Peter Flack RIP

A rather cerebral style of graffiti used to dominate the walls of Creekside in the 1970s and 80s. Most of it has gone now of course. The above quote from a poem by Shelley was scrawled by one Mr Peter Flack, a Crossfields resident in the second half of the 70s.

Pete has recently died at the age of 67. He was living in Scotland, and his funeral was held in Aberdeen. But on June 30th at midday, Pete's friends will be gathering at the Cutty Sark pub in Greenwich. At 2pm (or later - see comment below) a small group will board a PLA river launch at Greenwich Pier and ride back to the Cutty Sark to scatter Pete's ashes in the middle of the Thames.

If you knew Pete but lost contact with him and other chums, you're most welcome to come and join in the send-off.

21 years of urban change in Deptford

Has the Tide Turned? 'Regeneration' Then and Now
Friday 25th April, 3.30–8pm, Deptford Town Hall Council Chamber

It is almost 21 years since Deptford's most popular history book "Turning The Tide – A History of Everyday Deptford" was published, and this event hopes to explore what has happened in the intervening two decades.

The Centre for Urban and Community Research (CUCR) at Goldsmiths College would like to invite local activists, local organisations, academics, residents, and government officials to this free event where you can share stories of the “regeneration” of Deptford.

The publication coincided with the start of CUCR’s evaluation of the Deptford City Challenge programme which began the now seemingly endless initiatives to 'regenerate' our town (often with negligible benefits for the residents and increasing profits for developers).

The aim is to discuss the recent changes in Deptford, but also to think about the possible futures for the area. The programme includes a seminar on "the changing face of regeneration in London" with several speakers as well as Turning the Tide author Jess Steele (3.30-5.30pm); screenings, sound interventions & "creative responses" + refreshments (5.30-6pm); followed by workshops on subjects such as Arts & Culture, Housing, DIY Deptford and Convoys Wharf (6-8pm).

For more information and to register to take part, please click on the image below for contact details.

Every Picture Tells A Story

An exhibition of photos by the late Chris Schwarz
The Albany, Douglas Way, Deptford, SE8 4AG
Exhibition: Saturday 22 March – 31 March
Performances: Saturday 22 March at 12.45 and 13.45 (performances last approximately 30 mins)

An exhibition of photographs by acclaimed photographer Chris Schwarz which record Lewisham and Deptford in the 1970s and 1980s and the work of The Combination Theatre Company, taken when he was photographer-in-residence at The Albany. They provide a fascinating legacy of the changing faces of Deptford over a 15 year period.

Highlights include images of totters, Millwall Football Club fans, adults at work, performances by the Albany’s resident theatre company The Combination, images of the old Albany in Creek Road and the brand new Albany in Douglas Way and its opening by the late Princess Diana in 1980.

Chris Schwarz was a professional photographer who worked for the Guardian, Time Out and many other publications. His work was exhibited at the Photographers Gallery in London and overseas, and his work was published in several books. He also founded the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, Poland. Chris died in 2007 and bequeathed his vast collection of over 8,000 photographs to The Art of Regeneration, a creative regeneration project that was at one time based at the Albany.

There will be special storytelling performances at each venue by members of The Deptford Stories Theatre Company, who will interpret selected photographs. Their performances will be based on oral history interviews that have been conducted between 2011 and the present.
The exhibition and performances are free of charge.

After the exhibition the photographs, along with the rest of the vast collection of Chris Schwarz Deptford and Lewisham work will be stored by the London Metropolitan Archives and will be available to the public to download.

The Deptford Stories Theatre Company was founded by director, John Turner and Jenny Harris. Jenny was the creative producer and after a lifetime of creative production in theatre, education and community arts development including the Combination at the Albany, The Education department at the National Theatre and the Art of Regeneration, Every Picture Tells a Story was Jenny’s last production for the Art of Regeneration and the Deptford Stories Company. Jenny herself died before she could see Every Picture Tells A Story or hear the stories the Deptford Stories Company will tell; this is a chance for the public to witness her final production.

The Every Picture Tells a Story project has been supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and includes the exhibition, performances and digitisation of the photographs as a permanent public record.

www.artofregeneration.org

Convoys Wharf update (and the Deptford Sea Shanty)

Local shanty group, the Deptford Shanty Crew, have recorded a special Deptford song that tells the story of how the historic Deptford Royal Dockyard is about to be buried under an uncaring developer's plan to build 3500 luxury flats. Click on the YouTube logo to read the lyrics in full.

The decision on the developer's application is now "in the hands of the London Mayor" and Boris has promised to decide very soon (originally by the end of February, now postponed to the end of March). But it's not looking good for Deptford's heritage or Deptford in general.

Crossfields residents were recently sent a letter from the Greater London Authority (GLA) Planning department, requesting comments on very minor changes to the developer's masterplan. Please don't ignore this letter, but use it as an excuse to object to the scheme in general! A Crossfields resident who has already written an objection has received a reply from the GLA Planners which states:

Thank you for your representations to the Mayor of London with respect to proposed development at the Convoys Wharf site in Deptford. The Mayor has asked me to respond on his behalf. The issues you have raised will be taken into account, and your comments (along with all other representations made on the case), will be made available to the Mayor when he comes to consider the case.

