Brixton Bugle May 2016

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BRIXTON BUGLE YOUR FREE

No 43 | MAY 2016

Published monthly in and for Brixton

ISSN 2397-852X

DESIGN DISTRICT PUTS US ON MAP Brixton’s status as the London Design Festival’s newest design district puts it alongside Clerkenwell, Shoreditch, Chelsea and Islington in status in the creative world.

Planning has begun for this year’s festival which takes place 17–25 September.

The Brixton organisers shared their ambitious plans for a week of spectacle at a packed community event in Brixton East 1871.

Under the banner “Rebel, Rebel” the trail will be designed to engage the widest possible local audience with installations, exhibitions, and events by resident artists, designers and creative organisations in public spaces and businesses around the town centre.

For the first time, young people get the chance to show off their talent and creativity with a programme of their own.

Julia Nicholls of architects Squire & Partners said at the launch: “We want to talk to everyone whatever their skills and talents. It’s a platform, but it’s much more about the people who work and live here.”

Sentiments that were echoed by all the speakers.

A host of organisations are already signed up. ●● Brixton design studio 2MZ will collaborate with Black Cultural Archives to design a courtyard installation. ●● Brixton Pound designers This

COMMUNITY PAPER

RESCUE OUR BARROWS Appeal to save market heritage

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UPRISING REMEMBERED Poetry and debate 35 years on

Flo Fairweather and Oscar Taylor tell the launch event how young people will be involved Ain’t Rock’N’Roll will create a design toolkit based on the iconic notes, and hand it over to local talent to come up with new items to display and retail across Brixton. The best designs will go into mass production. ●● You will be able to join a guided walk touring Brixton’s street art and murals, stopping off along the way in some of Brixton’s best bars and cafes. ●● The Brixton Street Gallery will return to Ferndale Road.

After the success of the 2015 installation, Squire and Partners are curating a second exhibition

of works by talented Brixtonbased artists. ●● New this year, Brixton Design Trail will present a series of events and projects for 16-25 year-olds and will be asking: “In our rapidly changing city, how can design be used to imagine and shape its future?” ●● Brixton-based Eley Kishimoto will collaborate with Dolman Bowles, adorning the streets of Brixton with a patterned pavement carpet – look out for sizzling chips underfoot. ●● Hot Tramp, I Love You So will be a Bowie celebration.

WHY I LEFT BRIXTON …

●● Show Us The Money with Brixton Pound explores how accountability can be designed into the way money works. ●● Windows of Brixton is a youth takeover of visible retail window spaces. Local young creatives will use design and vinyl graphics as their tools, and retail window spaces as their canvas.

The London Design Festival was established in 2003 to celebrate and promote London as the world’s design capital.

… and will I recognise it again?

■■ To get involved go to: www.brixtondesigntrail.com.

Isaac Chamberlain triumphs

UNBEATEN

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2 NEWS

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Both website and newspaper are published by a not-for-profit community organisation run by a committed team of people from Brixton » 020 3730 1312 » @brixtonblog » @brixton_bugle » brixtonblog.com ADVERTISING Simon Still 07970 204486 simon@brixtonblog.com Circulation 10,000 copies Readership: circa 15,000 EDITOR Linda Quinn linda@brixtonblog.com MANAGING EDITOR Lindsay Faller lindsay@brixtonblog.com NEWS EDITOR Anna McKie newsdesk@brixtonblog.com ARTS & FEATURES Barney Evison, Ruth Waters arts@brixtonblog.com FOOD Miss South food@brixtonblog.com SPORT Sandra Brobbey sport@brixtonblog.com David Gibson

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Brixton Village traders evicted, blame £1,000 a month rents

By Angus Peters Rent disputes saw two traders evicted from Brixton Village last week as rising prices put further pressure on independent business.

Locks were changed on the shops after owners failed to keep up with payment plans agreed with Groupe Geraud, the multinational that manages the site.

One trader is reported to have broken back into the shop to retrieve possessions.

Groupe Geraud said that the closures were due to a variety of personal factors, rather than rents being unreasonable.

But some traders say a lack of promotion and subsequent decline in footfall makes it difficult to keep up with rents of around £1,000 a month.

They added that they are being asked to open seven days a week, but cannot justify doing so financially due to competition from nearby rivals.

“I think that Lambeth giving that opportunity to Pop Brixton has made it really hard for us,” one

trader told the Bugle.

Commercial rents have been increasing faster year on year according to research carried out in March.

An analysis report by Levy Real Estate and MSCI found that rental growth increased year on year from 7.8% in 2014, to an average uplift of 8.5% last year.

Groupe Geraud said that these evictions were the result of personal difficulties such as health problems or lack of cooperation, not extortionate rents.

Rachid Ghailane, markets operations manager at Groupe Geraud UK, said: “We always offer payment plans when we see someone in trouble.”

Groupe Geraud are now trying to fill the empty spaces. An agreement between the operators and Lambeth Council means the shops will not be available to prospective foodtraders.

Ghailane added: “Lot 27 has been marketed and will be classic trade only.” He said Lot 46 will also be for classic trade when advertised.

ISSUE 43 Writers: Celia Buzuk Kate Corry Zoe Darani Nikki Griffiths Julie Macauley Angus Peters Susan Sheehan Sub-editor: Jamila Omar Production: Alan Slingsby Crossword: Josie Gardiner A massive thank you to everybody involved in making this issue, and the Blog & Bugle project, a success If you would like to be a Bugle stockist please email distribution@brixtonblog.com

BRIXTONBLOG IN BRITISH LIBRARY ARCHIVE The Bugle’s sister website, brixtonblog.com, is to be archived by the British Library as part of its UK Web Archive which was established in 2004 to capture and archive websites from the UK domain, responding to the challenge of a “digital black hole” in the nation’s memory. It contains specially selected websites that represent different aspects of online life in the UK.

May 2016

The end of the occupation of the now-closed Carnegie library in Herne Hill saw one of the largest demonstrations seen in Brixton for some time.

Protesters marched from the Carnegie to the Minet library in Myatt’s Fields – also closed to become a healthy living centre – to Brixton (below).

Shakespeare anniversary inspires library protest Friends of Carnegie Library last month marked the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare and the fifteenth day since the protest occupation of the library ended with a pop-up event outside the library.

They met on the steps of the library at 3pm to perform readings and to create a human chain to “put a girdle round the library” as Puck girdled the Earth in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Business tenants barred from the library said they were unable to accept Lambeth council’s proposed alternative office

arrangements in Hub Brixton in Pop Brixton.

Tom Barton said the space was “in no way equivalent to what we had or what we need.

“Nearly all of us need desktop screens. In the cases of the graphic designers, photographers and architect-type people these need to be large.

He said that hot-desking at Hub Brixton had been the only alternative offered.

A council spokesperson told the Bugle that work on converting the library to a healthy living centre is due to start in the autumn, if

the scheme gets through the planning process.

The occupation, he said, had forced the council “to reassess the security of the building”.

It felt that, “rather than risk having to further restrict access to the businesses in future, it was better to relocate them so they could continue with their work.

“Changes to the leases and relocations would have had to happen within months anyway due to the proposed building work, this has simply brought that process forward.”

May 2016

brixtonblog.com

NEWS 3

Cash machine is world first for Brixton £

Raekwon Warren (left) as Jazz and Remael Walker as Jonathan in Ringing

Somerleyton film written, acted, filmed and scored by youngsters who live there Ringing is a 20-minute film set in Brixton’s Somerleyton estate, written, filmed, acted and with an original soundtrack by young people who live there.

Producer Dennis Gyamfi, also a Somerleyton resident, says it documents daily life on the estate through the eyes of young people living in an area the government classifies as “one of the 10 per cent most deprived areas in the country” and scoring “red”, the most serious classification, on the Metropolitan police gangs matrix.

Out on YouTube (youtu.be/d28K89eTQEI), the film is a disturbing, thought-provoking, amusing and moving production with some great performances; black and white cinematography that will make you see Somerleyton in a new way; and stunning drone sequences of the estate and neighbouring areas that, like so many things on the estate, attracted the attention of the authorities.

The production was backed by the Positive View charity set up to support the most disadvantaged young people who may have low self-esteem, no

Producer Dennis Gyamfi, centre, with Ringing actors Rose Kerr and Remael Walker qualifications and lack the experience or necessary skills to enable them to sustain employment.

Positive View ambassador Mark Gostick, an independent film-maker, directed the film, working closely with Dennis Gyamfi and the young people who participated.

“Many have been bullied or have experienced

negative attitudes at schools that do not allow for their disadvantaged background,” says the charity.

“As a result, these young people rebel or lose confidence and a lack of purpose in life.”

Many of them are trapped in a destructive circle of unemployment, mental health problems, and drug or alcohol addiction – which prevent them from building a positive future for their lives.

Dennis Gyamfi is a Positive View ambassador.

He and Positive View founder and CEO Andrew Page, who was at the official launch of the film at the Southwyck House community centre on the estate last month, see Ringing as just the beginning of what Somerleyton’s young people could create.

Dennis envisages a YouTube serial set in Somerleyton – like EastEnders, but “better and more real” – as well as classic dramas like Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet set there.

■■ You can see more about the project at endz2endz.com.

■■ www.positiveview.org.uk

Man guilty of Brixton sex assaults A man has been convicted of seven sexual assaults following a series of attacks on women in Brixton and Clapham.

Mehdi Midani, 28, of no fixed address, was found guilty of six counts on 26 April, and admitted a seventh at Inner London Crown Court.

He was also found guilty of common assault and will be sentenced on 26 May. Investigating officer detective constable Tony Carr said Midani had caused “enormous fear and distress” to the community as he carried out his attacks.

Four were recorded in a single day.

“A public appeal was crucial to our investigation and led to information being provided that quickly led to Midani’s arrest,” he said.

“I would like to thank the local community for their support and help during our enquiry.”

The first of seven attacks in ten days was on Thursday 22 October last year. Midani followed a 32-year-old woman along Trent Road, Brixton, before putting his hand up her dress. The victim reported the incident to local officers.

As the incidents increased, officers launched a public appeal for help and information as well as collating CCTV and following many lines of enquiry. Patrols in the area were stepped up and women were urged to be vigilant and take care.

The public appeal prompted calls to the incident room and2B information provided Market was Row, Brixton, London, that led to Midani’s arrest on Monday 2 T: 020Hill 3583 November in the Brixton area.8020 Three other men, aged 30, 34 and 32, who E: missdbrixton@outlook.com were arrested during the course of the investigation were released with no further action taken against them.

Dionne Ruddock Director

A boutique that offers exclusive on trend fashion and accessories for the stylish, fashion conscious woman.

SW9 8LD We believe every women deserves to look beautiful so we cater to size 22+.

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The world’s first local currency cash machine is now open in Brixton.

Brixton Pound (B£) said the ATM in Market Row would further its mission to showcase what a social economy might look like in Brixton.

B£ is the only local currency of its kind in London. The cash machine is funded by the London Mayor’s High Street Fund and is part of a range of initiatives supporting businesses in Brixton’s town centre.

B£ managing director Tom Shakhli said: “Our cash machine is the latest in our challenge to the conventional view that we’re moving towards a cashless society, and gives locals and visitors to Brixton an opportunity to experiment with money that celebrates community and creates conversations rather than closes them off.”

The cash machine was designed and produced

by Kind Studio, a local independent creative agency.

B£ notes can be spent in more than 300 independent businesses and feature local notables including David Bowie and Luol Deng as well as Brixton public art.

■■ Market Row is part of the covered market between Coldharbour Lane, Atlantic Road and Electric Avenue.

The cash machine will be available during the market’s operating hours: 8am–11:30pm Tuesday to Sunday and 8am–6pm on Mondays.

Italian silk and linen, fitting size 22+.

Beautiful selection of children’s clothes.

22 Brixton Village, Brixton SW9 8PR tel 020 3417 6070 Stunning celebrity inspired fashion and accessories.

2B Market Row, Brixton SW9 8LD tel 020 3583 8020

4 NEWS

brixtonblog.com

May 2016

Volunteers sought to aid struggling local families Home-Start Lambeth is recruiting now for its next training course for volunteers who want to help support struggling families with young children.

The charity supports vulnerable and often isolated families with children under five.

It was set up in 1998 by a group of local people who wanted to see a

Home-Start service established for families. The course, starting in June, will build on the volunteers’ parenting and grandparenting experience to help them give practical and emotional support.

Volunteers commit to support a family for two to three hours a week for at least a year.

This could include listening to

the parent or helping to take the children to the park.

If you are interested in helping a family – and in developing your skills – you can apply now to secure your place on the course.

■■ To find out more email info@ homestartlambeth.co.uk, visit www.homestartlambeth.co.uk or call 020 7924 9292.

You can make an enormous difference Sophia Ruck has been a help and support to struggling young families in Lambeth for more than 14 years.

Her commitment to Home-Start was recognised by colleagues recently when she was presented with a bouquet of flowers.

