More on wormeries and compost and going green in Lambeth

Just a quick note to say that my assistant did eventually receive a response (see Recycling and going Green in Lambeth) from Susan Sheehan (Lambeth Council's new Green Community Champion Co-ordinator) which contains several points of interest to those people who have been googling for compost / wormeries in the borough of Lambeth:

1. The compst bin subsidies will be coming to an end shortly because they were sponsored by DEFRA, who will no longer be subsidising them. Susan recommended that people purchase the remaining stock before the subsidy ceases. However, Lambeth Council are looking into the question of ongoing subsidies, so I'll mention it if anybody comes up with a radically exciting plan.

2. Susan did not agree that the plastic composting tubs are less effective than the wooden ones and has no issue with the plastic ones that turn. Personally, I think I've cracked the problem with a wormery, rather than a compost heap so there's not much point in pursuing the matter.

3. I'm still rather unclear on the "Green Champions" position, and exactly who our green champions are, and the email didn't elaborate. However, Susan has agreed to attend some local community meetings (see the previous post for her contact details) to give anybody who wants it, some more information about the initiative.

Apparently, the general idea is that there are certain projects that we might like to see immitated around the Borough. These are:

1. http://www.hydefarm.org.uk/ - Hyde Farm Climate Action Network (in Balham)
2. Albert Square and St Stephen's Association Climate Action Network - brief post here for this group in Stockwell
3. Transition Town Brixton - This seems to be a loose network of people committed to raising awareness of climate change and oil shortage. They're trying to rethink the way an area works in terms of food, health, work etc. They seem to focusing at the moment on growing food within London, with an event on 30th April, which I sadly can't attend.

I'm quite excited by the idea of growing food in London. So far this year (with zero gardening experience and from the balcony of a flat), the threewheeled household are already growing lettuce leaves, strawberries, purple sprouting broccoli, onions, three different types of potato and hopefully, eventually, some tomatoes). The wormery is now in place, and will become a shared wormery once the worms have multiplied and when we think it's working.

I'd be interested to hear more from readers who have been involved in Transition Town Brixton or various other local climate/environment focused groups. Is there any reason that we couldn't be a Transition Town Kennington or Transitition Town Vauxhall? What about a whole Transition postcode? SE11 contains such a variety of people and skills and culture and opportunities that I'm sure it might be possible.

The inspiration for the SE11 blog; 56a infoshop

I've been meaning, for a while, to make a post about (part of) the reason for starting this blog.

I used to work in the SE11 area in a job where I was required to spend a considerable amount of time trudging around Kennington, Elephant, Vauxhall, Stockwell, Brixton, all over really. Whilst working, I chose to walk a great deal, and I took a lot of short cuts through random areas. Such trudging lead to lurking, and the lurking lead to a great deal of knowledge about some really groovy hangouts.

The one that really inspired the blog though was the discovery of the 56a Infoshop on Crampton Street. It was the first place that made me say, "I wonder why more people don't know about this... it's a really good local place to lurk about". I know that Crampton Street is in SE17, but it's one of the places I really wanted to add to the map, even though it's outside the mapped area (and it's also one of the reasons that SE17 is a place that I'm qite interested in blogging).

The 56a Infoshop on Crampton Street is a kind of information resource and food distribution centre and social space, based loosely around a theme of "radical" politics. It appears to be held together by volunteers who work fairly limited shifts. This sounds like a bad thing, but actually the limited opening times almost always guarantee that it's open when it says it will be. At certain times, the Fair Shares food place (I hesitate to say "shop" since I think it would be better characterised as a "way of life") is open, and it sells (not for profit) vegetarian and vegan goods. At other times, they run free bike workshops for teaching people how to fix bikes. My favourite part though, is the kind of archive of books, zines, pamphlets and odd bits of paper based loosely around the theme of alternative politics. It include anarchy, encapsulates feminist info (really hard to find this these days), socialist literature, queer history, alternative histories of London, squatting info, and a whole lot of things that don't quite fit into the categories outlined. Also, they have a fair amount of non-UK related material.