I can confirm that the Mayor is mindful of the historic importance of this site, and is committed to securing a well-designed scheme that would deliver benefits for Deptford, as well as for the rest of London. To this end the Mayor has instructed his GLA officers to work closely with the Council when negotiating on the case - to ensure that local priorities are appropriately considered and addressed as part of the determination of this application.

Planning negotiations associated with this case are currently ongoing, however, the Mayor is currently undertaking public consultation until 20 March 2014 on a number of minor revisions to the scheme. Further information is available on the GLA website here: www.london.gov.uk/priorities/planning/public-hearings/convoys-wharf.

In due course the Mayor will hold a public Representation Hearing, before considering the full details of the case, and deciding whether or not to grant permission. Further information, including the date for the hearing, will be made publically available on the GLA website here: www.london.gov.uk/priorities/planning/public-hearings/convoys-wharf. 

But in reality, there is very little of the "historic importance of the site" that is being saved, and the GLA appear to not be listening fully to either Lewisham Council's recommendations or those of English Heritage and the local heritage projects, Build The Lenox and Sayes Court Garden. The projects are still waiting to meet with the developer and are still marginalised in the plans. The GLA still does not recognise the full potential of the archaeological findings on the site and seem quite happy to let the developer build over and bury forever the significant and recoverable 'below ground' remains.

The 'Representation Hearing' referred to in the GLA letter above will allow only 20 minutes of public representation! So it is important for locals to write to the GLA (or sign the petition) as soon as possible. Email mayor@london.gov.uk (or graham.clements@london.gov.uk) and see guidelines from the Deptford Is... campaign here. This needs to be done by 20th March.

The Lenox Project wants to build their ship in the Olympia Shed but the developer still wants the Grade 1 Listed building (the only surviving 'above ground' building) to house boutique shops rather than anything meaningful relating to the building's history (such as shipbuilding!). The project also requires the re-instatement of the old Basin in front of the Olympia building, but this historic body of water is currently re-designed as a small shallow pool incapable of holding boats or ships. The Sayes Court Garden project requires more of the land due to be occupied by giant blocks of flats in order to restore the footprint of John Evelyn's original gardens.

Dame Joan Ruddock, as patron of both local projects, recently wrote to the Deputy Mayor Sir Edward Lister. She is not allowed to converse with Boris himself, in case he becomes prejudiced (even though one of his advisors is Sir Terry Farrell, the developer's architect). Joan said:

Although both projects have gained the support of the developer, neither is being given the opportunity to properly reflect the archaeology and history appropriate to their design. This failure makes both potentially unviable. 

The Lenox has a unique potential to create a tangible link to Deptford's history; to directly connect the Olympia Building to its heritage, and – by recreating a basin in front of the building – to re-establish its historic links to the river. 

Hutchison Whampoa...have proposed limited-term accommodation for the ship [7 years maximum] on the protected wharf [north of the site and reserved for other uses such as cargo handling]. Critical factors to enable the project to thrive are proximity to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, easy access for visitors, a future legacy for the site that perpetuates its heritage, and a permanent home for the ship and the Dockyard Museum...

The Sayes Court Garden has been developed to expose the John Evelyn heritage, in a collaborative venture with the National Trust...

...We were delighted with Hutchison Whampoa's proposal to expose the archaelogy of the [John Evelyn's] Manor House but their current proposal to 'capture' it within a large block bears no relationship to its historic setting and orientation. This design would divorce the archaeology from the open space which gives it meaning...

Hutchison Whampoa announced a record increase in their profits at the end of March. Due to their increased 'investment' in Europe, their net profits had risen 30%, yet they still insist Convoys Wharf cannot be 'viable' (profit making) if they provide more affordable housing, or make space for more of Deptford's heritage.

So please get writing!

Chorus:
And it's [stamp] sell her off to a big business man
there goes Deptford's dockyard
there goes our history and our land
way off in the hands of the London mayor

Crossfields in 1893

We love maps! Here is a new facility from Google maps that overlays the Ordinance Survey Town Plan of London 1893-6 onto the present day (well almost present day, Google is always a bit out of date). It shows Crossfields as a warren of little roads and houses, with a chemical works between the estate and Deptford Creek. Toggle the map on and off to see old and new.

Find the map here.

Portraits of Lewisham youth in 1977 by John Goto

In our recent post about Oscar nominated film director Steve McQueen – who intends to make a BBC drama series focusing on the lives of black people growing up in West London in the 1960s to the present – we wondered if he might also reference South London.

How timely, then, that a new book of beautiful portraits of some of Lewisham's young black people in 1977 has just come out. John Goto's Lovers' Rock features young people from a Lewisham Youth Club, dressed for a night out at the dance hall and looking fab. Goto was teaching photography there – the sitters knew him, so are very relaxed in front of the camera.

You can view the portraits on John Goto's website, and buy the book from the publisher's website (Autograph ABP). With texts by Paul Gilroy and others, the book is set in the context of the unique South London reggae scene from the mid 70s (which gave us Lovers Rock), and the violent clashes with the National Front and the police that occurred at that time. There is also a video featuring the photos, set to a soundtrack of Louisa Mark's "Caught You In A Lie" – older readers may recognise themselves or their friends!

Convoys Wharf update – sign the petition!

Last week the decision on planning permission for Convoys Wharf was taken out of Lewisham's control when the Mayor of London stepped in at the developer's request.