“Often mums with young children are isolated – they might not know anyone living locally and it can be difficult with young children, especially twins, to even get out of the home,” says Sophia.

“But visiting for just a couple of hours a week to offer emotional and practical support can make an enormous difference to the whole family.”

Sophia, who is now stepping down from volunteering with Home-Start, said: “It has been very satisfying to link the family into what is available locally – from playgroups to health services.

“My aim was to be a friend to the family but you must respect that there are professional boundaries. First and foremost I am there for

Home-Start Lambeth co-ordinator Melissa Nicolas, left, presents flowers to Sophia Ruck the children.”

She is full of praise for the comprehensive training she received before becoming a volunteer. “I was helping families but I always had the support and back-up from my Home-Start colleagues,” she said.

Brockwell Park to host a fete with a difference for May bank holiday Brockwell Park will host GALA, a new festival on May bank holiday (29 May).

The brainchild of friends Jonathan and Giles, GALA will celebrate some of London’s exciting music, food and drink.

Organisers say the focus will be on community spirit and a modern take on the traditional village fete.

They are planning creative twists on several classic fete games with donations going to Brockwell Park Community Members and Friends of Brockwell Park.

Local traders already signed up include Salon, Kricket, Made of Dough and Rum Kitchen – each will be providing a dish specially made for the occasion.

Brixton Brewery will be making sure you don’t go thirsty,

along with Wylam Brewery and cocktails shaken by the Savoy’s head-mixologist Neil Donnachie.

The music has an emphasis on funk, soul and disco.

Headline acts include Nightmares on Wax (left), Norman Jay MBE, Crazy P, Tornado Wallace and Rayko.

You can get tickets at www. thisisgala.co.uk or from the Brixton Pound (10% of proceeds go to local grass roots organisations).

Organisers suggest getting in early. They say tickets are going like hot cakes.

Market traders launch appeal to save Brixton’s historic barrows Brixton Market Traders Federation is appealing for help to restore the historic barrows of Brixton Market and to keep its unique character alive.

A fundraising target of £13,600 needs to be met by 31 May. The market’s proud history goes back to Victorian times.

Brixton has some of the last surviving historical barrows in London. Those that have survived have been passed down through trading families and are from an era when goods were transported all across the city by horse and cart.

Market traders’ CEO Stuart Horwood said: “All the barrows have been patched up from time to time, but as they age the timber gets worn and the iron tyres loosen.

The lack of specialist wheelwrights in London means traders aren’t able to get the wheels fixed properly – eventually the barrows become unusable.

“We are now down to 12 original barrows in total.”

The project is supported by Lambeth council (£10k) and the Heritage of London Trust (£15k).

But for all the barrows to be

restored another £13,600 needs to be raised. A crowdfunder campaign has been launched to raise the remaining funds (details below).

Horwood told the Bugle: “This is a chance for the local community to pitch in and show their support.

“With your help, a carpenter’s workshop will be set up under Brixton’s railway arches this summer – you’ll be able to see local Brixton carpenter Mari Reijnders at work on the barrows while the project is under way.

All wood will be repaired and repainted, keeping the original timber where possible.

“A specialist wheelwright will replace the wheels, and the historic lettering, once marking owner and pitch, will be recarved.”

This is a joint project between Brixton Market Traders Federation, the Heritage of London Trust and Lambeth council. The restoration will be project managed

by Brixton Market Traders Federation, combining their long experience in the market with a commitment to its viable future.

■■ To contribute, go to www.crowdfunder.co.uk/ save-brixtons-historic-marketbarrows.

Food for thought – foodbank facts and figures Local people donated 49 tonnes of food to Norwood and Brixton Foodbank over the last year, and over 200 volunteered.

According to Jon Taylor, Brixton foodbank centre manager, the top three reasons for foodbank referral are: benefit delay 28%; low income 21%; and, benefit change 11%.

As well as providing emergency food, the foodbank provides essentials like washing powder, nappies and hygiene products to families who are struggling.

Jon says: “It is all too easy when you look at figures to forget the real people

behind the statistics.

“Last week, one man visited foodbank who hadn’t eaten in days. He had lost his job after the building construction firm he worked for went bankrupt. He was owed three months’ wages.

“Non-payment of rent resulted in eviction, and his wife and child had to move in with her mother in Leicester.

“He is living in a tent in Stockwell, hungry and missing his family. That’s why the foodbank is so vital.

“We are very grateful for the ongoing support of the community, and hope that

one day there will be no need for us in Lambeth, but, until that day comes, we will continue to offer the best possible service to help local people facing a crisis.”

The running costs for the foodbank are around £65,000 a year, and are all raised locally. “The foodbank welcomes any new offers of help with funding – local businesses, organisations and individuals interested in supporting the foodbank’s work can find out more at http://norwoodbrixton.foodbank.org. uk,” says Jon.

If you like running, why not fundraise at the same time?

Join foodbank fundraisers on the Clapham Common 10k run on Saturday 21 May. Jon Taylor says: “Sign up and join with other supporters and volunteers.

Details bit.ly/clapham-10k.

May 2016

NEWS 5

brixtonblog.com

Effra Road charity up for a national award

Gala event kicks off fundraising for Ovalhouse Brixton move New fundraising for Ovalhouse theatre’s relocation to its new home in Brixton gets under way on 5 May with a special gala performance of The Diary of A Hounslow Girl by playwright and performer Ambreen Razia (above).

All proceeds will be going towards the new theatre in Somerleyton Road. Building work is due to begin this year with completion in the spring of 2018.

The Diary of A Hounslow Girl is a comedy told through the sharp, straight-talking voice of a 16-year-old British Muslim. It challenges stereotypes of young British Muslim women and explores the demands of a traditional Muslim upbringing in the face of London’s temptations.

Ambreen Razia joined Ovalhouse’s drama company for 18 to 25-year-olds. As well as acting, she wrote a script for the play, which won a commission last year and went on to win the Black Theatre Live small scale touring award.

The tour kicks off at Ovalhouse and takes in venues from Dorset to Northumberland.

“For me, it all started at the Oval and I’m chuffed my play is returning and is the first fundraiser for the Brixton move,” said Ambreen.

“I’m so pleased to be part of the funding effort. Because this is where the show got its initial platform, it’s the equivalent of starting

PARTY AT THE PALACE

Age UK Lambeth is hosting a garden party for the second year at Lambeth Palace, the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, on 1 July. The palace’s 11 acres of garden date back to the 12th century.

They will be open from 12-3pm and the entrance fee is £5. Lambeth Palace is donating all the proceeds to Age UK Lambeth, so older people in Lambeth will directly benefit from this fundraising event.

■■ Further details: 020 7346 6800.

the play from home.

“I want the theatre to be more accessible to young people and for plays to relate to them directly. That’s the way to get them into it.

Ambreen’s advice to young people who want to get into the theatre is: “Do everything you can, write and act. For me one thing led to another and I had a show. If it wasn’t for Ovalhouse and their support, I wouldn’t be doing it.”

Ovalhouse Director Deborah Bestwick says: “It is an excellent first play by a very young new professional playwright. When the play was first performed in May 2015 it sold out and everybody loved it. It is a fabulous script and she is a very talented performer. It is funny, bold, provocative and moving and just right for now.”

Although there’s a reference to Hounslow, it is not a geographical thing,” says Bestwick.

‘It’s about a certain generation and culture playing out everywhere. It’s a great play for all young people and I’m sure Brixton will identify with it. Things are very different from what was experienced by your parents.

You have to navigate transitions and expectations. Parents and young people in Brixton will find it relevant.”

Ambreen Razia is also currently appearing in the BBC Three drama Murdered by My Father.

■■ More at: bit.ly/OH-DOAHG

Lambeth mums make great strides – and they’re measured A local scheme is helping pregnant women to make great progress in achieving a healthy weight as well as eating healthily.

The Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) helps pregnant women through a supportive network that encourages healthy eating and exercise.

This is important when expecting a baby as it can help prevent health problems for the mother and child in the future.

Members of the scheme, hosted by the National Children’s Bureau and funded by the Big Lottery Fund, are given a pedometer

to measure how much physical activity they do in a day, and advised by a community activity and nutrition trainer.

Laura McFarlane, who has worked with parents in Lambeth for nearly 30 years and leads LEAP, said: “Women in Lambeth have worked alongside experts in maternal health to create practical advice and support for mothers in the borough.

“The first pregnant women to benefit from our programme are supporting each other to take charge of their health.”

■■ To get involved visit www.leaplambeth.org.uk

Brixton-based mental health charity Mosaic Clubhouse has been shortlisted in this year’s national Charity Governance awards.

Based in Effra Road, the charity helps people living with mental health issues to re-join the worlds of friendship, family, employment and education.

More than 300 clubhouse members – all living with mental illness – run the centre alongside 19 staff.

Services include support in finding employment, education and housing – as well as a café and evening sanctuary.

with relocating from its long-time home in Atkins Road off the South Circular in Clapham and taking on new responsibilities.

Chief executive Maresa Ness said: “We learned how to grab a major challenge and turn it into the best opportunity ever.

“Now we’re bigger, stronger and more successful than ever before. We couldn’t have done this without our talented and committed board of trustees.

Mosaic is on a shortlist of 18 charities in six categories for the awards. Winners will be announced on 12 May.

Chief executive Maresa Ness (left) with clubhouse member Marcia Powell Mosaic Clubhouse is in the running for the Managing Turnaround award and a £5,000 grant for the way in which it coped

CALLING COMPUTER CODERS WITH TIME TO SPARE Coder Brixton is a small community group set up in 2014 by three local computer programmers – Gareth Shapiro, Graham Wright and Dave Hooper.

It brings programming to local youngsters through mentorship from professionals. The group has

been running for two years now at Brixton Community Base in Talma Road and has secured funding for rent and to develop teaching materials.

Coder Brixton is looking for professional programmers, especially retired, or about-to-retire ones,

who are able to impart real-world knowledge to young learners.

■■ To find out more about mentoring email coderbrixton@gmail.com or, if you are a parent who would like to be added to the mailing list, visit https://goo.gl/cF0kOO

Here at Healthy Eaters we provide great tasting food combined with quick and friendly customer service and the uniqueness of trying to keep every meal as healthy as can be. We use low fat cooking techniques while maintaining succulent taste. Drop in for take-away or eat in.

17 Electric Avenue, Brixton SW9 8JP Tel. 020 7274 4521

www.healthyeaters.co.uk

Bowie print raises money for the Brixton Fund – help us decide how to spend it!

The Brixton Pound has published a limited edition print featuring the iconic Bowie B£10 note, which went into production in December 2015 with David Bowie’s full approval.

We’re hiring Are you motivated, outgoing, committed to community development and have great local knowledge of Brixton?

We’re looking for a values-led part-time Project Manager to join our small but high-output team and continue our work helping build a more social economy in Brixton.

The role will involve overall work and development of the Brixton Pound, with primary responsibility for our non-currency management projects: the Brixton Fund, the Brixton Bonus and managing the Community Investment Scheme at Pop Brixton. The role will also include regular local business engagement.

If you’re interested in applying or would like to know more about the role, please let us know by email (info@brixtonpound.org) or come by the B£ Shop (3 Atlantic Rd).

The first local currency cash machine opens in Brixton You can now get your hands on a Bowie tenner at almost any time of day! Our newly opened cash machine is already a big hit, having required several restocks and been covered by the BBC, Time Out and the FT!

Funded by The Mayor’s High Street Fund as part of a wider programme of work with Lambeth, we are proud that the cash machine was made in Brixton by our friends at Kind Studio.

Situated in Market Row

next to Franco Manca and available in the market’s operating hours (8am11:30pm Tuesday to Sunday, and 8am-6pm on Mondays), check it out and, when you do, send us a snap on Twitter (@ brixtonpound)!

Brixton Bonus The Brixton Bonus is Brixton’s local lottery with tickets costing just £1 a pop, and a B£1,000 jackpot every month!

And while you get a chance to become a Brixton Thousandaire, additional revenue from the Bonus goes into the Brixton Fund, from which we give grants to local organisations of community benefit.

So you can support your area and win money to spend locally in the process – a winwin situation.

In March the B£1,000

jackpot winner was Zoe Adjonyoh, congratulations!

Zoe runs Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen in POP Brixton, a restaurant serving home cooked Ghanaian food. She took all her staff out for dinner to celebrate. Lucky her – and lucky them!

See all Bonus winners in our Winners Gallery: brixtonpound. org/winners. To join their ranks, get your tickets to the next draw!

Or, like a good few winners, you could help your luck a little and set up a recurring entry for anywhere from 1 to 10 tickets

– and get some very special rewards as a thank you from us.

More details on brixtonpound. org/brixton-bonus – and good luck!

Next draw: Friday 27th May – get your tickets now!

