Tall Ships Festival at Greenwich

The largest number of 'tall' ships to visit Greenwich in 25 years will be moored until Tuesday 9th September along the river between Greenwich and Woolwich. Most of the 50 ships gathering here will have sailed from Falmouth during the past week as part of the Falmouth-Greenwich Regatta.

The festival launch on Friday evening features Catalan street theatre group Sarruga who present "a stunning underwater spectacle" in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, followed by fireworks. Check out all the other festival events and activities (free and ticketed) here.

You can also board one or two of the ships at the various locations in Greenwich itself, at Enderby Wharf on the Greenwich Peninsula, at Royal Arsenal Woolwich, and at Wood Wharf, Canary Wharf. At Greenwich, you can visit the largest ship, Dar Mlodziezy (a Polish/Russian ship, pictured above) between 2pm and 6pm on Friday 5th and 10am – 6pm from Saturday to Monday. More info on Ship Visits here.

Many of these beautiful sailing ships are replicas of older ships and are crewed by novice young sailors "learning the ropes". The Tenacious (moored at Woolwich) is said to be the largest wooden tall ship of her kind in the world, and boasts full disabled access for wheelchair users, a speaking compass for its blind and partially sighted crew members, plus an induction loop and vibrator alarms for the hard-of-hearing.

Also at Woolwich, the Shtandart is a modern replica of a Russian navy flagship built for Peter the Great in 1703. It is a much smaller version of the sort of 17th century British naval ship that Deptford's own Lenox Project hopes to build at Convoys Wharf.

See also 853 blog's take on the festival.

Greenwich Festival in our back garden!

Tonight and tomorrow night only, Crossfields will be invaded by ghouls between 9.40 and 10pm. This is French theatre company Rara Woulib and their show Deblozay – an outdoor promenade performance and part of Greenwich + Docklands International Festival which kicks off today.

Local residents will have already heard or seen the rehearsals for Deblozay over the last few nights whilst the company has been camped out at the Creekside Centre. There's been a lot of singing and drums going on till late, and  – slightly annoying for those living closest – the all night hum of a generator.

Like all the festival events, the show is free, but reservations have now closed. However, Crossfields peeps will be able to watch the performance as it processes across the Ha'Penny Hatch into the estate from an unadvertised meeting point in Greenwich central (starts at 9.10pm).

The GDIF website says about the show:

"Haitian culture looks at death in a very different way to our own. It is not a hushed-up affair of coffins and closed doors but a loud celebration of all that life has to offer, in this world and the next.

As the sun sets, join French company Rara Woulib in conjuring the ghosts of the city’s departed for this joyous pilgrimage. See for yourself why the dead have so much more fun than the living."

Greenwich + Docklands International Festival runs 20 - 28 June. Check out the festival website for other events this weekend and next.

For one night only (tonight), there's Muaré by Spanish/Argentinian company Voala, at the Old Naval College, featuring aerial choreography, pyrotechnics and live music (starts 10pm).

Greenwich Fair starts today and is on all weekend with three days of free outdoor theatre, circus, dance, installations and sideshows, from lunchtime to 10.25pm Fri/Sat and till 7pm on Sunday, in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College and Cutty Sark Gardens.

With lots more on in between, the festival finale is, as usual, at Woolwich on 28th June. This year it's Polish theatre company Teatr Osmega Dnia with Arka – with 'strong physical performances, Balkan music and fire effects' in a performance which tells the story of a wedding party broken up by military invasion and commemorates the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914 which led to the First World War.

Photo © Photos Bushido

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

Deptford X has started...on your doorstep

This "Flash Mob" event yesterday marked the beginning of Deptford X Visual Arts Festival, now in its 15th year. You may have got a sense that something was up since artists have been scurrying around for the past couple of days getting ready for this festival.

Deptford X 2013 opened on Friday and is open today, and next week from Thur 3rd-Sunday 6th October. Go to www.deptfordx.org to see what's going on – but there's so much to see, it might be best to just go out and look for people who seem to know where they're going! Here's some stuff we managed to see yesterday. Deptford High Street blog also has a round up of the goings on.

