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As we were working on this issue, our sister title The Peckham Peculiar was named the ICNN Independent Community Newspaper of the Year at the 2023 Newspaper Awards, which "celebrate excellence and innovation in the printed newspaper". The Peculiar has been in print since January 2014 and winning the award was a particularly proud moment for all of us.
Putting together The Lewisham Ledger has once again taken us to many different corners of the borough, meeting lots of interesting local people along the way.
Our cover star for this edition is the multitalented artist and musician Nikki Kvarnes, who gives us a glimpse into her creative world on page 12.
Our reporter Luke G Williams has recently written a book on legendary local snooker player Patsy Houlihan, who lived in Deptford his whole life. Turn to page 14 to read his story.
Since it was founded by Yasmin Poyntz, Catford-based hub the Village London has offered constant support to local parents and families, through lockdown and beyond. Yasmin tells us what inspired her to set it up –and her vision for the future – on page eight.
We also caught up with Hither Green-based author Anna Corbett, who gives us an insight into her interesting new novel – and why she loves living in Lewisham – on page 17.
Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy the issue!
Mark McGinlay and Kate White
Local residents have started a petition calling on TfL and Lewisham Council to commit to an action plan to make safe the “notorious” junction of the A2 gyratory and A20 at the intersection of Parkfield Road and Amersham Road in New Cross.
The online petition, initiated by the Amersham Action Group, has already passed 120 signatures, and has received support from local businesses and groups such as the Amersham Arms, the New Cross Dental Practice and the St John’s Society.
“Everyone seems to have a story about almost getting hit crossing this road, and one woman even shared a story about her parents’ dangerous experience cycling this junction 20 years ago,” Tomilyn Rupert, co-founder of the group told The Lewisham Ledger
“Many people pass the junction and it is deadly, both from a road design that makes deadly collisions more likely, and the staggering amount of air pollution there.
“A white painted marking on the street creates a sense in drivers that they can overtake and speed with no problems as they leave the A2 gyratory, and a lack of official crossing means pedestrians dodge cars and sprint to cross.
“We’ve been really pleased with the positive reaction to the petition so far. We’re asking TfL – who own the road – and Lewisham Council to cooperate and commit to an action plan with a timescale on this intersection.
“We think there are myriad ways to improve it, from small to large: what’s missing is the political will.”
Tomilyn pointed out there has already been a fatality on the junction – a pedestrian in her 50s was killed in August 2019 after a car and motorcycle collided prior to the motorcycle then hitting her and another pedestrian.
However, no changes have been made to the junction in the time since, despite the promises of Lewisham Council’s corporate strategy for 2022-26 to make the borough “cleaner and greener” and to ensure that it is “easier and more pleasant to get around Lewisham by foot or bike”.
A consultation document proposing improvements to New Cross that was published in 2018 mentioned a “longterm” proposal to remove the gyratory completely, but nothing has happened since.
In the face of such inertia, Tomilyn said urgent action is needed to make the area one “that parents aren’t afraid to walk through when dropping off their children at nursery, and cyclists don’t dread going through”.
Among the suggestions put forward by the Amersham Action Group are widening the pavement and implementing a timed crossing with traffic lights.
“Studies have shown that wide roads and shoulders encourage speeding,” Tomilyn explained.
“Simply removing this excess space by widening the pavement would have a traffic calming effect.
“Low-cost planters maintained by the community, bike parking and a couple of trees to block off this space could be all that’s needed to change how drivers approach the intersection, encouraging them to slow down and be more aware of their surroundings.
“These measures would also have the bonus of creating a more environmentally friendly and improved pedestrian experience.”
In the longer term, the group is urging TfL and the council to consider removing the gyratory entirely and instead turning New Cross Road into a two-way road. However, such a proposal would probably have to wait until the much mooted – and delayed – Bakerloo Line extension project finally becomes a reality.
View the petition at change.org/p/ make-the-amersham-gyratory-safer
Cover photograph
Nikki Kvarnes by Julia Hawkins
Editors Mark McGinlay, Kate White
Creative directors Andy Keys, Marta Pérez Sainero
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Contributors
Lawrence Diamond, Julia Hawkins, Ronnie Haydon, Luke G Williams
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Mark McGinlay
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A local novelist is in the running for a prestigious award.
Jessie Burton is the international bestselling author of The Miniaturist and The Muse
She has been shortlisted for the Yoto Carnegie medal for writing for her second children’s book, Medusa, with judges calling it a “visceral”, “profound” and “poetic” feminist reimagining of the Greek myth, dazzlingly illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill.
The Yoto Carnegies celebrate outstanding achievement in children’s writing and illustration and are unique in being judged by children’s and youth librarians, with the respective Shadowers’ Choice medals voted for by children and young people.
Thirteen books have been shortlisted – seven for the Carnegie medal for writing and six for illustration. The 31 longlisted titles were whittled down by the expert judging panel, which includes 12 librarians from CILIP: the library and information association’s youth libraries group.
Janet Noble, chair of the judges for the Yoto Carnegies 2023, said: “This year’s shortlists clearly demonstrate that authors, illustrators and publishers are continuing to create outstanding books for children and young people that represent a wide range of identi -
ties, helping to ensure the diversity of experiences across the UK is reflected.
“Stories of bravery, compassion and community are told authentically and sensitively in a range of distinctive written and illustrative styles, with fantastic debuts taking pride of place alongside well-known names.
“We’re sure that shadowing groups across the country will share our excitement in reading and discussing these superb books in the coming months, and we wish them luck in choosing their winners – we know it’s not going to be an easy decision.
“The 2023 judges and I are immensely proud that these 13 books will become part of the distinguished legacy of the Yoto Carnegies.”
