Ale Festival, Apple Day, Incredible Edible Festival, Urban Bees, AGMs - events this weekend and beyond

This is a late post, but I'm hoping some of you might catch it in time to attend some of the following events.  This weekend is a good one to stay south of the river unless you're inclined to join demonstrations because it's going to be tricky to get north of the river by road.  Trafalgar Square and surrounds will be unpassable on Saturday due to the Stop the War Assembly, and Westminster Bridge will be blocked on Sunday due to the anti-Health and Social Care Bill Block the Bridge event.

But there are plenty of autumnal ways to eat, drink and be merry in Kennington this weekend:

There's the Garden Museum's Incredible Edible Big Harvest Party.  The Garden Museum is over in SE1, in the old church next to Lambeth Palace.  They're celebrating local food growing with community stalls, seed bomb making, an Incredible Edible scrapbook(!?) and the opening of an insect hotel.  Visit (and bring your own seeds) on Saturday 8th October from 10:30am - 4pm

Then there's the annual autumn Roots and Shoots Apple Day 2011 where there will be over 100 different types of apple to sample, along with juicing and fruit preservation workshops.  That's at the top of Walnut Tree Walk, just off of Kennington Road.  There will also be activities for children; apple bobbing, corn dolly making, story telling etc. - This is one of my favorite days.  Go and visit on Sunday 9th October from 11am - 4pm.

Then the Old Red Lion pub (42 Kennington Park Road) Ale and Food Festival with stalls, music, a hog roast and a fine selection of ales.  It's held on Saturday 8th October and Sunday 9th October from 12 noon.

Also, some future dates for the diary...

Don't forget on Monday both the Kennington Association and the Vauxhall Civic Society are holding their AGMs on Monday 10th October (oops!).

The Kennington Association AGM will be held at the Durning Library, beginning at 6:30pm.  Their special guest is Val Shawcross, member of the London Assembly for Lambeth and Southwark.

The Vauxhall Society AGM will be held at St Stephen's Church, St Stephen's Terrace, SW8 1DH at 6.30pm to begin at 7pm.  The guest speaker will be Sue Foster, Lambeth's Director of Housing.  She'll be speaking on regenerating Vauxhall.

On Saturday 15th October, there's an Urban Bee open day and Foragers Walk, starting at noon from St Agnes Place Keeper's Lodge (in one corner of the park).

Then, on Sunday 16th October, Keyworth Primary School in Kennington (that's Faunce Street in SE17) is to be turned into a pop-up restaurant by food writer Philip Dundas in aid of "Magic Breakfast".  You'll need to book, but for £30, you'll receive a three course meal (with wine).  To attend, please RSVP philip@pip-dishes.co.uk or call 07764 336 220.  Magic Breakfast is a charity that provides free health breakfasts to schools in which over 50% of children receive free school meals and who might not otherwise eat a health breakfast.

Film at Roots and Shoots, pub quiz at Old Red Lion, Free Tai Chi and volunteer bus-painting in Kennington Park

There will be a screening of Forest of Crocodiles at Roots and Shoots this week on Wednesday 6th April at 7pm. Entry fee is £5 and you'll need to book (call 0207 587 1131).  It's a 52 minute documentary on the fears of white South Africans.

A once a month quiz night is now taking place at the marvellous Old Red Lion pub on Kennington Park Road.  I think it's probably my favourite pub in the area.  They have an outside yard, and a naturally-lit conservatory area for when it's colder, and little cubby holes off to the side for small groups, and food...  I believe the Campaign for Real Ale people support it as they're visiting in April.  The quiz will take place on the second Thursday of the month, at 8pm (but arrive at 7pm onwards to be guaranteed a table) and the next quiz will be held on April 14th.

Anybody interested in volunteering to repaint the children's bus in Kennington Park in the playground this Saturday should contact:  chloejocasta (then insert the at symbol) gmail (then insert a full stop) com.  The Friends of the Park are also eager to review the new children's fitness equipment in the park, and they'll be there on Saturday to collect people's views.

And finally... on a related note, Free Tai Chi (it's free, thanks to funding from the Kennington Association, but donations are welcome), will recommence in Kennington Park on Thursdays from 14:00 - 15:00 and Saturdays from 11:00 - 12 noon.

March for the alternative: round-up of photos

I noted on my previous post, You can take Kennington Common from the Chartists. that I wouldn't be attending the March for the Alternative.  Thankfully, a number of SE11 residents were present and did take photos, so thanks to the kindness of one of my Twitter followers, @AdamF81 I've a couple that can be displayed on the blog (including one of the defiant Trojan horse).  I must add that I don't condone violence of any type, nor the minority of violent march-participants, but I hope it's clear from these photos that the people taking part are a completely mixed bag.

The protestors left Kennington Park at about 11:30am:

There's also a video of the march on Facebook here, and if you want to view the photos or make any comments on the march, there's a Facebook page set up and dedicated to Kennington here.

There are more photos of spitfires and tanks also processing up from Camberwell Green to Kennington Park over here which notes that the props (including Trojan horse) were created by art students at Camberwell.

Also, take a look at the photos from Peter Marshall, showing the range of different people at Kennington Park, from Latin American community groups to Councillor Kingsley Adams (local independent Labour councillor) and families to Ted Knight (old Lambeth leader).  Lots of Unison members, teachers etc.

And (edit 6:4/2011), I've added some more photos of the march gathering in Kennington Park, with permission from Indymedia from whom they're sourced:

 (Photo originally from Indymedia)

(Photo originally from Indymedia)

(Photo originally from Indymedia)

 (Photo originally from Indymedia)

 (Photo originally from Indymedia)

 (Photo originally from Indymedia)

You can take Kennington Common from the Chartists, but you can't take the Chartists out of Kennington Park

I'm sure that if you're interested, you'll already have heard from another source, but tomorrow is the day that the March for the Alternative is taking place in London and one of the feeder marches leaves from Kennington Park at 11am.

The first aim of the march (which is organised by the TUC) is to give a national voice to those affected by the ConDem deficit-solution programme and to demonstrate peoples' opposition to the extent of the cuts.  The second aim of the march is to reject the government's argument that there is no alternative option to deep cuts.  The marchers will demonstrate against the swingeing cuts which they argue are not the most effective way to ease the country out of the recession.