Noemi Lakmaier The Observer Effect at Gallop, 198 Deptford High Street

 The Bent Tin Shop (aka Robert Walker) gets a make-over from Artmongers. It's now called "el cheap 'ou"

Hollie Paxton Deptford Tin Street at El Cheapo (see above)
Hollie also has some
Deptford inspired jewellery in the window of Abermarle & Bond.

Harry Pye and friends Tintin in Deptford at Norfolk House, Brookmill Road

Spotted in gallery at Enclave on Resolution Way...

Deptford Is Forever have put printed bags with a message (Give Us Back Our Bloomin' Anchor) in lots of shops and market stalls for traders to put their customers' purchases in.

Odd little plaques by Debbie Sharp on benches around Deptford.

Lead artist Bob & Roberta Smith in front of his painting Art Makes People Powerful (which is the theme of this year's Deptford X) at Norfolk House on Brookmill Road.

Rebecca Beinart was in Sue Godfrey Nature Park showing the herbal remedies she has made from the plants growing in the park.

Thames Festival kicks off with the Great River Race, Saturday 7th September

If you're up in time, jump on the DLR to Island Gardens and walk or cycle along Westferry Road to the Docklands Sailing & Watersports Centre and Millwall Slipway to catch the start of the Great River Race. Mudchute & Crossharbour DLR are also nearby. Participants will be gathering from 9am, and the 21-mile race upstream to Ham starts at around midday.

Alternatively, nip down to the riverside at Pepys Estate and Greenland Dock or head up to Tower Bridge. You'll also be able to see the race from any of the bridges along the Thames.

www.greatriverrace.co.uk
www.thamesfestival.org

Party in the Park 14th September

More information here.

Bermondsey Carnival – Saturday 6th July, 12noon-8pm

A free family event around the bandstand in Southwark Park with live music, a second-hand and vintage market, licensed bar and Bond’s Victorian Funfair. Local young people will also be taking part in a parade and the Mind Your Own Business Live strand for teens includes a dance and music programme, advice on how to set up your own business, a giant climbing wall and a music bus.

And only a short bus or bike ride away...

More info from Southwark Council.
Note admission policy: no dogs, alcohol, bikes, drugs, weapons or glass.

Greenwich + Docklands International Festival is back!

We're liking yesterday's publicity stunt by GDIF. Twitter was a-burst with reports of a 17m sperm whale beached close to Cutty Sark Gardens, and we are sorry to have missed it, as we like a walk by the river of an afternoon when we can, although just one look at this riverscape and we can see how Convoys Wharf is going to spoil it.

(Press Release reads) "This super-real, art installation is the work of the Belgian arts collective Captain Boomer, created in collaboration with Zephyr Wildlife Reconstruction. The sculpture will now move to the Old Royal Naval College from Friday 21 June where GDIF audiences will be able to see it as part of our Greenwich Fair programme."

It's all happening in Cutty Sark Gardens today from 5.45pm. See here.

For full festival events click here.

Twinkle Park Summer Festival, Sunday 9th June

Twinkle Park, down near the river on Borthwick Street, is a little park with a large pond, wild-life gardens, gazebo, and a mosaic floor compass made by Greenwich Mural Workshop, designed with local residents. It has been re-awarded the Green Pennant award 2012-13 after first winning it in 2008-09 – for being a high quality green space managed by a community group. The Twinkle Park Trust also manages Charlotte Turner Gardens.

On Sunday June 9th (1-6pm), it's their annual Summer Festival which will feature reggae vibes from DJ Stormy, steel pan band the Heart of Steel Orchestra, children's mask making with Arty Party, Extra Bones' "Draw and be Drawn" portrait club, refreshments from Horse Powered and Pimms O'Clock, and finishing with Paul Zec Jazz Quintet. Bring a picnic and a rug...

...and if you haven't visited this part of Deptford for a while, you may be shocked to see the almost complete Paynes & Borthwick development which now looms over the area.

Twinkle Park is just one of the Greenwich parks taking part in Parksfest2013. 

www.twinklepark.org.uk

New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival

The 2013 New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival runs from Friday 26 April to Sunday 5 May. The festival is planned and run by local volunteers, with free screenings at local venues. Check out the programme here.

Also find the festival on Facebook and Twitter

Festival pix

GRRRRRR...Grumpy Lioness loose....

