The Transmitter Issue 25

FREE

ISSUE 25 SEP 2012

A SOUTH EAST LONDON MAGAZINE www.thetransmitter.co.uk

BREAD & caTS

A CURIOUS ISSUE Plus

PHOTOS

FILM

MUSIC

BOOKS

RECIPES

Open Day Saturday 29 September 2012 10.00 am - 1.00 pm

Senior School (11-18) 42 Abbotswood Road, SW16 1AW 020 8677 8400 enquiry@shc.gdst.net

www.schs.gdst.net

Outperforming expectations on a daily basis

Open Day Saturday 22 September 2012 10.00 am - 12 noon 2

Nursery and Junior School (3-11) Wavertree Road, SW2 3SR 020 8674 6912 enquiry@shj.gdst.net

www.schs.gdst.net

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Winner S.E. London branch New Star Award 2010

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Good Beer Guide 2012

The Grape & Grain Autumn Beer Festival 5th - 8th October 2012

60+ ales and ciders from the very best micros in the UK Food available all weekend.

Discount for CAMRA members on food and 50p per pint discount on ales Live music on Friday, Saturday and Monday evenings and Sunday lunch 2 Anerley Hill, Crystal Palace, SE19 2AA Tel: 020 8778 4109 www.thegrapeandgrainse19.co.uk

Mainline/Overground station 3 mins Bus station 1 min

South East London Pub of the Year 2011. One of London’s best 250 pubs and bars.

The Old Chocolate Factory 74-76 Knights Hill, West Norwood 020 8761 2522 www.roseberys.co.uk info@roseberys.co.uk

Bid For Something Beautiful QUARTERLY FINE ART AUCTION Includes Decorative Arts and Modern Design 18 and 19 September Viewing: 14 September 1-5pm, 16 September 10-2pm, 17 September 9.30-5.30pm ANTIQUE AND COLLECTOR’S AUCTION Includes ‘Affordable Art’ 20 October Viewing: 18 October 1-5pm, 19 October 9.30-5.30pm ANTIQUE AND COLLECTOR’S AUCTION 10 November Viewing: 8 November 1-5pm, 9 November 9.30-5.30pm VISIT OUR WEBSITE TO FIND OUT ABOUT FREE VALUATIONS

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WELCOME TO THE Curious ISSUE editor Andy Pontin writers Jess Allen Georgina Conway Justine Crow Sarah Edmonds Alex Fowler Ali Howard Jonathan Main Howard Male Connie May Annette Prosser Rachel de Thample Laura Thomas photography Mark Blundell Sarah Edmonds Louise Haywood-Schiefer Simon Sharville Andy Pontin

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his issue we have all sorts of curious features for you.

Plus, for some reason that now eludes me, we have a whole loaf of articles about bread.

As well as our curious Alice cover and photoshoot , we have curious cats for you, some curious factoids about local things, intriguing information about people who are plaqued and the curious tale of someone who chose to live in a loo.

Well, I hope I have whetted your curiosity enough to want to read our little mag, or at least look at all the lovely pictures. And this issue we really do have loads of photos. As well as our Mad Hatter's tea party and Louise Haywood-Schiefer's uber-cute portraits of local cats, I my own self was let loose on an actual for real film set and so we can bring you exclusive pics of actual film stars and stuff. And we also have some of your readers pictures.

So that's a lot of pictures.

Enjoy Ed

printing The Marstan Press Ltd Contact

Transmission Publications Ltd PO Box 53556, London SE19 2TL

www.thetransmitter.co.uk editor@thetransmitter.co.uk 020 8771 5543 @thetransmitter

Cover Wes from Crystal Palace based band The Peryls is channelling Mad Hatter.

Various lovely local retailers helped with props - see more info on page 33.

Photography by Andy Pontin

Disclaimer The views expressed by contributors are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect this magazine's editorial policy or the views of any employee of Transmission Publications Ltd. So there.

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Alice illustration: Karin Dahlbacka

CONTENTS 20

FEATURES 16

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I LIVE IN A TOILET BY THE BUS GARAGE Laura Clark’s derelict public toilets turned des res

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THE KNOT FILM

A Transmitter exclusive with producer Enrico Tessarin

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PLAQUE ATTACK!

Who were all these miserable old gits on blue plaques?

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WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT

Louise Haywood-Schiefer celebrates the feline form

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BLACKBIRD BAKERY

A local firm that bakes

REGULARS 6

NEWS, EVENTS & TRADING PLACES

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PHOTOGRAPHY: READERS' PICS

Remember the summer?

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CARTOON: OLD FOSSILS RETIREMENT HOME

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PHOTOSHOOT: ALICE IN PALACELAND

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COOKING: LOAVES TO LOVE

Rachel De Thample with bread info and recipes

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BOOKS: THE BOOKSELLER

Jonathan Main rounds up some reading matter

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MUSIC: THERE’S A WORLD OUT THERE!

Howard Male's old column gets a fresh outing

If we know about it, we print it

The old dinos continue their uneasy existence

A mad looking bloke invites Alice over for tea & cakes

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NEWS & EVENTS ART, JAM, BUGS ... IT'S ALL HAPPENING EMAIL US: editor@thetransmitter.Co.Uk

JAM SESSIONS AT THE PALACE No not guitar-based, but real fruit jams, made from local fruit. So you won’t need a plectrum, but you may end up in a bit of a pickle …

Crystal Palace Transition Town is an open community group, building resilience up on the hill. One of their new aims is to start a local food market in 2013. In preparation for this, they are starting to make jams and pickles with any excess local produce, both to supply the market and to stop it rotting on the ground or in the bin.

Local chef and author Rachel de Thample wants to resurrect the art of seasonal preserve-making and is calling for interested people and excess produce to make this happen. Do you want to learn how to make jams/pickles? Do you have excess produce in your back garden? Do you have an allotment and find yourself with a glut? They want your excess fruit and veg!

On Mondays throughout September and October, you can go jammin’ with the group at The Grape & Grain. Contact Rachel at food@ crystalpalacetransition.org.uk or 07693 534326 if you have produce to donate or you’d like to join in. www.crystalpalacetransition.org.uk

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DOMARTI

MYSTERY DINING

The work of local artist Angelique Hartigan will be adorning the walls of Domali from next month as her solo show, entitled A Year in Crystal Palace, opens on 8 October. The show runs until mid January. If you’re Crystal Palace newbies, you may not know of the plethora of art talent in the area. Check out The Bigger Picture Gallery too – their one-day pop-ups are coming soon, starting on Saturday 20 October, at Victory Place – especially if you’re looking to buy something original for your new SE19 pad.

The inaugural Gingerline experience at the new Gingerline HQ has now taken place! As we went to press, the September fortnight was sold out. As the location is revealed to guests only an hour before the extravaganza starts, we can’t give any details. But we can attest it was most definitely brilliant and took place somewhere along the Overground (ELL). To find out more about Gingerline go back to Transmitter issue 22 (available online at www.thetransmitter.co.uk) to read what Justine Crow made of her taste of the unknown. And if you missed out this time, worry ye not. The next series of clandestine theatrical foodie experiences starts on Wednesday 10 October.

www.angelique-hartigan-artist.co.uk www.biggerpicturegallery.co.uk Domali 38 Westow Street London SE19 3AH

www.gingerline.co.uk for more details and to book

WEDDING FEVER The recently-betrothed will be interested to find out that the Crystal Wedding Lounge is back.

Start planning for The Best Wedding Ever by popping along to the Sparrowhawk pub from noon til 4.30pm on Sunday 7 October where upstairs you’ll find professional local creatives who specialise in all those vital things you need for the big day.

Take a notebook.

The Sparrowhawk Pub Westow Street, SE19

Open Studio Coopers Yard creatives are throwing open their doors for another Open Studio.

Come and meet the team, view their latest work and enjoy a glass of mulled wine.

Fri 2 November 6-9pm Sat-Sun 3 & 4 November 11am-5pm.

TENNIS TIPS Two Introduction to Tennis courses for beginners will be starting at Sydenham Tennis Club on Wednesday 12 September (7-8pm) and Saturday 15 September (4-5pm).

The six-week courses for beginners and returners are suitable for those who want to start playing or would like to brush up on their skills after a long absence from the courts. For more information call 07776 231676 Meanwhile if Andy Murray winning at London 2012 inspired you but actually led to you overdoing it a bit, you might want to limp down to a free Sports Injury Prevention seminar at the club on Thursday 13 September at 8pm. Open to members and non-members, it comes courtesy of expert advisers from the Crystal Palace Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Centre. Places are limited, so you’ll need to register via email to enquiries@cpsic.co.uk or call 020 8778 9050. www.sltcc.co.uk

BUGS R US Budding David Attenboroughs take note, as Saturday 22 September sees the launch of the Edible Garden’s Bugs Club for children in Westow Park. All ages are welcome to join the 45-minute nature-based workshop which will run every Saturday from 11.30am-12.15pm.

The theme for September: Trees.

Meet in the Edible Garden (near the Secret Garden centre entrance to the park). No need to book, just drop in and see what you can discover. £2 per family.

E: Food@crystalpalacetransition.org.uk or phone Rachel 07963 534326 for details.

Want to learn the strategies behind good planting and design?