The #001 print was auctioned by online auction house Paddle 8 in March, and was sold for $1,700! The remaining run of prints will be made available for sale soon – and most importantly, all proceeds will go directly into the Brixton Fund, the Brixton Pound’s local grants scheme.

We ran our first round in November, and this May we’ll be giving out more money to excellent local grassroots projects.

But we need your help to make the final decision. On the 24th May we’re putting on an evening at the stunning Brixton East where we will gather Fund applicants, past funded projects, local stakeholders and the general public to come together and decide which projects we should give our money to.

The event will also be your opportunity to become a member of the Brixton Fund, to help us score future applications and increase the diversity of locals assessing which projects can have the best and biggest impact in Brixton.

■■For more info and registration go to brixtonfund. eventbrite.com.

3 Atlantic Rd | brixtonpound.org | @brixtonpound | info@brixtonpound.org

May 2016

BUSINESS 7

brixtonblog.com

Hatch – a big day to test out your big ideas

Short route to lasting change Colcha Clothing offers a range of distinctive and bold men’s shorts using prints from South Africa and Ghana. It’s based at The Platform, Ridgeway Road, Loughborough Junction. Colcha is hosting an all-day event on Saturday 7 May with free food and drinks. All are welcome.

Colcha is the brainchild of Harry Lal and Scott Jarrett (right). They work directly with suppliers and have established a tailoring apprenticeship scheme in Johannesburg and are replicating it in Accra, Ghana. Profits from sales of the shorts goes to the apprenticeship scheme and a trust fund to provide machinery for the Ghana factory.

Jarrett says: “We believe that through facilitating skills transfer to those who may have been overlooked for employment in less developed regions, we can bring about lasting change.”

■■ www.colchaclothing.com.

Rent-free fashion at Pop Brixton McIndoe Design is launching its new collection at POP Brixton with support from The Collective Foundation. The foundation’s scheme gives aspiring artists and entrepreneurs the chance to showcase their product rent-free in a high-footfall area.

Owner Maddy McIndoe says she aims to “provide unique menswear and womenswear at an accessible price point for cash-strapped twenty-something Londoners. Prices range from £10–£45 and all garments are cotton, with every single print hand-drawn.”

Expect tropical patterns (above), T-shirt dresses and matching two-pieces covered in everything from fried eggs to lobsters riding bananas.

■■ McIndoe Designs will be at Pop Brixton until 7 May. For all enquiries maddy@mcindoedesign.com.

If you have a big idea for a business, or want to grow an existing one, then Start Up Brixton run by Hatch Ventures is for you.

It will be a day of workshops, panel discussions, speakers, and one-to-one business surgeries that will act as a stepping-stone to starting-up or growing an existing business.

It’s at Pop Brixton on 28 May from 10am to 5pm.

There will also be also a chance to pitch your (social) start-up and win seed funding from the new Hatch Fund, that will launch at the event.

For those starting up, workshop topics include: how to make your idea a business; how to find your ideal customer and sell; why planning matters; raising finance and getting the price right; and the right model for your company.

For those who have already started and want to grow, workshops include: hints and tips to help you convince others your

business is worthy of support; how to pitch for investment; how to measure impact; budgets and cash flow; and how to grow your sales.

Speakers include entrepreneurs and Hatch alumni Lee Denny (Lee Fest/ Wildfire), Solomon & Hashi (Brixton Soup Kitchen), and a host of others. To register or to find out more visit www.startupbrixton.co.uk.

■■ Lambeth council, Pop Brixton, Brixton BID, Young Lambeth Co-op and the Startup Kitchen are all backing a young people and enterprise day in Pop Brixton on 12 May. Entrepreneurs and business experts will talk about how they started and grew their business and the pitfalls to avoid.

There will be inspirational speakers and a panel, local cuisine and networking opportunities.

You can sign up at bit.ly/brixtonbiz.

Lenique Louis from Brixton has been through the Hatch programme and now runs an award-winning jewellery brand. “I have a strong passion to help other Brixton residents wanting to test their business idea, or build their already established business,” she says.

“Hatch is an amazing organisation that has helped my business in many ways. I want to get as many people to sign up as possible. The opportunities that you get from Hatch are great. Its main focus is to help people achieve their full potential. Don’t sit on the fence with a business idea you have. Sign up to pitch and a chance to get funding. If you need help with marketing, social media or finance and business help, they have surgeries with industry experts.

“If you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to test an idea that you’ve had for years sign up! You won’t regret it.”

Lenique Louis with Prince Charles

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8 PEOPLE

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May 2016

‘The time I spent in the village was the happiest I have ever been’ Libraries are a big issue in Lambeth – just as they are in the Ghanaian village of Ekumfi Etsibeedu, where Brixton resident Miriam Bouchiba is helping to create its first school library. She spoke to Celia Buzuk Miriam Bouchiba first met Justice Abban in 2013, when he was 11. His grandfather is the headteacher of the school in Ekumfi Etsibeedu.

Justice was determined to show how well he could read English.

Nobody could find any school books, so he read from a pamphlet on dentistry given to him by Miriam, a dentist, who was in the village working with a charity to provide dental care.

He read in English because, although Ghana has more than 250 languages and dialects, it is the predominant language and one you must know well if you want to study at university.

It was children like Justice who inspired Miriam to found the Ekumfi Trust, to raise money to build a library for the village school as well as providing resources like pens, pencils and textbooks. The library should be finished soon.

Stephen Awoah, chief of Ekumfi Etsibeedu, told Miriam in 2013 that children were taught computing without computers. “Many pupils have never seen a computer,” he said.

The Ekumfi trust has been able to source computers from the UK through donations, which will be placed in the computer area of the library.

“It is felt that one computer to every five children would enable them to actualise their vision on earth,” said Stephen.

“This area had very, very limited access to books,” says Miriam.

“Those that they do have are worn and tattered and some of them barely readable.”

“The school there was so

Miriam Bouchiba: God only knows how many libraries will be built in the next five years!” run down. It looked like a derelict building.

“It has around 200 students, but it is also the focal point of the community. Whenever the elders need to come together, they will go to the school to do that.”

Miriam raised the £6,000 needed to build the library by putting

Mali

Burkina Faso Benin Togo

Cote D'Ivoire

Nigeria

Ghana Ekumfi

Accra

on monthly Afrobeats nights at Upstairs at The Ritzy.

“We have loads of brilliant performers, spoken word, dancers, singers and DJs,” she says. “We ticket on the door and all the money goes to the charity.

“It’s a nice vibe, a positive vibe.

Every time I come away from a night, I feel positive and hopefully everyone feels the same way.

“My dad is from Morocco, so I have grown up with African culture around me and Afrobeats is a huge celebration of this.

“There is so much going on in Africa that’s positive. We should be celebrating this and encouraging more people to go to Africa to build up their tourism.”

Miriam also receives donations – not only money but also books and even a shirt worn by the legendary Chelsea forward Didier Drogba (former captain of the team of Cote d’Ivoire that neighbours Ghana), signed by the entire Chelsea team.

It will be auctioned at an event in the near future.

“The time I spent in the village was the happiest I have ever been,” says Miriam. “So I founded the trust to help continue the work in the community and others like it.

“My focus will always be on regenerating schools and building libraries. That will always be what the charity does.

“Last April, I visited the village where my father was born, near Berkan, Morocco. There are still no libraries there. So what better place to support next!

“Now that I have devised a blueprint for library construction and an amazing network of people that I can rely on, the process should be much quicker, meaning God only knows how many libraries will be built in the next five years!”

■■ For more information or to make a donation, visit www.ekumfitrust.org, or contact Miriam at ekumfi.trust@gmail.com.

Justice Abban reads from a dental pamphlet

Construction under way

Ekumfi Etsibeedu pupils

TV COMPANY SEEKS CARIBBEAN FAMILY TO TRAVEL THROUGH TIME Wall to Wall Media, the maker of Who Do You Think You Are? and Long Lost Family, is looking for a Caribbean family to explore Black British history and its cultural and social influence on British popular culture.

The production company is making a new BBC2 show Back in Time for Brixton.

It says that one adventurous family will be fast-forwarded through 60 years of history, with no mobiles and the same amount of

money and possessions that their ancestors brought with them on arrival.

The family’s journey through time will be underpinned by historical data and the experiences of Black British families.

To take part, the family must be UK resident with at least two children aged eight or over.

■■ Contact windies@walltowall.co.uk to find out how to apply.

May 2016

brixtonblog.com

OPINION 9

BRIXTON BUGLE

COMMENT

Rebel, rebel – let’s hope so “Rebel, Rebel” is the theme of the new Brixton Design District which will put us on the creative map as never before. Good.

But are those two words just a catchy refrain that links us all to a pop icon, or are they a call to arms?

Let’s hope it’s the latter.

As you can read on this page, small retailers and independent cafés are not the only businesses to be forced out of town by soaring property prices and rents.

As yet another burger chain opens in Brixton, it is time to ask once again if the unique essence of the town needs protection.

If Brixton becomes yet another soulless suburb populated by chain shops and restaurants the current residents cannot afford, we risk being stranded as the caravan of hipsters, gentrifiers and property developers moves on to the next hotspot.

The Bugle happens to be familiar with the offices from which this month’s opinion writer was priced out.

Her new space in West Norwood with great views of its famous cemetery and an excellent in-house café are a better and a cheaper place to work – even though she plans to return to us.

Brixton must not lose the start-ups and creatives that helped to inspire its current upward trajectory.

What goes up very often comes down.

Julie Macauley in her West Norwood studio

Will I recognise my old friend in a year’s time?

A new category is being added to the stories of Brixton’s small businesses forced out by rising rents, ‘regeneration’ and profiteering.

Julie Macauley of John+Pearl posted her story on the company blog. Here it is …

Brixton has been in a tug of war with the council and Network Rail for some time now over gentrification, rent hikes, social cleansing and lack of affordable housing.

I always wondered if I was part of the problem, being a white Scottish girl with a jewellery business in south London. Some would say Yes, others may disagree. Either way, Brixton has always been open to trade and creative types, so I felt at home.

Then in the depths of January, I was told that management of the Brixton studio we

rented were doing a rent review.

We have been based there since launching in 2012 paying a fair rate, so expected a rise.

But they increased it by 65 per cent.

Sixty. Five. Percent.

Over the last four years, I have found that if you are involved in making Brixton what it is, nowhere is more welcoming.

If you are going to tip the steel drum players at the tube for making the packed pavement a better place, they will keep playing there.

If you use a local seamstress to adjust your jeans in Granville Arcade, she can keep doing her thing.

If you are struggling to lift something and you ask for help, you will get it.

If you try plantain, ackee, saltfish or even just buy your onions (with Brixton Pounds!) in the market on Electric Avenue, you will help the local economy and get a better deal than in Sainsbury’s.

You have to contribute to support a place.

You may not visit Brixton to buy a carpet or a fridge under a railway arch so you may not care about these stores being forced to close. You should, however, care about removing the people behind the businesses.

It deserves a thought or a conversation, even if it is over a cocktail in a new Brixton bar. Just don’t think that it doesn’t concern or affect you.

With all this protectionism, let’s also not forget that there is ugliness in Brixton too.

Crime, rubbish and racism can go. You have to try not to rose tint everything that exists in a single idealistic snapshot of time.

The argument on change in Brixton is not binary. There is no right or wrong side to be on. Change happens, and there are good

and bad parts to the way it happens.

In Brixton, it’s the unthinking pace of change that feels wrong and is tipping the balance away from the diversity and creative edge that made Brixton attractive in the first place. At least for me.

Chains, unimaginative new-build flats and services will survive. But creativity is being squashed out. The marble cake that London was – a brilliant healthy mix of different people – is starting to become … a bit samey.

Brixton Pounds are keeping money in the community - buy some online or pop into their shop on Atlantic Road Anyway, our landlord wouldn’t budge on our new rates so last week, we moved up the road to West Norwood.

I’ll miss Brixton and I have plans to try to return next year (is that re-gentrification??).

Things always change and yes, you do have to adapt and develop, but with sensitivity and whilst respecting the essence of what makes something worth holding on to.

I hope I recognise my old friend when I come back next year.

10 INCREDIBLE EDIBLE

www.brixtonblog.com

May 2016

How we grow our ideas

By Susan Sheehan Last month I wrote about how volunteers who want to change things (activists) often suffer from burn-out. Incredible Edible Lambeth has suffered from this a lot over its five years in existence.

So over the last month we have been working with Impact Hub Brixton to build some collaboration amongst food activists.

During the first three weeks of a six-week “Grow Your Own Leaders” programme, we have been through a process of understanding where our personal passion is and how this drives us to develop changemaking projects.

We have learnt that it takes a group of usually five people to build a sustainable project that is able to achieve the desired change – an interesting insight for those of us who have tried to be vanguards all on our own.

In week five we worked in small teams (of about five people) to “prototype” some projects to see if they are things we want to ­collaborate on.