The winners will be announced and celebrated on 21 June at a live and streamed lunchtime ceremony at the Barbican, hosted by former children’s laureate Lauren Child, who won the Carnegie medal for illustration – then known as the Kate Greenaway medal –in 2000 for her first Charlie and Lola book, I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato.
The winner s will each receive £500-worth of books to donate to a library of their choice, a specially commissioned and newly designed golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears award cash prize.
The Migration Museum has begun a new installation by multidisciplinary visual artist Evewright as part of this year’s Windrush 75th anniversary celebrations, exploring his own perspectives on growing up in Lewisham as the child of parents from the Windrush generation.
The borough has always been a place where migrants from all over the world have gravitated to, including people from the Caribbean since the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948. The area remains a hub for Caribbean communities: in the 2021 census, 10.8% of Lewisham residents identified as “black, black British: Caribbean”, the highest proportion of any local authority in England and Wales, while a further 2.9% identified as “mixed/multiple ethnic groups: white and black Caribbean”.
Lewisham: About Face, Evewright’s new site-specific multimedia installation, reflects on the places and the forgotten heroes of Lewisham’s past and present who have shaped the artist’s life.
It pays homage to his mother, Clarice Reid, and the influences of his father, Lindon Wright. His brothers and sisters and other key local individuals also feature as part of a discourse of what it means to be black and British today.
The installation is currently on display in the windows of the Migration Museum in Lewisham Shopping Centre, a focal point for youth culture when the
artist was growing up in the late 1970s and 80s, and which remains a popular community destination today.
Lewisham: About Face complements Evewright’s acclaimed Tilbury Bridge Walkway of Memories art and sound installation on the walkway used by passengers when they disembarked from
Jah Shaka passed away as this issue was going to press.
The pioneering singer, producer and record label owner was a towering figure on the sound system scene in London.
Shaka arrived in the UK from Jamaica with his parents in the 1950s and attended Samuel Pepys School in Brockley.
the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Port in Essex on 22 June 1948.
Evewright said: “With Lewisham: About Face, I want to share my living story, my memories of growing up in Lewisham and being influenced by all the people and places that make up the tapestry of my life.
“A lot of people from the Caribbean moved to Lewisham, including my family. Lewisham Market fed us, the cheap housing held our large families, and for us young people it was a destination to go and party.
“I want to move the conversation about Windrush on. It’s not about that one white boat, it’s about the people who got off that boat and others following it, and what happened to them – and to their children, and their children’s children. And for many of us, Lewisham is at the heart of this story.”
The budding soundman cut his teeth with Lewisham-based sound system Freddie Cloudburst and went on to set up his own, now legendary sound system in the early 1970s, which developed a cult following and influenced countless other artists. He continued to perform until his death.
Fans paid tribute to the music icon and Hither Green resident by leaving flowers outside his home.
Deptford Green School and the Friends of Deptford Green have announced a fundraising concert featuring acid jazz pioneers the Brand New Heavies, with support from the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir and local band the Sundries.
The Brand New Heavies were formed in Ealing in west London and rose to prominence in the 1990s, with their platinum-selling UK albums Brother Sister and Shelter mixing funk and acid
jazz. Their songs have featured vocals by N’Dea Davenport, Carleen Anderson and Siedah Garrett among others.
Expect to hear many of their 15 UK Top 40 singles on the night, including Dream on Dreamer, Stay This Way and Sometimes, as well as fan favourites Never Stop and You Are the Universe
They will also perform hit covers of 70s classics such as Don’t Let It Go to Your Head, Midnight at the Oasis and You’ve Got a Friend
Joining the Heavies will be the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir, who achieved the UK Christmas number one in 2015 with their single A Bridge Over You – a mash-up of Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water and Coldplay’s Fix You – beating Justin Bieber, The X-Factor winner Louisa Johnson, Adele and Stormzy to the top spot.
The choir released an album the following year and recorded a version of Justin Bieber’s Holy in 2020, which currently has more than 700 million listens on Spotify
They performed Joy to the World after the Queen’s speech on Christmas Day 2020 and in 2021, they sang at the Brit Awards with Rag’n’Bone Man and P!nk for a special version of Anywhere Away from Here, which was released to raise money for NHS charities.
South-east London indie-pop band the Sundries complete the line-up with songs from their two EPs Full of the Joys of Spring and Magic Johnson. The event will take place at the school on 12 May. Doors open at 6.30pm and tickets are £15. For full information, visit tiny.cc/brandnewheavies
Mary Quant passed away earlier this month at the age of 93. A fashion designer and sartorial trailblazer, she was a key figure in Swinging London and is credited with popularising the miniskirt. Quant was born in Blackheath on 11 February 1930. Her parents were from mining families in Wales and both attended grammar school before achieving first-class degrees at Cardiff University. They later moved to London to work as school teachers.
Mary went to Blackheath High School. Her ambition had been to study fashion but her parents dissuaded her and she ended up studying illustration and art education at Goldsmiths, graduating in 1953.
After finishing her degree, she began an apprenticeship with a Mayfair milliner who was based next door to Claridge’s hotel.
S he initially sold clothing sourced from wholesalers in Bazaar, her boutique on the King’s Road in Chelsea that she opened in 1955.
The bolder and more unique pieces in her collection began receiving media interest, which prompted her to start designing herself. Initially working solo, she was soon employing a handful of sewing-machine operators.
In 1963, Quant was the first winner of the Dress of the Year award. Three years later she was awarded an OBE for her outstanding contribution to the fashion industry, arriving at Buckingham Palace to accept the award in a cream wool jersey minidress. In 2014 she was made a dame.
Following her death, 60s fashion icon Twiggy, whose real name is Lesley Lawson, said: “Mary Quant was such an influence on young girls in the late 50s and early 60s. She revolutionised fashion and was a brilliant female entrepreneur. The 1960s would have never been the same without her.”
Local resident Bridgit Sam-Bailey has been named mayoress of Lewisham for 2023.