A career in garden design is for people who want to combine an artistic flair with a love of plants and an interest in green spaces. Because it straddles both arts and sciences, sound knowledge of horticulture is needed. Capel Manor is the largest land-based college in London, operating across five centres which include Crystal Palace Park and Regent’s Park. Garden design programmes include everything from ten week botanical illustration courses to two year diplomas, with add-ons in Computer Aided Drawing, and drawing and graphics.

Our garden design students and staff have won prizes at Hampton Court and Chelsea Flower Shows on an almost annual basis for the past 16 years. Many people come to us because they want to be their own boss and enjoy both the creative process and challenge of implementing a design. All are passionate about plants.

Malcolm Shimmin, 45, from Brixton worked as a social worked for 25 years in homelessness and mental health, and wanted a bit of a change. Horticulture appealed because growing up with a big garden and a mother who loved gardening had given him a passion for it, and he enjoyed pottering about in his own courtyard garden. Having completed an RHS Level 2 Certificate and a Level 1 Introduction to Garden Design course at Capel Manor, Malcolm will undertake another two years of study at the College with a Level 3 Diploma in Garden Design, in September.

'I'd spent a lot of my career being office based so I wanted something that would involve being outside.

I was one of quite a few career changers on my course and I didn’t have a lot of experience, but there were some people that already had their own businesses so I’d do a

bit of work with them to build up my experience. I also volunteered at Crystal Palace Park Farm, which enabled me to put a lot of things into practise. I’ve picked up quite a lot of work now with my business, ‘Malcolm’s Home and Garden Care’, and with friends and neighbours knowing I’ve done the course, I’m getting requests to advise on their gardens. The garden design course taught me that I can do things I believed I never could, like drawing.

You learn the basic components of graphics and the principals of design and at the end you produce a garden design project. I am a lot more creative than I ever realised.'

Capel Manor offers a range of nationally accredited courses and apprenticeships for those looking to live their learning, with interests in the environment, animals or working with plants, trees and flowers. For further details visit www.capel.ac.uk or ring 08456 122 122.

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TRADING PLACES KEEPING AN EYE ON LOCAL business, as usual

ONLINE SOULCIALIZING

HERBACEOUS PENGE BORDERS

Lots of Transmitter readers will be sad that they can no longer sit amidst the cheery cupcakes and duck-egg blue paintwork of the relaxed Soulcialize for a coffee, a chat and a sweet treat. After a year of trading, January decided to close the high street door last month – a difficult decision to take – and to concentrate on distributing the deliciousness online and at special events instead. Soulcialize’s extremely tasty Freedom cakes (free from gluten, eggs, dairy, whatever you need) will still be available for events such as birthdays and weddings, and there’ll be opportunities too to learn the skills yourself with private baking groups and decorating workshops. If you’re missing them already, have a look at www.soulcialize.co.uk for more info.

An entire team of Wallpaper* stylists couldn’t have put together a prettier, more stylish garden centre than the new Alexandra Nurseries in Penge.

Out of a former caretaker’s office and workshop which once serviced an estate of late 19th-century cottages in Parish Lane, owners John and Sarah have created a small but exquisite independent nursery-teashop-homewares store.

With an eco ethos, naturally the emphasis is on British-grown plants, whilst the compact shop specialises in vintage loveliness (we coveted the nicer-than-usual biscuit tins, boardgames and mid-century crockery) and really rather nice locally-crafted handmade items. A more charming London oasis for tea and homemade cake would be hard to find, we expect to see Richard Curtis filming there soon …

SWEET & SAVOURY Beauty salon La Belle Jolie may have started a bit of a makeover in Anerley Road of late, as we hear news from down the hill of three new businesses opening their doors.

Pizza lovers might like to pop into the new Italian cafe Il Grillo to sample their delights, whilst candylovers of all ages are probably keen to eye up the jars of goodies at The Sweet Boutique. And if the last few years are anything to go by, we might yet get to see an Indian summer which would be excellent news for gelato-sellers Crystal Creams. Though having said that, is any day a bad day for ice-cream? Try their Ferrero Rocher flavour, you’ll love it.

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Alexandra Nurseries Parish Lane Penge SE20 7LJ 0208 778 4145 www.alexandranurseries.co.uk

NEW CHOCOLATE KLAXON! Real chocolate-lovers will already know about cocoa nibs, but if you’re one of the sad unfortunates who doesn’t, pop into Smash Bang Wallop and bag yourself a treat. Up until now, nibs have been sold only as an ingredient to embellish other foods, adding a new dimension to recipes or perhaps sprinkled on ice-cream or muesli. Feeling it was time for the undervalued nib to be given the stardom it deserves, local cocoa-fanciers Liz Clamp and Will Hogan have created Verdant Pod’s six brand new flavours to encourage the discerning chocolate-nibbler to try nibs on their own. Flavours including Rose & White Pepper, Lemon & Basil and Chilli Cool are on the SBW shelves now: it’s scientific fact that quality chocolate is actually good for you, what are you waiting for?

Smash Bang Wallop Westow Street, SE19

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www.sltcc.co.uk 9

GET CARTER HURRAY! MORE MENSWEAR ON OUR DOORSTEP

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k folks, hold on to your hats, the posh-o-meter has reached its highest level yet, as Simon Carter (aka @kingofcufflinks) opens up a new branch of his sartorial empire here in Crystal Palace. In addition to the designer streetwear of D Solo’s and the cool vintage slick of Crazy Man Crazy, the Triangle can now boast high-end gentlemen’s sundries, as the prestigious label comes to roost at Blackbird’s erstwhile premises on the White Hart corner of Westow Street.

Stocking Liberty print shirts in classy yet playful colour combos, and somuch-nicer-than-M&S Italian socks in a range of vibrant colours, we can expect the menfolk of the region to start sprucing up their act a bit and getting all metrosexual. The range also includes watches and signature cufflinks (previously stocked at SmashBangWallop), wallets and ties too. An enticing selection of jewellery for women might also attract those looking for gifts for their ladies.

Simon’s own personal favourite in the clothing range is the new autumn/winter tweed and velvet jacket. His advice? ‘It’s great with jeans, or smarten it up with a crisp white shirt and chinos’.

But will we Crystal Palatians be offered anything that isn’t available elsewhere? An exclusive range perhaps? ‘Definitely!’ says Simon ‘I’m thinking of a Westow Collection inspired by the Crystal Palace itself.

Also, there’s a selection of antiques from my own collection that will be for sale’.

Already the proud owner of shops in Shepherd Market, Lamb’s Conduit Street and Great Missenden,

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Buckinghamshire – and with stockists including Selfridges and Harvey Nichols – Crystal Palace resident Simon is thrilled to at last have opened up in his hometown: ‘Where could be more prestigious than Crystal Palace! It’s my local shopping and recreational centre and I believe there are enough stylish residents to support the store.’

The shop interior itself is proper classy, and has quirkiness aplenty to suit the SE19 aesthetic. Bowls club honours boards have been salvaged from the South Norwood pavilion last year, and there’s even a side table made from the polished aluminium tailfin of a 1960s RAF Chipmunk training plane. ‘Of all my stores, this is my favourite,’ Simon tells us, brimming with Palace pride.

He’s one of our own, let’s show him some love!

Open 7 days a week 10am to 6.30pm 73 Westow Street, SE19 020 8768 1457 www.simoncarter.net

Simon Carter. Photo by Andy Pontin

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SUMMER IN THE CITY

sarah edmonds'

READERS' PICS tweet your pics to: @_sarahEd

BMX stunts in West Norwood, taken by Steve Green

BOING Jeremy Deller’s touring work Sacrilege was a London 2012 Festival commission that really hit the spot, as hundreds queued under a boiling August sun in Crystal Palace Park to spend 10 mad minutes bouncing on a giant inflatable replica of Stonehenge.

If it looks like fun, that’s because it was. The installation had travelled throughout the nation since Midsummers Day (ending early September in Lancashire) and has been described by the artist, better known for his intense interpretations of history, as ‘about as playful as you can get’. He’s not wrong there. www.sacrilege2012.co.uk

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Photo: Alison Lyndon-Parker

OLYMPIC VILLAGE It was hard to imagine that the images of cheering crowds we saw on the telly could be replicated in our lovable but slightly scruffy Crystal Palace. But the crowds came, we all left our South London cynicism at home and for a few hours everyone got all excited and emotional and joined in with a national phenomenon. And our 2012 experience didn’t end there: with Team Brasil literally just around the corner it was carnival all the way. Here are our favourite readers’ snaps.

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CURIOUS

FACTOIDS •

Charles Dickens wrote a goodly portion of David Copperfield sitting under a Maple tree on Beulah Hill.

•

Michael Caine's famous "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" scene in The Italian Job was shot in Crystal Palace Park. You can clearly see the transmitter behind him.

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The first Crystal Palace Football Club was formed in 1861 and consisted of exhibition staff from the palace itself and local people from Penge and Sydenham

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The club played at the actual Crystal Palace (at the ground that also hosted the FA Cup final) until the outbreak of the First World War.

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Glamorous Hollywood star of the 1940s Margaret Lockwood lived at 2 Lunham Road, SE19 and attended Sydenham High School.

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Pear Tree House was the former Civil Defence control centre for SouthEast London. It is a block of council flats in the Central Hill Estate of Upper Norwood with 8 two-bedroom flats and the control centre in the basement.

ALBINO SQUIRRELs? ALEX FOWLER IS SEEING THINGS

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y girlfriend thought I was mad. They all thought I was mad. I even questioned my own sanity at various points. Back in October 2010, I saw something remarkable scurry across the platform at West Norwood train station: it was an all-white squirrel. An unbelievable and unforgettable experience, it whetted my appetite to find out more.