 

 Les Is More Orchestra...

Any pictures appreciated to add to the Crossfields compendium....please email crosswhatfields@gmail.com

Volunteers needed for Crossfields Community Day

If you're up and about early this coming Sunday morning (around 9am), your assistance would be gratefully appreciated in helping to set up for the Crossfields Community Day. Contact TRA Chair Tim (07941 861806 or email him).

SUNDAY 2 SEPTEMBER, 1pm – 7pm, FARRER HOUSE LAWN
 
If all goes to plan there will be: live music by local musicians, games with Madcap Coalition, a BBQ with homemade burgers, cooked produce from the Wonky Prong community garden, a Bouncy Castle for children AND adults, outdoor Ping Pong, face painting, balloon modelling, and who knows what else! Maybe the traditional Crossfields Tug O' War if some strong person can help drag out the rope from its storage place. Hopefully, there'll be a little sunshine too!

Crossfields Community Day is a FREE community event aimed at promoting harmony and happiness on the estate. ALL WELCOME!

UPDATE: Thanks to Tim for organising against the odds, and to Madcap who were invited at the last minute to bring some special ingredients to the mix.
  
More details from Madcap:
"DJ from 1pm, then at 1.30 we have Joe Wilkes acoustic folk rock duo with guitar and violin, then we have The Kitchen Winos at 2pm, DJ from 2.45 followed by Dr Burnheart Gloss and Pocket the Clown causing mayhem with the Madcap Olympics, followed by the communal tug'o'war.
Throughout the day: arts & crafts, fairground sideshows including Coconut Shy, the Human Fruit Machine and Splatt-the-Rat, Bouncy Castle, Table Tennis, BBQ, tea, coffee & cake stall with Guess the number of beans in the jar / weight of the cake...
Plus! live music from the Les Is More Orchestra at 4.30pm..."

Crossfields Festival 2012

A smaller-than-usual Crossfields festival is in the throes of being organised for the first Sunday in September and needs your help.

If you want to get involved (have a stall, assist with the bouncy castle, want to play some music, help with the barbeque etc) please email Tim.

Deptford X 2012

Deptford's annual contemporary visual arts festival kicks off this Friday to run concurrently with the Olympics until 12th August.

There is so much to go and see it's too big a job for us to pick out what may be the highlights – so have a look at the website at www.deptfordx.org.

Apart from some big names invited by the lead curators Hew Locke & Indra Khanna, and work commissioned by Lewisham Council, there are over 50 fringe artists or projects popping up all over the place in shops and on the sides of buildings, in the streets and other more unusual places, plus gallery shows, open studios, events and performances.

There's a free printed map to tell you where everything is, which you can pick up in various venues. To find out more about the actual work on show, download the brochure from the website or buy one for a quid at Creekside Cafe (on Creekside) and Arch Materials (in Resolution Way). The map can also be downloaded. Both are indispensible if you want to know what's going on. There are also walking and cycling tours to help you navigate your way around and not miss the best stuff.

The curators' theme for the festival centres on "the decorative": "Surrender to the pleasure of the decorative. Revel in the excessive, embrace it and be dazzled...But... Layers of decoration contain levels of meaning, messages and codes – symbols of power, conspicuous consumption, signals of elitist knowledge, patterns of control and signs of social belonging..." All that glitters is not gold, perhaps?

Work is in the process of being installed ready for Friday. We spotted lead artist Hew Locke's piece going up on the side of the old Tidemill school today. Hew's piece is called Gold Standard and "uses original old share certificates to explore the history and movement of money, power and ownership". Our first thought is that it is certainly sited in the right place to comment on the bondage of capitalism – on the old school (which is privately guarded), in view of the new school (which is now privately run).

The organisers are hoping to attract extra interest from visitors to the equestrian events at Greenwich, and APT studio artist Heather Burrell (who designed the decorative gates at Creekside Discovery Centre) has picked up on the equestrian theme – look out for her life-sized galloping horses on windows throughout the area, directing visitors in an eastward direction to Greenwich. In Creekside Cafe we spotted some small coloured horses cut from metal which she is selling cheaply to help pay for the larger ones (pre-festival they are only £5). Heather's horses may be the nearest many of us will get to any of these beasts this year, despite the events going on in Greenwich (unless you're a frequent visitor to our plethora of betting establishments, of course).