Born in British Guiana, the former businesswoman, trade unionist and academic is chair of Lewisham Pensioners’ Forum and has been instrumental in turning the forum into a campaigning force for older people in the borough. She has highlighted the impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on older people and has worked tirelessly to ensure they stay connected.
In less recent times she was also part of the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign, which will be celebrating its 10year anniversary this summer.
Damien Egan, mayor of Lewisham, said: “I am really looking forward to working with Bridgit closely this year. She is ferociously community-minded and has changed the lives of hundreds of local people.
“I would also like to thank our outgoing mayoresses Dawn Atkinson, Natasha Ricketts and Christina Norman who have brought to the role relentless energy and enthusiasm.
“I am immensely proud of the work they have delivered, from running the Evelyn Community Store helping thou-
Damien Egan and Bridgit Sam-Bailey with Christina Norman, Dawn Atkinson and Natasha Ricketts
sands across the community, to coordinating a huge effort to provide lunches for thousands of children during the school holidays.”
Bridgit said: “I am thrilled to accept the role of mayoress of Lewisham from the mayor and so proud to build on the work I do championing older people in the borough.
“It’s going to be a busy year and I can’t wait to get started.”
Food waste recycling is being rolled out in schools across Lewisham as part of a drive to reduce waste and help cut carbon emissions.
Almost 30 schools are currently taking part in the rollout and the council is looking for more schools to register for food waste collections.
Last month councillor Louise Krupski, cabinet member for environment and climate action, visited Rathfern Primary School to launch food waste recycling in Lewisham schools and call for more schools to get involved.
Councillor Krupski met with school staff and spoke with Theron Mahoney – a pupil at the school and keen environmental campaigner. They discussed the positive impact food waste recycling is already having and how this is stimulating conversations about the environment across the school.
Like food waste collected from Lewisham’s homes, school food waste is sent for anaerobic digestion and converted into renewable energy and fertiliser. Just one lorry load of food waste can generate enough energy to power over 20,000 TVs for an hour.
Increasing food waste recycling is a significant step towards reducing Lew-
isham’s emissions and helping achieve net-zero by 2030.
Maria Georgiou, a member of the play team at Rathfern school, said: “We use the food waste bins at the breakfast club. Seeing what we’re throwing away helps us to understand what the children like and what is thrown away. This is helping us plan what we offer at the breakfast club and reduce waste. It is great to know that more schools will be able to access the service.”
t takes a village to raise a child, as the saying goes – and support from the local community is essential to ensure families get the help they need.
Which is why Yasmin Poyntz founded support hub the Village London, a not-for-profit community interest company offering a mixture of traditional and complementary services to support parents and carers in the borough of Lewisham.
Every Wednesday the Village takes over the Corbett Community Centre on Torridon Road in Catford, putting on a host of classes, treatments and support groups – from Duplo stay and play, tea and yoga to feeding support, reflexology massage, a sling and carrier library and African drumming and movement.
Yasmin, 41, lives in Honor Oak with her husband Duncan and six-year-old son Lennox. She says: “We turn the place into a little wellbeing hub – it takes an hour and a half to set up so it’s a labour of love, but it’s such an amazing building.
“We get between 70 to 100 adults every Wednesday, plus kids, and have up to 12 activities every week on the schedule. People can stay for hours.”
At the heart of the Village’s ethos is that the services it offers are affordable to all income levels. Those who can afford more can “pay it forward” to help another family who would otherwise be unable to access these types of services.
Yasmin says: “My philosophy was there’s a lot of wealthy people and a lot of poverty in this area, and everyone should be able to access the same services regardless of financial background.
“The idea is the wealthier people pay a little more, and that subsidises the people who can only afford to pay less, so there’s a sliding scale pricing system and it’s working really well.
“For example, a yoga class costs £11 to pay it forward, £9 for standard and £4 discounted. It’s all based on trust.
“This modern day village isn’t like the traditional one. The original idea of ‘the village’ isn’t there anymore really. You need so many hands to raise a child and they would traditionally be provided by extended family members, whereas we now live in nuclear households who have to focus on paying the bills.
“It’s a massive job raising a family, and a lot of us, especially in London, don’t have the help of grandparents and aunts and uncles.”
There’s a personal motivation behind the project for Yasmin, who knows firsthand how much of a lifeline holistic therapies can be. She says: “Before I had my son I had severe depression. Thinking about it, it was probably always there, underlying, but that was just my norm and I didn’t really realise or know any different.
“Then when I was around 31 it became a huge issue. I couldn’t speak to any friends, family, or even counsellors. I would just cry and cry. I cut everyone off because I just couldn’t talk, and I got six weeks of CBT from the NHS.
“I had therapy and counselling, and while I haven’t formally studied it, I started to learn about childhood development and psychology. I delved into books, and began to read up on psychology and brain development, and it became a real focus.
spiritual healing but I had the financial ability to access lots of things you can’t access on the NHS so I was lucky.
“Unfortunately money is really key to access these services, and even therapy can be expensive.
“It’s so important we look after ourselves, but that puts so much onus on parents as their responsibility.
“I think it’s also the responsibility of the community to help them to be able to access this help.”
The idea behind the Village was born in summer 2020 with the aim to provide an accessible environment to nurture and inspire parents and carers locally.
Above: a walk and talk in Ladywell Fields
Left: Yasmin Poyntz
the need for something of this calibre. She says: “I set up an Instagram account and it was shared everywhere. Within a couple of months we had a team and started in lockdown.
“A lot of new parents hadn’t been able to meet anyone, so we started walks. We did walk and talks throughout the borough and they were really popular as there was no other way to meet people. It was actually such a lifesaver for so many at that point, and we built a community way quicker than anticipated.”
The project still runs the walk and talk sessions, which start at 10.30am every Monday in Ladywell Fields and Thursday in Mountsfield Park.