The Guardian expects the following folk on the March for the Alternative; students, mums/toddlers, pensioners, a football supporters union named "the Spirit of Shanky", campaigners against domestic violence, medical personnel from "Keep our NHS public", off-duty police officers (as well as those on duty), journalists, a national anti-cut alliance, a group called Resist 26 who intend to occupy Hyde Park, a group of campaigners who are inspired by protests in the Middle East and intend to occupy Trafalgar Square for 24 hours and finally... anarchists/communists and militant workers who think the TUC have sold out.  The anarchist/communist/militant group are the ones organising the feeder march from Kennington Park.

Naturally, there is a certain amount of "establishment" opposition to radical folk all getting together to protest, so the Financial Times has an ex-commander from Scotland Yard warning that "extremist" groups might be planning violence.  I wonder whether they'd be referring to the mums/toddlers or the pensioners??  But... it seems that this intelligence emerged from the stable of "The Policy Exchange", a right-wing think tank, and actually, the current Met Police are aware of rumblings but aren't so concerned.  The ex-commander thinks the police aren't aggressive enough at rooting out troublemakers early, and he seems to be agitating.  The TUC apparently intend to have a peaceful family day...

Don't be afraid that the Kennington Park demonstrators will be hardcore anarchists, they're going to be ordinary folk too.  Urban 75 say South London will be assembling at Kennington Park, and the march will be supported by, "Lambeth TUC, Southwark TUC, Lambeth SOS, Southwark SOS, Wandsworth Against the Cuts, Lewisham Anti-Cuts Alliance, Latin American Coalition Against the Cuts, Goldsmiths Students’ Union, Defend Southbank Defend Education, Lambeth and Lewisham Right to Work.".  They can't all be anarchists!

Simon Jenkins, of the Guardian's "Comment is Free" (which hit my radar on account of his mention of Kennington Park) thinks British people attempting to identify with protesters in the Middle East is "insulting" to those suffering under quasi-facist regimes.  He thinks protests are outdated.  But I've never believed that solidarity meant that one had to assume similarities of regime.  It's perfectly obvious that Britain under Cameron is not Libya under Gaddafi, but I'd have thought that the Middle Eastern protesters would welcome British folk promoting two causes.  Me?  I love a good protest.  Unfortunately, I'm already committed elsewhere tomorrow, but would be there if I could.  In my view, protests and demos are a way of building solidarity for a cause, making a point a a creative manner, and discovering new friends.  Jenkins though, thinks demonstrations do not make much difference and

 "are mostly boosts to group morale, childish song festivals, obsessions with the media and desperate attempts to cause a genteel nuisance without breaching the law".

But isn't that missing the point?  I mean, demonstrations do make a difference, but sometimes they make more of a difference to those who are on them than those who observe them.  The London Million Women Rise march numbers nowhere close to one million women, but it provides a much-needed space for women to get together and affirm that male violence against women is wrong.  It's a space to say, "violence exists, behind closed doors, and we want to talk about it".  Maybe it makes no difference to Jenkins, but it does to the women who march who have stayed silent for many years.  Pride marches used to be a form of protest and solidarity, but when they'd achieved most of their goals, they became a carnival and a way of demonstrating that London has room for a diversity of views.  Do these things make any difference? Undoubtedly, but that doesn't necessarily mean they lead to legislative change.  Are they still needed when we have Twitter and Facebook and blogs and television?  Yes, absolutely.  Demonstrations and protests are more important in a society that has weakened social and familial ties because they offer citizens a protection (a very weak protection, admittedly) against the coercive nature of even democratic states.  (Indeed, that any journalist can label Britain "peaceable" whilst it appears to be at war with three countries rather demonstrates that many people fail to recognise how coercive Britain actually is).


Protests may not necessarily achieve their stated aims, but this does not prove that they "do not make much difference".  The demonstration against the Iraq war certainly didn't stop Tony Blair taking the country to war, but the political cynicism it created in the eyes of a younger British public may be behind demands for thorough-going parliamentary reform.  They may not, of course.  But one cannot know what the outcomes would have been had nobody marched.  Protests are much more than "the venue of withdrawal of consent when all else has failed," they are actually a means for creating a different society.  They're a place for forming a body politic and for shaping political opinions.  What Tahrir and Trafalgar Squares have in common is that the people who occupy them long for a politics that will include the ordinary bodies that are missing from the Westminsters of the world.

Today's politicians won't be out of a job (at least for a few years) as a result of the cuts they voted in, and they won't be surviving on State pensions alone when they leave Westminster.  But joblessness and fuel poverty and the failure of adequate healthcare might  be experienced by millions of ordinary people if the cuts bite deep, and the NHS is crushed beyond repair.  That matters.  Occupying a square is something an ordinary woman or man might do.  Occupying parliament is not.  March onwards!

In the beginning...The future of St Agnes Church, Kennington Park and the end of an era

It's difficult to know how to write about certain matters because to write seems to risk trampling upon private grief that one ought not be privy too.  St Agnes Church, Kennington Park is one such case.  However, it's local to our patch, so it would be an omission to say nothing.  A reader drew my attention to an article in last week's South London Press about the Kennington church to ask about the story.  The article states that Fr Christopher Pearson, and half of the congregation of St Agnes' (Anglican)  joined St Wilfrid's, Lorrimore Road on Ash Wednesday to begin their journey into the Roman Catholic Church.  There's a brief mention on the Independent Catholic News site too.

St Agnes was until 2010 under the care of the Bishop of Fulham, but when the Church of England voted in favour of women bishops, the Bishop of Fulham stated his intention to become a Roman Catholic. A number of parishes (St Agnes among them) likely considered that having a woman appointed as their bishop risked breaking the line of apostolic succession.  That  means that they do not believe that women bishops can be validly ordained and therefore, cannot have the gift of ministerial priesthood conferred upon them and therefore that their sacraments aren't valid, and thus consequently, they aren't fully "church".  Parishes with such views could always rely in the past, upon the validity of the Bishop's orders (and just sort of ignore women priests, whose ministerial priesthood they didn't accept).  However, the possibility of a woman bishop (or several) made it impossible for some parishes to continue in that vein, and many of them joined the personal Ordinariate, a group set up by the Pope in 2009 to welcome Anglicans.  (Of course, that annoyed a few Roman Catholics who would want their denomination to accept women priests, but the Pope has the final say...)