Already there is a group developing a community cafe. This project might have happened anyway – but instead of one activist leading the change and getting burnt out, she has at least

four other people who share her vision of engaging with a wide range of local people and embedding learning about healthy and sustainable food.

They are also willing to support her to learn for themselves what is involved in setting up a food project and contribute their own knowledge and expertise.

I can’t tell you how many times food activists say things like “someone should do a food waste project”.

There are lots of proven fun ideas. We already have Brixton People’s Kitchen and Brixton Soup Kitchen that do great work redistributing and cooking with food that would otherwise be wasted. But, with approximately half our food being wasted, there’s so much more to do.

Prototyping a community cafe project with Play-Doh and props One idea is to encourage restaurants to give “doggy bags”. Our prototyping group decided that this was a big culture change campaign that they were not up for taking forward, but they were only able to let go of the idea and work on something else by going through a prototyping process.

The prototyped idea will be written up and may be taken forward by others.

A third project under development is designed to address the “elephant in the room” – the supermarkets.

Most of our food is bought in supermarkets, but we have no influence over them – we don’t even have a conversation.

Lambeth Food Partnership had been

working on a supermarket summit – but this was a big idea that just was not happening. So the prototyping group deconstructed the idea to go and set up some conversations locally and find some supermarkets (or even just one!) that would work with us to reconstruct a supermarket that does better meet the hopes and aims of the community.

Watch this space as this idea develops.

■■ If you are a food activist and would like to collaborate please follow #ulabfood on twitter, or @ediblelambeth. To find out more about prototyping and the Grow Your Own Leaders programme please visit our blog at http://ulablambeth.blogspot.co.uk

When ‘awkward areas’ become creative spaces

Planted in 1994, the Myatts Field North tangerine tree stands in the centre of an ongoing development.

It began life as a gift brought from a relative visiting from Jamaica. After the seedling struggled for life in a plant pot, the owner, Mrs Daley, transferred it to her new garden.

There, nurtured in grounds that once supported London’s largest 19th century market garden, the soil’s richness eventually bore fruit.

Over the years, the Daleys have shared the DEBBIE SEARS

Father Nature is a brilliant practical example of collaboration. The Father Nature project provides work experience for inner-city parents and young disadvantaged adults. Working with nature can help build confidence through learning new skills.

Run by Crispin Swayne, Father Nature puts people and nature together for mutual benefit, and the earlier that can start the better.

The project has been working with Maytree Nursery on Clarence Avenue, Clapham, to develop a community food growing resource for parents and children who use the centre.

Headteacher Bettina Wilhelm-Exley “is a great example of how a single spirited person can make a difference by their vision. Father Nature encourages that vision by helping to recruit local help to turn that spark into a fire,” says Crispin.

The small gardens around the centre contain planters and raised beds and Bettina and Crispin hope to tap into the knowledge of food growing that clearly exists in the community to develop a Friday afternoon gardening club.

They hope to grow some interesting fruit and vegetables, and bring out people’s food stories through a community cookbook. I look forward to helping tell some of those stories here through this column.

“The biggest impact we consistently have is in nurseries, primary schools

TREE AND ITS SPIRIT STAND THE TEST OF TIME

Father Nature (Crispin Swayne) helps nursery children pick beetroot and housing estates. The process starts with us generally being shown awkward, unused outside areas, then involving kids, teachers, PTAs, TRAs and the local community in turning them into creative spaces for learning, growing and teaching,” says Crispin.

■■ If you would like help with the design of your private or public outdoor space, please get in touch with Crispin by email on hello@fathernature.org.uk or by phone on 07796 241970.

tree’s abundant produce with the community, who came together in 2014 to oppose plans to remove the tree under regeneration landscaping plans. After a battle involving film makers, Kew Gardens, and local horticulturalists, this feisty little evergreen still stands serene yet defiant, amid mountains of mud, brick and steel.

Today, it symbolises the united force of old Myatts Field North, and the spirit of strength and fortitude that lingers within the community.

Employment law services for Brixton Businesses

Brixton BID Business Club Your organisation can now become a member of the Brixton BID through the Brixton BID Business Club.

Brixton BID is governed by Brixton Business owners and funded by a 1.5% levy on businesses with premises over £4,999 rv.

Voluntary membership is open to Brixton based Businesses whose premises fall below the current threshold for the levy, or are based outside the geographical boundary of the BID. Contact admin@brixtonbid.co.uk for an application form.

Terms & conditions apply.

Upcoming Events START UP KITCHEN: 5:30-8pm, Pop Box, Thursday 12 May LOVE YOUR LOCAL MARKET: Brixton Village and Market Row, Friday 20 May START UP BRIXTON: 9am-6:30pm, Pop Brixton, Saturday 28 May ENVIRONMENT MEETING: 10:30am Tuesday 10 May, The Courtesan MARKETING & PARTNERSHIPS MEETING: 11:30am Tuesday 17 May

Reducing Business Costs We want Brixton to be a place where businesses, no matter how small, can start and thrive. To achieve this, we have introduced our very own Joint Procurement scheme which uses the collective buying power of Brixton BID to help you cut costs and save money on your business.

We have partnered with Meercat Associates, who are market-leaders in achieving savings for BID members. No matter how good you are at procuring on your own, joining forces with other businesses will ensure you receive the best deal on the market. We work with you to review your running costs including: Gas & Electricity – Telecoms – Safety – Pest Control – Waste & Recycling – Handyman – Insurance – Printing & Stationery – Training & Security – Merchant Fees To start saving, call: 01444 416529 or email our account manager Susana at s.crespo@meercatassociates.com

Grow your business using online reviews Yelp, the online urban guide and app hosted a weeklong takeover in Brixton between the 18th and 23rd of April called Secret Brixton, to shine the spotlight on great local businesses emerging in the area.

Secret Brixton featured a series of secret events, offers and even extra-secret menu items. To help celebrate, we paired up with Katie Byrne, Manager of Local Business Growth at Yelp UK to deliver 1:1 coaching sessions to Brixton businesses throughout the week. Katie shared her best practice strategies on building your online reputation and the ‘how-to’

The New Zealand Cellar’s Melanie Brown – her business took part

on using online reviews to market your business and grow your customer leads into offline purchases.

Online reviews are here to stay and customers are using them to decide where to spend their money.

On Yelp there are 100 million reviews written about local businesses and 97% of UK Yelp users go on to make a purchase within a week. Reading about your business online is free market research, you can see where you are doing well and where you have room for improvement. Don’t forget you can read about how your competitors are doing too.

IAN FINDLAY

Brixton BID is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to strengthening Brixton’s diverse business culture. We represent over 650 levypaying businesses in the local area and work to develop new and exciting opportunities for Brixton.

Ayesha Casely-Hayford is a solicitor specialising in employment and discrimination law. Ayesha works as an employment law consultant for Brixtonbased law firm Wainwright and Cummins Solicitors LLP. Wainwright and Cummins is a thriving law practice and has provided legal services to the community for over 30 years in the areas of Crime, Housing, Immigration, Family and Conveyancing. With Wainwright and Cummins, Ayesha is offering new and personally tailored employment law services to the south London area.

Ayesha qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and began her legal career in the employment department at Capsticks Solicitors LLP, a niche practice specialising in the healthcare sector.

She has extensive Employment Tribunal experience regularly appearing as an advocate. Ayesha has also worked with small businesses developing their working practices, staff handbooks, and drafting contracts, as well as with individuals supporting on a wide variety of employment issues.

With experience of working in the arts, Ayesha understands the artistic community and is delighted to support the vibrant Brixton business district as part of Brixton BID’s membership services. Get in touch and take advantage of a free 15-minute employment law consultation.

Have the knowledge, structures and foundations in place to strengthen your business and employment experience.

Email: Casely-Hayford@WainwrightCummins.co.uk

BID Director Michael Smith at the Brixton Design Trail launch

Brixton Design Trail launch The Brixton Design Trail was launched at Brixton East last month.

Building on the huge success of Brixton Design Trail in 2014/2015, Brixton will be the London Design Festival’s newest Design District in 2016. Under the theme of ‘Rebel Rebel’, Brixton Design Trail will engage the local community with a series of installations, exhibitions and events by resident artists, designers and creative organisations, located in public spaces and businesses throughout the town centre.

Kokoo’s Francesca at work in the shop

Kokoo: Sharing chocolate, love and knowledge Kokoo is all about discovering the largest number of ways different people and different cultures approach chocolate and finding the right type to please all kinds of taste buds.

Paul Wayne Gregory, our main chocolatier, who we have been working with from the start, is an internationally known chocolate artisan who provides us with a vast range of colourful and delicious ingots, all made with a dark chocolate hard shell filled with a creamy ganache containing the flavour and coated with coloured cocoa butter to differentiate the 15 flavours.

He uses cocoa powder from all over the world and picks his ingredients very carefully. This is where you start to notice his career as a chef before falling in love with chocolate.

We rotate different chocolatiers to keep the story interesting and keep finding out more about how the magic happens.

We’ve been working with Zuvuya Chocolates who have provided us with truffles made with raw cacao paste – organic, dairy-free and sugarfree. So – suitable for vegans, for diabetics and extremely healthy thanks to the rich ingredients.

Zuvuya also organises cacao ceremonies and chocolate’s rich history, focusing specifically on the rich tradition in South American heritage.

We are also in direct contact with the owners of a cacao farm in the Dominican Republic and I personally went to visit them to meet the workers there.

While visiting, I tried to focus on learning more about the actual plant, the environment it is grown in and the traditional ways it is harvested and processed.

From this same farm we also get cacao nibs that get toasted and coated in sugar, which gives you super-interesting, simple and direct flavour that is closer to the actual plant than regular chocolates.

At the moment we are trying to develop a new line thanks to a lovely Brazilian lady who makes delicious typical chocolate truffles from her country – nutty and heart warming!

Another line comes from Barcelona, where specialist artisans make catanias – caramelised almonds coated in white chocolate.

For all of our staff it’s the first real chocolate experience, and the more we learn about it the more we fall in love, this is why we enjoy being here to share the knowledge and love!

Nii, Pol, Francesca and Ella Kokoo, 9 Granville Arcade, Brixton Village Market, SW9 8PR

Save Brixton’s Historic Market Barrows – Crowdfunding campaign Brixton Market has a proud history with Victorian origins and later Caribbean heritage. It’s one of the best known and loved street markets in London. Many of London’s markets have changed beyond recognition in the last 100 years and very few historic barrows now survive. Those that do survive have been passed down through trading families and tell the story of 19th century London when goods were transported all across the city by horse and cart.

With your help, a carpenter’s workshop will be set up under Brixton’s railway arches this summer to renovate the historic barrows. You can help by supporting the crowdfunding appeal at Crowdfunder.co.uk Twitter: @brixtonbarrows Facebook: Savebrixtonsbarrows

020 3417 7373 admin@brixtonbid.co.uk

Monday: Closed | Tuesday:11am-5pm | Wednesday:11am-6pm | Thursday: 11am-6pm | Friday: 11am-9pm | Saturday:10am-10pm | Sunday 11am-6pm.

@BrixtonBID brixtonbid.co.uk

14 COMMUNITY

www.brixtonblog.com

May 2016

Stallholder, Brixton Market, 1996

TWO MADAME MAYORS Lambeth’s mayor and deputy this year are both women.

Councillor Saleha Jaffer (above), from St Leonards ward in Streatham, was elected at the annual meeting of the borough council last month.

The new mayor invited her grandson Ayub to read from the Koran (below) to mark her appointment.

She said her goal as mayor would be to maintain and grow bonds between communities and to help them strengthen their faith and respect for each other.

She outlined her work in combating radicalisation as secretary of Families Against Stress and Trauma (FAST), the aim of which was to provide support to the vulnerable and raise awareness of counter-terrorism, bringing faiths

together to engage in open dialogue and aid faiths in understanding each other.

She also said she wanted to offer support and aid to the voluntary sector.

The mayor noted the challenges facing the council, but expressed a desire to work hard to uphold the traditions of free and fair debate on the council.

Another one of her grandsons gave a brief speech in which he recalled that one of his strongest memories was of his grandmother saying that she went into public life in order to invest time in the future of her children and grandchildren.

Councillor Marcia Cameron (below with council chief executive Sean Harriss), whose proposer, Councillor Jennifer Brathwaite, noted how she could hardly walk a few hundred yards in Tulse Hill without being stopped for a talk by one of her constituents, was elected deputy mayor.

DIGITAL IMAGE BY KIND PERMISSION OF HORST FRIEDRICHS

Helen Shapiro, c. 1965

PHOTOGRAPH BY HARRY JACOBS

Lambeth Girls Project Annual Report, 1983

FROM THE LAMBETH WOMEN’S PROJECT COLLECTION

The great women of Brixton Lambeth archivist Zoe Darani explores the role of women in our borough and how its archives record their history and achievements

Coldharbour Lane and Oval House Theatre) can no longer be seen, except in the archive.