When you first wander into 56a, it's quite odd as it doesn't appear to be "staffed" by anybody. There is no hierarchy, and anybody can come and affiliate (or just lurk there) themselves, if they feel that the space might be useful for them to read, study or hang about in.

There is a website for the 56a Infoshop here.

Edit: There's a great video by some friendly looking ladies about their work too.

Franklins - renovated and re-opened

The second exciting piece of SE11 news for the day is that Franklins has re-opened. I haven't blogged about this before, but they re-opened in a renovated state at the beginning of May 2008.

Rather than just being a restaurant, it's now a food emporium / deli / cafe / restaurant. I hesitate with the "cafe" part, but it's much better placed for people to drop in for a quick bite to eat. I think the layout is much improved.

It was the three wheeled pleb's plan to go for breakfast, but after the visit to the fete, we ended up there at about three o'clock. It was absolutely packed with people, and whilst we wandered in and found a table, the service was slow. When I finally caught somebody, I was told that the food would take some time as they were busy (probably fair enough, since many of their staff appeared to be at the fete). We decided, once we'd seen the prices (I think we'd missed the breakfast) and waited around, that we'd go back another day.

On the positive side, they're still sourcing all of their food from local growers etc., making them very green. Unfortunately, It's still fantastically expensive - only £6.99 for a jar of lemon bonbons! Still, the place is absolutely packed out with well-off looking mothers and their children!

It was too busy (and I'm a little broke at the moment) to stop and eat today, but I'll try and do a fuller review at a later stage.

Kennington Fete

There is lots of SE11 related news to post today... First up, the three wheeled pleb visited Kennington Fete, held in Cleaver Square. This is only the second fete that has been held in recent years, to my knowledge. Not having been able to be there last year, I can't make any comparisons, but it was very well attended this year. The day was warm, but grey, which probably helped.

Stalls included numerous general bric-a-brac and a plant stall whose attendant grew a rather large selection of plants in his own garden. There was a book stall, a flower stall, a steel band from the Archbishop Sumner Primary School and a human fruit machine (which I didn't see in operation, but consisted of a large cardboard structure with children in it). Also, there were food stalls provided by the Lobster Pot (the prawn cocktail, I'm told, was delicious) and Kennington Tandoori. A stall by Franklins displayed some exquisitely decorated fairy cakes. There were about 20 people doing a Tai Chi demonstration at one end (presumably the Tai Chi in the park people, who I've not yet blogged about), a Punch and Judy show / balloon modelling man near the other end, and lots and lots of happy looking people. I don't know if they were resident SE11-ites, or Kennington-ites, or outsiders, but there seemed to be a rather large contingent of the comfortably well-to-do (not surprising considering the location). The whole thing was sponsored by Winkworth, who are to be commended for their contribution to the local area.

I've put the photos up above. I'm afraid I failed to get a picture of the, ahem, attractive lamp shade that two men running one of the bric-a-brack stalls attempted to sell me, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! I took general shots, as I rather sought to avoid photographing anybody in particular, but that's somewhat impossible at a fete! Needless to say, if anybody spots themselves and would rather not be in the photo(s), I'm happy to either blur you out or remove the photo from the blog and map completely.

Farmers Market & Photos

Because it was such a sunny day, we decided to visit the Farmers' Market in Oval. I've added the photos to the map, and included them here too:





We managed to find some purple sprouting broccoli (a favourite food of the SE11 lurker's partner) for £1, which was great value considering that it was a huge bag. In addition, I shall definitely be returning for freshly squeezed apple (and pear) juice, and some goats cheese. If we'd arrived earlier, I imagine that we might have purchased some bread - all of the bread stalls looked rather empty (which is definitely a good sign!)

We only visited briefly, but the market is open from 10am until 3pm every Saturday. Expect more on this, as we're definitely going back.

In other news, I've also started adding some of the other Kennington photos that I've taken. After the market, the next photo I've added is one of The Ship pub. Adding the photos takes a while, as I'm just sorting out universal formatting ideas. I've photos to add of some of the green squares, and a few shops, and a rather nice one of Durning Library. Watch this space.