We also spotted this piece by Tracey Payne this morning, sitting atop the Deptford Project train carriage, like a weather vane signalling the unprecedented number of construction projects going on in our area. Expect more visual surprises like this once the festival is in full swing.

Full listings at www.deptfordx.org

Also see South London Art Map.

Greenwich Comedy Festival

Dylan Moran (SOLD OUT), Reginald D Hunter, Sean Lock, Mark Watson, Milton Jones, Andy Parsons, Stephen K Amos, David O'Doherty, Doc Brown, John Shuttleworth, Rich Hall (SOLD OUT), Marcus Brigstocke, Sean Hughes, Richard Herring, Robin Ince, Rufus Hound, Jerry Sadowitz, Chris Ramsey (SOLD OUT), Andrew Maxwell, Craig Campbell, Danny Bhoy, Isy Suttie, Jerred Christmas...the list goes on...

Friday 13th – Friday 20th July: there's a Big Top, a Little Top, a Bandstand with live music, Meantime Brewery and sideshows in the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College. Tickets are a pricey £18.50-£24 in the Big Top. The 8-day festival is part of Greenwich Summer Festival, running from 4th July – 12th August.

www.greenwichcomedyfestival.co.uk
www.greenwichsummerfestival.co.uk

Free festival at the Royal Docks

London Pleasure Gardens is sited in Royal Victoria Dock, a short DLR trip from Deptford Bridge to Pontoon Dock (change at West Ferry), so worth a mention here. It opens tomorrow and Sunday with Paradise Gardens Festival – a 'family friendly' free festival which includes music, street theatre, circus, cabaret, lots of kids stuff, sideshows, art installations, street art, vintage funfair, craft market and fireworks. A pyrotechnic display by The World Famous will begin at 10.10pm on Saturday and the site is open from 1pm-11pm on Saturday and 1pm-10pm on Sunday.

London Pleasure Gardens has programmed events for the entire summer, many of them with free entry. Check the website for more info.

Note that although the festival is free, you can't take in your own food and drink (so not so 'free' then!). Also, check tfl.gov.uk for train times since it appears that every alternate train is re-routed due to engineering works this weekend.

A visual of the London Pleasure Gardens site taken from their website.

Another way to get there would be via cable car from North Greenwich with a 15 minute walk at the other end – as Deptford Misc points out, the cable car stations are not very conveniently situated – but it could make for an interesting day out, especially if you cycle.

If you're looking for excitement, it sounds as if the cable car trip has the potential to rival any ride at Thorpe Park, since if it's windy, the cars stop and you may find yourself suspended for some time over the Thames – see 853blog's latest post.

Greenwich + Docklands International Festival

Although G+DIF comes around every year at around this time it has taken us by surprise this year since we've heard nothing about it. Just in case you haven't either, we've perused the website to find out what's going on.

This Friday night and over the weekend, it's happening in Greenwich (rather than Woolwich or Docklands), starting with an outdoor visual spectacular:

Friday 22 June
Prometheus Awakes
National Maritime Museum
FREE, 10pm (runs for 40 mins)

The blurb on the website says "You will feel the earth move and the sky explode in this epic re-interpretation of the famous Greek myth. Created by Graeae, the boldly inventive disabled-led theatre company and Catalan masters of visual magnificence La Fura dels Baus, Prometheus Awakes is proudly presented in the year of the London 2012 Paralympic Games."
www.festival.org/whatson/1/prometheus-awakes/

Both companies, especially La Fura dels Baus, put on terrific outdoor shows, so although that description sounds naff, and the weather looks decidedly unpromising, and there may be crowds despite the rain, this could be an unusual treat (the visual above must be seen to be believed).

Doubtless the festival must compete with the enormous excitement generated by EURO 2012, but it may prove an antidote for some, and certainly complements the football, since the 'international' flavour of the festival is distinctly European!

Over the weekend it's the Greenwich Fair, with around 17 walkabout and street theatre acts from the UK and Europe.