Most outsiders, many insiders and a few with one foot in the door simply look on in an entirely bemused manner and label the refusal to accept the ministry of bishops and priests on the basis of their gender "misogyny".  There is reason indeed to believe that many Christians are misogynists.  However, Fr Pearson claimed not to be in the SLP article, stating, "I have no real problem with women priests or civil partnerships, but they are a bar to unity...".  One might wonder whether the Pope would share the "no real problem" view, but that's another matter.  What should be noted is that an exit from  their beloved and cherished denomination is heartbreaking for many Anglicans, who believed they would still be assured of a place in the Anglican church, even after the decision to ordain women in 1992.  That's what I mean about this article being an intrusion on their grief...  Disagreements amongst communities sometimes tear those communities apart, and within small parish settings, seem to divide close neighbours...  Sky News recorded a piece at St Agnes' Church, recording the views of those who intended to leave.

I had been wondering for a while what might become of the church building, and the rest of the congregation (presuming that they weren't all to become Roman Catholics).  Their website wasn't informative, so I was hoping there might be a notice outside.   This being the Anglican church, the offline guess proved correct.  It seems that St Agnes have formed a new parochial church council (PCC) and appointed new officers and hope to appoint a new vicar, but are (unsurprisingly) missing many congregation members who would perform such duties as Readings and Intercessions on a Sunday morning.  They want to contact any old members who have slipped away and would wish to return.  In the highly unlikely event that there are people reading Lurking about SE11 who either wish to return to St Agnes or wish to join a church, it's likely that St Agnes would very much welcome your gifts at the current time.  (And in the interests of fairness, I should probably say that it's likely St Wilfrid's would extend a welcome too).

Is Mutuality privatisation by the back door? Co-operative Council Q and As - (KOV meeting update - Part 3b)

This post is a commentary and write-up from the KOV meeting that took place on 1st November at Vauxhall Gardens Community at which the Council Officer, Mike Wiltshire, was present to explain the purpose and end of the proposed co-operative Council for Lambeth.  The first post (which is basically the Council's elaboration of what the Commission have been reviewing) can be found here.  This post is a compendium of questions that were put forward by bemused Kennington, Oval, Vauxhall forum audience members (otherwise known as the Kennington Massive) to Lambeth Council about how the co-operative council might eventually appear.

Questions are often unclear and mumbly, and like in all public meetings, consist of the half-baked views of some quite strange people.  I've ruthlessly cut, summarised and de-waffled so that broad summaries are in single quotes, and direct quotes are in doubles...

Qn: 'I'm concerned... There was a lot of jargon....  You're consulting on things you should really be doing any way... You're looking at spending money on consultation on answers that should be relatively obvious...'

Mike Wiltshire:  'I wouldn't disagree that we should be doing this as a matter of course.  When we speak to people from different parts of the Borough, the ways they want to be consulted are different.  The point of this piece of work is to find the ways that people want to work.  Some prefer using area forums. Others want something more innovative eg. a local community group to come and manage a process.'

Questions: 'It would be useful to have more information about how this will run in practice and how we could contribute to the ideas about how it could be run... Could we hear about how local people get involved?' and 'We can organise collectively in neighbourhoods, but what does the council think we can personally and collectively contribute... What sort of interaction do you want between the public and yourselves?'

At that stage, you can see that the questions above (and more) concerned what a co-operative Council might look like, with all of these services effectively sub contracted-out, and poor Mr Wiltshire, who had suffered at the hands of the Kennington-massive was looking a bit drained, so Cllr Jane Edbrooke jumped to the rescue...

"These Co-op ideas were in our Labour manifesto.  This officer is taking a lot of questions, and I hope to come in with some answers... We're trying to say that we don't assume that services are run in the best way that they can be run.  We know that there's some great expertise out there.  We're saying that if you can run a service better, we'd like to catch that... It's about making people realise that services might not be run by the Council any more or that they can run them themselves...."

And then, controversially, Cllr Edbrooke went on to note that we have an excellent co-operative venture in our midst, at the heart of the Oval Ward...

"I know that people have been speaking to those that run the [Triangle] Adventure playground.  It's a controversial subject at the moment, but the playground is run very well.  How can we run that elsewhere?"

Controversial subject?!  Well, yes.  For those that don't regularly read this blog, you ought to know that Lambeth Council are currently taking legal action against the Triangle Association to evict them from the site, in order to make room for a school expansion.  So, that might not have been the best example to choose re. co-operative working!

But before anything further could be said, Mike Wiltshire grabbed the reigns again:

MW: 'At the moment, we provide youth services through youth clubs in the Borough.  The new process would be to review available funding and decommission the service if it's ineffective.  We'd then begin a new commission process and say to residents; "This is what's currently provided.  This is how it's working and these are the problems with it.  What expertise and what knowledge do you have to improve youth services, and how would you like youth services to operate in this area?"'

And then a question about whether any of our services are protected...?

Qn: At what point would the Council welcome applications?  Are there any no-go areas, or is any Council service open to that?

MW: Lambeth Council are currently drawing up a list of pilots to commence in February 2010.  The mechanisms of applying haven't been worked out in detail, but each year the council should be looking at specific service areas as part of the Council's budgeting cycle.  The last word from Steve Reed was that there are no no-go areas, including social care.  If you have an idea as to how a service can be delivered better, the Council want to hear about it...

And then somebody raised the question about whether the Emperor was wearing any clothes...

Qn:  What if the community don't step up, and they say "we'd like to see the Council continue to provide the service they have been providing.  We don't think, on any given matter, that we can do any better".

MW: 'Then that's fine.  That's part of the conversation."

But I wonder... is it fine?  If the community don't step up, and the Council don't have any money, then we're not going to have any local services.  Could we end up, I wonder, in a position where 3rd sector organisations (or, more likely, the private sector) run everything with just a thin layer of accountability connecting them with the Council?  I'm astonished that this move is coming from a Labour Concil since I cannot see how it's any different from Conservative/Lib Dem central government policy.  Today's Financial Times notes Unison's position on public sector workers being given the "right to provide" by selling back services. "Unison, the health union, attacked the ideas as a route to 'backdoor privatisation', claiming big business was likely to take over mutuals that failed or move in as contracts were renewed".  Well, precisely.  Here's what I think will happen.  Lambeth Council will make all (or most) youth service (or whatever) employees redundant.  The employees will be invited to form not-for-profit mutuals and put together ad-hoc youth provision.  The on-the-ball types will form small organisations, sell their services back to the Council, but won't have to pay their workers anything like minimum wage, and will have to reduce their services to skeletal because the Council will end up under funding them.  If the mutuals fail to perform (or make a living), the Council will not be easily held responsible, but will re-tender and the service will privatise.  Naturally, larger providers will be preferred because they're better able to keep costs  low.  I hope I'm proved wrong.