Yasmin says: “We found out what the needs were in the community, and when we were able to, we started offering breastfeeding support and physiotherapy, which is difficult to get on the NHS.
“We offered support groups and just started adding services that parents were saying they needed.”
The Village has been an invaluable presence to many local parents, most of whom were impacted not only by becoming first-time parents but also by having a baby in a pandemic.
According to a survey the Village carried out of 70 local parents, 43% said they struggled with their mental health, 30% with stress and 53% with loneliness.
Since launching, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“If you’re a parent who is trying to raise a child while trying to resolve your own emotional issues and not pass it down and change the trajectory for your child, it’s pretty hard work without unbelievable amounts of support. It’s especially hard when you have to also focus on paying the bills.
“Unless you make conscious changes later on, what happens in your early years can really affect everything throughout your whole life, from your financial status to your health. It sets up your trajectory.”
In 2017 Yasmin had her son Lennox. She says: “I felt in a really good place at that point. I’d got into holistic therapies, like yoga, meditation and
Former account manager Yasmin says: “My stepdad had died the year before, and that year I quit my job. I focused on being a full-time parent and my wellbeing for a time, then in the first lockdown I signed up to a six-week life-coaching course with my sister.
“One of the exercises was to rate all the different areas of your life from one to 10, and my career was the area I decided to focus on.
“We had to think about what our ideal day or week looked like, and I just wrote and wrote, and didn’t stop. I put on paper all the ideas I’d had throughout my life and at the end I realised what it was I wanted to do.”
The Village was set up in the midst of lockdown, and while that hindered a lot of businesses and community groups, it just highlighted to Yasmin
Yasmin says: “People have said it’s a non-judgemental, safe space that provides endless support, and I am really proud.
“It’s not just us giving though, it’s reciprocal and I get a lot of support back too. It goes both ways and there are always so many honest, meaningful conversations happening.”
Now, Yasmin is appealing for local philanthropists to get in touch as she builds a stronger team to enable the project to grow, and says: “We’d love to have our own venue, and the aim is to run five days a week.
“We need to scale up to break even, and there’s a lot of free hours going into it at the moment. We’ve proven the business model, we’ve proven there’s a need, but we just need to get the perfect team to scale it up, and then get the venue – and then it’s happy days!”
A survey of local parents by the Village found that 53% struggle with loneliness
Since its launch during lockdown, the Village has offered a lifeline to local parents and carers in need of support. Founder Yasmin Poyntz tells us more
BY MIRANDA KNOX
In February, St Dunstan’s College, in Catford, was delighted to be named Independent School of the Year at the 2023 International Elite 100 Global Awards.
The awards, which are judged by professionals from across the world, were established to celebrate the achievements of organisations who showcase the extraordinary power to lead in their various industries.
Speaking about the award, St Dunstan’s Head, Nick Hewlett said: ‘We are delighted to have been recognised in this way, and my gratitude goes to everyone who has contributed to St Dunstan’s incredible journey.’
A spokesperson for the International Elite Awards explained: ‘Our nominees are shortlisted via a process of in-house scrutiny and assessment, which utilises a variety of methods to identify those firms and individuals demonstrating outstanding achievements.
‘These methods include reviewing specific market research, client nominations, referrals, press coverage and industry awards. In each award category a final three nominees are shortlisted who are then reviewed against our selection criteria using our own proprietary process with industry leaders from multiple sectors across the globe.’
The award comes at an exciting time for St Dunstan’s College. Last year, St Dunstan’s was named Independent Senior School of the Year at the Tes Schools Awards in central London.
The awards, known as the Oscars of Education, celebrate the work of teachers and schools across the United Kingdom. The event was held in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic, and for the first time in Tes’s history the awards brought together both state and independent schools for the ceremony.
Judge David James has worked in independent schools for over 20 years and is an experienced inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate. He said:
‘There’s a very clear and coherent vision of what they want to do, both with the curriculum and the local community.
‘The head is asking interesting questions of the sector, including areas like privilege and responsibility, which go beyond the usual platitudes. It’s a really interesting school in a tough market, trying to not just survive but actually make something different for the children and families they’re working with.’
In 2021, the College’s new £25million Junior School, STEM and Sixth Form buildings officially opened, which were the most significant developments since the school opened in 1888. The College’s forward-thinking approach is now matched by modern, bright, and inspirational facilities. This was followed by the opening of a new Performing Arts Centre, which includes dedicated learning spaces for the arts and a 170-seat theatre. The state-ofthe-art facilities are also regularly used by local schools and community groups.
Since arriving at St Dunstan’s, Head, Nick Hewlett, has been committed to working closer with the local community and providing life-enriching opportunities for local residents.
St Dunstan’s, in collaboration with the Westside Young Leaders Academy (WYLA) and Lewisham Council, established the Lewisham Young Leaders Academy (LYLA), a ground-breaking academy for young people in the borough.
The academy was established in response to research and evidence showing disparities in attainment and outcomes for Black Caribbean and dual heritage (Black Caribbean/White) children and young people, not just in Lewisham, but throughout London and the UK. Through weekend classes, Lewisham Young Leaders Academy provides additional support to young people from across Lewisham through transformative teaching in life skills, including leadership, teamwork, presentation skills and CV building.
Last year the project was shortlisted for an award at the Independent School of the Year Awards. Speaking about the shortlisting, St Dunstan’s Head, Nick Hewlett said: ‘I am delighted that this unique partnership has been recognised by the Independent School of the Year Awards. St Dunstan’s College is passionate about, and dedicated to, providing life-enriching opportunities to our local community. We realise that we hold a privileged position as an independent school both in terms of our facilities and the experiences of our staff and pupils, and we are proud to work closely with Westside Young Leaders Academy (WYLA) and Lewisham Council on Lewisham Young Leaders Academy (LYLA).