Former Lambeth archivist Anne Ward was passionate about local women’s history and wrote and edited WHOLE (Women’s History of Lambeth Explained) an occasional newsletter celebrating local women.

In 2005, Anne’s short book No Stone Unturned explored the previously unknown history of Leonora Tyson, a Streatham suffragette.

A member of the Remembering Olive Collective, Anne supported the work of the Do You Remember Olive Morris project? in 2008-9, which explored the legacy of Olive, a Brixtonbased Black Panther who died in 1979.

We also hold the Lambeth Women’s Project (LWP) archive. The LWP ran for 30 years until 2012 and was considered to be an important

lifeline to its beneficiaries. It worked with a range of women and youth groups including Muslim Sisters Jaamat and The Eritrean Women’s Action for Development, providing information, counselling, craft, yoga, art and music activities for women of all ages.

Political activist Claudia Jones founded The West Indian Gazette in Brixton in 1958.

The newspaper’s office was based above Theo Campbell’s record shop at 250 Brixton Road.

The Gazette, which ran through to 1964, took a radical anti-imperialist and anti-racist position and raised consciousness among London’s Caribbean community.

It covered news from the Caribbean as well as local arts and cultural affairs. It was the first newspaper for the Caribbean community in London to achieve a wide circulation. Lambeth Archive has a near-complete run of the Gazette and biographies celebrating Claudia’s Jones’ life.

Photographic collections like those of the studio photographer Harry Jacobs or the photo-journalist Horst Friedrichs capture a sense of contemporary life in the borough. Local people went to Harry’s studio to have their photos taken as well as celebrities like the singer Helen Shapiro.

Archive staff enjoy seeing people’s delight when they find photos of themselves or friends and family in the collection.

By contrast Horst’s gritty photojournalism shot in Brixton in 1996 captures the area’s then shabby yet eclectic identity: ladies taking tea at a junk shop, a stallholder posing in her wheelchair with a wig, and a group of punks in St. Matthew’s Peace Gardens.

At Lambeth Archives we make it our mission to capture and preserve the diverse experiences of people living and working in the borough.

Our collections contain a remarkable treasure trove of business papers, council records, letters and diaries, historical accounts, photos, illustrations and objects that all capture local women’s experiences.

Some have played a pivotal role in the arts world. Lilian Baylis, whom Sir Richard Eyre, theatre, film and TV director described as the “grandmother of our national theatre” helped to recreate The Old Vic as a hugely successful theatre in Waterloo (she did the same for Sadler’s Wells Theatre in north London).

A blue plaque at 27 Stockwell Park Road reminds us where she once lived, while the story of her theatre can be found in the theatre bills, press cuttings and history books held at the Archives.

Who has heard of Gertrude Martin, once Britain’s only female master mosaicist? Gertrude lived at 24 James Crescent (now Road) in Brixton from 1903 to 1952 and her legacy includes mosaics at St. John’s Angell Town, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Cathedral.

You can find her work on our image website Lambeth Landmark www.landmark.lambeth.gov.uk London Wall, a co-operative of women mural artists which grew out of the Brixton-based Brass Tacks job creation scheme, has passed their collection to the Archives. London Wall’s work appeared across London, including their Peace Mural in Islington. A great body of their work was created in Lambeth where they were based: their mural at Gertrude Martin, master mosaicist, 1927 Bellefields Road is still there but their IMAGE BY KIND PERMISSION OF JENNY BEDSON AND ROSIE PEARCE other work (at the former Woolworths on

■■ Lambeth Archive is the record office and local history library of the London Borough of Lambeth. The archives continue to be based at the Minet Library, 52 Knatchbull Road, SE5 9QY, (although the lending library has closed). The archives are open five days a week including late Mondays and Saturdays. Please go to www.lambeth.gov.uk/archives for our opening hours and directions

Saturday 11th June

Found Festival

Brockwell Park London

2016

Derrick May / Dyed Soundorom Kassem Mosse Live / Kerri Chandler Legowelt Live / Leon Vynehall Marcellus Pittman / Midland Mood II Swing / Paranoid London Live Pender Street Steppers Petre Inspirescu / Rødhüd / Route 8 Ron Morelli / Ron Trent / Theo Parrish Trade (Surgeon & Blawan) Live

+ many more across 6 stages

70% of all tickets now sold! foundfestival.com

16 ARTS & CULTURE

brixtonblog.com

May 2016

Free film festival in fine form for its fourth year Last year’s Herne Hill Free Film Festival showcased more than 50 films to over 3,000 attendees and is set to return on the 29 April for a month. Kate Corry reports The Herne Hill Free Film Festival is growing each year, screening classic films in locations like Herne Hill Station Square, Brockwell Lido and the Velodrome.

This year’s will launch with Big Business at Station Square on Friday 29 April, with three more screenings scheduled for the opening weekend as well as the 48 Hour Film Challenge.

The challenge is to make a three-minute film in a weekend.

The festival gives you a prop, a line of dialogue, a Herne Hill location and 48 hours.

No previous filmmaking experience or expensive camera equipment is needed, just enthusiasm, imagination and a device to film with, There are categories and prizes for under-16s, over-16s

and families. The overall winner will take home the coveted “Clockie” award.

There is something for everyone to watch, with comedy action film Superbob showing at the Effraspace on Saturday 30, indie war film Kajaki on Sunday 1 May at the Prince Regent and Aguirre, the Wrath of God at the Lido Cafe on 2 May. Upcoming films include Paddington at Herne Hill School on 7 May and the perennially popular Grease – with a singalong – on 21 May in Brockwell Park.

The full festival line-up is online.

The Herne Hill Free Film Festival, now in its fourth year, emerged as the result of a British Film Institute workshop on how to run pop‑up cinema events. This led to a series of “first-evers” for Herne Hill – its first outdoor film projected onto the station (Buster Keaton’s The General), the first film in Brockwell Park (Spirited Away) and the first 48 Hour Film Challenge.

The festival has many of the same volunteers who started it all. Organiser Charlotte Ashworth says: “Each year it gets easier

as we all know, more or less, what we are doing. Also other people know who we are now too, so we actually have businesses approaching us to be a sponsor.

“The flip side of this notoriety is that sometimes our screenings are full and we have to turn people away, which is never fun.

“Last year, volunteers monitored in horror as, according to Facebook, there were over 5,000 people coming to our screening in the Lido of the Grand Budapest Hotel.

“Luckily the masses listened to our shrieks of ‘We can only fit 400

of you in, please don’t come all the way from Cornwall’ – which actually happened – and we only had to turn away 100 in the end.”

Planning for the festival starts properly in January and ramps up a gear from late March onwards.

So why do it? “The fantastic buzz you get as a volunteer when you’ve spent hours in meetings and at your respective desks firing off emails and checking poster PDFs, then further hours setting up the projection, lights, inflating a giant screen on a windswept piece of ground – and then you look up and see the people

coming,” explains Charlotte.

The free film festival community is a close-knit one in and around south London, and Charlotte would love to see one spring up in Brixton.

The festival is hosting a free screening at the Brixton Windmill of Moulin Rouge on Saturday 4 June to celebrate the windmill’s bi-centenary.

■■ To keep up with all that is happening in the Festival, see www.freefilmfestivals.org/ filmfestival/herne-hill/, and follow the festival on Twitter @ HerneHillFilm or on Facebook.

Land, power and the fate of a south London icon A book by Brixton writer Peter Watts charts the rise, fall and failed development attempts of Battersea Power Station. Arts co editor Ruth Waters gets the full story Up in Smoke is Peter Watts’s first book, but it’s not the first time the former Time Out features editor has become obsessed with London’s icons.

With years of experience behind the scenes of some of the capital’s cultural landmarks unpicking weird and wonderful stories as a journalist, Watts could not believe that the story of Battersea Power Station had yet to be told.

“When my publisher first suggested it, I thought ‘surely someone has already written this book?’. As soon as I realised that they hadn’t, it became my project. I knew it was something I could do as I’m a bit of a London obsessive and had years of experience roaming around London gathering stories.”

Having begun to be run down in the mid-seventies, Battersea Power Station was still operational until 1983.

Interested in both the “majestic, looming” architecture and the mystery of the building’s fate, Watts began work on a biography of the building, weaving together the stories of its past, present and future plans.

“After some initial research, I realised that this book would be one of two halves: firstly the history of the power station and secondly what happened after its closure.

The second part, although historical, was built around tens of interviews with workers, architects, developers, planners, campaigners, politicians and local residents.”

One of the most memorable interviews Watts carried out was with Brian Barnes, the radical south London campaigner who created Brixton’s Nuclear Dawn mural.

Watts says that Barnes began campaigning in 1983 and has “seen off numerous owners and developers” with hard work and ballsy stunts, adding that when he asked Brian if he saw himself as “the conscience of Battersea Power Station” he disagreed, saying that he was “more like the jester”.

Many development plans have been argued over during the 30-year debate.

Ideas have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous and included the development of a permanent circus, a racecourse, a theme park, a super casino and a football ground.

At one point Michael Jackson was looking to buy the site to develop into his own self-contained fantasy world.

“I honestly believe that you can map the

obsessions of London based on the changing plans for Battersea Power Station,” says Watts, “and that became my guiding principle as I put together the book.”

The battle has also been one of ideology, with a deep divide between the plans to privatise the space and maximise profit, and those for investment in a public resource. “In a sense the book is about land and power and how those are divided and that makes it a very contemporary tale.”

Watts finds the final outcome for the power station “quite depressing”. The moment to do something interesting in the early 2000s during the era of big public

projects was missed. He is saddened that the building will now become a giant shopping centre with luxury flats.

If Up in Smoke, published this month (£20 postage free from the publisher), has one message for its readers it is that London’s iconic landmarks mean many different things to many different people.

Battersea Power Station has a rich history of being loved, loathed, feared and fought for by local people as it looms over them and will continue to be a bone of contention amongst all circles of Londoners.

■■ www.paradiseroad.co.uk/ buythebook/

The power station under construction in the early 1930s

Peter Watts: you can map the obsessions of London based on the changing plans for Battersea Power Station

May 2016

brixtonblog.com

‘People tend to accept things these days – we should make our own histories’ Brixton residents came together to mark the 35th anniversary of the 1981 Brixton Uprising at the Black Cultural Archives (BCA) last month.

Arts co editor Barney Evison went along to experience poetry, debate and memories from those who were there The events of 10–12 April 1981 left an indelible mark on Brixton. Both physically – 150 buildings were damaged and over 300 people injured – and more profoundly; the word Brixton calls to mind many different things to different people, from street riots and racial tension to social inclusiveness and cultural vibrancy.

The violence that erupted in 1981, and again four years later, still sparks debate today and stirs strong emotions.

On the 35th anniversary, locals gathered at the Black Cultural Archives to remember the uprisings and try to make sense of them for a 21st-century Brixton.

The evening was kicked off in style with a powerful rendition of Michael Groce’s poem Brixton Rocks from the man himself.

His mother’s shooting by police in 1985 sparked disturbances in which a young photographer, David Hodge, was fatally injured.

BCA director Paul Reid introduced a panel of Michael; local author Alex Wheatle (aka “the Brixton Bard”); Brixton Griot Devon Thomas, who acted as chair; Desrie Thomson-George, a founding member of the 1970s Brixton-based independent publisher Black Ink; and activist and academic Cecil Gutzmore.

Before handing over to Devon, Paul looked back at his childhood in Brixton, with memories of locals such as Bishop, who ran a local gambling house, and Mr Chin, known for his “magical, spiritual powers” (prompting chuckles from the audience).

He was inspired by the birth of Rasta in Britain and started to resist the establishment, noting the difficulties facing the black community at the time: “I remember being beaten up by the police”.

Cecil Gutzmore, a formidable activist and founding member of the Brixton Defence Campaign, recalled “a very racist atmosphere” in ’70s and ’80s Brixton.

“Policing was brutal. There was a history

of institutional, state racism which provoked the uprising.” He shocked us all by reminding us of the words of a former Met commissioner at the time who said that “black youth are congenitally disposed to being disorderly”.

Cecil also considered the way we talk about it today: “The state says riot; the community says uprising. It was a mode of resistance.” Resistance to what the community felt to be an occupation, by the institutionally racist police, of their living space.

By 1981, Brixton had had enough. On Friday 10 April, tensions came to a head when rumours circulated that the police had attacked a young black man on Atlantic Road. Crowds gathered, culminating in violent confrontations between the police and locals the following day.

At the BCA, we were shown a harrowing clip from an interview with reggae artist Jahnnie Brixton, famously one of the first protesters to be arrested and taken to the police station. You won’t find his story on Wikipedia.

He tells of being locked in a cell and listening as others were brought in throughout the night.

From 5pm to 5am all he could hear was screaming and beating, he said. “We sang Rivers of Babylon until we were hoarse,” he remembers in the clip, breaking down, “in the morning, when I came out of my cell there was blood everywhere.