Now that locals can no longer make their objections to the application, local campaigners Deptford Is have set up a petition to give a voice to the community so that we can let Boris know that we don't want this. 

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND SHARE THE LINK WITH FRIENDS.

See Deptford Is... and local papers. Also read this week's Private Eye (click on the image below).

BACKGROUND INFO

Heritage versus housing

Deptford's MP Joan Ruddock, in response to the Boris decision to "call in" the application, has described the site as "a heritage jewel in London's crown". The site is also of international significance, which is why the World Heritage Fund saw fit to include it on their Watch List for 2014-2016.

Boris's glib soundbite to news reporters was that "London needs more housing". Don't be fooled by the notion that London's housing crisis can be solved by the building of 3000 more luxury flats.

Originally, the percentage of "affordable housing" in new developments was set at 50% by Ken Livingstone. But most developers now claim that their sites are not "viable" (= massive profits) unless they deliver affordable housing at below 15%. In the Convoys application it is 14% – an extra 500 units at 80% market rent (still not affordable to the people who keep this city running), bringing the total to an impossibly dense 3,500 units.

It is also feared that, like other major new housing developments, the units will be sold off-plan to foreign investors before going on the market in the UK. Overseas investors currently earn enough from the rise in property values they needn't even bother renting their units out to those who can afford the high rents.   

The developers and Boris

It's feared Boris will look favourably on this application, despite the GLA's own reservations to it in their report to Lewisham Planning (in particular from Transport For London).

The developer is Chinese conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, one of many holding companies owned by the 8th richest man in the world, Li Ka Shing. He also owns major utilities in water and power (ie, UK Power Assets who run much of the National Grid and London's power), fracking (via Husky, causing community uproar in Canada) and telecoms (3G and others – and they're currently being 'investigated' by the EU on their recent purchases of telecoms in Ireland and Italy), as well as major British container ports (see June 2013 post).

Boris Johnson has recently been courting Chinese trade. David Cameron is due to visit China next month "on a trade mission" and Li Ka Shing has been spotted in and out of No.10.  Boris is also mates with Rupert Murdoch. (Thanks, Transpontine). Having sold the site to Hutchison Whampoa, News International has a profit share in the sale of the 3000 luxury flats planned for the site.

And this week the PM launched the Regeneration Investment Organisation Advisory Board (RIO), "an inward investment body" with the aim of raising billions of pounds from overseas trading partners to "fund urban regeneration projects". Sky News reports, "Its remit has been borne out of a frustration expressed by many major overseas investors about the bureaucracy and complexity of finalising major deals in the UK". Like Hutchison Whampoa, for instance, who accused Lewisham Planning of making "unrealistic demands" and "unreasonable and unwarranted requests" that would damage their profit margins.

Lungs for the City
 
The application proposes to build over almost every inch of the historic site, which was founded in 1513 by Henry VIII as the home of shipbuilding for the Royal Navy (the Royal Dockyard that, along with Woolwich dockyard, preceded the grandeur at Greenwich).

To get an idea of the density, have a look round the development at New Capital Quay. That's 1000 flats with a ground space a third of the Convoys site. Imagine that x3. To get an idea of heights, look at the tallest tower at the new Renaissance development in Loampit Vale – that's 24 storeys, half the height of the 48 storey tower proposed at Convoys (the other two being 38).

Convoys also contains the remains of Sayes Court Garden, where John Evelyn's innovative horticultural theories were developed and  which led to the founding of the National Trust. It was his theory that trees are the lungs of a city.

Considering the latest reports by the No To Silvertown Tunnel campaign, in which it was revealed that pollution levels at the end of Deptford Church Street on Creek Road have been breaching European limits for nitrogen dioxide for more than eight years, his advice is worth remembering more than ever. (Thanks, Deptford Dame).

Especially since Hutchison's plans include parking provision for 2000 cars (all housed in the giant blocks of housing units) that will cause ever greater pollution and congestion on Evelyn Street. The only public transport will be a diversion of the 199 bus and a Thames clipper, putting greater strain on existing services. And don't forget the ten years of construction traffic.

In an ideal world, the entire Convoys site should be planted with trees just to make up for the new IKEA being planned to go on the site the award-winning Sainsbury's eco-building at Greenwich peninsula, which will draw in traffic from miles around to unprecedented levels. (Thanks, 853 blog).

But Hutchisons were arguing over the necessity of widening New King Street to accommodate the bus making a two-way journey.

A people's history

The history of this site is amazing – it features loads of important historical figures (Drake, Raleigh etc), was the launch pad for some fantastic scientific discoveries (Cook, among others), and was built and designed by many celebrated pioneers in engineering and shipbuilding (Rennie, Penn etc), as well as being a place where ordinary people who worked in and around the dockyard have fantastic stories to tell (female shipwrights, black and Asian sailors), that were never recorded by Samuel Pepys who ran the yard for Charles II.

So much of Deptford's history has been buried and ignored (perhaps because of the shame of slavery), it is bursting to come through and speak to us. The site is monumentally multi-cultural – with links all over the world – as much as Deptford is now.