‘The team at LYLA are changing the lives of the young people attending each week, and I look forward to growing our continued partnership.’
Damien Egan, Mayor of Lewisham added: ‘We live in the wealthiest city in Europe, and for too long many of our young people here in Lewisham, and particularly those from
African and Caribbean backgrounds, have found it difficult to access those top jobs and opportunities.
‘I’m very grateful to St Dunstan’s for hosting the programme and working with us on this brilliant initiative, that is already making such a difference. I’m excited to see what happens next for the programme.’
Most recently the school has won praise for its groundbreaking Stuart Curriculum, which looks at relationships, skills for the future and critical thinking. Stuart lessons have tackled the rise of toxic masculinity and, in particular, individuals such as Andrew Tate. Speaking about the lessons, St Dunstan’s Deputy Head Academic, Jonathan Holmes, explained: ‘As well as having the confidence to react to specific examples such as Andrew Tate, it is important that our teaching is predominantly proactive and enables students to independently understand when views are harmful and dangerous, and how they can protect themselves from being exposed and influenced by them online.’
St Dunstan’s offers a variety of bursaries and scholarships for pupils joining at 11+ and 16+. Find out more information at an upcoming spring tour. Book at www.stdunstans.org.uk The College
and Instagram (@StDunstansCollege).
Whether it’s the small but perfectly formed Espresso Cartel on Doggett Road or the popular Beats & Grind on Adenmore Road, Catford town centre is home to a handful of independent cafes and coffee stands. From a morning caffeine fix or fry-up to a quick sandwich or leisurely cup of tea while watching the world go by, they cater for a wide range of tastes.
One local spot has even been immortalised on the small screen too – fans of the BBC’s adaptation of the Cormoran Strike novels by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) may have spotted the Stage Door Cafe on Catford Broadway in series three of the detective drama, when Strike’s business partner Robin Ellacott visits the cafe to talk to a contact.
Our photographer hit the streets of SE6 to capture some local favourites on camera.
Catford's Stage Door Cafe was even immortalised on the small screen in the BBC detective drama Strike
Artist and musician Nikki Kvarnes was living quite happily in Nashville before she moved more than 4,000 miles across the pond and settled in Catford. So how did the Virginian native go from playing in a cult southern rock band in America to making a name for herself as an exciting emerging portrait artist in London? And how did she wind up swapping Music City for Mountsfield Park and the Catford cat?
Nikki laughs when I open with the Catford question. “Well, it’s quite exotic compared to America! But basically it’s a long story.” It’s also a fascinating one, which ties into her evolution from a guitarist and songwriter in Nashville band Those Darlins into a painter and illustrator whose unique and captivating style is garnering ever more followers on Instagram and beyond.
It began, as many things do, with an ending – the breakup of Those Darlins in 2016 after three albums and years of touring with the likes of Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and Tristen Gaspadarek. The impact of the band’s split was magnified some 18 months later, when co-founder, friend and bandmate Jessi Zazu lost her battle with cancer. It was understandably a time of transition for Nikki. One that her paintbrushes helped her get through – just maybe not in the way you might think.
“I was living in Nashville trying to work out what to do after the band had split up, and I began painting houses,” she says. “I was already doing visual art, but by day I was working with a crew of Honduran guys who painted houses.
“I’d been a decorator before the band took off so it was nice to go back to that. For my day job I would just climb on top of insanely tall houses in Nashville and paint them. It was a great relief after years and years on the road, to just get up, go somewhere, work a physical job and come home and sleep in my own bed.”
A chance meeting with a south London gent in a bar after one of those shifts triggered a whirlwind romance that led Nikki to leave Nashville behind for a new life in London, and a decision to swap the plectrum for the paintbrush in earnest.
This commitment to art, and her experience of being part of vibrant art
scenes in her own country played a big part in helping her settle in her new home and build a life here.
“It was a big move that I just jumped into, but I thought to myself, I’m an artist, I’ll pick myself up and just make it work. So when I got here I painted and painted... a lot.”
And the results were immediate. Nikki’s artistic style treads that difficult line of representing a subject in a recognisable way while also revealing so much more of them, and their personality, than any photograph ever could. Her use of light and shade to capture the essence of a person is compelling and beautifully and delicately rendered. It’s a mesmerising
is gaining aWORDS BY LAWRENCE DIAMOND n PHOTO BY JULIA HAWKINS
and intimate style that the big move to the Big Smoke played an important role in shaping.
“Once I moved to London all of a sudden I had access to these incredible paintings. Just to be able to go to the National Portrait Gallery was incredible. I’d go to any museum I could and study the paintings and see them in real life. And that made a huge impact on the intention of my painting – just seeing the paint in person and being able to see that oh, wow, there’s so much green in that face and that’s what makes it look like flesh.”
She also noticed a shift in her artistic approach as she began to solely focus on making visual rather than sonic art. “I feel like as a visual artist, I am very much a perfectionist, I’m just work, work, work, work, work.
Whereas with music I was like, ‘Hey, this guitar, it just plays itself.’ I never focused on being a great musician or a virtuoso.”
There was also a release in shifting to an entirely new medium in an entirely new continent. “It was overwhelming, but also liberating. To be able to kind of start a new life in a way, with a new identity and be like, ‘I am a painter now, I don’t have to be this character that people are used to seeing on stage anymore. She’s gone.’”
Settled in her new home and honing her new craft, Nikki started taking on commissions and building a portfolio of work – while exhibiting at the now sadly defunct 2 Girls’ Cafe in Peckham. Then, as if life hadn’t changed enough, she and her now husband started a family. Fast forward
another couple of years, through days and nights of sketching at the kitchen table while keeping two small humans alive, and she’s turning her attention back to her craft and looking to build on the progress she’d already made before her children came along – now with the added motivation of doing it not just for herself, but to show her little ones the beauty of creating and living as an artist.