"A two day outpouring of street arts taking over Greenwich Town Centre. The original 19th century Greenwich Fair was an uproarious feast of sideshows, dancing booths, travelling menageries and gruesome melodramas. Much loved by Dickens, it was eventually banned because it was too unruly, but last year GDIF boldly revived it as a showcase for the best of British and international outdoor arts. So roll up and view a show in a giant pig, glimpse a flying grand piano, get lost in a Catalan labyrinth or have your tea leaves read!"

Check this page for details of all the acts taking part:
www.festival.org/festival/events/programme/1/2012/#greenwich-fair


As well as Greenwich Fair, there will also be other free events in Greenwich, some going on till 30 June, under the title Word on the Street. "This year GDIF is hosting some of most original, exciting and cutting edge artists working in UK theatre. Word on the Street will inject outdoor theatre with new writing on trains, explorations of Greenwich’s past, biting political song theatre, a poetic tale of urban living, a tea party and even a bouncy castle."

There are eleven different events in Word on the Street to discover.
www.festival.org/festival/events/programme/1/2012/#word-on-the-street

For other events in other parts check the festival website. On Saturday the spectacle is in Roman Road E3. The festival finale, another outdoor spectacular, is on 30 June in Woolwich – as per usual. (Only a bus ride away but we never seem to make it).

Sounds in Twinkle Park

News catch up

Thames Tunnel
Deptford Misc reported earlier in the week the encouraging news that the present Mayor Boris Johnson has called for the re-examination of five sites in the Tunnel project – including Deptford Church Street. "This site is adjacent to a school and on one of the few open spaces in this deprived area of London. The site will also impact on a busy section of the road network which is also an important bus route. I think there is more scope for alternative sites in this area, including the options examined in the first phase of consultation and again I urge you to search for a site that has lower impact."

A border row has now broken out, with Nick Raynsford (Labour MP for Greenwich & Woolwich) wading in to defend the "thousands" of residents at the alternative (and initially preferred) site at Borthwick Wharf. Perhaps it is time for Joan Ruddock to step in to defend Deptford and for Labour's Livingstone and Len Duvall to match Boris Johnson, with a promise to challenge Thames Water who have chosen to favour a privileged gated community over a poorer one and use HGVs on a busy road rather than use the river.

Or did Boris frame this one to set the cat among the pigeons, with the Tory revision of parliamentary boundaries set to have the Greenwich (Labour) consituency swallow most of (Labour) Deptford and Raynsford possibly taking the Deptford crown from Dame Joan (whilst its citizens remain in the very unroyal borough of Lewisham)? Unfortunately this Tunnel row news came too late to put the question to Joan personally when she was humbly knocking on doors last night and today reminding us to vote for Ken and Len.

New development starts work
The Deptford Dame reports on "The Movement" – Cathedral's new development on Norman Road which we wrote about in March 2011 when the planning application was submitted. We noted then that we were not consulted despite being in the consultation catchment area. Too late now. Your view east is about to be ruined.

Defeating the developers
Deptford Misc also reported that the Lord Clyde pub in Wotton Road was celebrating the defeat of developers who wanted to turn it into flats. The story goes some way to explain why developers have such a bad reputation: their planning application stated "The current use does not provide any positive contribution to the local area and therefore it’s replacement with a residential building is the most appropriate form of development." This prompted the landlord, who hosts a successful boxing club at the pub, to gather local support to object to the proposals. Read more at Deptford Misc. We also wrote about the Lord Clyde in March 2010 in the context of CAMRA's campaign to stop pubs being turned into flats.

New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival
Both the Deptford Dame and Transpontine have flagged up the upcoming Free Film Festival (27 April–6 May). More details at www.freefilmfestivals.org. We note that among the offerings, there will be a screening of The Tunnel, a film about the late comedian Malcom Hardee and his infamous club, in the new 40-seater 'cinema in a lorry' at the Big Red Pizzeria.

Virgin London Marathon
On your doorstep Sunday 22 April. Check the website for more details of times and route plus new sponsors Virgin Money have plenty of merchandise to sell you! And The Duke will be serving breakfast from 9am.

Deptford X : Billboards...

Above is a piece by Polish artist Ivo de Jeu which is about to appear on a billboard near us...

How about this for reality? The plan for Convoys Wharf...