It turns out that rather than being some amazing new species of squirrel, white squirrels are in fact grey squirrels born with albinism caused by gene mutations. The mutations affect the production of pigmentation and their lack of melanin gives them a distinctive pure white coat and red eyes.

The condition is hereditary: when the albino squirrels breed they tend to create mini ‘colonies’ in small pockets of the country.

And the good news is that one such pocket is here in South London! Over the last few years there have been numerous sightings in the area. In 2003 the BBC reported on a baby albino, christened Daz, found in Wallington after being knocked out of a tree by a football.

In 2009 there was a further spate there with one lucky homeowner spotting a pair of

them in her garden. Ivor Paetow from Great Bookham even spotted three! According to some locals they have also been seen closer to home in Croydon and West Norwood Park.

To Mathew Frith, Deputy CEO of the London Wildlife Trust, all these sightings are not surprising. ‘Albinism and leucism in grey squirrels isn’t uncommon’ he explains, ‘we get regular sightings of them from around South London, for example one used to be resident around the Dulwich Woods, which suggests a genetic strain in this part of England’. That would certainly explain my pigmentallychallenged furry friend at West Norwood Station.

There have been no recent sightings in Crystal Palace but there are stories of one who lived for about eight years in the park. Here’s hoping that one day a new family will move in!

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I LIVE IN A TOILET Ali Howard meets Laura Clark, creator of the Triangle’s coolest home. PHOTOS MARK Blundell

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stylish park-side des res slap bang in the centre of Crystal Palace? They don’t come much more stylish, or more central than Laura Clark’s derelict public toilets turned underground crash pad on Crystal Palace Parade. The young architect has triumphed in an ambitious development that wasn’t without its false starts and hardships along the way. She explains: ‘I came across the toilets as they were – beaten up and disgusting and I thought, I wonder what they’re like inside and whether I could buy them. But it took ages … because they’re on the border of different councils. Eventually I got to the right person who said “no, absolutely not, you can’t have them”.’

The story, of course could have ended there but testament to Laura’s creative vision and her sledgehammer-wielding fighting spirit, she wouldn’t take no for an answer: ‘We just carried on bartering. It became one of those elephant in the room scenarios: “how are the toilets, Laura? They’re fine! Let’s move on!”.

But most people were really excited and interested and I’d get newspaper cuttings of other converted toilets sent through. We went to Ginglik in Shepherd’s Bush and Public Life in Spitalfields. We looked round at bars.

That’s what we wanted to do originally – turn it into a bar. We spoke to a few people about them running it and we even had a name for it – Porcelain.’

So what made Laura change her mind? ‘There were three or four years of back and forth with the council so by the time it got to the point I could actually go ahead and do it and I’d paid thousands of pounds in solicitors’ fees, the credit crunch hit and pubs were closing down all over. I worked out that I could get a sunken courtyard garden in there and I realised I could get a lot of ventilation, so as soon as I’d thought about that I thought well, actually, I could live here!’

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markblundellphoto.com

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A blessing in disguise given that on entering the flat you’re struck by its sanctuary-like tranquillity, its harmony. It really works, not just as a designer pad but as a real home.

It’s hard to imagine the place being used as anything else. It must have taken a fair whack of experience and confidence to pull off such a bold project, I suggest: ‘It’s my first own small development. I was used to development where you get a free reign but it’s totally different when it’s your own. I did quite a lot of the work myself. It was just exhausting.’

than bulky kitchen cupboards. ‘Ever since university I’ve drawn these floating shelves but this was the first time I’d actually got to do them’, the architect enthuses. Ingeniously, despite the flat’s limited square footage, Laura still manages to squeeze in an enviable wall of shoes and a walk-in wardrobe (shamelessly girly priorities in check, of course).

The bedroom is a cosy snug that demands diving into after a busy day, separated by a large, dramatic sweeping red curtain. ‘That was my husband’s idea – he’s colour blind and

I thought well actually, I could live here!

Laura explains that the toilets were built in the late 1920s, when they knew how to make concrete – very, very well. ‘The whole thing was tiled (and I’ve kept some of the original tiles in the kitchen). I went down there with a labourer on the first day and he never showed up again! I ended up contracting a couple of Bulgarian chaps who were amazing and the three of us kind of hit it for two and a half weeks.They were just brilliant.’

She must have attracted attention from the locals given the location and what sounds like a hell of a job breaking through all those tiles and concrete. A public inconvenience, perhaps? ‘I’d be lugging concrete up the steps and people would come up to me and say “that’s fantastic”. I think because I was there myself and it wasn’t just some rich person paying somebody else to do all the work people thought you’re alright, love, you’re alright.’

The apartment is contemporarycool, streamlined and surprisingly light and airy. A beautiful wooden floor stretches out catwalk-like across the length of the flat keeping the living, kitchen and dining areas open. There are some very clever touches that maximise space like the use of long, floating shelves rather

the only colour he can see properly is red. I thought it worked really well.’

Laura’s underground lair relies on the natural light streaming in from the skylights overhead, but what’s it like having the population of Crystal Palace scurry past at rush hour? ‘You can see them! You can hear the high heels. And dogs quite frequently, but you generally just kind of tune out of it. Sometimes it’s great if the alarm doesn’t work. I hear running feet and I think oh, it must be half past seven.’

She describes living on the Triangle as ‘absolutely amazing. You have to stop yourself going to Joanna’s for breakfast every morning. And with the Dulwich Paragon cycling team sat outside Café Paradou, it's just like Paris! In my mind anyway.’

Endearingly, Laura still refers to the flat as ‘the toilets’ and to this day gets called Laura Toilets by friends’ parents who’ve followed her seven-year conversion campaign with fascination. It’s certainly been a labour of love, so what lies in store for the couple with one of the coolest addresses in south London? ‘I don’t know. It’s quite a small flat. But we’re just enjoying living here and loving Crystal Palace, so we’ll probably stay here for a little while yet.’ We hope they do.

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TYING THE KNOT HOW THE HELL DO YOU MAKE YOUR FIRST FEATURE FILM? TALENT, LUCK AND LOADS OF DOSH, AND NOT NECESSARILY IN THAT ORDER. LOCAL DIRECTOR ENRICO TESSARIN TELLS IT LIKE IT IS. INTERVIEW AND PHOTOS ANDY PONTIN

Enrico and Mirko with a slate for their upcoming self-penned feature 'The Habit of Beauty': : Photo Andy Pontin

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shelf just as I was getting changed or something, and I remember thinking ‘I’ll read three pages, just to keep him happy, just because he’s pestering me’. I think I read 70 pages in one go: I was like ‘wow, this is really good’. I rang the guy the day after and said ‘I love this, I’d like to make this. Is Noel Clarke really involved?’ It was just after Clarke won a BAFTA for Adulthood so he was in this big trajectory towards God knows what. It took me maybe another four months before I actually managed to speak to him, but eventually I did and they realised I was serious.

So then you needed cash?

F

ilmmaker Enrico Tessarin and his creative partner Mirko Pincelli have already this year seen their gritty documentary Uspomene 677 about the legacy of the Bosnian war (677 is a reference to the number of concentration camps set up during the conflict) released to critical acclaim. Now a very different product from a creative maelstrom with Italian born, Crystal Palace loving Enrico at its epicentre is about to hit the big screens.

From one viewpoint, The Knot is quite a small movie, however if your production office is in Crystal Palace rather than Los Angeles, then it's quite a BIG movie. Plus, these nice people let The Transmitter run all over the set, snapping pics of the goings on. So we like them lots.

How did The Knot begin life?

Around August 2009 we were casting for a project we were doing for Hammer. A nice actor called Davie Fairbanks came down and said ‘I’ve got this script and I recommend Noel Clarke’. I really wanted to make a film and we were looking for scripts but you always get these mad people that tell you ‘oh yeah, I’ve written a script with this and that’ and I was like ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever’. It took me probably a couple of months to read it. I’m really bad at reading scripts unless they’re printed, and obviously everybody hates printing scripts because it’s a lot of paper and ink, and so normally what I do is open the computer, read the first three pages, get bored and forget about it. This time I opened up the computer, put it on top of the

I did something very stupid. I borrowed 15 grand to set up a production company on the Enterprise Investment Scheme – a kind of tax break to promote investment. I took a big risk because I had a mortgage, I’d just had a little girl … but I did it because I was so desperate to make a feature film. Thank God we soon got the first investors, a wonderful couple from Croydon, who are still our friends. We found that first finance around September 2009 – it would take me another year and a half to find the rest. The fundraising was really bizarre, it was my first time, and how do you go about raising three quarters of a million pounds?

At one point I didn’t know where else to go, we had run out of contacts, so I sent an email, 50 of them, to every single producer I knew – I could have sent 50 emails two years before, I don’t know why I didn’t – and two people replied and

L to R: Trevor Forrest (DP), Jesse Lawrence (Director) Noel Clarke (Co-writer/Producer/Actor), Emily Beddard (Production Manager), Greg McManus (Line Producer), Enrico, Jason Maza (Actor)

I did something very

I did it because I was so desperate to make a feature film

stupid.

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one became the final investor. After a long haul eventually we raised all the money we needed and we started shooting 28 March 2011.