The archaeology

Many of the site's surviving below-ground structures (docks) will be buried under dense 12 storey blocks and 38-48 storey towers. The one remaining above ground structure, the Olympia Shed, will be overshadowed and hidden from view by the buildings closely surrounding it. You'll only be able to glimpse a small part of it from the river. Hutchisons were rejecting English Heritage's demands to open the view up.

The plans have been opposed by English Heritage, the Council for British Archaeology, the Naval Dockyard Society and other heritage bodies – not forgetting, of course, the local people who will have to live with ten years or more of building works and construction traffic.

The public space provision in the present application is laughable – a thin strip on the riverside and two strips on the sites of an historic dock and slipway, which are only not being built on because they're "protected". They could actually be listed by English Heritage, but not until the full archaeology report made by a commercial arm of the Museum of London which (had to be) commissioned by the developer has been published. It hasn't been published yet, despite the archaeology work being long completed – although not as thoroughly as it could have been (there is, according to Deptford Is, areas of the site yet to be uncovered).

English Heritage have recently listed the remaining walls on the site (including the river walls), which must make it the longest length of listed Thames wall in London. Meanwhile, with no full report, the archaeology of the site is not "fully understood". It would therefore be premature for the Mayor of London to make a decision until this report is published.

Local campaigners have emphasised the heritage of the site and how it can open up a tourism strategy for Lewisham, bringing in visitors from Royal Maritime Greenwich. Unfortunately, the owner of the site is so fixated on the simple formula of selling luxury waterfront residential units that it cannot envision the advantages of owning a site of world heritage – and the capital value that would add to a smaller number of units.  

Deptford Is are also advocating that an area on the site designated by the Greater London Authority (GLA) as a "protected wharf" (to be used for river business, very often simply cargo) should be developed as a Maritime Enterprise Zone incorporating boat building and repairs and other associated marine business that is presently lacking in this part of the Thames and which would bring great employment opportunities.

But this is strongly opposed by the developer, who will more than likely lobby the GLA, with Cameron, Osbourne and Johnson's help, to change the designation so that it can build even more luxury flats.

If you care about Deptford, you must sign the petition! This application must be opposed so that a better proposal can come forward – one that combines housing with a full appreciation of the site's heritage.

Update 18 Nov:  also see the Deptford Dame's take on the Mayor of London's new role in the process.

 

UNESCO International Remembrance Day for the Slave Trade and its Abolition

Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) by Thomas Gainsborough (National Gallery of Canada)

Friday 23 August, 11.30am – 4.30pm
FREE at the National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum is hosting a day of remembrance on the anniversary of the first successful slave uprising in the western hemisphere (23 August 1791 in Haiti).

The day's events will explore the Museum’s collections relating to the trade of enslaved people, as well as focusing on the many local connections to be found in the Greenwich World Heritage Site. Actor and broadcaster Burt Caesar will act as Master of Ceremonies for the day, and will lead the closing ceremony, which will take place by the River Thames at the Water Gates at the Old Royal Naval College at 4.15pm. Participants are invited to scatter rose petals into the river as an act of silent commemoration.

Dr Temi Odumosu will explore the themes and attitudes of George Cruickshank’s The New Union Club, which is considered one of the most racist and complex prints of the 19th Century (12.30pm). Composer Dominique LeGendre is giving a talk on black composers from the period of enslavement, including celebrated composer and man of letters Ignatius Sancho (pictured above) who lived in Greenwich and was the first black man to vote. There is also an interactive tour for families by storyteller Rich Sylvester exploring Ignatius Sancho's early life (12pm & 3pm), and historian S. I. Martin (author of children's books and the learning manager at the Black Cultural Archive in Kennington) will lead a walking tour to St Alfege Church, Greenwich, looking into the impact that the slave trade had on Greenwich families (starts 2pm at the Museum entrance).

There will also be singing and art workshops during the day (for all ages and abilities). To find out more go to the National Maritime Museum's webpage.

Also, during August at the Museum, there's storytelling centred around Nelson's Ship in a Bottle by artist Yinka Shonibare MBE:
Mondays and Wednesdays throughout August, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, FREE
Discover what life was like for a Black sailor in Nelson’s navy, through the eyes of John Simmons. From being press-ganged and taken away from his home in Jamaica, the young sailor's moving story reveals the realities and surprising freedoms of a life at sea with Admiral Nelson.
Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, Sammy Ofer Wing entrance, National Maritime Museum.
Suitable for ages 7+  More info here.

The history and botany of Sue Godfrey Nature Park

Remembering 1977...

Some of our community have grown up never trusting the police. When police descended en masse on Deptford High Street on Wednesday to raid the bookies, boys on roller skates glided in circles in front of the police line at Coral's and taunted them, like wannabe extras for The Wire, muttering "Smell the bacon". Thankfully the cops paid the youngsters no heed, and the lads moved on when they got bored.

So much work has gone on behind the scenes since the battles of 1977 when the National Front marched from New Cross to Lewisham with full police escort. It is perhaps because of this ancient battle in which the police appeared to be protecting the fascists and arresting the anti-fascists, that the Met have chosen to ban the BNP from marching from Woolwich to Lewisham today. In football crowd terms, the opposing team would be up for it. (See Transpontine who is the expert on this subject).