“There’s a time for everything you know. And that’s how I’m looking at my career right now as an artist. I feel like there is space again for it. I think it’s a great example for my children to also see me doing things that bring me joy and allow me to express myself. And for them to be able to grow up to be women who can express themselves creatively in whatever way they choose to.”
While obviously taking a pause to focus on family can pose its own challenges, Nikki embraces the growth it has provided for her as she begins to pick up her paintbrushes and pencils again. “Becoming a parent you become a different kind of artist, or a different kind of musician. With that shift I don’t know how you couldn’t, it’s going to have an effect no matter what. And I really feel it’s a positive one.”
The next step is to find her own studio space where she can draw and paint and most importantly, spend time with her subjects face to face. “I like spending time with the people that I’m doing portraits of, and kind of studying them,” she says. “You learn different things from experiencing their personality in the flesh, as opposed to just a photograph.”
And for Nikki a space within Catford would be ideal. “Just so I can be accessible to anyone locally,” she says. “There are so many families and young parents here. And I’m enjoying working with children and families, because that’s what I’m closest to right now. That’s my world. It feels very familiar and precious to me.”
In her spare time Nikki is a big fan of Catford’s Abbotshall community centre and Mountsfield Park –“Anywhere I can let the kids run around!” – as well as Nonki play cafe in Hither Green and the art and music scenes in Peckham and Nunhead, where she lived before moving to SE6. She is starting to introduce her children to music and art too.
“My eldest is getting to the point where I just give her a microphone and then I can play whatever I want on the guitar because she’s just getting on with being a star. It’s like, ‘I’ll just sit here and be your band and you do your thing, and that’s really fun.’”
So from taking to the road with rock duo Best Coast and recording kickass rock ’n’ roll in the south of America to capturing the people of south London on canvas, wood and paper, it’s been one hell of an adventure these last few years. How does she feel now as she pauses for a moment to reflect on where she’s ended up?
“It’s weird because when I first moved here, I felt like I knew it already, like I recognised things that I had never seen before. And I said to my husband, ‘I’ve had a dream about this’ or ‘I’ve been here before, I just know it’. So on a cosmic level I think I’ve ended up where I’m supposed to be. I’ve been to all the other parts of London, but nowhere else feels the same way to me.”
I like spending time with the people I'm doing portraits of so I can learn more about themArtist and Catford resident Nikki Kvarnes
Where do obsessions begin? For me it was in 1998. A snooker fan since childhood, my hero had always been Jimmy “The Whirlwind” White, so when I read in his autobiography that White rated a man called Patsy Houlihan as one of the greatest snooker players he had ever seen I was immediately intrigued.
I’d never heard of Houlihan, let alone seen him play, but I would spend the next 25 years – on and off –trying to find out more about him. The result of these labours is my book The Natural: The Story of Patsy Houlihan, the Greatest Snooker Player You Never Saw
The first thing you need to know about Houlihan is that he was a Deptford lad through and through.
Born Patrick William Houlihan on 7 November 1929 at 31 Hawkins House on New King Street, he died 77 years and one day later less than half a mile away in a ground floor flat on Abinger Grove, having spent almost his entire existence living within a two or threemile radius of the place of his birth.
During his lifetime, Patsy was as much a part of the local topography as any of the area’s landmarks.
“You know the old saying,” said his daughter Patricia aka Patsy Girl, who collaborated with me on the book. “You can take the man out of Deptford, but you can’t take Deptford out of the man. Deptford was everything to him.”
What made Houlihan such a special snooker player? First and foremost it was the fact that – in stylistic terms –he was a forerunner to the likes of Alex Higgins, White and Ronnie O’Sullivan – in other words he potted balls, and he potted them hard and fast.
In the 1950s and 60s Houlihan acquired a huge following on the amateur snooker scene, winning seven London championships and the English Amateur Championship, his army of fans from Deptford following his exploits across the country.
At the time, professional snooker was moribund and a crowd-pleasing talent like Houlihan was just what the sport needed to resurrect it. However, Houlihan was prevented for many years from turning professional by the game’s backward-looking ruling body. Snooker was controlled by ageing stars
seeking to protect their own financial interests rather than grow the sport and leading players like Joe and Fred Davis viewed Houlihan as a threat.
The snooker establishment also disapproved of the fact that – like Paul Newman’s cinematic icon “Fast”
Eddie Felson – Houlihan was a hustler, namely, someone who travelled up and down the country playing for money.
Houlihan turned to hustling as it was the only way he could make money from his uncanny abilities with a snooker cue and he preferred potting balls to hauling crates on the Surrey docks, as his dad had done before him and as he also did himself for a while.
Main photo: a very rare early colour photo of Houlihan, probably taken in the early 1960s.
Above: Houlihan in his late 60s, a bottle of his favourite light ale in front of him
coming up to you going, ‘All right mate? Fancy a game?’ I’d say, ‘Nah’, and I’d sit down and have my tea. Then some fella would say, ‘Anybody else?’ and I’d say, ‘Oh, all right, then.’ I’d let them win for not a lot of money and then they’re thinking, ‘This is all right’, and then I’d start coming back.”
Eventually, Houlihan’s face became too recognisable so he had to introduce other innovative wagers to earn money. Six-time world champion Steve Davis told me: “[Patsy would] play people and he wouldn’t be allowed to have the cue ball touch a cushion or whatever. People would think they would be able to beat him if he had that type of handicap but he was so skilful that he could still win.”
At other times, he would play onehanded, left-handed, or with the end of a broom rather than a cue.
Sadly, when Houlihan was finally allowed into professional snooker in the early 1970s, he was past his peak and had eyesight issues. Nevertheless,
future stars of the game who saw him play during this period were still wowed by his talents. A teenage Jimmy White played and hung around with Houlihan at the Pot Black snooker club in Battersea in the mid-70s.