Mike Wilkinson clarified that the move towards co-operative working is more complex for statutory services eg. education.  Non-statutory services such as arts, culture and sports services offer more co-operative flexibility.  One of the "big ideas" that the Commission undertook to review was "time banking".  Apparently, in Cardiff, you become involved in the local children's centre, health service or youth service and then, as a result of giving time, you accrue credits on discounts for leisure services, cinema and theatre, "so you can have a menu of rewards to choose from.".

Val Shawcross who was also present (not sure why, but we had no Hoey) stood to made a quick comment.  She acknowledged her membership of the Co-operative party, and added that she felt the word "mutuality" had been absent from the conversation. She added that the presentation had been wrapped up in traditional "officer style speak" about consultations (she was right there).  But then she amusingly noted, "There are lots of goods models of how people run things amongst themselves.  Some of them are officer models.  Greenwich Leisure, one of the most well known leisure providers in Lambeth was set up from amongst the staff of Greenwich Leisure Services department, and was set up as a co-operative..."

At that point, I couldn't believe my ears!  The second suggestion for a co-operative (after the Triangle, which Lambeth are trying to close) was Greenwich Leisure, who are not exactly flavour of the month at the moment.  A quick glance at their website reveals... the Astroturf in Kennington park is still not fixed.  The Onionbag was not happy, having bought their leisure card, only to find many GLL leisure centres closed.  It might not be GLL's fault, but leisure would not have been my first choice to illustrate how co-operativeness might work..

Val Shawcross finally added, "We've got some great models of co-operatives in Lambeth."

I think here that it might be worth highlighting a piece questioning the co-op that I glimpsed back in the Streatham Guardian in August.  I quote, "...Jeff Jeffers, chairman of Lambeth co-operative development agency, said of 49 co-ops formed in the borough in 1971, only three still existed."  I don't necessarily doubt Val's word, but we probably need to ask questions about longevity.  Perhaps 1971 is too far back, and institutions aren't meant to last that long.  Perhaps the co-op route is a reasonable option for short-term initiatives.  My fear is that co-operative groups and mutualisation is just privatisation by the back door.
I don't want to throw a spanner in the works.  I'm not against co-operative working or co-operative societies.  The Council may well be /opting in/ to a very positive model of working.  It would be great to have local people taking additional responsibility for the wellbeing of their communities, but...  I don't want the Co-op Council or Big Society rhetoric to prevent people campaigning against cuts.  I'm afraid that the word "co-operative" is being used to cover up a covert privatisation without even those who are passionately involved realising that they're on a hiding to nothing.  Take a look at the words of.the Chief Executive of the Co-op group, Peter Marks, who admitted to the Guardian last year that he was a capitalist...

"At heart I am a capitalist as we have seen that other systems don't work. But the trust in banks has gone. The Co-op was not deemed sexy - we were old-fashioned because we took deposits before loaning money. But old-fashioned is the new cool in banking."

With one breath, it seems that "old fashioned" is cool again, both in banking and in local authority government, but in the next breath (same Guardian article)...

"If another person says to me 'I can remember my granny's divi number', I could get arrested for physical violence.  That's old baggage, people are always looking back. We are a modern business now."

The question is, can Lambeth Council be "cool" and "old-fashioned" without "looking back" at "old baggage"?  Cam Lambeth be a modern co-operative Council, or will it end up ushering in a greater era of privatisation under the noses of an unsuspecting public, who think that co-operative means, well, co-operative.

The closed Kennington Park Astroturf pitches and why it's taking so long...

Further to my article earlier this week on why everything (including the Astroturf court) in Kennington Park appears to be closed, I've sourced some extra info. from the Friends of Kennington Park.

Kennington Park's astroturf pitch was installed in 2006 with a 15 year warranty.  Under the warranty, the seams were fixed in 2008 and 2009.  Issues with the seams were again discovered in August this year, and the manufacturers were called to examine the pitch, after which the installers argued that the seam issues fell outside of the warranty.  Naturally, Lambeth Council argued the opposite view, but the court was closed whilst an investigation upon whom the responsibility should fall was undertaken.  The Council were unable to speed up the repairs by asking another company to look at the issue in view of the fact that it would have invalidated the warranty.  After further meetings and inspections, the manufacturer agreed to make the necessary repairs.  Work was due to commence on the 12th October, but I noticed at the weekend that it appeared to be delayed due to bad weather.  Do any of my readers use the pitch, and has anybody seen any works taking place?

The teams using the pitches have been offered refunds or credits, and from the information above, it appears that the Council have been acting in the best interest of the public.  The question is why the discussions and meetings have taken so long, but I suppose, given the context of a £200,000 pitch at stake, and the technical report requested, that 2 months isn't a great deal of time to resolve the matter.  If the pitch closure continues into a third month, I imagine that more questions will need to be asked.

Kennington Park Astroturf and Flower Garden closed. Midnight path under threat.

What on earth is happening in Kennington Park?  A few weeks ago, I received a tip-off that the Astro turf pitch had been closed.  I'm not sure about the date of its exact closure, but by process of deduction, I think it has been closed for about 2 months now.  A park-ranger/sports coach that I spoke to on site (last Saturday) said that the pitch had been closed due to the hockey players complaining that the pitch was not flat.  The anonymous email I received claims that the pitch has been closed for health and safety reasons on account of a "stretching" of the pitch (opposite the tennis courts).

If you go and view the pitches when they're open, you'll see that they're in almost constant use.  I'd guess that up to 1000 people use them each day (taking into account day and evening use).  According to the Friends of Kennington Park, there's been some sort of dispute between Lambeth Council and GLL over an expired warranty which has caused a delay in fixing the pitch.  Repairs are due to take place any day now, but according to Lambeth Council, they require dry weather.  A 2 month closure is unacceptable, but that's not the park's only closed facility...

The Old English flower garden is also closed.  The photo above shows the wire fence that has been erected not only around the entrance, but around the entire garden!  I discovered this particular piece of news at the memorial for the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Kennington air-raid shelter.  The flower garden contains several benches, dedicated to people who died in the blast and people who've died more recently, but nobody has been able to go and view any of them.  The flower garden, like the park, is meant to be open to the public.  Unfortunately, it was closed in May 2010.  It then opened once or twice in June, but has been closed for the rest of the summer and remains closed.  The local rumour mill (I can't guarantee accuracy) puts this down to being a dispute between the general police, and (guess who?), the Oval Safer Neighbourhood Team.  The SNT, apparently, consider the Flower Garden to be dangerous.  Personally, I've never had a problem with either the squirrels or the drinkers in the flower garden.  I always say "live and let live",  but it seems that maybe the police are closing everything they deem poses any risk.