This author was so young and scared at the time, we stood at the top of Deptford High Street ready to run for our lives. When the Brixton riots of 1981 spread down New Cross Road like a River of Fire, we did the same thing, but by then we knew which pub to run to. There were a lot of photographers living in Deptford, but very few wanted to be out on the street with their precious cameras under these circumstances. By the time of the poll tax riots in 1990, we were photographing the police (and brutality) without flinching, as horses galloped down the narrow streets of Covent Garden.

So much has changed since then. There was no internet in 1977. Cameras have got smaller and are linked to the internet immediately. The climate of fear that Londoners lived with in the 70s and 80s was as much from the Government (and the police as their agents) as from the IRA. Fortunately the Greater London Council was Labour for some of the time (Ken Livingstone 1981-86), supporting human rights and equality, and inhibiting Thatcher – possibly through embarrassment alone – from doing what the present government is doing now and lying through their teeth while they do it.

Meanwhile, in the light of 1977, perhaps it's not so strange how two borough Councils who can't agree about anything (Greenwich and Lewisham), are sharing Stephen Lawrence. Steve lived in Plumstead and was killed in Eltham. When our young people tell us the fight is not won we must listen. We might say 'look how far we have come, we fought for this over 30 years ago and made a difference, and things are so much better now'... But the fact that one of Stephen Lawrence's murderers was still trying to appeal their sentence only a week ago, 20 years after they murdered him, means we haven't moved on very much. After the psychopathic Woolwich murder in which the BNP draw silent sympathy from those who favour UKIP, it seems we haven't moved anywhere since 1977.

The Met's choice to gather several protests in central London today says a lot about their lack of resources. But it's definitely best it happens in town and not on our streets. Any protesting fascist you see in Lewisham today is breaking the law...get your camera out.  

Thanks to Lewisham '77 for resources, and Syd Shelton for iconic photo.

Remembering Josie and Lou's Cafe

Giuseppina (Josie) behind the counter at Lou's Cafe © Peter True

Ex-Crossfields resident Peter has sent us some old pix of Lou's Cafe (see previous post). Like a great many others, Pete used to hang out at the caff when he was younger. He now lives in Rochester down the road from Josie's nephew so has kept in touch with the family, as well as Crossfields and Deptford. Pete says, "This was by far my favorite cafe in Deptford, run by Josie, her brother Lou and his wife Polda (who cooked). It was all home cooked food, and home baked cakes . The urn on the right just bubbled away all day. Sadly it closed because of illness, a fraction short of 60 years in family business. This is a Christmas time shot and it's the early to mid 80s. The shop became Josie's home and I visited every now and then, and if I was very lucky there was home-baked rock cake on offer...Sadly now, Josie has joined Lou and Polda in the Great Cafe in the Sky..."

Breakfast, Dinners, Teas...Lou's Dinnerstea!
(Thanks to Lou's Cafe customer and ex-Crossfields resident Paul for that witticism)

Anyone with information about the arson attack that led to Josie's death is urged to call the police incident room on 020 8721 4961 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

Jenny Harris RIP

Jenny Harris on the left, at the opening of the brand new Albany in Douglas Way, 1982. Credit: Art of Regeneration

 
Many local people have been stunned to hear the sad news that Jenny Harris, former Executive Director of The Albany, passed away on Tuesday 6th November, at the far too early age of 67 (1944-2012).

A memorial service will be announced shortly.

Such is the breadth of her achievements, influence and inspiration, that tributes have been pouring in for her at a special website Tributes To Jenny, set up for those who knew and worked with her to contribute their thoughts and memories.

I heard the news only an hour before I took a seat at Greenwich Picturehouse to watch Skyfall, and was immediately reminded that without Jenny, the cinema would not be here. In the late 80s, she hatched the idea, located the site and developed the plans for what eventually became the Picturehouse.

For most, she will be remembered for her extensive and passionate contribution to the arts and, in her own words, "as a persuasive advocate for education, training, cultural and creative action and engagement, and their crucial role in cultural, social, political and economic change".

Jenny and Deptford...

Jenny arrived in Deptford in 1972 as co-director of The Combination, a Brighton-based touring fringe theatre company (and cultural and community development project), which became the resident theatre company at the 'old' Albany on Creek Road. Working together with the Albany Institute and Deptford Fund team, the Combination helped to transform the old and forbidding Victorian building into a vibrant fusion of community work and the arts, renamed The Albany Empire.

Although many may attribute the demise of the old building to the arson attack in 1978 (in which it was burnt down), it was actually marked for demolition to make way for road widening. But there had long been plans for a new and more accessible building, and Jenny's drive, enthusiasm and beliefs were central to the creation of the new bulding in Douglas Way, which was opened by Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1982. As Executive Director of the new £15m Albany Empire, Jenny oversaw the funding, designing, building and running of the purpose built arts and 'cultural action centre' within which all the projects initiated in the old Albany building could expand and develop.

Those projects included a Community Health project, a Children & their Families Centre, a creche (most important), a silk-screen print shop available for community use (later, print and photography and video projects), an Unemployed Action Group to help those on benefits, an Active Age Project that helped older people, sports & cultural activities, estate-based Outreach Projects (that flourished most on Pepys Estate as Co-oPepys that included holiday play-schemes and community theatre), a special needs project for young people that developed into Heart n' Soul – one of the most successful arts projects ever. And then there's the carnival projects that later saw Harare Dread's Pax Nindi as the Arts Council's man-to-go-to.