I still have nightmares about that night. They beat us, and they had fun.”

Desrie remembers the night from another angle – she was launching Black Eye Perceptions, an anthology of black poetry, with spoken word performances in Black Ink’s former offices on Gresham Road opposite the police station. “That night, the voices of young black people were heard inside and out on the street,” she said.

Devon Thomas contemplated the issues facing Brixton today, issuing a rallying cry about the council’s library cuts in his closing remarks: “People tend to just accept things these days – the future is to be made, we should make our own histories.”

■■ This event was just the beginning of the BCA’s look back at the Uprisings.

For more information on archive materials relating to the 1981 Uprisings visit www.bcaheritage.org.uk.

Singing Rivers of Babylon at the BCA event

ARTS & CULTURE 17

18 FOOD & DRINK

brixtonblog.com

May 2016

FOOD NEWS More than 1,000 people a month use Lambeth foodbanks

NNNorwood and Brixton Foodbank gave 6,500 three-day emergency food supplies to local people in the financial year that ended in March.

National foodbank statistics show that Lambeth residents are still struggling the most in London, with 12,291 people visiting a foodbank in 2015/16, 4,883 of them children. The 6,500 figure is a small drop compared to 7,000 in 2014/15. But the foodbank says that some agencies and charities that would normally refer people have been unable to do so because funding cuts have caused their services to be squeezed or closed.

The running costs of the foodbank are around £67,000 a year, all of which is raised locally.

NNStay tuned to the Brixton Soup THAI INSPIRED: Mango fried rice

R ECI PE • MANGO FR I E D R ICE

Hit your sweet and sour spot Start from scratch or use leftovers, it’s still cooking, says Miss South Sometimes you want a simple meal that uses up things you have and feels like you made more effort than you did.

Few dishes hit this sweet spot quite as well as fried rice. I prefer mine Thai-inspired, rather than traditional takeaway style, so I’ve taken advantage of the fact mango season is coming up to create this sweet yet sour savoury veggie version.

I cooked and chilled my rice from scratch because that’s the kind of thing people expect of me, but I really won’t tell anyone if you use leftover rice from your takeout or buy it pre-cooked in a sachet instead.

As long as you chop your own mango and crack your egg, it still counts as cooking …

MANGO FRIED RICE (SERVES 2) ¡¡250g dry weight Thai jasmine rice (equivalent to one cup) ¡¡250ml cold water (equivalent to one cup) ¡¡2 tablespoons coconut oil ¡¡3cm piece fresh ginger, finely diced ¡¡3 large spring onions, finely sliced ¡¡100g cashew nuts ¡¡2 eggs, beaten ¡¡1 teaspoon soy sauce ¡¡salt and pepper ¡¡1 large mango, peeled and diced

Put the jasmine rice in a saucepan and run tap water over it, swirling slightly with your hands. Pour the cloudy starchy water off. Repeat two or three more times. Add the 250ml of cold water and put the pan on the stove.

You can scale the rice up for more people by sticking to the principle that jasmine rice is best cooked as one cup dry rice to one cup water.

On a medium heat bring the water to the boil. As soon as the rice starts to bubble, put a clean tea towel over the pan, put the lid on firmly and turn the heat down as low as possible.

Wrap the tea towel up around the handle so it doesn’t touch the heat source and cook the rice for 15 minutes.

Turn the heat off without disturbing the pan at all and leave the rice to sit for another 10 minutes. The rice will be fluffy and perfectly cooked.

Tip it out onto a plate and spread it out thinly. Leave to cool for 10 minutes and then put into the fridge immediately to cool for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.

If you cool rice in the fridge quickly rather than leave it out, it’s perfectly safe to reheat and eat.

When you are ready to make your fried rice, get everything ready before you start.

It’s a speedy dish that doesn’t give you time to be distracted.

Get the mango ready by cutting strips off each side of the stone, paring the skin off with a knife and cutting into 1cm cubes.

This recipe works equally well whether your mango is under or over-ripe.

If you have a wok, this dish will be easier, but a frying pan also works. Put it on the highest heat, add half the coconut oil and get it as hot as possible. Add half the rice to the hot pan and fry it until it starts to toast round the edges.

You will need to keep moving it with a spatula or tossing the pan. It will take longer than you expect, around three to four minutes.

Tip the hot fried rice onto a plate and repeat with the other half of it. If you do it all at once, the pan loses heat and the rice becomes mushy.

Tip the second batch out when fried and add the rest of the coconut oil to the pan and bring back to heat.

Season the beaten egg with the soy sauce and salt and pepper and set aside. Add the ginger, spring onions and cashew nuts and fry for a minute or two, keeping it all moving as they cook.

Add the rice back in and combine with the vegetables and nuts and cook for another minute or so and then push all the rice to one side of the pan.

Tip the egg mixture into the empty side of the pan and scramble it rapidly with your spatula, breaking up any large chunks of egg. Mix it all into the rice and vegetables and take the pan off the heat immediately.

Add the cubes of mango to the hot fried rice and toss through lightly. The heat of the dish will soften the mango without cooking it Serve straightaway as either a main meal or a side dish.

Some hot sauce or sriracha is excellent here if you like a little spice.

Kitchen Twitter feed to find out why they are calling on jerk barbecue specialists to let them know why they should be part of the Brixton Jerk Fest 2016 …

NNAnother burger chain is to open in Brixton. Cheeseburger specialist Dirty Burgers, part of a chain, is recruiting for its new outlet in Coldharbour Lane.

NNSupermarket home deliverers from Asda to Ocado have a new rival in south London. Hubbub.co.uk says it delivers the best food and groceries from local, independent shops, small producers and market stalls. It has signed up several south London institutions like Moxons Fresh Fish from East Dulwich and Herne Hill’s Mimosa deli. So far, the only Brixton enterprise on board is Champagne+Fromage. There are several Borough Market outfits and Planet Organic which has seven stores in London. You can order in the morning and get a single delivery from half a dozen shops the same day. There is no minimum spend and prices are the same as in the shops themselves.

NNThe team that brought us the pop-up South Pole Saloon are back and aiming to recreate Miami, Florida, in 1982 with street food and seasonal cocktails. The first Brixton Beach Boulevard event at Valentia Place is on 27 May.

May 2016

FOOD & DRINK 19

brixtonblog.com

R EVI EW • B LU E JAY AT COR N E RCOPIA

Simple and seasonal

By Nikki Griffiths

from local hero Jones, the Butcher.

After taking my first bite, I already knew The most promising early indicator of a it was going to be a good evening. My good restaurant is a simple and seasonal crispy lamb shoulder with anchovy and menu. And in the spring simple cooking green sauce was sublime – juicy shreds of can shine its brightest. With the best lamb lamb topped with an intense wild garlic of the year and some of the tastiest, ripest pesto with salty notes of the sea. greens, chefs can be confident in their Alongside it, the supple, smoked haddock ingredients with no need to overcomplicate. with a gentle curry butter and topped with The result, if done well, is something lentils and roasted whole cherry tomatoes elegant, grown-up and delicious. was the perfect balance of earthy and fresh.

So imagine my delight when I read a On to mains. I’d ordered a whole sea bass host of springtime pickings from a six-line which came expertly cooked on top of soft menu, as I sat down to dinner at Blue Jay. leeks, entangled with masses of dill and Owned by chef Sherri Dymond, Blue Jay served with yogurt and sumac (a tangy, has just celebrated one year in residence at lemony Middle Eastern spice).

Cornercopia inside Brixton Village.

This dish, to me, sums up everything Sherri takes great pride in her “baby” great about uncomplicated, speaks-forBlue Jay and does it for the love of feeding itself food and the often underrated skill of people good food, which they enjoy. She’s combining just a few ingredients to achieve usually found happily cooking in the an amazing output. In fact, Sherri’s cooking kitchen, leaving the front of house in some and her combinations remind me a lot of very capable hands. We visited Blue Jay Ducksoup, one of my favourite Soho haunts, on a busy Saturday well known for getting night (we were able to this style just right.

We decided to share a slice secure a booking – a Our second main was rarity in Brixton) and the most tender braised of the rhubarb yogurt cake. I were greeted by just one have craved it every day since. beef short rib, served lady tending to all the on top of a cauliflower customers. I didn’t catch almost-purée (it her name, but so lovely and enthusiastic had better texture than a purée) and was she that I actually assumed her to be mushrooms. Another clever combination the owner. Her energy was quite infectious

by Sherri mixing one of the most savoury, and she was a joy to spend the evening rich meats with the mild nuttiness of a with, displaying a huge amount of passion classic vegetable. for Blue Jay. Neither of us were ready to call it a night The space itself is made up of a handful just yet and so had a listen to the dessert of tables around the edge of the unit and a menu. Sherri cooks up two changeable couple of bar stools for perching on inside. desserts per night, plus there’s the option of Reclaimed wooden furniture is topped with a cheese board. After a short deliberation, jugs of pussy willow and wine is served in a we decided to share a slice of the rhubarb jumble of glass beakers. yogurt cake. I have craved it every day Speaking of the wine – there’s just one since. My goodness – the sourness of the red and one white, chosen by Sherri and the yoghurt, amplified by the tangy rhubarb but team. Both were pleasant enough, although then tamed by the sweetness of the superthey weren’t necessarily the grape I’d light sponge is something I can’t forget and choose – the red much fruitier and lighter can’t wait to taste again. than my preference. Bottles of prosecco If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a are also available and the table next to us really big fan of Sherri and her baby. It’s seemed to be enjoying those thoroughly. certainly on-par with some of the best The stocked bottled beer is from local cooking there is in Brixton, if not further brewer London Beer Lab. Out of three afield, and I for one hope that Blue Jay’s options we tried the one described to us residency at Cornercopia is sticking around as tropical, which tasted just that – a a while longer. deliciously citrussy IPA. Sherri’s menu perfectly encapsulates Blue Jay @Cornercopia, Brixton Village simple springtime. What’s more, all her Open Wednesday–Sunday lunchtimes ingredients are sourced locally including and Thursday, Friday, Saturday evenings fish from inside Brixton Village and meat bluejaybrixton@gmail.com

RHUBARB YOGURT CAKE: Not to be forgotten

CRISPY LAMB SHOULDER WITH ANCHOVY AND GREEN SAUCE: Sublime

Long-established and family-run, we provide the finest meat to Brixton’s best and award-winning restaurants.

Enjoy our quality meat at home, Jones the Butcher now open to the public.

We make our own sausages.

Retail • Wholesale • Catering Orders Butchery Masterclasses 1 Dulwich Road London SE24 0NT T: 020 7274 4629 Monday to Wednesday: 5am to 12.30pm Thursday and Friday: 5am to 1.00pm Saturday: 9am to 1pm

Meat, the way it’s meant to be SEA BASS: Summing up everything great about uncomplicated, speaks-for-itself food

20 WHAT’S ON

brixtonblog.com

SUN 1 @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

Cake presents ELECTRONICA and dance group Goldfish and friends. Dominic Peters and David Poole’s Goldfish project began in Cape Town as a platform for impromptu jams at a tiny beach club. Things changed with the release of their debut album that launched them into the big time. From £25.

10pm to 6am.

MON 2 @ WHIRLED CINEMA

wellbeing sessions including tai chi; curvy yoga; discobarre; and capoeira.

TUES 10 @ WINDMILL

Let Monk Parker and his Texan sevenpiece band the Low-Lows lull you with AMERICANA (think Willie Nelson) then The Blood Tub Orchestra will introduce punk to MUSIC HALL , parlour music and Victorian and Edwardian filth and obscurity. 8pm £5.

WEDS 11 @ POP BRIXTON

Still the Enemy Within is a unique cinematic insight into one of history’s most dramatic events: the 1984-85 British MINERS’ STRIKE . £5 (2 for 1 for members). 8pm.

With a line-up of artists from poets and musicians to writers and DJs, STRAIGHT OUT THE BOX offers a series of new events in Pop Brixton. Curated by Run Dem Crew founder, DJ, and poet, Charlie Dark, and musician, dub-poet, and writer, Roger Robinson. From £5. 7.30pm to 11pm.

TUES 3 @ THE RITZY

Upstairs at The Ritzy launches its latest exhibition People of Brixton, a PHOTOGRAPHY collection by Roberta Coniglio, with live music from Adam Blake. Ends 5 June. Free. 6pm.

THURS 12 @ BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES

WEDS 4 @ OVALHOUSE THEATRE

The theatre’s mini-season kicks off with The Diary of a Hounslow Girl by Ambreen Razia with Black Theatre Live (4–6 May) told through the eyes of a 16-year-old Muslim girl. £12 (£7 concessions). 7.30pm.

The BCA’s Café Club Late is a live jazz and poetry event. Director and criticallyacclaimed bassist Gary Crosby, OBE, presents TOMORROW’S WARRIORS , a band of young musicians and the Poetic Unity collective. Tickets £10, £7 concessions. 7pm to 9pm.