“Some days Patsy struggled because he’d been drinking the night before or gambling or whatever, but when it all connected and he started performing, he was like no one else on earth,” White, now 60, says. “There are certain people in this world, certain sports people, like Floyd Mayweather in boxing or Tiger Woods in golf, like Ronnie O’Sullivan at times today, that when they hit their peak they just can’t be beat... Houlihan was like that.”
Although high-level success in the pro ranks eluded Houlihan, his glittering amateur career, and his brilliance on the snooker hall scene, created a mythical aura that has seen his legend continue to grow. He finally retired from snooker in 1993, but he remained a much-loved local character in and around Deptford, playing regularly at Shades snooker club on Deptford High Street for several years.
Lee Suleymanoglu, who worked in Shades and now owns the club, told me: “He was such a character and very charismatic. He would tell jokes. He was a bit of an actor, a showman, I would say. It’s a shame he didn’t get the recognition or money out of the game that he would have done if he was born 30 or 40 years later. What is it these days – half a million when you win the world championship? He was the most natural player I’ve ever seen.” Houlihan died in 2006, after a sad retreat into reclusivity during the final couple of years of his life. Today most of the haunts he once frequented have gone; his beloved Osborne Arms pub closed in 2010 and the Deptford Arms – another of his favourite boozers –is now a bookmakers. The building which once housed the Lucania, where Houlihan first picked up a cue in the 1940s, is still there, but is no longer a snooker club.
Heartbreakingly, virtually no video footage has survived of Houlihan either – just a shot or two and a couple of short interviews. It’s only through the stories that are still told about him, and the memories of those who knew and loved him – like his daughter Patsy Girl and his mate Jimmy White – that I’ve been able to piece together the life and times of Patsy Houlihan.
I guess that’s why I wrote a book about him, because memories matter, and history matters too, and maybe –just maybe – through the pages of my book, Patsy Houlihan can live again.
The Natural: The Story of Patsy Houlihan, the Greatest Snooker Player You Never Saw by Luke G Williams is out now, published by Pitch
He was such a character, very charismatic... and the most natural player I've ever seen
Patsy Houlihan’s immense talent and showmanship saw him achieve almost mythical status in the snooker halls of Deptford and beyond
10 DAYS OF MUSIC, LITERATURE, ART, COMEDY, THEATRE, HISTORY, WALKS, FILM, TALKS & FAIRS!
Over 100 events, including free family fun!
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The inaugural Catford Literary Festival in October 2022 was a resounding success, and for local author Anna Corbett it was a game changer.
“It was a fantastic event. I was delighted to see the room was packed and everyone was listening and that felt wonderful.”
Even the venue seemed auspicious for Anna, because she remembers bringing children to play in the sports fields at the Abbotshall centre when she was a teacher at Torridon school.
Anna is Lewisham to her core, having spent most of her working life here, so it comes as a surprise to learn that she was born and raised in Cornwall, and once considered retiring there, before trying Cardiff for size and deciding it didn’t fit.
“There’s nowhere like London,” says the happy Hither Green resident. “When I moved back [after the Cardiff experiment] I walked through Lewisham market and thought, ‘I’m home’.”
Home, and a sense of belonging, is one of the themes running through Anna’s first novel, Masquerade, and will be picked up in her second book, Full Circle, to which she’s putting the finishing touches before it’s published in May.
“Masquerade is inspired by a real person, who left our family 100 years ago. George, the character I develop in the novel, is based on a photo we had in our family. We often wondered what happened to him.
“In my book, which is set in 1923, George sends a photo of himself to his family in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay. He’d left without telling anyone years before, determined to live the high life in New York.”
George’s decision to deny his heritage in his adopted city has farreaching consequences, and it’s a conflict that Anna is familiar with in her own life.
“My father’s father was from Ghana but he settled in Cornwall and married a Cornish woman. My dad, also a seafarer, met my mum in Tiger Bay and brought her to Cornwall. They had six children.
“In those days people still said the word ‘coloured’ and there were very few coloured people in Truro. But it’s a beautiful place, I still have brothers and cousins who live there whom I go back to visit. However, I thought better of retiring to Cornwall because the attitudes are still a bit, well, parochial.”
Anna looks stricken for a moment.
“Oh, that sounds awful... I’ve been in London too long! Every Londoner you speak to seems to feel the same, though. In London everyone mixes together, especially in Lewisham. I found that in Cardiff this wasn’t the case, it was a tighter community, which is why I moved back here.
“My youngest brother, living in Cornwall, is 65 and has adult children. He’s often stopped by the police, for no reason. Just the other day he saw some policemen in a car clocking him, so he stopped voluntarily. They drew up and asked why he’d stopped. He told them he just knew they were going to pull him over. They wrote a report afterwards claiming they’d had to chase him with their blue lights on.”
She sighs, and continues.
“We grew up in a council house. In those days you had to take the 11-plus,
the bar in the evenings. It was hard work, but rewarding, because at the time there was a resurgence of jazz in Britain. Courtney Pine, Gary Crosby and Dudu Pukwana were just some of the big names that used to play there.
“I became friends with many of the musicians, and interviewed them recently for the new book. I also used to host a local radio jazz show when I lived in Cardiff.”
Thinking about the character of Sarah has brought up more memories from Anna’s youth. “I was born in 1947. When I was growing up, there was another little girl in Truro who looked like me; people said she’d been left behind by a soldier.
“I was adamant that I didn’t want to be mixed up with her and I wanted people to know that I’m black and my mum and dad are black. I used to walk around with a photo of my parents and tell people that this is my mum and this is my dad and I wasn’t left behind. I wanted to emphasise my identity.”