Youth Theatre, Music and Dance projects at The Albany at this time launched careers for some of the young people involved. Those that have remained in Deptford include: Wozzy Brewster (now an OBE and originally a member of the Albany's Basement Youth Arts group) who founded Midi Music from the original Lewisham Academy of Music. Irie Dance Company was started by choreographer Bev Glean and continues to this day. Second Wave Youth Arts, started as a young women's drama project by Cath Kilcoyne, produced some successful female writers and directors, and expanded, under the directorship of Ann Considine, to include young men. As well as offering drama, writing, music, dance, youth leadership and advocacy, their exploratory and groundbreaking work with the Met Police, in partnership with Greenwich University, has gained international recognition.

There is no doubting the contributions various men (both black and white, young and old, gay or straight) made to those changing times, but it is notable how many young women, both black or white, were empowered to begin and continue the work started by Jenny and her contemporaries. It was known to all working with Jenny that she was gay, but this made no difference to how people were employed, which was on their merits, black, white, gay or straight. At that time Ken Livingstone and the GLC were leading the vanguard of human rights and equal opportunity, and funding accordingly. Far reaching changes were made during these times, and assimilated – though equality in gender and race may still seem futher away than ever these days.

At the time the GLC was abolished in 1986, The Combination managed a turnover of £2.5million and a staff of over 40 full and part-time staff. In that same year, Jenny left The Albany to develop other projects before going to the National Theatre in 1991, where until 2008, she was Producer and Director of Education & Training. Whilst there, among other things, she initiated the Art of Regeneration, a culture-led social regeneration programme which focused on the creative potential of young people aged 7-27 to access and participate in cultural activities. The partnership with Lewisham and Greenwich Councils, Goldsmiths, Lewisham College and The Albany provided an enormous boost for the latter with an opportunity for refurbishment – The Albany had suffered severe cuts in public funding in the intervening years and had been struggling to survive.

After leaving the National Theatre, Jenny went on to develop a range of projects as a freelance arts and education consultant, and to work with her longest and closest collaborator, John Turner. One of these projects is Emancipation of the Dispossessed, a South East London perspective on the slave trade, which features the docudrama, Blood Sugar, written and directed by John. She had also begun to digitally archive images connected to the projects she'd been involved in.

Jenny's return to The Albany in 2001 with the Art of Regeneration was, for some, like a mother coming home, since the 'new' Albany in Douglas Way was her baby. It is indeed poignant that she has died in the same year that The Albany celebrates its 30th birthday. She will be sorely missed.


Hear Jenny reflect on both the old and new Albany in an audio clip hidden away on the Art of Regeneration website.
See also Albany History on The Albany's website.
See Jenny's biography on her own website, which also documents many of her projects.

Modified 12 & 16 November 2012

Obituary in Guardian Online by Richard Eyre (18th November 2012)

Secret History of Our Streets and Nicholas Taylor

Martin Taylor wrote to local bloggers today to ask them to publicise the website he has set up to redress the misleading impression given of his father, Nick Taylor – and Deptford itself – in the documentary Secret History of Our Streets, broadcast on June 6th – or, how, as Martin puts it, "my dad was unfairly stitched up like a kipper by the Beeb".

With the help of his friends, he has also published a booklet and intends to deliver it around Deptford, door to door, in a concerted effort to clear his father's name. Martin says they have tried to get an apology out of the BBC, but "have given up as we were advised it would take a minimum of 12 months and we can't wait that long".

Both the website and leaflet aim to correct the false impressions the programme gave about Deptford's history – and how it is today – as well as set the record straight regarding Nick Taylor's 'involvement' in the demolition of much of Deptford's housing. Backed up with facts and figures about Deptford then and now, it makes for fascinating reading.

Regarding his father, Martin says, "Via the selective use of out-of-context quotes taken from several long conversations, the programme appears to have succeeded in given viewers a completely false impression...He stopped the bulldozers rather than starting them up...

"The programme showed a sequence of film shot in Deptford High Street when Mr Taylor, who had just come out of hospital having had a stroke and a triple heart bypass, was being questioned very aggressively about the demolitions in Reginald Road, even though the programme makers knew full well that what had happened to Reginald Road had nothing to do with him."

Martin concludes, "Nicholas Taylor's career as a councillor was dedicated to trying to preserve terraced houses and prevent the building of high rise estates...We think he deserves to receive an apology."

Go to deptfordptrs.com to read the real story – and, if you were as disappointed by the programme as we were, you can help to "restore the good name of Deptford and its community" by leaving your comments.

RIP Brian Hibbard

Whilst the Welsh mourn for one of their own, Brian Hibbard (who was born in Ebbw Vale and died in University Hospital Cardiff yesterday of prostate cancer), there are quite a few in Deptford who will be shedding a tear at the news of his passing – since Brian's earlier career with The Flying Pickets is a part of Deptford's history.

Brian used to live in Evelyn Street in a house known to friends as The Yellow Duck, which he shared with other actors and performers who were involved with The Albany, as it made its transition from its old building on Creek Road to where it is now on Douglas Way. Quite how Brian made his way to Deptford is a story probably best told by those who knew him better – that includes some ladies of a certain age still living in Crossfields, and the bloke who designed the poster above and below, plus all the original members of The Combination Theatre group who founded the new Albany, some of whom still live in Deptford, plus students of Rose Bruford College which was based in the now demolished old school on Creek Road, betwixt Creekside and Church Street.