I was going to suggest a public insurrection to reclaim our common land (the Flower Garden), but it seems that the Common Land of Kennington Common was abolished in 1852 (how dare they?) when the Common became a Park for public recreation and apparently, "extinguished all rights of common".  But let's not let the detail prevent us from gathering to free the Flower Garden!  Who is interested in a bit of late night wire cutting?  And whilst on that  topic of the Oval SNT, and their activities, I'd  just like to remind you of the generally unpublicised threat to Midnight Walk.  When I went to speak to the police at the informal consultation, they maintained that most of the people they'd spoken to on the night of 13th October 2010 (it was just ticks on a clipboard), were in favour of closing the Midnight Path.  I'd generally keep quiet if I felt that such a view represented public opinion.  I'm not sure that it does.  Thanks to the commentator, Mark, I've been told that Kate Hoey had to step in to prevent the path's closure back in 2002.  The problem back then was that men who used the park at night (when it was closed) were sometimes mugged, and since they were not meant to be in the park in the first place, they claimed that muggings had taken place on the Midnight Path.  Is this what's happening on this occasion?  Can anybody who has been mugged on this path provide any additional information?

The Friends of Kennington Park Facebook page notes the following:

"The path has been a public right of way since 1899. It is not part of the park, but used by many people living in Lambeth and Southwark at all hours.

The Friends' committee have urged Lambeth and the Police to consult widely, particularly with Residents' and Tenants' Associations and ward councillors. If there are only a few objections, the closure can be sanctioned by Lambeth officials; if there are many, the issue has to be heard in court."

I imagine that the "public right of way" legislation trumps the Kennington Common Inclosure Act of 1852.  If a public right of way has been granted, then it can't easily be removed.  Consider emailing the Oval Safer Neighbourhoods team or Hannah Wadey, the Lambeth Community Safety Officer to left them know your views about the proposed closure of the Midnight Path.

I'm not sure how many Kennington Anarchists would be interested in using bolt cutters to gain entry to the flower garden under the cover of night, so I suppose it might be better to resort to a more democratic means of dealing with the issue.  If you'd like to see the Astroturf re-opened, and nothing happens (or is happening) on that front, or you'd like access to the Flower Gardens, or you'd like to prevent the Midnight Path being closed, do feel free to contact your local Oval Ward Councillors:  Cllr Ishbel Brown (Lib Dem), Cllr Jane Edbrooke (Labour) and Cllr Jack Hopkins (Labour).

70th Anniversary of Kennington Park air-raid shelter disaster - photos from Kennington Park

Today, about 60 people gathered in Kennington Park for a memorial ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the deaths of 104 Londoners at an air raid shelter during the Blitz.

During the second world war, many Londoners did not have gardens and due to the fact that authorities closed nearby Underground stations eg. Oval, were forced to seek shelter in communal trench shelters.  The trench shelters were considered unsafe on account of their structure, as nearby reverberations could cause the sides to cave in.  That's exactly what happened on October 16th 1940 when a 15lb bomb fell directly on the shelter in Kennington Park.  The estimated death toll was 104, but only 48 bodies were recovered.  The rest are still lying beneath the park.

The massive death toll at Kennington Park is widely considered to have been hushed up by the authorities, on account of damaging Londoner's morale and alerting the Axis' pilots to the presence of additional civilians.  It wasn't until 2003 that the specific event in Kennington Park (which saw the highest number of casualties in Lambeth during WW2) received its own memorial.

For more info (and the sources from where I drew the above), take a look at a Friends of Kennington Park guide named  "Kennington's Forgotton Tragedy" authored by Rob Pateman, this recent BBC article, also by Rob Pateman and a further article on the WW2 Today website.

Gordon Johnston, Chair of the Friends of Kennington Park, introduced the order of ceremony and the Mayor.  The words on the memorial are by Maya Angelou:

Cllr Catherine Bowman, representing Southwark Council helped to plant a memorial rose bush:

Pauline Harrison, a relative of two victims of the air-raid shelter, and representing the relatives of those who died in the blast, also planted a rosebush:

A representative from the Friends of Kennington Park planted a rose bush:

And finally, local children from Archbishop Sumner Primary school planted a rose bush:

With that, the evocative bugles sounded, and coincidentally a bi-plane flew over Kennington Park, and we remembered those that will not grow old and whom the years will not condemn:

Oval SNT police consultation on closing Kennington Park Midnight path at night

Apologies for the late notice, but I only discovered this afternoon (through @KenParkFriends on Twitter) that the Oval SNT will be conducting a consultation from 5.30pm TONIGHT (Wednesday 13th October) about closing the Midnight path through Kennington Park at night.  The midnight park connects Kennington residents in Lambeth with Kennington residents in Southwark and is a quick and useful cut through.  It always looks well used to me, especially at weekends.

This evening, the police will ask anybody that walks through the park whether they use the path at night, whether they feel safe when using the path and if they don't feel safe, whether they would like the path to be closed at night.

Apparently, 21 robberies have taken place recently (may have been over the last year, but I missed that crucial piece of info), and 80% of them have taken place when the park has been closed, and the majority of people that have been robbed have been men.

This is just the start of the consultation, and residents on both the Brandon Estate and the other side of the park are due to be consulted on the matter.  My view (since you asked) is that it's better not to use the path if you don't feel safe, and I'd argue against its closure.  Feel free to go to the consultation this evening and make your own views known. 

I wish I'd heard about this earlier, as it's of interest to local people.  I still can't figure out where it's been publicised up to this point.

Kennington Park Children's Centre (or, When "consultation" risks being lip service)

(All pictures of Kennington Park Children's center (above) attributable to and copyright 2010 Google Streetview)

On 22nd July, I attended a meeting with Kennington parents at which Kate Hoey, Cllr Peter Robbins and Cllr Mark Harrison  (among others) were present, to discuss primary school provision in the area.  At least twenty minutes of the meeting were dedicated to discussing Kennington Park Children's Centre (a Lambeth day care centre for those aged from 6 months to 5 years old), which is useful since the issue of its potential closure is still under dispute.

One parent at that meeting spoke up to say (roughly, as my notes aren't perfect), "I'm a mother of a child who attends Kennington Park Children's centre..  There is a proposal to move the Children's Centre to Henry Fawcett Primary School.  How will that impact on what you're able to do for the rest of the school?  Will the space be sufficient?  It seems to me that if the school is so under pressure then to add to that might not be the right thing to do."