You must have been very relieved to just get the cameras rolling …

Absolutely. It felt like a destiny almost. I left Italy almost 15 years ago, and I promised myself and my father that I would make a feature film. My father fell ill on week two of The Knot: we did the first two weeks and we were very happy and suddenly I get a telephone call from A&E and I have to fly back to Italy in the middle of the 'wedding' reception – with the bride coming!

Mena Suvari had come from Hollywood, and obviously this was one of the highlights for me. It was a big deal. This star, from American Beauty, coming from Hollywood.

When you have these kind of stars – which I’ve never dealt with before – you deal with them in a certain way. Obviously Noel is more used to it, so we went to The Ivy – I think I’ll never forget this in my life because I don’t know if it’s ever going to happen again! So it was myself, Noel Clarke, Mena Suvari, Talulah Riley, Matthew McNulty, Josh Varney (Noel’s business partner) and Jesse Lawrence (the director), all of us at the table chatting, and I was like pinching myself ‘is this real?’ I left first because we were shooting the day after, then Mena came and the paparazzi were outside. For the first time in my life people waiting with cameras!

So there I was, over the moon, then my father got sick and I had to fly back to Italy. I took my father home when he got better, flew back for week four, started editing. Then I had to fly back again because he was ill again and eventually he passed away last year before the film was in the cinema.

Did you manage to stay on budget?

The shoot ended on schedule and on budget to £500 of the original budget which I was very proud of.

Although it’s a low budget film, it’s the high end of low budget. We just about had enough time and money to pay some key, really good people. We had an amazing line producer – without whom the film

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23

Talulah Riley. Photos Andy Pontin

would have collapsed ten times over – amazing costume, makeup, lighting dept, camera dept.

Everybody was really at the top of their game.

we jammed the courtyard full of trucks : wow, am I in charge of all this?

On the shoot we didn’t have any hiccups at all. Everybody was very experienced, apart from me probably, everybody had already made ten features. I remember one day in the church when I just realised the scale. There was a big church on Stepney Green that was the wrong wedding [when you watch the film you’ll get what I’m saying]. We jammed the church courtyard full of trucks and vehicles and so on, and I was like ‘wow, am I in charge of all of this?’ It was a bit freaky but it was amazing and I was really proud. It was really challenging to see certain things that I had failed with in the past with a less experienced crew, that we now managed to succeed with. For example, how do you fill up a church, twice? There’s the main wedding but also the wrong wedding – I remember having a meeting and the director insisting it should be a Nigerian/Polish wedding. Imagine having to find that many Nigerian/Polish extras?

For the real wedding which we shot over two days in the church we needed at least a hundred extras, and for the wedding reception we needed a hundred people for three days. This was where I found out about all these amazing people who work as extras.

We started shooting on 28 March until 22 April: every single time we were outside we had sunshine – it was like my Dad was helping me out – there was rain but only when we were inside. When we shot the wedding reception during the last three days we had glorious sunshine which made everything look so beautiful. We had fifty people from the crew, a hundred extras, two separate catering vans. We were so lucky, even the shot with the stretch limo, if it had rained we’d have been screwed. I certainly made a lot of mistakes but we had these amazing bits of luck, and that was incredible.

It must have been quite a learning curve?

I learned a lot from Noel Clarke.

Talulah Riley

During the film my relationship with Noel really changed and we really bonded. He’s the co-writer, he produces, he’s very much hands on with casting. It’s really sad for me to say this but I get a bit bored with casting, I like to get on with other stuff. Cast A closes my finance, so I’m very much involved in that, but cast B – the guy who says ‘hi’ in the church – I don’t care, I trust the director to make those decisions. But Noel is very hands-on, and working with him has changed my attitude: I learned that even the last bit player you have to cast it right. Noel has a certain reputation but is the hardest working guy I’ve ever met. He’s also really annoying because at every meeting he’s always half an hour early. He insisted on a production meeting before the start of the day, so breakfast was at seven which meant we needed to be on set at least 6.45am. 90% of the shoot was in South London 15 minutes from my house – I was very selfish, but it’s my production and worked for me. Noel lives in West London: I was coming in on my scooter, and every morning he was there before me, no matter how early I tried to come in!

getting ready to shoot the limo scene

Inside the limo

Another thing I learned from Noel, he insists on having an editor on set, or editing as we shoot, so every day we would get a DVD with the rushes of the day before. From week one we started getting edited sequences. We could see – whilst the locations were still there, and the sets were still there – if we were missing a few shots. We never needed to re-shoot stuff, but it was really precious and it helped us a lot.

Another massive plus of this method was that we had the first cut within a week of finishing the film. It’s quite unusual, it costs more and is a pain in the arse, but I think the benefits far outweigh: if you don’t start editing until the film is finished, and you’ve got someone like Mena Suvari, and you realise that you need to re-shoot the scene with Mena, good luck to you. So we edited really quickly.

What about distribution, how did that work?

There were some major problems Rhoda Montemayor

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with the distributor. Originally we were meant to go on Valentine’s Day 2012 which would have been a great release date, and they messed it up. Basically, they gambled their own company on a film that was a massive flop, and ran out of money.

We paid the price. When eventually, after a long battle, we got the rights back we managed to sell it to Universal, which was great for me as a first-time producer. They paid for the whole of the post production, which we did at Molinare in Soho, so it all went from the bottom to the dream again. We were in an amazing theatre with espresso, cappuccino on tap, pastries, amazing sound theatre. I’d never done ADR [Automated Dialogue Replacement, the post-production process of recording and replacing voices after the original shoot] at that level, and, oh my God what you can do with ADR is unbelievable and it transformed the film.

The sound was fine, but there were so many profanities in this film – Universal loved it but you have to give an aeroplane version which has to be profanities-free.

One of the actors Brett Goldstein (who plays Albert) pretty much had to edit every single line. He’s a

stand-up comedian and this style comes across in the film, he’s just incredibly funny, he’s got this funny way of saying ‘f***’s sake’, he says it every three words so it was ‘f***’s sake’ ‘Cut, cut, cut!’ The ADR was a fantastic experience, just to see how it changed the film.

Noel is notoriously paranoid about the film being pirated, especially after Kidulthood, so after the fine cut of the film on 6 June for almost a year there were only two copies of the film: two DVDs, one with Noel, one with me, which I still have. After the film was finished I wanted to gather a first impression of the film: I showed the unmixed DVD to a lot of people at my house, investors, and [my creative business partner] Mirko’s girlfriend’s parents who were Dutch, and everybody really laughed. They all loved it and I felt maybe this film really has something about it. It’s a sweet film, it can appeal to a lot of different people, both boys and girls.

What are you working on at the moment?

We have loads of projects in the pipeline, but right now Mirko and me are shooting a web series to help market The Knot. Nuno

Bernardo from BeActive who commissioned Sofia’s Diary [an earlier Enrico project] is one of the investors and he was quite keen on doing some online marketing.

He suggested that we shoot a web series. I was keen, Universal liked the idea, so Noel and Davie wrote four scripts and we shot the first two episodes recently. It’s going to be released on The Knot Facebook page, but also via BeActive. Episodes will be released once a week, with the idea to try to get as many people as possible to watch it.

So, making a feature film, a great experience?

I always said if The Knot does well at the box office I would like to write a book about it. There are a lot of books about these big directors, but when it’s a first feature – which is the hardest feature to make – there isn’t a single book about one that actually did well at the box office. There are a lot of films and books about disasters! I would like to write a book on how to make 357 mistakes and still get it to the cinema.

The Knot is due for cinematic release 5 October 2012

Susannah Fielding (left in white) & Louise Dylan (right in white) with crew getting ready for the 'limo scene'

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In the kitchen with The Tilli Twins

MAD HATTER’S ICE-CREAM SUNDAE WITH QUEEN OF HEARTS SHORTBREAD A wonderland COOKING treat TO MAKE WITH YOUR KIDS from Tilli Twins Jess and Laura

Ingredients For the sundae: • A handful of chopped strawberries • A handful of blueberries • 3 scoops of your favourite ice-cream • Runny honey • Crunchy granola • Squirty cream • Hundreds & thousands and Smarties

For the shortbread: • 200g soft butter • 1 tsp vanilla extract • 60g icing sugar • 190g plain flour • 60g corn flour • A heart-shaped cutter

Method • • • •

•

• • •

• •

•

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Preheat oven to 180C. Mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and creamy.

Sift in the flour and corn flour and mix well until you have a smooth paste.

Squish the mixture together with your hands and roll out on to a floured surface until about 1cm thick.

Using a heart-shaped cutter, cut out as many hearts as you can and evenly space on to a baking tray.

Put the tray into the hot oven for 12-15 minutes until your biscuits are light golden brown.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

While the shortbreads are cooling put one scoop of ice cream into a sundae glass (any long glass will do), add a few of the berries, some of the granola and a drizzle of honey.

Repeat layers with the other scoops.

Squirt the cream on top in a spiral shape and sprinkle with hundreds & thousands and Smarties.

Finally stick in your shortbreads and enjoy your Mad Hatter’s Tea Party!

