Frankham House...a short story...

If I were here I would face so much. So much would be different from before. That is what I thought. So much that I feared I would confront. That is what I believed. So much would challenge me. That is what I hoped. And in my hopeful state I saw me rising above all the challenges that came my way. I would hurdle the challenges. A champion hurdler – that would be myself. In Deptford.

Yes. In Deptford.

Why in Deptford?

Because to my parents Deptford was hostile territory.

Slumming – my Mother said.

Slumming – my Father said.

They both talked to me about the slums of Deptford.

National Front and heroin addicts – they both said that. They talked to me separately. They used the same words – almost the same words. They had a script – or, that is how it seemed.

To read more....go to smokealondonpeculiar.co.uk

A Lost Cat and a Council Tax Consultation.

REWARD IF FOUND!

MICROCHIPPED BLACK AND WHITE CAT

TOSH

Tosh went out to play as usual on 2^nd October but hasn't been seen since. He is a very friendly cat and is not shy of people; he has distinctive black markings on his nose, chin and the undersides of his paws. If you think you have seen Tosh anywhere, I would dearly love to have him back...

PLEASE CALL:

ERIN: 07863 196345

MARTIN: 07718 035218

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Crosswhatfields has just  received details about a consultation Lewisham is conducting about the Council Tax reduction.  There's room on the form for comment, whether you see the world in terms of workers and shirkers or think that it may be deeply perverse to get the poorest sections of society to pay for the mistakes of all those clever bankers.

Here's their text:

LONDON BOROUGH OF LEWISHAM

Media Release: 8 October 2013

Ref: MR321

Consultation on Council Tax reduction

The Council is now consulting on its Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2014/15, and also the additional support available to help certain vulnerable people to pay for their Council Tax.

In April 2013 the Government abolished the Council Tax Benefit scheme which helped those people with no or low income to pay their Council Tax. In its place the Council introduced its own local Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

The Government reduced the funding Lewisham Council gets for Council Tax Reduction by £3.2m and the Council had to make some difficult decisions about how to continue to support those people most in need.

The effect of passing on the cut during the current 2013/14 financial year has meant all working age residents having to pay an average of £2.71 extra Council Tax each week. If the scheme remains unchanged in 2014/15 as the Council proposes, it is likely that this amount will not change.

Before details of next year's scheme can be confirmed, the Council is consulting on its proposal to continue to pass on the government cut in grant to those of working age and continue to protect pensioners.

The Council welcomes the views of Lewisham residents and is conducting a short online survey at www.lewisham.gov.uk/counciltax.

Consultation opened on 3 October and closes at midnight on Sunday 3 November 2013.

A paper copy of the survey is available by contacting Housing Benefit on 020 8690 8444.

Ends

Gavin Jones | Communications Manager | Communications Unit | London Borough of Lewisham T:  020 8314 6082 | M:  07753 772724 | W: www.lewisham.gov.uk

Keep up to date with the Council by following us on Twitter

If you know all about the reduction and want to go straight to the survey, you can go here:
Fans and foes of Ian Duncan-Smith

Deptford X continues till Sunday...

Photo by George Avvakoumides

The Deptford X banner "Art Makes People Powerful", created by a flash mob of artists in Giffin Square last Saturday (see video) now hangs on the front of the LESOCO building on Deptford Broadway.

We wonder if Art Can help Make Powerful all the highly qualified staff who have been made redundant (at Southwark, at least, without any renumeration packages) as a result of the merger of Lewisham and Southwark colleges and education cuts in general.

Meanwhile, this weekend there are Open Studios and an Art Quiz at the Dog and Bell on Sunday as well as a multitude of gallery shows and shop takeovers. We like the installation at the new Vinyl cafe in Tanners Hill – called Soft Wax, it looks at music and culture of the Jamaican diaspora at the end of the 1950s. The new cafe is lovely, and there's a secondhand vinyl shop in the basement, along with the exhibition.

On Saturday at the Albany (10am-4pm), artist Bernadette Russell asks "Is it possible to change the world just by being kind?" in her interactive show 366 Days of Kindness. The idea is that members of the public can write a few words about how a kind act from a stranger touched their lives, on a ticket which is attached to a balloon. The balloons are then released at the end of the day.