Claire Nuttall (Associate Head Teacher) of Henry Fawcett answered by saying, "At the moment, it's not... it is a consultation.". 

But more tellingly, somebody from Lambeth Council said as follows.  (I'd be delighted if Cllr Robbins or Cllr Harrison were able to tell me the name of the speaker, as what follows is a shorterned transcript of their remarks (my highlighting)).:

"We are proposing to move Kennington Park Children's Centre to Henry Fawcett School and we are consulting on that over the next couple of months.  We've got a number of meetings with parents next week.  Children's centres... are hugely succesful and... we've got 30 in Lambeth and... we've had a history in Lambeth with having children's centres placed in schools.  We've got 5 in the voluntary sector in Lambeth and 5 in place with nursery schools.  The other 20 are in primary schools.  The advantage is that the school can work with families and children from a young age.  Head teachers who have a children's centre say they find it hugely advantageous to do that.  They get to know parents and work with families and they work with issues and problems the families have.  It's a universal access service which is a huge advantage of children's centres.  If families do have special needs, they can be targeted with additional services." 

"We don't know what will happen in the future, but we hope we'll be able to maintain a children's centre service.  We've found having children's centres in schools provides a strong leadership for the children's centre, so a head teacher will know clearly what they want to happen with the school and provides leadership for the children's centre as well. On the whole, that model has worked very well in Lambeth.  It's difficult for a head teacher to manage a children's centre which is off site because the staff are at arm's length and I think clearly it's better to have that flow of children and activities... within the building and outdoors.  There is the space at Henry Fawcett and we're hoping that we'll have some capital...  We've earmarked some capital to put into the building, and the ground floor of the Henry Fawcett School provides a lot more space than there is at the Kennington Park children centre.  It's not quite as much outdoor space, but is perhaps a better quality outdoor space / learning environment for the children, but that's a proposal.  We've got 4 meetings next week with parents where we want to hear your views on that and we know that parents who use the childrens centres have some concerns about is, so we'll be consulting you over the next couple of months about whether you want that move to happen, but also, we think there's a very strong case for it and if it goes ahead, we can then start consulting on plans, and what the plans look like and what services would be delivered in the children's centre.

Kate Hoey:  "When you say consulting, are you going to listen to what they say?"

Lambeth Council person: Yes, of course we're going to listen to what people say..."

Hoey: "You haven't made your mind up in advance?"

Lambeth Council person:  No, we haven't. We haven't. But there are strong financial worries as well.  Within the children centre model, the health and family support is funded separately, but the childcare has to pay for itself.  The childcare is not subsidised.  We can't use the children's centre funding to provide cheap childcare places and that particular aspect of it is not working well at Kennington Park Children's Centre and we've talked with Claire and the Chair of govenors at Henry Fawcett School and produced an improved model for childcare to work at the school site because, to be frank, we can't afford to have a childcare business which is losing money.  It's just not possible in our current financial climate. 

Claire Nuttall (Associate Head at Henry Wafcett):  "Just to answer your specific question as far as Henry Fawcett School goes if [the Children's Centre] came and the impact that would be on it...  The Children's Centre was a part of Henry Fawcett School until a year ago.  When we took on the school [after it entered special measures], because it was on a different site, we went to the LA and said "we can't manage it there" because we couldn't see it every day.  We had to walk across the park and we weren't able to effectively manage it.  At the time we said, "unless it's on our site, we can't manage it" and the LA took it back... I think it would be very positive for the parents to be able to access the kind of extended provision that we get because it would provide a real hub for the parents... There are health visitors and groups for the parents to come to.  We already have our own version because we think it's important, so we run a Reading Cafe for weekender(?) drop in.  It would be positive. It wouldn't take away from our resources or our capacity because it's separate and it has its own manager.  But it's under the overall leadership of the school, so the impact, I think, would be positive."

Council person: , "what we do want to do over the next couple of months is talk to parents across the area as a whole, not just the current users of the children's centre".

---

Anyhow, today I received an email, addressed to Princes Ward councillors, Kate Hoey, and a number of other folk, suggesting that there are plans afoot to close the Kennington Park Children's Centre.  You'll note from the above dialogue that the consultation was somewhat farcical, even from that first meeting.  I've highlighted in red that funding appears to have been earmarked to move the Centre, even prior to the consultation about whether to move it or not.  When pressed by Kate Hoey about whether the consultation was genuine, the speaker was forced to concede that "there are strong financial worries".  I'm not too sure whether there's much point in Lambeth Council pretending to consult, if they're just going to close something anyway, but perhaps it has to happen for statutory reasons.

It appears that staff and parents have come up with a number of ideas about how to make the Children's Centre profitable eg. by using it for other events, such as yoga/gym/creches etc. but the correspondent who has written to me has suggested that Lambeth Council has been running down the building on purpose, in order to reduce intake and undermine staff morale.  That's a harsh criticism indeed, and (being that I have no children and even little experience in day care centres), I can't back it up.  I'm sure that Lambeth would dispute that claim!  There don't seem to be enough people to fight for all of the services that we're going to need to preserve, but there appear to be at least 137 people who want to save Kennington Park Children's Centre.  There's a Facebook group here (which seems to be open to all), where they've advertised all of the consultation meetings.  Discussions on there seem to be quite active, so I'd advise you to join if you're interested in retaining the centre on its current site.  137 people can be wrong, but they represent a significant body of concern, and from the meeting I attended above, I was already concerned (as was Kate Hoey from her remarks) about the legitimacy of any such consultation.  I'm not at all surprised that Lambeth are leaning in the direction of closure, since they've already allocated the budget!!

The Associate Head Teacher of Henry Fawcett was enthusiastic (at the above meeting) about having the children's centre on the Henry Fawcett site.  Cynically, I presume it means that the school would receive more money.  But positively, it improves the educational life cycle of children if the school get to know them from their earliest years.  (Early intervention is also a significant help in reducing likelihood of delinquency in later life).  All I'd add is that the Henry Fawcett school is landlocked between two roads.  I doubt that the space they could provide the Day Centre is equivalent to the amount (and quality) of the space they've currently got, based in the middle of Kennington Park. 