Connections were formed through Liverpool playwright John McGrath's legendary 7:84 Theatre company, a Scottish left-wing agitprop theatre group (don't hear that phrase agitprop these days) – whose title displayed the ratio of wealth in the UK in the 70s. It may well be less than 7% of the population who now own more than 84% of the nation's wealth in 2012. David Tennant, Douglas Henshall and Bill Patterson are among 7:84's alumni...

Brian is credited with forming the Flying Pickets in 1982 when working with 7:84 on John Burrow's One Big Blow – a musical play about coal miners, brass bands and the tough conditions they worked under – in which the players sing the brass parts acapella – and which was written 15 years before "Brassed Off". Rick Lloyd, who wrote the music for One Big Blow (1982), was among those who joined Hibbard. They took their name from the miners' strikes of '72 and '74, when the phrase 'flying pickets' may have been first coined – flying pickets would travel to join a picket wherever a strike had been called, to support and swell the numbers.

Any younger readers who visited the recent Jeremy Deller show Joy In People at the Hayward Gallery may have found themselves moved by Deller's recreation of the Battle of Orgreave, a filmed re-enactment of the conflict between police and striking miners in 1984, when there was mass picketing. The Flying Pickets had by then topped the charts for five weeks with a UK Christmas number one (1983) with their debut single Only You. With Thatcher's decision to close 20 pits and a loss of 20,000 jobs, record company Virgin was reported as extremely unhappy that the group were making the most of their fame by picketing in Yorkshire and performing benefit gigs for the miners. The Albany itself had a benefit or two, notably with Test Department, as well as The Flying Pickets.

Brian and fellow band member Stripe (also a familiar Deptford face in the early 80s) left The Pickets in 1986 and both moved away from Deptford. Hibbard pursued an acting career that eventually saw him in Doctor Who, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and East Enders, with regular appearances on BBC Wales, notably in Welsh language soap Pobol y Cwm. 

Deptford remembers Brian and his contribution to our place and memories, and our sympathies go to his wife and children.

If anyone has some memories to share or better photos than the ones we've nabbed off the usual media, please get in touch.

UPDATE: Transpontine has transcribed a piece from Wales Online which tells the Picket's story in more depth.

More acapella and acting up at You Tube.
The Flying Pickets were actually at their best in their ironic interpretations of modern songs of the day. If they could've danced as well, who knows what they could've started....

Thanks to jennyharris.org for poster images.

Pete Pope's Funeral

Pete Pope (John Peter Pope) 1949 - 2012

Pete Pope died on 11th May 2012. Since then his friends have rallied round to organise an appropriate send-off. The funeral will be conducted by humanist officiant Billy Jenkins, and the service will consist of well-chosen music and tributes. Further celebration of Pete's life will continue at The Dog and Bell. Rather than sending flowers, donations can be made to Bench Outreach (020 8692 2810), who supported Pete when he was ill.

The following Sunday there will be a second ceremony to scatter Pete's ashes from the Ha'Penny Hatch into the outgoing tide, starting with a procession from The Bird's Nest pub (participants are requested to bring percussion instruments), followed by more celebration back at the pub.

Funeral : Friday 15th June 2012, 10.45am
Please arrive by 10.30am
Hither Green Crematorium, Verdant Lane, London, SE6 1TP

There will also be a group cycle ride to the crematorium leaving Deptford Bridge DLR at 10am. (Cycling not compulsory).

From noon all are invited for food and refreshments
The Dog and Bell, 116 Prince Street, Deptford, SE8 3JD

Scattering of Pete’s ashes : Sunday 24th June, 4.30pm
Ha’penny Hatch, Creekside, Deptford, London SE8
Meet at 2.30pm at The Bird's Nest, moving on to Ha'Penny Hatch – bring percussion
Followed by music and refreshments
The Bird’s Nest, 32 Deptford Church Street, Deptford, London SE8 4RZ

An obituary is being compiled, but in the meantime, for those who want to know why Pete was important to so many local people, Transpontine has posted here. Pete was part of the campaign to stop Lewisham council selling off Aragon Tower on Pepys Estate (later featured in the BBC doc The Tower, see the video below). Later he was commemorated in the 'Wall of Ancestors' installed at the base of the 'Z' building (aka Aragon Tower, see pic below).

As part of Deptford Community Forum and Convoys Opportunity, he protested against the plans for Convoys Wharf – a campaign which has now entered a new phase with the work of Deptford Is and others. Convoys Opportunity proposed a cruise liner terminal and drew attention to Deptford's maritime history with a press stunt in a Thames barge in 2005 (Pete is dressed as Lord Nelson).

Thanks to Transpontine for links, and Jeannie for river pic. Part One of The Tower below.

Watch The Tower [Part 1] in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Creekside Conservation Area

Although the news was out early last month soon after the Mayor's decision was made in Cabinet on 9th May, the proposal for the Creekside Conservation Area still had to go before the Council's Overview & Scrutiny Business Panel on 22nd May, where it was upheld.

Those who took part in the consultation were emailed on 8th June, and all residents and stakeholders will be receiving a formal letter informing them of the designation and its implications.