Open days 10am-1pm Saturday 22 September 9.30am-11am Wednesday 3 October Tuesday 9 October Thursday 8 November Monday 12 November 020 8557 7000 www.sydenhamhighschool.gdst.net admissions@syd.gdst.net 15 Westwood Hill London SE26 6BL

Animal lights, LCDP bodycare, Rococo chocolates, Alex Monroe jewellery, hand-made pieces from British craftsmen, unusual & vintage homewares

4o Westow Street SEI9 3AH O2O 877I 55I7 www.smashbangwallop.co.uk

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CURIOUSER & CURIOUSER PHOTOS BY ANDY PONTIN HAIR AND MAKEUP MONIKA SWIATEK

Blackbird BAKERY VICTORIA SPONGE

Alice's dress from Young@hart at Vintagehart

BAMBINO VINTAGE CROQUET SET

GLITTER AND TWISTED VINTAGE CAKE STANDS and teapot

Louisa Taylor Ceramics mustard pots & jugs at SbW

Blackbird BAKERY COFFEE CAKE

Jaeger Le Coutre WW2 watch crystal palace jewellers

LES MISERABLES they did stuff, they lived here and they have plaques.

BUT who were they?

le MISERABLE

RAN AWAY FROM FRANCE AND THEN WAS MISERABLE ON CHURCH ROAD

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orget the tawdry tedium of Leveson for a moment, and let’s go back to a piece published at the end of the 19th century, oft described as history’s greatest newspaper article. Written by French novelist Emile Zola, a fullpage letter entitled J’Accuse! set Parisian society alight and the political world scurrying to defend itself, as accusations of racism, cover-ups and military mendacity were broadcast to all.

The French had remained jumpy following the annexing of Alsace over 20 years earlier by the German military; the threat of espionage still loomed large. When a traitorous memo was discovered in 1894, they were quick to jump on Jewish (and Alsatian) Captain Alfred Dreyfus. It had to be him, declared the antiSemites (rife in the French army): he was arrested, humiliated publicly by a country baying for blood and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island.

In 1898 the real culprit was exposed and court-martialled; the military, however, chose to cover this up.

Two days later an enraged Zola published in a newspaper an open letter to the president of France,

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addressing the nation, focusing on the inaccuracies of Dreyfus’s conviction, naming names and accusing all of turning a blind eye and of shaming behaviour. Such an article was unprecedented and caused furore. His words were memorable, powerful: ‘la verite est en marche, et rien ne l’arretera’ (‘the truth is on the march, and nothing will stop it’.)

Convicted of libel at a shambolic trial – and hounded by jeering crowds and anti-Semitic mobs – Zola opted to flee the country. The rest of the world was also interested in his case, the London Times reporting: ‘Zola’s true crime has been in daring to rise to defend the truth and civil liberty ... he will be honoured wherever men have souls that are free ...’. Part of his exile was spent at the Queen’s Hotel, at our very own hill-top refuge in the south of London, where he stayed for nearly 8 months, continuing with his novel Fecondite, and taking photographs of the stunning Crystal Palace and his environs.

France eventually came round to favouring Alfred Dreyfus, though it was not until 1906 that he was fully pardoned and allowed to live

his remaining years in peace. The case against Zola had been dropped in 1899, and he returned to his homeland. The price he paid for composing this stirring and beautiful piece of prose, however, was high: his support of Dreyfus financially ruined him. Zola died, some believe at the hand of his enemies, just a few years later in 1902.

hung out with darwin, invented the weather and then was miserable ON CHURCH ROAD (and SLIT HIS OWN THROAT)

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s you idle in Church Road traffic in your modern motor car, spare a sideways glance to the nondescript yellow stock villa with the green plaque that commemorates the man who sailed the world in a wooden bucket, albeit a beautifully crafted and ultimately famous one.

A Navy man to the core, in 1828 Robert Fitzroy captained HMS Beagle, expertly mapping the brutal coasts of South America in foul conditions, beset by vast waves, scurvy and the unwanted attentions of the natives of Tierra del Fuego. An outstanding surveyor, prone to impetuousness he was distracted by the theft of a precious whaleboat and ended up bringing his native hostages all the way back to England in a well-intentioned, monstrous experiment.

Religiously devout despite his scientific background, his plan to civilise these natives into polite society backfired and fearing failure and scandal, the Beagle’s captaincy was secured a second time to return the hapless Fuegians home.

Mindful of his predecessor’s death at his own hand and similarly of an uncle, Fitzroy appointed a restless,

sporty burgeoning naturalist as a companion unwittingly providing, as the biographer Peter Nichols says, one Charles Darwin ‘with a unique springboard for his own leap to destiny’.

They became close over the thousands of miles of latitude Fitzroy vitally marked but finally fell out after the subsequent publication of their journals, with his ‘ardent faith’ that God was the creator unable to accommodate Darwin’s inference of natural adaptations.

Moreover the runaway success of Darwin’s volume Voyage of the Beagle eclipsed his own story and after a disastrous spell as an MP and as Governor of New Zealand, under the aegis of Francis Beaufort (think ‘scale’) the near bankrupt Vice Admiral became chief of the forerunner to the Met office. Here he endured awful public ridicule at the notion of weather forecasting even though his ‘storm barometers’ were adopted countrywide.

never reconciled, his erstwhile chum Darwin, the now superstar author of The Origin of Species, donated generously to his widow’s fund.

But the talented, tormented seafarer has not been forsaken by the maritime industry that owes him nothing less than their safety off the rocks. If you are still stuck in that traffic at midday, switch on the Shipping Forecast and sandwiched between Biscay, Trafalgar and Sole, you’ll hear in the solemn intonation befitting of such imperative broadcast, that Fitzroy is not forgotten.

Fitzroy never recovered his initial, glorious self-assurance and, before his sixtieth birthday, killed himself at 140 Church Road. He is buried under a poignantly plain stone at All Saints church and though they were

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made dinosaurs and then got them smashed up in new york

B

enjamin Waterhouse Hawkins lived in Belvedere Road, SE19.

He moved there to be near his workshop in Paxton's new Crystal Palace development - the Victorian folly built by a train company (actually built by migrant workers who drank in Penge) to give the sensation seeking middle classes a reason to buy tickets for their trains.

He made those wonderfully mad statues of giant creatures with loose resemblances to any actual organisms. They were a huge hit and Hawkins went to New York to repeat his success in Central Park.

Unfortunately 'Boss' Tweed, who ran New York (if you haven't seen it, watch Scorsese's Gangs of New York) needed to be 'squared off' and the very British (and, one has to assume, rather silly) Hawkins was having none of it. So Tweed's boys went in and smashed up his dinosuars good and proper. And, by available accounts, Hawkins was heartbroken.

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got us drinkING FLUID beef and then DIED ON A YACHT IN CANNES

J

ohn Lawson Johnston was the creator of Bovril (beef extractyuk). Born in Scotland in 1839, he studied in Edinburgh where he developed his interest in food science. Later he ran a butcher’s there using beef trimmings to produce his own long life beef stock.

In 1871 he emigrated and set up business in Canada where he created Johnston’s Fluid Beef (Bovril), distinctive as it was liquid at room temperature, making it easier to measure and use.

In 1880 he moved back to Blighty living in 'Bovril Castle', Sydenham and spread the Bovril brand around Britain. The 'Castle' is still there, entirely surrounded by a council estate, built on its former grounds.

Johnston sold the brand in 1896 for £2 million, a staggering amount at the time, and died 4 years later on his yacht in Cannes. He was buried in the West Norwood Cemetery.

had a miserable childhood and then got TRIED FOR OBSCENITY

A

nnie Besant was a social reformer, campaigner for women’s rights and supporter of Indian nationalism.

Born Annie Woods in London in 1847, she had a somewhat unhappy childhood, losing her father at 5 years old. She married clergyman Frank Besant in 1867 and had 2 children but separated after just a few years.

In 1874 she lived for a while in Colby Road, and became a member of the National Secular Society.

In the 1870s Annie edited the weekly National Reformer which promoted many ideas that we now take for granted such as trade unions, national education and votes for women; she was brought to trial for obscenity after circulating pamphlets on birth control.

Later in life she settled in India supporting the Indian nationalist movement, dying there in 1933.

ACTED AND WAS MISERABLE ON HAMLET ROAD

C

onsidering he received little help – or rather, outright racial abuse – from the London press in the 1830s, it seems unlikely that African-American actor Ira Aldridge would have chosen the city as his base in later life, but 5 Hamlet Road in Anerley – named Luranah Villa, after his mother – was to become his final home.

Born in New York in 1807 to a lay preacher, he was an adolescent at the time the city created the African Theatre: the young Ira saw his future, an actor. Determined to fulfil his dream, Ira travelled to Liverpool in his late teens (as a ship steward) arriving eventually, full of hope, in London.

The newspapers did not welcome him. His first known London performance was met with scathing reviews, including one from The Times which stated that the shape of his lips meant he could not correctly pronounce his lines, although others said his voice was ‘distinct and sonorous’. Although audiences were in thrall, his reception from the press was mainly hostile: he fled to the provinces.

Here he appeared in several plays that focused on slavery, working hard to educate his audiences.

Titus Andronicus was reworked to make the title role heroic, and some performances ended with Aldridge speaking of ‘the plight of the slave and his hope of freedom’, making explicit the themes of the plays.

The racist London press actively campaigned against him – probably due to money paid by the slavers’ lobby to certain newspapers – but

outside the city his reputation grew. He performed often in Hull, hometown of William Wilberforce (parliamentarian and tireless campaigner for the abolition of slavery) with his Othello there singled out as one ‘equalled by very few actors of the present day’. But the West End continued to boycott him; in 1852 he and his family left for Europe.

A few years later, he returned.

