help you to work out the details of your story:

1. Set the Scene

What do we need to know about you to understand this story? What details do your readers need to set the scene? In these stories we are essentially showing the audience a five-minute self portrait of who we are or who we were at one point in our lives.

For example: I hadn’t slept for three years. We were parents unleashed for the first time on a date time. Aimlessly wondering around Tooting looking for a place to eat. We had been recommended a curry house and we were lost trying to find it. The blue pin on my phone span round and round.

2. Something Happens What happens to set the story in motion?

For example: It starts pouring with rain, we dived into a restaurant –‘cause now anyone would do. It wasn’t the place we were meant to be in. I don’t know what we ate. I’ll be honest it wasn’t that great. We laughed over cold food.

3. Raising the Stakes

What do you have to win or lose? What matters to you and why? How can you make the story more dramatic?

Yet, I knew over that dinner, in my slightly damp dress, I was where I was meant to be. Tooting had become my home.

4. The Moment of Change What happens that changes how you see things?

We stumbled out of the curry house and into a pub. Flickers of who we were before mum and dad. Soaking up the vibes of this vibrant town, people laughing and hugging around us – in a world before covid pulled us apart.

5. The World as it is Now How are you different after the events of this story?

A fleeting memory, that bought me back for myself, wrapped up with others that allows me to call this area my home. I look forward to the days ahead of rain, laughter and crowds of happy people.

Visit The Moth for inspiration on the types of stories you might like to tell. You could always dip your toe in the water, do some writing and sign up to perform. Find out more about them here: https://themoth.org

spot the difference

How many differences can you find? Answers on back cover

c o l o u r i n

t o o t i n g

Which form of transport was discontinued in Tooting in the 1950s? (4)

Great things can come from the tiniest of seeds Rendered properly they can be the worlds greatest gift Over grass or concrete Wherever you go or look or climb These beautiful places are everywhere Happy hunting for all those who will Because there are little shops, run by lovely people Maia

Put a smile on someone’s day Walk down the high street and say Hey! How are you? What’s up? How’ve you been? Get a drink in a cafe you’ve always seen. Make memories and friends Ones that’ll last until the end Support the person whose dream it was to own that café By putting a smile on their day Grace

Tooting Quiz:

Sunglasses have disappeared from the man’s head.

A lettuce has gone missing from the pile on the left.

The sign saying “Mitcham”, now says “Mittens”.

A blue plastic bag in the scene is now yellow.

One bowl of green apples is now red.

Big Ben has appeared in the scene.

The sign for Aldi has changed to Lidl.

A bowl of mangoes has disappeared.