There is still much for us to see, and too much to cover in detail, but we especially like Deptford Is Forever, who have given out paper bags to high street shopkeepers and market traders with a tattoo design printed on them that says "Give Us Back Our Bloomin' Anchor". The design is lovely, and to pay for the free bags the group has also had printed some T-shirts and cotton shoppers that locals seem to be snapping up. The T-shirt has the Deptford Is Forever logo on it (see below, the shirt being worn by Niaomh from the Deptford Community Cookbook team). You can pick up your T-shirt for £10 at Kids Love Ink, the tattoo parlour at 138 Deptford High Street.

The Waiting Room Coffee shop, Little Nan's bar on Deptford Broadway, and Ralph at High Street Flowers also have some cotton shoppers for sale apparently (£5), and the group commissioned High Street Flowers to make a "ghost anchor" to hang in the window.

Not only that but the group have organised a day of FREE tattooing (a little anchor of your choice) at Kids Love Ink. That's tomorrow and is apparently oversubscribed – those wanting to take up the offer had to book today, or else take a chance tomorrow. Participants will be asked for a donation to Deptford Reach, the project that looks after Deptford's street drinkers and anyone who's hit hard times, and Build The Lenox, the local project that wants to build a replica 17th century ship at Convoys Wharf.

The Deptford Is Forever "Anchor Fest" continues on the weekend with a musical procession along the high street at around midday-2pm which features a huge cardboard anchor made by Arthouse artist Laura X Carlé that was last spotted in the My Deptford show at the South Bank and seen by anyone attending London Open House at the Master Shipwright's House. The procession gathers at the Dog & Bell pub at 12 and aims to end up before 3pm at Lewisham Arthouse on Lewisham Way, where there's an exhibition and Open Studios all weekend.

We also hear that Little Nan's will be having a bit of a "Deptford Is Forever" night on Saturday, with nautically themed cocktails, some of which will feature Pusser's rum, the preferred drink of the Navy which used to be stored in Deptford Dockyard.

The group certainly seem to have run with the Deptford X theme Art Makes People Powerful, and have an informative website about the Anchor and the Deptford Dockyard (some of which has been taken from this blog). But whether the Deptford Anchor returns to the high street and its environs is another matter...

More info at www.deptfordisforever.net
Or like their Facebook page

www.deptfordx.org

Herbal remedies from Sue Godfrey Nature Park at Deptford Lounge

The Bureau of Urban Wilds is an art project by Rebecca Beinart that was launched by Up Projects in July as part of their Secret Garden Project.

Rebecca held workshops that included making herbal remedies from the wild plants and flowers growing in the Sue Godfrey Nature Park right next to Crossfields Estate. Although we unfortunately missed the workshops, we caught up with her over the weekend in the Nature Park, and her "bureau" is now on show in the Deptford Lounge till the end of this week (Sunday).

The bureau is the culmination of the work she did in the park and at Creekside Centre, and you can find pots of remedies made in the workshops, along with a map of a walk she led around Deptford's green spaces, and other informative bits and pieces. Rebecca will be producing a recipe book of remedies gathered from Deptford residents and is inviting people to contribute via the bureau. If you have some favourite recipes (perhaps passed down through your family) why not pass them on?

When we found her in the park on Sunday, we learned how to make a remedy from the Hawthorn berry (good for regulating the heart) and Rosehips (a great source of Vitamin C), both of which are growing in abundance in the park right now. We tasted a lovely relish made of hawthorn berries, a gorgeous tasting Rosehip syrup, and had a tot of elderberry vodka (good for warding off colds) from elderberries harvested in the park over summer.

All you need is a little knowledge on how to recognise the edible (and free) seasonal ingredients that can be found in the nature park (it's berry time), plus some recipes and some patience, a mesh strainer, and honey, vinegar, water or alcohol to make either teas or delicious syrups and foodstuffs. Perfect for these austere times – and all on your doorstep.

Stephen Lawrence concert on BBC1 tonight

Lots of artists we've never heard of performed at the O2 on Sunday night in Unity: A Concert for Stephen Lawrence, proceeds of which will go to the Stephen Lawrence Trust.

The concert also included artists we have heard of, whilst Danny Boyle introduced Doreen Lawrence on stage. Highlights from the show will be broadcast tonight on BBC One at 10.35pm and can be seen again on Thursday on BBC Three.



We hope the brilliant Rizzle Kicks are in the highlights! Check them out here larking about in Brookmill Park (near the Stephen Lawrence Centre) and around Admiral Street...