Since she retired 15 years ago, Anna has had time to work through the many episodes of her eventful life, from her feelings of otherness at that Cornish school, to her long career as a teacher.
which I passed and earned a place in the girls’ grammar school, on the other side of town. There was a handful of us from the council estate. I really stuck out. We used to walk there; the rich girls came in by car and coach from the lovely little houses by the river and the coast. Working-class girls felt segregated.
“These recollections inform the story of my next book, about a little girl called Sarah. I’ve named her after the great Sarah Vaughan.”
Ah, yes, there’s the jazz element. Anna is steeped in it. “I was brought up with jazz, it’s in my blood. All my family play instruments and sing. We had a piano, my dad played, my brother played, my nephew plays and teaches piano. I used to sing, but I don’t anymore.
“In the 1980s, my [now ex] husband ran a rather infamous pub in Brixton called the Atlantic [now Dogstar]. I was teaching during the day, looking after my kids and working behind
“I taught for 33 years, I still miss the children terribly. I qualified as a teacher in a college in Wimbledon, and when I retired, I studied for a degree in English and American literature at Goldsmiths.”
After the degree, she went on to do a master’s in creative and life writing, which gave her the confidence to embark on Masquerade.
Anna is at pains to emphasise that while the book is inspired by a family photograph, it is a work of fiction and not a family history. However, her story has prompted a new family member to step out of the shadows.
“A couple of months ago someone popped up on Facebook – he turned out to be the grandson of the glamorous man in the photograph. He knew nothing about his grandfather’s childhood in Cardiff, nor this huge extended family.
“I have family all over the world, and some are still in Cardiff. We recently had a massive reunion there, more than 100 people turned up. We sent this man in America a photo of the reunion, and since then, he’s been rather quiet.”
Anna laughs at the thought of the poor guy taking fright at the sheer size of his long-lost family – and possibly the overwhelming amount of catching up there is to be done and stories to be told.
“I used to say this to the kids I taught,” Anna says. “Everyone has a family story and I just love stories.”
And if there’s one person who knows how to jazz up a story, it’s Anna Corbett.
When I go to visit my parents and Dad makes this, I’m immediately transported to my childhood. The dish is so evocative for me. Still, to this day, my parents split the tasks: Dad on ackee and saltfish, Mum on plantain and dumpling duty.
Because canned ackee is so expensive, Dad would only use one can and that determined how much could be made. So instead I’d monitor Mum as she mixed the dumpling dough, willing her to make loads.
This is a dish that I always eat with my hands, using torn bits of fried dumpling to scoop up mouthfuls. And I mop up every bit of sauce.
Ackee and saltfish encapsulates the essence of Jamaican food in its conjoining of ingredients from various sources to create something that, to me, is greater than the sum of its parts. Saltfish imported from North America, primarily Canada, was traded with Europe as part of the Triangular Trade.
In the Caribbean, a poorer-quality version called “West India cure” or “Jamaica cure” – that would have been rejected by Europeans – was eaten. This featured heavily in enslaved people’s diets as a protein source.
Ackee, in turn, is a fruit that was brought to Jamaica from West Africa on a slave ship in 1778.
The exact moment the two were paired has never been definitively pinpointed, to my knowledge. But perhaps, back when saltfish was not of the highest quality, other ingredients were added to dilute its taste.
Ingredients (serves 4)
225g saltfish, rinsed and soaked overnight
2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed ⅓–1 scotch bonnet, deseeded and finely chopped, to taste
2 medium tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
Leaves from 3 thyme sprigs
150ml water
540g can of ackee, drained
ACROSS
8 BLACKKEYTREMOR (anagram) (8, 6)
9 Young sheep (4)
10 Free, liberate (10)
11 Holy building (6)
13 Saltiness (8)
15 Libya’s capital (7)
17 Own, have (7)
19 Statue maker (8)
22 Hay-cutting implement (6)
24 Springtime chocolate treats (6, 4)
26 Adore (4)
27 Decide (4, 2, 4, 4)
To serve (optional)
Seasoned callaloo and fried dumplings or festival
Method
1 Put the saltfish in a pan of water and bring it to the boil. Simmer until the fish is cooked through and soft; the time this takes will vary depending on the type of fish, so expect anything from 8 up to 20 minutes. Once cooked, drain. When it is cool, break the fish into smaller pieces, checking for bones and removing them as you go and removing the skin as well.
2 Pour the oil into a frying pan and fry the onion, red pepper, garlic and scotch bonnet over a medium heat until they soften, without letting them colour; 8-10 minutes.
3 Add the saltfish, cook for 5 minutes, then add the tomatoes, spring onions, thyme and measured water. Cook for a further 5-8 minutes until the tomatoes and spring onions soften.
4 Gently stir in the ackee, being careful not to break the curds up. Warm through for 2-3 minutes and serve.
BY ALDHELMDOWN
1 Compose (6)
2 Strike-breaker (4)
3 Springtime woodland flower (8)
4 Sidestep, go around (6)
5 Abolish (6)
6 Miss out (4)
7 Laws, edicts (8)
12 Schoolchild (5)
14 Unpleasant (5)
16 Wins back (8)
18 Infatuated, preoccupied (8)
20 Appear, arrive (4, 2)
21 Area (6)
23 Cuba’s capital (6)
25 Grab, seize (4)
26 Green citrus fruit (4)
This striking statue in Telegraph Hill Park pays tribute to the writer, merchant and explorer Olaudah Equiano – a former slave born circa 1745 in the Kingdom of Benin (now southern Nigeria) who was a key figure in the campaign to abolish the slave trade.
Equiano was part of the Sons of Africa, an abolitionist group of Africans living in Britain. His autobiography, which he published in 1789, depicted the horrors of slavery.
The bust was created by children from nearby Edmund Waller school in 2008. The colourful plinth it sits on has three sides, symbolising the triangular route of the Atlantic slave trade and the three stages of Equiano's life as a child living in Africa, slave and free man.