I say that, despite being deeply impressed by the quality of the presentation from Claire Nuttall (Associate Head of Henry Fawcett) at the Kennington Parents meeting.  I'm not too sure that continuing to refer to Henry Fawcett as a school that has "just emerged from special measures" is productive.  Two members of staff were present from the school at the meeting on 22nd July, and they spoke very positively about wishing to remain under council monitoring so as to improve their school even further.  I'm not saying it's perfect, but if I were a parent, I'd have been the first to visit the place.  My guess is that they'll achieve a "good" Ofsted rating very quickly if their level of enthusiasm and commitment was anything to go by.  By contrast, no member of staff from Vauxhall Primary was present at the meeting at all.

But, I've been lurking in this area for some time now, and I've a wider remit than merely young people and education.  I'm just the tiniest tad suspicious that the real reason for relocating the Kennington Park Children's centre is because of the St Agnes redevelopment to take place in the park. The park land on which the centre is based could be sold off for considerable profit by Lambeth.  And once again, there's a risk that the Kennington Park Children's Centre would be lost from the public domain, just as Bolton Crescent (Southwark) and St Agnes are redeveloped with family housing, causing an inevitably increased intake at the local Henry Fawcett, Crampton Street and St John the Divine Primary schools (not to mention the others further into Kennington) and an increased need for daycare places.  I'm concerned about reducing the footprint of a school at a time when Lambeth parents are fighting like crazy for places in the south ot the borough (and the ones in the north are showing rumblings of discontent).  How great is the benefit of a children's centre on the site of a school, if that reduces the size of a landlocked site for current primary school students?

Kennington Park to lose play area to new housing (see plans) - is this the best deal for local children?

Further to Friday's post re. the development on St Agnes Place, Kennington Park, I had a chance to attend the planning consultation.  There's no positive way of putting the playground news.  The consolidation of Kennington Park Adventure Playground and the One O'Clock club would reduce the size of the One O'Clock club site quite substantially.  There are good arguments on the side of consolidating them and other good arguments in favour of retaining the land. I had some long conversations today which I'll summarise below.  In the meantime, here are the boards:

I assumed that the proposed development was London and Quadrant only.  Actually, there are two separate proposed developments (London & Quadrant and Family Mosaic), which happen to share an architect.  The 58 proposed new units which I mentioned yesterday (and which are shown above on the boards headed in green) are those that would be developed by London & Quadrant.  As you can see from the Masterplan, there are a number of positive features eg. the proposed cycle route (it's not clear from the diagram whether this runs from Bolton Crescent/Camberwell New Road) or whether it starts abruptly on St Agnes Place, but it's a good idea if extended to Camberwell New Road.  Also, the new development would form part of an attempt to join the northern section of Kennington Park with the southern section (without forcing people to walk all the way around the edge).  That's something that has been advocated for a long while.

50% social housing is the Lambeth Council target, so one can't complain (although that includes both socially rented and part-ownership).  I like the fact that the building seems sensibly proportioned (not too high) and would fit into the park well (there seem to be no nasty quirks that might grate in 50 years time).

The exact layout, flat size and has been made known at the time of consultation (something some of the other developers might adhere to).  One might point out that the four bedroom houses are considerably larger than the three bedroom homes, and are only available on the private market.  But that would be quibbling, right?  I mean, as the architect pointed out, it's just not possible to build social housing these days without having it paid for by private money.

I haven't got any immediate ideas how the Section 106 money from this development should be spent.  Since much of the housing will be aimed at families, there's a sense in which it might be useful to put it towards strengthening local schools.  I can't think of how it would be invested in transport in any useful way (since the proposed cycle route is already built in to the plans), but would be interested in comments, as usual.

The boards above (bordered in purple) now outline the Family Mosaic scheme, which is much smaller (18 proposed units) and would occupy the space that formerly belonged to the Rastafarian Temple.  I was told by the developer that Family Mosaic have a block further north in the park, and so they'd be performing a land swap with Lambeth Council to move the new housing closer together.  

As you can see from the board entitled "Housing", 100% of the development will be shared ownership.  There's not a lot more to say about the Family Mosaic development as far as I can see.

The next boards all relate to the playground itself (of which I have more to say below).  

From the board (above top), it's immediately clear that transposing the red area (on the left) on to the red area on the right that an immense amount of green play space is lost.  Clarification from the architect confirmed that 50% of the One O'Clock land would be lost (it looked like more to me).  However, this figure is the result of a clever little work around.  Apparently, during the One O'Clock club opening time, a special fold up chain link fence can be unrolled and so the club can be "extended into the green link" so that parts of the green link are taken over for the benefit  of the One O'Clock club.  If the special folding extension is /not/ included, the core One O'Clock club land on the /new/ site would measure 350 metres squared.  The old site offers the existing One O'Clock club 1600 metres squared.  You do the maths.  Is it worth losing the land?  

I really like the designs for the new playground (particularly the building that you can climb into via a ladder, and then climb through, and exit using a slide), but it perhaps doesn't make up for the loss of actual land.  The architect was particularly excited about these points, and they'd also considered the security of the building very carefully (appropriate use of steel shutters).

The defence offered (by the architect) in favour of consolidating the site was that the One O'Clock club only opens for 3 hours per day for 4 days per week.  The One O'Clock club is apparently "not well used" (at peak times, the architect suggested that 20 children use it), but that's somewhat convenient, considering that the council controls both the club and the land!  It's in the Council's interest to ensure that the One O'Clock club doesn't get enough funding/publicity so that it can then be claimed to be underused so that nobody objects to the new development.  Another more intriguing argument offered runs along these lines...  Theoretically, even less space is lost because "for most of the year, the two playgrounds are not even open at the same time".  The conflict occurs because in the holidays, the One O'Clock club opens in the middle of the Adventure playground day.

A further defence (again, from the architect) was offered such that the loss of land would be counteracted by using the new (smaller) site more efficiently.  The new building would occupy a corner spot (to be shared by both clubs) so that land use is maximised and so that there'd by more space for young people to play.  For modern needs, apparently, the One O'Clock club site is "just excessive".  But for future needs, who knows?  

Additionally... (again, from the architect), "the idea of bringing these two functions into one building is reducing maintenance and running costs and securing the long term future of the site."  "It's also cheaper to build a bigger building than two smaller ones so that more money is left to put into external space provision".  Such candour from an architect is quite extraordinary!  I must have looked a little surprised, so the architect suggested that the dispute wasn't so much their issue, but a matter for the council and the developer.  A conversation with the developer was in order.