MUSIC NEWS Arts co editor Barney Evison rounds up the latest music news from our corner of south London

FAT WHITE FAMILY AT BRIXTON ACADEMY

THURS 12 @ BROCKWELL GREENHOUSES

Chart the growth of one plant over three weeks. Artist in residence Angela Brew shares expertise in observational and collaborative DRAWING to enable you to make dynamic drawings of growing plants.

Open to all levels. Thursdays 12, 19 and 26 May. £45 (£25 low income). 11.30am to 1pm.

Booking essential.

THURS 5 @ C.A.F.E

As part of its fourth birthday celebrations (5–8 May) C.A.F.E (Carnival Arts For Everyone), the headquarters of the carnival company Sunshine International presents Defending the Ten: 10 days of the #CarnegieOccupation, a PHOTOGRAPHY exhibition by Richard Baker, who was on the spot when activists occupied the Carnegie library in Herne Hill.

From the Queen’s Head to the Academy: notorious local rockers Fat White Family have announced their biggest headline show to date at Brixton Academy on Saturday 17 September 2016. This will be a night to remember!

NEW MISTY MILLER ALBUM

FRI 13 @ WATERLOO BRIDGE

Set your superstitions aside, saddle up and join Cyclehoop for a bloodcurdling BIKE RIDE through the dark streets of London on Friday the 13th. Transform yourself into one of the undead, infected and downright demonic and the zombie horde will be gathered ready to straggle your way through the streets. Meeting 6.30pm at Waterloo Bridge, ending around 9.00pm at Shoreditch High Street Station. Free.

FRI 6 @ ISLAND ARTS STUDIO

Head to The Occasional Feel Good for some cosmic noises in Herne Hill. £5. 9pm to 3am.

SAT 7 @ BROCKWELL PARK

Got a dog? Then both of you can compete in 2.5km and 5km runs to raise money for Battersea Cats & Dogs Home. If your pet prefers to remain paw-fectly groomed you can take on the challenge alone. Visit www.battersea.org.uk/muddydog. Adult entry open until 1 May.

Brixton punk rocker Misty Miller released her much anticipated second album, The Whole Family Is Worried, in April. It’s

FRI 13 @ BLUES KITCHEN

SUN 8 @ HOOTANANNY

Rootmaster presents Crossroad FLAMENCO BLUES Band. Hailing from Seville, Barcelona and London, Crossroads captures flamenco, jazz and the rhythm of swing.

MON 9 @ POP BRIXTON

May 2016

Why not take the afternoon off for one of Pop’s regular Monday afternoon fitness and

New Untouchables take over the Blues Kitchen for a night of righteous music, dancing and drinking. Newcastle band Nick Pride & The Pimptones will bring the FUNK and jazz vibes and later Atlantic Soul Orchestra will perform their signature funk and soul. DJ Dr. Rob Bailey will fill the gaps. Music starts 10.30pm, ends 2am.

Free before 9pm, £5 after.

SAT 14 @ ELECTRIC BRIXTON

Continental Drifts, GoMad Events and DeepBrass Prod join forces again to bring a section of BoomTown’s outlandish festival

had great reviews so far – 4/5 stars in the Guardian and 8/10 on The Line of Best Fit – with critics praising her beautiful voice and brutally honest teenangsty lyrics.

LA ROUX BACKS HALF MOON CAMPAIGN

Grammy-winning local singer La Roux – real name Elly Jackson – has added her voice to the Half Moon Pub protests, calling on the developers to “listen to local people”. Residents are up in arms at the decision of owner Fuller’s not to continue music at

the pub – you can find out more about the campaign on the Brixtonblog.

US RAPPER VISITS ANGELL TOWN

Award-winning American rap artist Cormega visited young people at Angell Town as part of his UK tour. According to his promoter: “the UK is one of his biggest markets and since he has been shown so much love here, he wants to give some back. He’ll be doing that by spending time meeting and speaking with children and young people in urban areas.”

to Brixton. Heading the musical bill are Ed Solo with studio partner Deekline. Plus Father Funk and sets from Cut Capers, The Sweet Life Society; and Mayfair Avenue regulars Rumpsteppers, Dr Malaka, DJ Pony Montana and DJ Chris Tofu. £8–£23.40. 10pm to 6am.

make designs inspired by Nikolai Astrup, whose exhibition ends on the 15th. Suitable for families with children ages four and up, this is a drop-in workshop. Free with an adult gallery ticket. On Sunday 14 too.

11am to 4pm.

SAT 14 @ POP BRIXTON

Remember that surprise party you planned, where the guest of honour never showed up? Or perhaps you realised at the worst imaginable time that you were going to be a parent: surprise!?

Whatever the surprise is – good, bad or a huge anti-climax, come to Spark London STORYTELLING open mic at Upstairs at the Ritzy and listen to the stories of others, or surprise yourself and tell your own. £4.

8pm – 11pm (doors 7.30).

A night of bands, DJs and spoken word to delight your ears and get your feet moving while raising money and awareness for CALAIS KITCHENS who help feed 6000 refugees a day. Free. 6pm to midnight.

SUN 15 @ DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY

Weaving: Norwegian Style in the gallery garden is a family workshop exploring traditional Scandinavian WEAVING , to

MON 16 @ THE RITZY

MAY DAY GOES POP

THE BARD IN BRIXTON

WINDRUSH SUITCASES

ART CHEESE

Pop Brixton is celebrating May Day with a day of feasting, dancing and shopping (whatever happened to the revolution?)

Kicking off proceedings will be Viet Box with Pop’s first ever brunch club.

From 10am to 1pm the event space will become a Vietnamese breakfast feast destination. Table bookings via hannah@popbrixton.org.

Spring flowers from neighbours Flower Love London will be on sale in the main square along with flower crown workshops, children’s activities and some Zen Den surprises.

Live music on the main stage will come from Yaaba Funk’s Mr Brett, Solko, Afro Cluster and Lakuta.

Brixton East will host a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream from 2 to 5 May. The Dream East company will use music and magic to create a truly immersive experience.

Audiences will be invited to follow the action, climbing stairs into new lands, overhearing hushed conversations, and exploring a magical world as the story unfolds around them.

Dream East is a new company created by Amy Ambrose and Matthew McPherson with a 21-strong ensemble of actors and musicians with credits ranging from The National, The RSC, Birmingham Rep, and Bristol Old Vic, to the BBC, ITV and Sky. ■■Tickets: £12 (Monday–Wednesday). £15 on Thursday to include an after-party in Brixton East.

Nottingham’s SKN (skills, knowledge and networks) pop-up Caribbean heritage museum is mounting a two-day event at The Ritzy on 21 and 22 May from 12 to 6pm.

It will include the London premiere of Nine Nights, (3–4pm each day with Q&A session) SKN’s award-winning short film exploring Caribbean funeral traditions in the UK, and Home to Home: From Caribbean Isles to British Isles, an acclaimed exhibition of “stories in a suitcase” revealing what the Windrush generation brought with them to England.

■■Free, but cash donations of £3–£5 encouraged to go towards the costs of putting on the exhibition.

Knight Webb Gallery at 54 Atlantic Road is hosting a solo exhibition The Humble Cheese by Christian Furr until 31 May. London-based painter Furr has painted cheese for over a decade. It has become his metaphor for simplicity, tradition and artisan dedication.

Coeur de Neufchâtel, 2016, Oil on board

May 2016

TUES 17 @ DOGSTAR

Laugh Out London comedy club returns with a night of eclectic comedy from Bridget Christie, Kevin Eldon, David Trent and Emma Sidi. 8pm. £5 advance, £7 door.

WEDS 18 @ HOOTANANNY

The Floor Rippers’ Element Jam, supported by Universal Zulu Nation Monthly, showcases HIP HOP culture with music, dance and word play. The host brings together musicians, dancers, MCs and fans, to get together, battle and jam in a melting pot of talent and culture. Free.

8pm to 12am.

WHAT’S ON 21

brixtonblog.com Lindsay and enslaved woman Maria Belle, came to be a leading aristocrat at a time when women of colour occupied such low status in British society. £7. 7pm to 9.30pm.

THURS 26 @ THE TABERNACLE

Head out of Brixton to see ITN’s Alastair Stewart host “An evening with James Bowen and Streetcat Bob” in aid of Brixton’s EBONY HORSE CLUB at The Tabernacle, Notting Hill. Stewart will take you on a voyage of discovery on how

FRI 20 @ JAMM

Cohola’s House is back for Summer Sixteen the third instalment of their HOUSE PARTY in a club. The line-up features Freddy Kawesi, Winston, LAB.co and Yazzus. £5–£8. 10pm to 4am.

SAT 21 @ PHONOX

Montreal’s enigmatic and captivating producer Jacques Greene lands at Phonox for the night. Free before 9pm, £5 adv, £10 door. 6pm to 4am.

DO DRINK AND DRAW The Turpentine creative hub at 433 Coldharbour Lane will host a series of 11 weekly “Drink and Draw” evenings starting on 25 May. They will be for all abilities and total beginners are actively encouraged. Alice Waters of the Turpentine says: “We’re calling all Londoners to get creative and unwind after work with a drink and some art supplies.

“We guarantee you’ll be amazed by what you can produce. With the aid of a little alcohol to lower inhibitions, everyone can find their creative side.”

Led by qualified art teacher Jude de Berker, the 90-minute informal class is BYOB. Topics covered will include still life; portraiture; ink drawing; perspective; and art pencil.

All art materials are provided and topics will change each week.

■■Workshops start at 7pm; tickets £15 from www.theturpentine.com or instore – also available as gift vouchers.

SUN 22 @ THE WINDMILL

Punk Rock BBQ: after a brilliant summer of shows in 2015, London PUNK Sessions is back with another super solid line-up. Nice and early start and finish, wrapping up live music around 9.30 with the bar open till 11. And a BBQ of course. Featuring performances from Simon Wells, Mummy, Horror My Friend, Madame Medusa, Lost in Space, Glue and Splurge. £5. From 3pm.

MON 23 @ YOUNG VIC

Why not head north to Waterloo and check out Blue/Orange, which the Guardian says is “the most thrilling and crucial PLAY in London”. Race, ethics, sanity and prejudice collide in Joe Penhall’s “state of the nation” classic. Matthew Xia directs the Olivier award-winning play. 7.30pm.

Tickets £10–£35.

meeting a stray cat changed Bowen’s life and resulted in them busking around Covent Garden and selling the Big Issue together. The evening will include a raffle and auction with some terrific prizes to raise funds for Ebony Horse Club. £30+£3(S/C). Doors 6.30pm.

TUES 24 @ BLUES KITCHEN

POW hosts Roots #3: A roof party with BBQ, tiki bar and music from Bodhi, Pedestrian & Casino Times. From £5. 6pm to 4am.

It’s BLUEGRASS night at the Blues Kitchen where each Tuesday’s music show encourages a “foot-tappin’, hand-clappin’, hootenanny” time. 7pm. Free entry.

WEDS 25 @ BLACK CULTURAL ARCHIVES

#BCAFilmFest returns to present Beyond Belle, the first in its series of salon conversations for 2016. Watch the acclaimed 2013 film Belle, directed by BAFTA-winning British director Amma Asante. The film will be followed by a conversation exploring how Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of 18th-century naval captain Sir John

RETURN OF THE FOX

SAT 28 @ BRIXTON JAMM

Jungle Splash takes over Jamm with JUNGLE and GARAGE and a line-up of Uncle Dugs (Rinse FM), Nicky Blackmarket, Kenny Ken, Digital Niyabinghi, Devious D and loads more. £8 to £10. 10pm to 6am.

SUN 29 @ BLUES KITCHEN

For the second bank holiday Sunday, head to Blues Kitchen for music from Grammynominated James Hunter Six plus the Atlantic Soul Orchestra and DJs. From £4.

10pm to 4am.

SUN 29 @ THE WINDMILL

Retrospectacular goes back 20 years to revisit the best music (and some of the worst) from 1996. Plus karaoke and a free BBQ. From £6. 5pm onwards.

MON 30 @ EFFRA SOCIAL

Comedy/Improv collective Duck Duck Goose host their improv jams in the Churchill Lounge every Monday from 7.30pm onwards. Everyone welcome.

TUES 31@ BRIXTON £ SHOP

Chocolate Poetry Club returns for another OPEN MIC session in the Pound Shop. You book one of 20 three-minute slots on the door. First come, first served. 7–9pm. £2.

Nando Messias ©Loredana Denicola

Crafty Fox Market is back in its original home at the Dogstar on Saturday and Sunday 28 and 29 May from 11am. There will be a different line-up each day with more than 100 designer/makers and artists taking part. Jewellery, ceramics, prints, cards and gifts are on offer, as well as tea and cake in the Tea’s Knees tearoom. Workshops will include Make Knots necklace workshop (£7, drop-in) and Make a Pajaki (traditional Polish) Chandelier (Whole day, £50; pre-book at www.bobbinandbow.com).