Famous by now for his comic roles as well as his Lear, Hamlet and Macbeth, he had received many honours throughout the Continent: Russian critic Theophile Gautier acclaimed his Shakespearean roles as ‘undoubtedly the best’ ever seen. It was impossible for the West End to ignore him.

Aldridge, at last, received an invitation to play Othello at prestigious London theatre, the Lyceum, in 1858. The newspapers gave glowing reviews, including those who had previously ostracised him.

Despite becoming a British citizen in 1963, Ira continued to perform mostly in tours abroad, no doubt remembering the unconditional welcome he had received in his early acting days. A St Petersburg performance led to the highest praise, described as ‘Othello himself as Shakespeare has created him … quiet, reserved, classic, and majestic’. Official decorations and honours were thrown from all directions, and when he died touring in Lodz, Poland, aged just 59, the ‘African Roscius’ was mourned throughout Europe

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PUSSYCAT, PUSSYCAT I LOVE YOU

Portraits by Louise Haywood-Schiefer

I

n July 1871, Crystal Palace hosted the world’s first ever official cat show. Artist and illustrator Harrison Weir conceived the idea; he had a great passion for cats and found abhorrent the cruelty, neglect and ill-treatment often directed toward domestic felines in Victorian times.

Later nicknamed 'The Father of Cat Fancy', Harrison and his brother John were two of the three judges of the 25 classes which spanned Eastern and Other Foreign breeds alongside native British varieties.

The categories were grouped according to length of fur, colour, shape and build. The show attracted 170 cats and awarded 54 prizes, including some for novelty categories such as the fattest cat (sadly unlikely to be included in the rigorous competitions of today).

Mildred Female Age 7 months Black Kitten

Jasper Male Age 18 Siamese

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In his illustrated rulebook to catshowing, Our Cats published in 1889, Harrison cites his reason for starting this very British tradition:

Suzi Bleu Female Age 11 British Shorthair

‘I wish everyone to see how beautiful a well-cared-for cat is, and how docile, gentle, and … cossetty. Why should not the cat that sits purring in front of us before the fire be an object of interest, and be selected for its colour, markings, and form?’

Team Transmitter felt inspired by this earnest plight of over 140 years ago to observe the beauty of the domestic cat: sir, these local pusscats salute you!

Jimmy Male Age 6 Tortoiseshell and White

Raoul Male Age 5 Maine Coon

Cyd Female Age 2 Tortoiseshell and White

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Blackbird Bakery

JUSTINE CROW talks to the man behind our favourite croissants PhotOS BY CONNIE MAY

I

dly sipping tea and delicately forking a slice of the best-selling carrot cake (a drink’s too wet without one) as the world goes by, it’s hard to imagine what life was like before the Blackbird came to roost. How did we manage without that extraordinarily varied choice of loaves, the daily parade of cakes, those dusted fig slices that are better than drugs? Ashley, the face we know, and Eamonn, the one you rarely see, actually met years ago while working at that other marvellous local landmark, Domali.

Later Eamonn went off to the US

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and ended up under the tutelage of ‘a great pastry chef’, came back and set up a stall in East Dulwich with his old friend eventually establishing a small shop in Herne Hill in 2005.

‘Half of the recipes I use are stolen from the Black Dog in Martha’s Vineyard!’ he confesses brightly.

They’ve got pedigree, then.

In those early days, he says, still unable to quite disguise the surprise in his voice, ‘it was just me, a table and a Calor gas bottle.’ Now Ashley oversees four shops, the most recent in West Norwood which opened a year and half ago, each

with an individual personality but all distinctly Blackbirdy like fidgety siblings. Having recently relocated the iconic Palace branch from its site up the road to an utterly new unit, she admits she was more than a little apprehensive about transforming ‘a concrete tunnel into something characterful’, but with outside seating in the neat courtyard out the back and plenty of room for the bustle of trade inside, and pretty furnishing and lots of wood everywhere, the new place already fits like a comfy shoe and while the old shop was charming, ‘I

hadn’t realised how prohibitive the scaffolding next to the church was to people with buggies,’ she says.

The company employs more than forty people – ‘We only ever tot up the number at the Christmas party,’ the pair laugh – including around about fifteen who work in shifts at the bakery itself. Ah, of course, the bakery. The famous carrot cake (excuse me while I wipe the drool from my keyboard) might look like and taste like it has just this second been lovingly pimped with cheesy icing by a cosy granny in a pinny but you can’t produce up to fifteen

different types of bread plus a regular array of quiches and sausage rolls and cookies on a daily basis from a folksy country kitchen.

I ask cheekily if I might come and see where all the magic happens and Eamonn is not at all precious.

He welcomes me down to watch the baking get underway and even draws me a deft little map just in case I can’t find it because ‘there is no name above the door.’

This made me more than a little nervous as I negotiated the less than salubrious industrial quarter of West Norwood where rails of dry cleaning

in plastic jostle on the pavement alongside the builders’ yards and flytipped junk. I needn’t have worried.

When I was a schoolgirl waiting on a freezing platform the smell from the baker shop beside the station would torture me and now the spiced fragrance of baking guides me like a famished sleepwalker. Of course they don’t need a sign above the door.

Ducking in through the bead curtain I am astounded by the scale of the operation even though this is a truly modest business when compared

45

to mass production baking. And though this is a modern breeze block building with a no-nonsense job to do, I am enchanted by the giant’s whisks, the enormous paddles, the big old-fashioned scales straight off the top of the beanstalk, the vast hammered silver bowls and the dozens and dozens of eggs. Everything here is in volume; there aren’t just a couple of rolling pins in a bucket, there is a battle-axe’s armoury of them. There are teetering stacks of blackened loaf tins, armfuls of cake-rings on spokes and shelves of proofing baskets. Amidst all this purposefully organised clutter is a mountain of glossy dough that a brisk young baker is chopping and whacking and weighing into shape, working so fast and elegantly, the choreography is a blur. ‘What are these?’ I ask idiotically, pointing to a tray of glistening white whirls studded with fruit. Ah voila! Pains au raisin in their raw state and Eamonn whips back a grease-proof paper duvet to reveal rows of nascent croissants and pains au chocolat also waiting patiently for the oven.

We all have our favourite Blackbird item – the Bookseller is addicted to their new toasted sandwiches which he describes as ‘genius’ (this from a man who thinks Ronaldo is overrated) – and mine is right there on the counter: a cairn of savoury scotch eggs, each one a meal in itself worthy of a polar expedition.

All the products they sell, from the humble hot cross bun in season to the sacks of nut roast and breakfast

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cereal, are made in house and the flour they use is organic. The guys go ‘off piste’ on occasion and new favourites are added to the repertoire but sadly other delicacies slide off the menu. I still mourn the loss of their chilli bean pies but I was a rare fan and it seems like the football chant, I ate all of them.

I ask them both about the future and Ashley smiles: ‘I think a book would be brilliant!’ but I reckon she’ll be doing all the writing herself because he shakes his head and says that he’d merely like to consolidate and improve the shops.

‘Four is a comfortable optimum,’ he surmises but he won’t rule out expansion in the future and they still have the old stall on North Cross Road and one at the new Herne Hill market on a Sunday, as well as wholesaling to other restaurants and retailers. Both admire other innovative local retail successes such as Hope & Greenwood ‘who really do their marketing well.’

‘I’d love to go back and visit some more US bakeries,’ Eamonn says but somehow there is always more than enough to be done here at the moment. Ashley tells me afterwards when he is out of earshot that she can’t believe how brave he is being responsible for so much. ‘I asked him if he sleeps well at night,’ she says and he thoughtfully answered that, in fact, he does indeed.

Perhaps that is just as well because doubtless the remarkable the Blackbird Bakery brand will continue to rise and rise like its sturdy dough.

Open days 10am-1pm Saturday 6 October 9.30am-11am Wednesday 19 September Thursday 11 October Friday 9 November Tuesday 13 November SIXTH FORM OPEN DAY Tuesday 9 October 7pm 020 8557 7000 www.sydenhamhighschool.gdst.net admissions@syd.gdst.net 19 Westwood Hill London SE26 6BL

47

CRYSTAL PALACE COOKBOOK

Real bread is better for us says Rachel de Thample Photos: Gary Congress, courtesy of Abel & Cole

I

never buy bread from Sainsbury’s.

Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time travelling through the UK meeting food producers, including many bakers. It was a conversation with Jamie Campbell from Long Crichel Bakery in Wimborne, Dorset that made me steer clear of the bread aisle in supermarkets for good.

I knew that the vast bulk of bread sold in British supermarkets contained a cocktail of thickeners, emulsifiers, preservatives and lots of sugar and salt. This bothered me.

What really concerns me is that an unhealthy amount of extra yeast and gluten are also added. Jamie explains, ‘You can then get yeast residues which stay in the bread and end up fermenting in the gut.

Hence that bloated feeling.’ He adds, ‘Similarly, the extra gluten can have the effect of clogging up the small intestine, hampering the digestion and intake of nutrients, hence fatigue and immune system complications.’

According to the Real Bread Campaign, the four essential ingredients in bread are flour, water, yeast and salt. Any other added ingredients – be they herbs, seeds, nuts or oils etc – should be 100% natural. And it’s only when dough is allowed to rise slowly that naturallyoccurring beneficial bacteria work to make the bread more digestible, nutritious and tasty. Real Bread has been a campaign I’ve long supported. So many people have problems with wheat and gluten these days. I have no doubt that a lot of this is down to the way the bulk of our bread is made.

