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
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www.deptfordx.org

Hello and goodbye...

HELLO TO THE WAITING ROOM

Kids Love Ink, Deptford's own very stylish Tattoo parlour (and fabulous sign-writers!), have just opened a new coffee shop next door but one to their premises (which has also had a make-over) just north of the railway. The ever epicurial Deptford Dame has the initial low-down...

 

HELLO ALSO TO CREEKSIDE CAFE

Nearer home, a light and airy new cafe has opened at the front of Faircharm Trading Estate, offering coffee, tea, soups, sandwiches and paninis, cakes and...breakfast. Open Monday-Friday 8am-4pm and Saturdays 10am-4pm, it will serve the businesses in Faircharm, and, well, anyone else who finds themselves on Creekside in need of sustenance.

MEANWHILE, AT THE TRAIN CAFE...

The Deptford Project train cafe is undergoing some alterations both to its exterior (a living grass roof has been mooted) and its opening hours, which have been extended to 5.30pm. They will also be trying out table service next week, to combat the often overlong waits at busy times between ordering and getting your food and coffee. We look forward to seeing the new look and improved service at this highly popular venue (and to getting a new picture to replace this older one!).

AND DEPTFORD DELI...

If you didn't know already, the Deptford Deli has been opening in the evenings for dinner since early March. There are new opening hours (Wed-Fri 12-4pm and 6pm-10pm, Saturdays 10am-10pm, Sundays 12-5pm, and it is licensed. Over again to the Deptford Dame for more details...


BUT...GOODBYE TO EAST WEST SUPERMARKET

Thanks to new reader Simon for alerting us to the news that East West Supermarket on New Cross Road (opposite Addey & Stanhope school) has now closed, after what must be twenty years of service to the Deptford community supplying Eastern and Oriental food ingredients and kitchen accoutrements.We wish the family a happy retirement.

IT MAY ALSO BE GOODBYE TO SOCIAL CENTRE PLUS

....who are having to leave the old Job Centre offices next Tuesday 12th April...(unless they decide to put up a fight to stay)...Events and open days will continue until then...


FINALLY, A LESS ENTHUSIASTIC HELLO...

Less imaginative new businesses are currently preparing to open for business. Just a few doors down from Codfathers, it's goodbye to Balloons For London, and Hello ANOTHER WET FISH SHOP...

And two doors down from the old Job Centre, a refit has been going on for awhile. Rumour has it was going to be a Chinese Travel Agents, but latest speculation has it as a Chinese Money Shop...We had a look inside recently when the Chinese/Vietnamese builders were in – the floor has been beautifully tiled, the walls freshly painted, but suspicions were aroused by the large window at the back of the premises behind which was an office-like room – usually a sign of some sort of financial trading...

 

Postscript (12/4/11): A new sign has gone up, and this shop is going to be a Vietnamese & Chinese supermarket with Money Transfer facilities...