■■More at www.craftyfoxmarket. co.uk/marketdates.

FRI 27 @ PRINCE OF WALES

Queer Late Performance Art | Music | Film | Dance | Food & Bars Thursday 12 May, 6.30–9.30pm Tickets: £5 | Book now horniman.ac.uk Forest Hill P4

22 COLUMNS

brixtonblog.com

May 2016

GEMMA SINCLAIR

FRANKIE HOLAH

What would you do with this garden?

Join the Tribe

As spring firmly plants itself in our gardens ... The Gardening Girl is in need of some assistance and I am looking for a budding enthusiast to join me.

I started my business two years ago with a couple of tools and the boot of my car. Since then my dream business has become established in south London with over 100 clients and is expanding all the time.

But, I cannot do it all on my own!

So, if you are (a girl) interested in getting your hands dirty and love the fresh air, come rain or shine, please read on …

I am setting a Gardening Girl challenge to find a new member of the team … in this article you will see a picture of a “less than desirable” garden and I want you to tell me what you would do to make it better. This is about looking at a garden and being able to feel what we could do to make it a better space for the client …

The role of a gardener ranges from potting

A year ago I launched Frankie Holah’s bootcamp – A female-only bodyweight training session (in Brixton) with a mission to effect positive change and help women to look at their bodies and train their bodies in a positive way.

My message? To live healthfully and not chase the next fad or trend; to celebrate your uniqueness, whatever your shape or size and to train and eat well, not because you hate your body but because you love your body!

Bootcamp has definitely been an amazing journey so far, training a Tribe of incredible women each week.

So heading into the third chapter of PT life, I want to continue to introduce more sessions to the timetable in and around Brixton and Clapham.

With longer and warmer days in store, we’ll be heading out into the

window boxes, to lawn care and cutting back shrubs, planting plans and sourcing plants to general maintenance.

Every garden is unique, and most of them include some challenges.

My protégée will be keen to learn from me and my experience as well as have the ability and stamina to work demanding hours in a physical job.

So, have a look at the photo and if you are interested in finding out more about joining the Gardening Girl, then send your ideas on how to make this garden special to thegardeninggirlat82@gmail.com.

parks to get our sweat on!

I am also excited to be launching (very soon) pre and postnatal training sessions for the mummas and mummas to be … with the goal to be strong and fit from bump to baby…

Ladies, whatever your shape, size or fitness level, come and #JOINTHETRIBE … let’s reclaim our bodies!!

If you would like to register your interest, please contact frankie@frankieholah.com and keep an eye on my social media @frankieholah for confirmed days and times.

Hill Mead HERALD MAY 2016

We learn about how university will work

By Amira

Year 5 were lucky enough to visit Into University in April. This place helps you learn more about how university works. We were university students for half of the day.

We started off by doing a workshop, where we had different tables with different activities linking to university.

To warm up we played a game called X Factor. It wasn’t singing but it was an awesome game. We had a bean bag and we

had to throw it to someone. There were two teams, Team Amazing and Team Brilliant.

We did a couple of practice rounds, but in the end Team Amazing won every round, even the practice rounds.

We had to remember who you received the bean bag from and who you delivered it to.

To decide which activity we had to do first, we had name tags with different colours. Every 20 minutes we did a swap to a different table. My favourite activity would have to be the social club, as we had to think of a club that does not yet exist and what would happen in it. I thought a cartoon club would be great, where you could make your very own cartoons.

We were told that if you were always smiling throughout the day, we could get glow in the dark wristbands.

The first time we went it was just for half a day. The next time we are going to go in Year 5, it will be called Focus Day when we stay for a whole day. In Year 6, there is going to be a Focus Week and on that Friday we are going on a trip with them. Also we are going to graduate from Into University then have a transition day.

Overall we had a great time and would recommend it to everyone!

Why we look forward to Bike To School Week

CHAMPIONS!

By Khaleed and Nathan

Hill Mead’s football team has lifted the Lambeth six-a-side cup for the second year running.

The school stands out in several different sports but this year Hill Mead’s football team has blown many people away.

We started with the Lambeth six-a-side League with a 3-0 win against St Anne’s Primary School.

After that win, we made it our target to win the rest of our games to give us a possible chance to win the league for the second time. Guess what? We didn’t disappoint.

Every time we played a match we put that target in our heads, and tried our best to achieve it.

We started winning game after game, until it came to the last game against Granton Primary School.

The pressure was on and we performed

our best; we came out on top with a 2-0 win with Israel (top goal scorer with 49 goals) smashing in two brilliant goals.

Mr Wright, the organiser of the league and Hill Mead’s very own sports coach, was very impressed as we had stuck to his tactics and instructions and it worked!

Oumar (the captain) was also ecstatic with winning the league. Who could blame him? He played every single game for Hill Mead; he was a real inspiration for the younger players.

Oumar had a couple of things to say about winning the league.“Every one of us played extremely well even if we were not in our usual position we adapted to the situation. I hope when we leave, the younger footballers can play even better.”

Goalkeeper Khaleed only conceded three goals in 17 games.

We will be going to Nando’s to celebrate winning the league.

HOW WE BUILT OUR OWN CITY

By Sapphire B

Thirty children from Year 5 had the opportunity to visit the Connected Learning Centre (CLC). We were introduced to Rowan and Anna, who helped us through the steps of building our own city in Minecraft.

We had pieces of paper that had a building/place on it and we had to put it on a website called City Plan. Then we had to explain why our building would fit perfectly in that spot.

The next activity was designing our own mood board with an app called Comic Life. We could place pictures, change our writing, change the background and personalise it.

But first we had to go on the internet and find what buildings we liked and how we could make our building look the same.

While we were doing that, we went up to a whiteboard and placed our piece of paper in a

coordinate, which is how Minecraft is set in building mode. We also had a chance to explore a world another class had built in Year 5 and we got to see how Minecraft really works. We also got to look inside buildings. My favourite part was that we could fly. We had different controls but the game was still super fun.

We got to personalise our building in our own world. Rowan gave us an assignment to place a sign in front of our building as soon as we got into the world. Some of us had trouble making our building but in the end we got there.

One of our friends had the best computer because you could freeze it if someone made anybody upset or angry. We could fly into people’s houses and we could play with them or swim with them. If we wanted materials, we had to press the letter E to get all the varieties of blocks, doors and water.

We had a fantastic time with Rowan and Anna and we all enjoyed ourselves.

By Malika Brown and Tofe Olawepo Bikeability is a nationally recognised cycle training programme that helps us to learn practical skills for cycle safety and confidence. Year 3 went on the Level 1 training and Ola and Jawad were our instructors.

They taught us the importance of riding a bike safely.

At first, Ola and Jawad checked our bikes and made sure they were safe to ride. They talked about how to care for our bikes, for example the importance of oiling our bike every month and to avoid placing it on the chain side when putting our bike down.

They recommended that the chain should be changed every year to keep it from popping off. They gave us a good tip about where to stand when holding the bike – on the opposite side of the chain – so that we don’t get oil over our clothes or legs.

Afterwards we learned some basic skills for our sessions. We should always follow the person in front of us, sit on the saddle, stop with two brakes and put both our hands on the handle bars like you would with a seat belt so you don’t lose your balance and always keep your hands by the brakes.

On Day 2, some of us could ride really well and some of us were still improving.

We learned about the “snake” to help us with our coordination. The way to do the “snake” is to keep a little space in front of you, maybe the length of a bike, and follow the person in front. We also did the “snake” where we had to cycle through the cones.

Every time we cycled round, the cones got smaller. It was very tricky!

It was such a great couple of days. We thoroughly enjoyed this experience because it was fun but at the same time important for us so that we can become confident cyclists.

We are almost professional bike riders!

We are looking forward to showing off our skills in Bike To School Week that starts on 4 May.

BRIXTON Chamberlain wins battle of unbeaten cruiserweights

Bugle SPORT SEVEN-A-SIDE LEAGUE SEEKS NEW TEAMS

Brixton’s Evelyn Grace Academy on Shakespeare Road and its 3G pitch are the venue for Brixton Football Company’s summer seven-a-side league that plays from 11am on Sundays, starting 8 May. The company provides the referee and equipment and online tables, fixtures and results.

It is looking for new teams – either established outfits or newcomers. Match cost is £65 a game.

■■ brixtonfootball.org/apply-now

Brixton boxer Isaac Chamberlain dismantled Russ Henshaw in a contest billed as the battle of the undefeated cruiserweights last month.

Chamberlain, who has trained at Miguel’s gym in Loughborough Junction which helped heavyweight Dillian Whyte hone his talents, dispatched Henshaw in the sixth round of a bruising encounter.

The 22-year-old dropped Henshaw in the first round of their bout on the undercard of a featherweight clash between Josh Warrington and Japan’s Hisashi Amagasa at the First Direct Arena in Leeds.

A speedy flurry of jabs and powerful hook and cross combinations was enough to force a sixth round stoppage and earn Chamberlain his fifth win in the ring since January last year.

“It felt great to win, as I wasn’t 100 per cent ahead of the fight. When the fight was announced I had the flu,” said Chamberlain in his post-fight interview on BoxHard Podcast.

“Two weeks before I had also fractured and bruised my rib, so I was going into the bout with all these things in my head.

“I was thinking to myself I really have to take this fight because if I pull out, there will be a lot of people who chat rubbish saying:

‘Oh yeah. He is running from a proper test’, even though I’ve been having proper tests throughout my career so far.

“Also, I didn’t know when I would be fighting again because I had a long layoff since October last year.

“So I thought ‘I’ve got to take this fight’ I have no other choice. I’ve got to go in the ring. Even if I broke my leg I have got to go in there and win. It was a great, great fight.

“He (Henshaw) really came and gave it everything. He gave it his all and I had to use my mind and my skills. In between the rounds I was really thinking to myself I can’t go home and tell my little brothers that their big brother lost the fight.

“That’s what kept me going even through the first round when he hit me on my bruised rib and the pain was excruciating. In those situations you have to carry on.

“In the first round I was slipping all of his punches and avoided blows to the head which was why I came out with no bruises on my face, but my body was hurting as he was going for body shots all night.

“I trained so hard for this. I was sharp and I’m pleased with my performance. I’m just going to keep working hard in the gym.”

MGM MARBELLA

WBBL

Brixton out as Nottingham triumph in cats quarter final Brixton Topcats’ hopes of progressing to the semi-finals of the Womens British Basketball League play-offs were dashed following their 91-43 loss to Nottingham Wildcats.

The Topcats lost to a solid performance by Nottingham, who are now favourites to add to their league title.

The Wildcats got off to a flying start with the opening 11 points of the game and led 21-2 after seven minutes. Kyla Nelson led the Topcats’ fightback with five points in quick succession as the visitors were down 15 after the first quarter.

Ashley Harris posted a double-double

Seminar Us – The Human Experience 4th of June 2016 1:30pm - 6pm

30 min taster combat and aerobics session before seminar – wear/bring comfortable clothing (Gym Group)

Discussions Nutrition & Health (The Gym Group) Finance & Budgeting (Victoria Mutual Building Society) Skin care & Wellbeing (Slique Spa Industries) Parenting & wellbeing (New Transitions) Diabetes & Health (former ward manager at King’s College Hospital) Water and fruit donated by Tesco Eventbrite for free tickets (strict ticket entry) ‘Us – The Human experience’ with donations on the day.

St. Martin’s Community Centre, Abbots Park, Tulse Hill, SW2 3PW. (opposite St. Martin’s High School). Other activities on the day: raffle, giveaways, special ska/reggae guest performances, food and drink.

of 27 points and 10 rebounds Andrea Vackova shot six-of-eight from the field in her 16 points, while Amber Stokes added 11 points, six assists and four steals in an all-round display.

Nottingham pushed on in the second to open up a 25-point advantage by halftime and continued to pull away when play resumed in the second half. The home side scored 27 points in the third in a comprehensive win.

For Brixton, Nelson top scored with 13 points with Jenaya Wade-Fray (left), also in double figures with 12 points.

Quick Crossword ACROSS 1. Brass instrument (7) 8. On balance (7) 9. Matrimony (7) 10. Braggart (7) II. Long-handled scooper (5) 13. Hung (9) 15. Italian explorer (5,4) 18. Female goat (5) 2 1. Floating leaf (7) 22. Inconsistent (7) 23. Debate (7) 24. Most lofty (7)

DOWN 1. Cloth for drying (5) 2. Loosened (5) 3. Cluedo character (9, 4) 4. Vouchers (6) 5. Electron motor (anag) (6,7) 6. Mixed (6) 7. Joyful (6) 12. __ Karenina, Tolstoy’s heroine (4) 14. eg 2, 6, 10 (4) 15. Tune (6) 16. Sauce (6) 17. Most mature (6) 19. __ Dame, Parisian cathedral (5) 2 0. Sailing boat (5)