Supermarket bread is, of course, cheaper to buy. The reason it’s cheaper is because when they add extra yeast and gluten, and all the other additives, industrial bakers can make bread faster. All the preservatives mean it can sit on the shelf for longer. The problem is that

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this bread is not good for you. For a fraction more, you can get a loaf that is truly nutritious.

We’re extremely lucky here in Crystal Palace because there are some fantastic real bread loaves around.

See below for a guide to some of the best in town. Even better, have a go at making your own bread. The following recipes are so easy you’ll have a batch ready in less time than it’d take to nip to the bakery.

If you’d like to know more, you can join locals Rachel de Thample and Yael Rose at the first ever Real Bread Festival on London’s Southbank from Friday 5 to Sunday 7 October. Visit www.realbreadfestival.com for details.

LOVELY LOCAL LOAVES Blackbird Bakery 71 Westow Street 020 8768 0357 Their White Sourdough is one of my all-time favourite breads, closely followed by their Challah which they sell on Fridays.

Living Water Satisfies Café 46-48 Westow Street 020 8653 4417 Amazing bread, which comes from the nearby Dulwich Bakery. My favourite loaf is the 5 Cereals made with a blend of 5 flours: wheat, rye, rice, oat and barley, and 5 different seeds: pumpkin, linseed, poppy, sesame and sunflower and a little honey.

Betty’s 67 Westow Hill 020 8616 5227 Lovely Spelt Loaf made on site.

Perfect for sandwiches as you can get them sliced.

Piast Hollybush Terrace, Westow Street 020 8768 5166 Wholesome Sourdough Rye breads supplied from a nearby Polish bakery.

Rustic Irish Potato Bread

Seedy Soda Bread

I

A

made this for a group of locals last year and suddenly the room was full of Irish people talking about their grannies’ versions of this traditional bread. Rather intimidating being a Texan, but I pulled it off – and so can you. It’s incredibly easy to make and a brilliant way to use up leftover mash.

Prep: 15 mins Cook: 30 mins Serves 4

Ingredients • • • •

500g potatoes, peeled and cubed 4 tbsp butter, plus more for serving 1-2 mugs of plain white flour A good pinch of sea salt

Method Boil the potatoes in salted water till mashable. Drain.

Mash or press through a potato ricer with a good chunk of butter and a pinch of salt.

Sift the flour, little by little, into the potatoes until it forms a soft dough. The exact amount of flour depends on the moisture content of the potatoes so use your judgement - just keep adding it till the dough is soft and no longer sticky.

Roll out on a floured surface until ½-1cm thick. Use extra flour for dusting as you roll and cut. Tidy up the edges and cut into squares for a lovely rustic look.

Place a large frying pan over high heat, no need for oil or butter. Turn the heat down after a few mins. Cook on each side till golden. Dab a bit of butter on the bread once cooked.

Stunning for breakfast with crispy rashers of bacon draped over the top. Also delicious with tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, poached eggs, or a dab of marmalade ...

brilliant bread to knock up at the weekend when you fancy some fresh bread but don’t feel like getting dressed to nip out to the shops. Delicious with jam or butter for breakfast, but also perfect alongside a bowl of soup.

Prep: 10 mins Cook: 45 mins Serves Makes 1 loaf, enough for 8-10 servings

Ingredients • • • • •

• • •

250g plain white flour 250g wholegrain flour (wholemeal, spelt or kamut) 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tsp sea salt 12 tbsp of seeds – try a combo of 4-5 of the following: sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, linseed, hemp, poppy About 350ml natural yogurt 50ml water A little milk or melted butter to gloss the loaf

Method Heat your oven to 200C/gas 6. Oil a baking sheet.

Mix the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt and all of the seeds bar 1 tbsp in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre.

Stir the water into the yogurt. Pour into the flour well.

Gently fold the ingredients together until it starts forming a ball. If it’s looking a little dry, mix a spoon of yogurt with a spoon of water and add it.

Knead a little just enough to ensure there are no dry flour patches in the loaf and to help form your dough into a nice round ball.

Place the dough in the centre of the baking tray.

Brush with a little milk or melted butter to gloss the loaf. Scatter over the reserved 1tbsp of seeds. Make a crisscross pattern 1-2cm deep across the top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.

49

The Bookseller JONATHAN MAIN RECOMMENDS SOME BOOKS YOU CAN BUY FROM HIS SHOP

A

man. A dull, suburban man, accidentally falls asleep on the grave of a Huguenot suicide and wakes up possessed by the spirit – and the face – of the Frenchman.

His family and friends dismiss him as an imposter. This is the gothic fate of Arthur Lawford in Walter de la Mare’s fascinating The Return (John Murray £9.99) first published in 1910. As mentioned previously in the Transmitter, de la Mare was an Anerley resident for much of his life, and we here at Crow Towers have a soft spot for him as the most famous person to have ever lived on our street. A writer too. This is a handsome reissue.

Clunking through the gears like a 1970s Radio One DJ we steer a fast corner with another book on a local theme. The sport of speedway was introduced into the country from Australia in February 1928. By the middle of May the first meeting was being held at Crystal Palace, an

50

international match against Australia with prize money of £100. More than 10,000 spectators attended the meeting, and of course it chucked it down with rain rutting up the track and thus making it even more exciting. Even the names of the motorbikes hold out a promise of daring, the 345 Harley Davidson Peashooter, or the 499 Rudge Whitworth for instance.

Almost unbelievably, later races would attract as many as 70,000 and Crystal Palace Speedway A History of The Glaziers by Norman Jacobs (Fonthill £14.99) recounts the exciting antics of ‘Cyclone Billy Lamont, Vic Huxley, Frank Arthur and Sprouts Elder all of whom were reputed to be among the highest paid sportsmen in Britain. And not all of the participants in this daring sport were men. The formidable Fay Taylour was an Irish female speedway rider (and, incidentally, a follower of Oswald Mosley) who

after one famous race fell on the last lap and was described by an eyewitness as landing on her head.

When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon. This is the first line of one of my favourite crime novels, The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley (Vintage Crime US import £8.99). I first read the book 25 years ago after it was recommended to me by a bookseller in the old Compendium bookshop in Camden Town. I reread it recently in France on my all-too brief summer sojourn and it didn’t let me down. Crumley didn’t write very much, but three of his books, this and Dancing Bear and The Wrong Case are up there with the very best of American crime fiction.

Penguin, meanwhile, have reissued four novels by another favourite, Charles Willeford, whose Florida detective Hoke Mosley features across four novels, the first of which – Miami Blues – was made into a very good film starring Fred Ward and Alec Baldwin. You won’t believe how young he looks, but then I suppose you wouldn’t believe how young I looked in 1990 either.

Willeford on the other hand was pretty old when he wrote these last four books and already the author of 20 or so previous novels. Miami Blues and its sequels (all Penguin £9.99) shine with the mordant wit of someone who in the best tradition of a pulp writer, has seen most of it and done most of it, including acting, boxing, horse training, painting in France, radio announcing, and being a college professor.

Also reissued this month by Penguin are a group of novels by Ross

Macdonald, another American crime writer, hardboiled in the Chandler tradition. His books have intricate plots and are elegantly written and display a perceptive grasp of psychology. Great covers on these new editions too (all Penguin £8.99).

Much of this issue has been taken up by bread and baking, and being a bread enthusiast I thought I would mention a couple of fine books.

The first, Tartine Bread (Chronicle £24.99) by Chad Robertson, has some claim to be the daddy of them all. The book of the legendary San Francisco bakery, Robertson spent 10 years working with artisan bakers in France and America and then another 10 years developing his own bread. The first 80 pages of this 300-page book are the fruit of this study, devoted to one recipe and one method of baking a simple country loaf, which the author guarantees that anybody following

the simple but precise steps, will be able to do. It is also a ridiculously handsome book bordering on ‘crust porn’.

My friend Dan told me about the Bourke Street Bakery Ultimate Baking Companion (Murdoch Books £25.00) the book from the famous Sydney bakery of the same name, and perhaps the closest operation to our own Blackbird. As well as breads there are lots of tarts, cakes and pies and, indeed, a chickpea roll that has found itself adapted into the Westow Street repertoire.

This month for our book group we have been reading Stoner by John Williams (Vintage £8.99). The story of the son of dirt-poor farmers who becomes a teacher of literature, I won't know what everybody else thought until tomorrow night, but I loved it.

Jonathan Main 51

THERE’S A WORLD OUT THERE! A couple of cracking compilations, a Parisian fusion band, a Malian blues man and an Ethiopian pianist make up Howard Male’s pick of world music releases

This time around we start with a couple of cracking compilations.

London Calling – Various Artists (Culture Clash Productions) was released last month presumably to coincide with the Olympics. It featured more than a dozen multicultural London bands imaginatively reinventing songs old and new that have had our capital city as their

52

theme. So there’s an Indian raga/psychedelic take on Itchycoo Park which slows the song right down and instantly makes you forget the Small Faces version and a Bob Marley-style makeover of Streets of London. Transglobal Underground do their funky global fusion thing on London Calling so perfectly that it’s easy to imagine that Strummer himself would have loved it. And there’s a

sensuous Flamenco take on Elvis Costello’s (yo no quero ir a) Chelsea

by Los Desterrados which made me think how great it would be to hear more spiky Costello songs having a different spin put on them by female vocalists.

And did I mention Katy Prado & the Mamboleros kitsch- oriental-meetsLatin-mambo take on the Vibrators London Girls?