How was it that two developments proposed in partnership with Lambeth Council resulted in less playground space for local people?  The developer noted that the entire St Agnes Place site is brownfield and designated for housing purposes in Lambeth's UDP.  But Lambeth didn't like the idea of just sticking a new housing development in the middle of the park, so they suggested performing a land swap which would swap the Adventure playground land with the land for new housing.  I pointed out that it wasn't exactly a swap, which the developer conceded and admitted that initially some land would have been lost from the Adventure playground.  However, the initial plan didn't go ahead because feedback from the planners suggested that the Adventure playground should not be separated  from the One O'Clock Club, and that ideally the two youth facilities should share a building.  Welcome to the future everybody.

The developer felt that the wooden play equipment on the sites was rotting and that there's not the money to reinvest (highly likely).  The local children have been consulted and they're quite in favour of the new proposals.  The developer admitted quite openly that there would be a loss of play space, but not a loss of open park.  That's possibly the best argument in favour of consolidating the land, but I'd be interested to hear what other locals think.  Is it less important to lose a youth facility that is located in a park?

What concerns me is not the fact that the One O'Clock club is currently under utilised as space, but that once a housing development is embarked upon, the land can never be returned to the public domain for the use of young people.  I /like/ the housing plans.  I /like/ the newly designed playground and building.  But I don't like the fact that the new play space is significantly smaller than it ever was and that land won't be regainable for young people in years to come.  Residents will need to decide if it's a sacrifice that they're prepared to make.

The architect and the developer agreed that the space to be utilised by the new playground was still a question open for debate.  It was agreed that hearing residents views was indeed the reason for consultation, so pressure put on the council or providing feedback into the consultation might still lead to revised plans.  The question is whether it's worth the fight.  Increasing the amount of playground space could potentially reduce the amount of social housing.  If the same number of units were to be built, and the playground space increased, the units would end up being smaller.  When one comes to ask how the common good might best be served, there's a sense of being presented with a question that has a "lose/lose" answer, and the upcoming cuts will only serve to sharpen this problem.

Kennington hero arrests drug dealer, US Embassy info. and art/photography (general update)

The top story this morning concerns a local chap, Charlie Skinner, who contacted the police to inform them about a local drug dealer who'd moved in next door.  Instead of keeping a log, as the police advised, he bravely(?) posed as a drug dealer, entered the flat next door, fought of two of the drug dealers' "henchmen" and performed a citizens' arrest, putting the drug-dealer in a headlock until the police arrived.  Unsurprisingly, police found crystal meth (a popular drug in Vauxhall) in the flat  (This all took place on March 13th, so it perhaps has escaped Daily Mail coverage on account of the impending court case.)  The drug dealer was jailed for six years on Monday.  Various Tweeters have been asking "where" in Kennington this took place.  My best guess is that it was somewhere close to Kennington Park, but I'd rather not say more on account of the family's safety.  I really can't decide whether the chap in question was very brave, or somewhat mad, but he achieved the desired effect somewhat more quickly than the "keep a log" suggestions from the police.  Only, umm, don't try this at home, unless you're a "south London boy" who can "look after yourself" or you might y'know, be stabbed or shot or something!  There's an additional report in The Evening Standard.

The US State department showed off plans for their embassy in Battersea to a crowd of US architects late last week.  There's an excellent article about it here.  What hasn't been noted prior to now is that the State Department were tasked with finding the "smallest site, that met our needs, that we could afford."  Shows that they must really love the idea of being based in Vauxhall, eh? :)  Apparently, the building is designed to show off the three American virtues of transparency, openness and equality, except that, erm, it has to be utterly impenetrable.  Difficult to do, unless you're allowed to build your own moat, I suppose!  What's not clear, when they speak about "public realm" and the park outside the building is whether they mean "Vauxhall public" or "the American public that happen to work inside the building".  I like the idea of a new park over there, but not sure I want to be relaxing with friends under the watchful eye of the machine-gun toting police.

If you're interested in art, there's an exhibition by Lisa Yuskavage in the Greengrassi/Corvi Mori art gallery (1a Kempsford Road, SE11) which feature slightly odd images of the female form/psyche with a better review here.  Additionally, the Camera Club in Bowden Street are digging Politicians from the 1970s out of their archives (7th June - 25th June).  More info about the exhibition is on the Kennington Association blog.

Have some Madeira m'dear - Madeira Day 2010

As a result of the atrocious weather on Sunday, the entire Madeira Festival event was impressively shifted by one day. As predicted, it was a fantastic festa, and here are a few shots that captured the mood of the day (click  on any of them to enlarge, and email me if you appear and would like me to blur your face or take the photo down) :

Setting the scene:

Vegetarians, look away now:

Quite early, at about 1pm, everybody is enjoying themselves with beer, Tapas, and the odd custard tart:

Living in London, wearing Madeira:

Somebody, somewhere, with a flair for flower arrangements must have been up all night.  I often wonder who the nameless ones are, that put their energy into making beautiful things:

The Brass band.  I swear that at one point, they were playing the White Cliffs of Dover, but I could be mistaken.  An impressive troop:

The jester.  I've no idea who this chap was (or even what he was saying), but he appeared to be having a marvellous time, making an ass of himself:

Madeira Day 2010 [Moved to Monday 3rd May]

I almost completely forgot, but Madeira Day will be celebrated in Kennington Park, SE11 on Monday 3rd May from 10am to 7pm (it was moved from Sunday, due to the bad weather).  Lambeth's Mayor thoroughly enjoyed the day last year, and the SE11 lurker intends to try to drop in for some of the festivities this year.  Apparently, there will be food, drink and live music.  Woo Hoo!  It's party-time :-)

I'm pleased that the national anti-immigration political discussions have not intruded too badly into the diverse Borough of Lambeth.  One of the benefits of living in a multi-cultural society is that local residents are given so many opportunites to celebrate the carnivals, festivals and feast days of all nations.  South London people are party people! 

To the surprise of many, Lambeth is home to one of the largest Portuguese communities in the world.  Apparently, there are 27,000 Portuguese residents in Lambeth, and I'm delighted that they're here, holding a party in Kennington Park.  Many of the established and successful businesses in Lambeth (all of those Tapas bars and delicatessens in South Lambeth Road) have been set up over the years by Portuguese people that settled in Lambeth in the 60s and 70s and I believe our life in London is and has been greatly enhanced by the presesence of people from other countries.  (I keep wanting to say "Portuguese immigrants", but it seems wrong to refer to our Portuguese community as immigrants, when many of them are happily settled in Britain and have been for many years).

I have an entirely unverifiable theory that all of the best parties take place in South London.  Viva Madeira!

[Edit: I've put the photos from the event on another post.]