One of the compilations of the year.

I was astonished to discover recently that the World Music Network have now released more than 240 anthology CDs in their Rough Guide series. These can be compilations of either a whole country’s music or a given genre and are generally compiled by experts in their field.

However, it goes without saying that with only an hour or so in which to represent, say, South African jazz or Balkan brass they can be hit and miss affairs. So it’s always nice when an addition to the series can be praised unreservedly, as is the case with Rough Guide to Ethiopia. It begins with cutting edge hip-hop collective Bole 2 Harlem, then there’s some Ethio-dub from the partly London-based Dub Colossus, before you get hit between the eyes with the blinding mix of punk rock and Ethiopian funk played by Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex. Classic 70s Ethiopian jazz is also well represented by Mahmoud Ahmed.

Continuing on an Ethiopian vibe Samuel Yirga is the pianist with Dub Colossus (featured on the compilation reviewed above). His debut international release Guzo (Real World) mixes intimate solo piano pieces which have the haunting quality of Abdullah Ibrahim or

THERE’S A WORLD OUT THERE! even Erik Satie with uptempo Ethiopian big band numbers. There’s even a respectable cover version of Rotary Connection’s psychedelic soul epic I Am the Black Gold of the Sun featuring The Creole Choir of Cuba and Nicolette. But despite being such a mixed bag it hangs together remarkably well.

If you’re a fan of the Malian desert blues but are getting a little tired of the fact that nearly every band sounds like Tinariwen, you might want to check out Anewal /The Walking Man by Alhousseini Anivolla (Riverboat Records). It’s a lot mellower and more acoustic as well as being beautifully produced and arranged. The emphasis is on textures and subtle grooves so that when you hear the distant rattle of a shaker or tambourine it evokes the ambient sound of a million Saharan insects.

Finally we have the return of one of my favourite world fusion bands, Lo’Jo. This Parisian collective have been mixing Arabic, African and gypsy styles.

Their new one Cinema el Mundo (Harmonia Mundi Records) features guest appearances from Robert Wyatt and Vincent Segal and it’s as good as anything they’ve done in the thirty years they’ve been together. So many world fusion acts - despite dipping their toes into myriad exotic musical styles - can paradoxically end up sounding all the same. But with their atmospherically cinematic songs and intricately textured arrangements Lo’Jo just always end up sounding like Lo’Jo. And there’s no greater praise that one can bestow upon a band than that.

54

WHAt's ON THEATRE South London Theatre The Old Fire Station 2A Norwood High Street London SE27 9NS Box Office 020 8670 3474 www.southlondontheatre.co.uk

Dulwich Picture Gallery Gallery Road, Dulwich, London SE21 7AD www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk

Music Saturday 29 September Jazz in the Garden

2-6 October Something Rotten (see poster left for details)

16-20 October Eternity Awaits (see poster left for details)

Theatre503 at The Latchmere 503 Battersea Park Road London SW11 3BW Booking Office: 0207978 7040

6 Nov – 1 December Tuesday - Saturday 7.45pm Sunday 5pm Where The Mangrove Grows s by Joe Hammond £14/£9 concessions Twelve year-old Shaun just can’t work it out. Why hasn’t his Mum come to visit? Why has his careworker taken his picturebook? And who is the man at the window calling him away? With a bed for a boat, and a skirting board oar, Shaun sets off for the mangrove swamps in this darkly enchanting tale of a lost boy’s transformation

Charles Cary-Elwes and Friends 6.30-9.30pm, garden £18, £15 Friends, £5 students aged 18 and under.

Enjoy a relaxed evening in the gallery garden with Charles and his friends playing mainstream jazz and swing. Well known musicians will play and so will bands from local schools. The Café will be open for light meals – or you can bring a picnic. If raining the event will take place in the gallery with picnic space in the Linbury Room.

Wednesday 24 October Spanish Supper with Flamenco Music by Francisco Antonio 7.00 for 7.30 pm. In the Gallery Café Wonderful foot-tapping music and mouth-watering tapas make a fantastic evening. £10 per person to include a glass of wine. Tapas at £4 per dish.

Friday 21 September Ensemble 360 – a concert 7.30pm in the Gallery £20,£18 Friends inc glass of wine Since the debut in 2005, Ensemble 360 has gained an enviable reputation and has performed at major festivals and venues.

Programme includes piano quartets

by Mozart and Brahms.

FILM Gallery Film:

Monday 15 October Bright Star (2005) Cert PG/ 119 mins Directed by Jane Campion and starring Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish in the story about the young poet Keats and his love for Fanny Brawne.

A complimentary glass of wine and snacks. An introduction to the film and film notes.

Bar opens at 7pm and screening at 7.45pm in the Linbury Room £9, £7 Friends

CHARITY WALK Saturday 13 October St Christopher's Midnight Walk from 11 p.m. until 2 a.m.

This lovely event will help them reach their target of raising £40,000 for their Candle Project, providing vital support to children and young people who have lost someone close to them.

In addition to walkers, they need volunteers to help marshal route.

The walk starts at St Christopher's Hospice (51-59 Lawrie Park Road Sydenham SE26 6DZ) and takes in the Crystal Palace area.

(Note: Due to the nature of the event, it would not be suitable for children under the age of 11 to take part) Entry for this 5 mile walk is £15, which includes a Midnight Walk T-Shirt, and further information and online registration can be accessed at www.stchristophers.org. uk/midnightwalk or you can contact Liz Sowden on 020 8768 4575 or e.sowden@stchristophers.org.uk

55

Directoire...

To place your advert email sales@thetransmitter.co.uk or call: 020 8771 5543

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BEGINNERS DANCE CLASSES FOR ADULTS WEDNESDAY’S 6.45-7.45pm THE PHOENIX CENTRE 66 WESTOW STREET, SE19 3AF

DANCE TO THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE FROM 70’S AND 80’S TO NEW POP HITS.

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Tu es H O N -F U E W ri 12 RS O -3 F P pm R E Sa OMNIN t& J G Su U L n Y! 12 -6 pm

Hand-picked originals Open Tues-Fri 12-3pm Sat & Sun 12-6pm The White Hart, 96 Church Road, Crystal Palace, SE19 2EZ Annette 07949 552926 | Dawn 07982 184657

Vintage transmitter.indd 1

27/05/2012 20:17

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Pilates: Beginners • Improvers • Post Natal Pre Natal • Men’s Only Zumba • Personal Training • Ballet Sculpt Yoga • Teen Fitness • Adult Ballet Tap Dancing • Mens Yoga • Pole Fitness Pre & Post Natal Fitness

Push Studios, 17-21 Blackwater Street, SE22 8SD www.pushstudios.co.uk, info@pushstudios.co.uk, 020 8693 9111 EASTER WORKSHOP: 11TH APRIL – 13TH APRIL COME AND JOIN US FOR 3 DAYS OF DANCE INCLUDING, STREET DANCE, BUGSY MALONE AND MAMMA MIA! 11AM – 4PM, FOR AGES 6 – 10, £100 PER CHILD (10% SIBLING DISCOUNT) TO BOOK CALL JO: 07791 262 020 OR EMAIL: THEBOOGIECLUB@HOTMAIL.COM

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© simon sharville 2012

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Open Mornings Independent day and boarding school for boys

Dulwich College welcomes parents and boys considering entry into Years 3–6 (Junior School) and Year 7 (Lower School) to our Open Mornings; no appointment is necessary. Conducted tours of the College are offered, with opportunities to meet pupils and staff.

For entry into Years 3–6 Saturday 6 October 2012 9.30 am–12 noon

For entry into Year 7 Saturday 13 October 2012 9.30 am–12 noon

Tel: 020 8299 8432 Email: junioradmissions@dulwich.org.uk

Tel: 020 8299 9263 Email: the.registrar@dulwich.org.uk

Dulwich College Dulwich Common, London, SE21 7LD www.dulwich.org.uk

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Career in garden design?

For those that want to combine artistic flair with a love of plants and an interest in green spaces, our reasonably priced part-time and evening courses will provide the knowledge and skills for a successful career in garden design.

STARTING SEPTEMBER 2012 Introduction to Garden Design • One day a week for 10 weeks (FRIDAYS).

• Develop knowledge and skills to design your own garden or embark on a career to become a garden designer.

• Topics include: drawing skills, simple design principles, working to scale, hard landscaping materials and the role of plants in design.

• Students achieve a level 1 award in Art and Design.

• This course can lead to either the Level 2 Certificate in Garden Design at Crystal Palace or (combined with a level 2 horticulture qualification) to the Level 3 Garden Design Diploma at Enfield or Regent’s Park centres.

STARTING JANUARY 2013 Level 2 Certificate in Garden Design

• One day a week for 33 weeks (FRIDAYS).

• Specially designed for those considering a career in garden design.

• Equips students with the skills and knowledge to undertake higher courses.

• Focuses on horticulture, plant knowledge and use, drawing, design and graphics.

• Students achieve a Level 2 Certificate in Garden and Planting Design.

• Progression is to the Level 3 Garden Design Diploma.

To apply for courses or for further details ring Admissions on 08456 122122 or email enquiries@capel.ac.uk

www.capel.ac.uk

Capel Manor College School of Garden Design

Crystal Palace Park Centre,The Jubilee Stand, Ledrignton Road SE19 2BS Combining qualifications with experience

Tel: 020 8778 5572

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