The implications for the businesses and employers at Faircharm, however, are already clear – they have a year to get out. Whilst Workspace's plans for Faircharm must now be modified, so that the frontage of their buildings on Creekside are retained (as opposed to being demolished to make way for new and taller buildings), their alternative plan was to modify them to create a central atrium in each, in order to create smaller units. This will obviously cause disruption to businesses and neighbours.

Their plans are unclear, but the building at the back had not been considered worthy of protection by the conservation team, so it may be that this will still be knocked down and the original plan to build luxury flats there – and in the car park – may still go ahead. Meanwhile, some Faircharm businesses may be moving within the year, as their contracts run out and cannot sensibly be renewed.

Not so secret history: Turning The Tide

It seems as though there was no one in Deptford who didn't watch The Secret History of Our Streets last night and wasn't moved by its content in one way or another.

Some were moved to tears, others were furious at the council and some were angry with the programme makers. A great many people who had been interviewed, even handed over family photos and talked at length about their love of the place, were naturally disappointed to have ended up on the cutting room floor. The rector of St Paul's was one such – there wasn't even a shot of his beautiful church. Old Archie – who obviously had a great life story to tell – stayed in the cut but Harry Hayward of DAGE got dropped, and where was Johnny's Hardware store and Fred's auntie and (fill in your own missing people)?

Others wondered why there was no mention of the positive things that are happening right now – why paint such a negative picture? (Answer: The clue is in the word "history"). Anyway, we hear John Price didn't really want to take part but was pleaded with when the programme makers 'uncovered' the evidence of the unneccessary 'slum clearance' which provided the hitherto missing glue for their narrative. Of course, a fairly prosperous family background of market trading promised useful cine footage as well (you had to be moderately well off to have a cine camera in those days).

By missing a lot out or skimming over broader issues (pre-war poverty, war damage, industrial decline, immigration etc), the programme delivered a powerful message about a singularly devasting episode in Deptford's history.

But much of the story which unfolded can already be found towards the end of Jess Steele's excellent book on Deptford, "Turning The Tide, The History of Everyday Deptford", first published in 1993 and essential reading for any Deptfordian. (ISBN 1-898536-00-7)

On page 195, Steele says "Perhaps most upsetting is the admission that by no means all of the streets cleared for the estates were slums...". Steele did not print a picture of the same report that was shown in the film nor lend it the same weight, but it was obviously not a secret in 1993, so could not have been that difficult to track down in 2012.

Of course the vintage and home cine film footage included in the Secret History film engaged our senses in a way a history book cannot. But going back to the book reveals a different picture and most strikingly shows how film can manipulate your senses beyond your reason. A particular casualty of truth in the film would appear to be Nicholas Taylor, the architect and councillor involved in the demolition of so many of Deptford's homes. Taylor is portrayed, through some clever editing, as a man with no heart, in league with the dystopian London planners, made to hang (as a commenter on the BBC's blog suggested) for the crimes of the past. Turning The Tide, on the other hand, reports a man who was extremely unhappy with the process. (See below).

The film also gives the impression Deptford was prosperous from Booth's day all the way to the full employment of the 50s then suddenly took a turn for the worse when idealistic planners wrecked the place. In truth, Deptford's fortunes have ebbed and flowed. Somewhere along the way in this tale-telling, the truth was lost.

People debated on the BBC blog, and on local blog Brockley Central, Shipwright's Palace pointed out further inaccuracies:  

"Wholesale clearance of individual dwellings for London County Council blocks began in Deptford as early as the 1890s around Watergate Street, Hughes Field, Deptford Green "For the Erection of Dwellings for the Working Classes". A second wave occurred in the 1930s such as Crossfields Estate and again immediately post-war in Tanner's Hill. The 1950's-70's clearance was a third wave.
The High Street (Butt Lane) was originally a residential street, largely developed during the eighteenth century, not Victorian as described."

However, the main point to be made here is that the programme makers presented us with "a secret" that came across to many viewers as a shocking 'big scoop'. But if we'd only read our history books, we'd know this stuff already. In the process, they have also tarnished the reputation of a man still living, Nicholas Taylor, whose heart may have been truer than the filmmakers'.

Nevertheless, if anyone has been woken up into realising how plans are made for us whilst we're asleep, then the film team must be congratulated for raising the profile of an issue that is central to Deptford at this time.

As Jess Steele points out "Lewisham does not even have a museum...If our history had not been treated with such indifference and ignorance we would have less need of full-scale regeneration...We have to turn this tide of neglect." p222

Turning The Tide
 
Steele admits at the beginning of her penultimate chapter that in trying to cover the history of Deptford from Roman times onwards, a topic as huge as the slum clearances and the building of council estates could only be roughly sketched and really demanded another book.

An historian born and bred locally, she was also an activist involved in ensuring the regeneration funds pouring into the area in the 90s went in the right direction. She found Nick Taylor to be a useful guide.

Nicholas Taylor, a young architectural journalist and Lewisham councillor in the early 1970s, had been writing polemical articles against tower blocks for a decade. Now he looks back at his fellow-councillors and remembers a kind of old Labour machismo which was excited by the scale of the buildings, by their 'phallic penetration of the skyline'....Taylor points out that "these little gardens and yards, full of washing and children and animals and all the stuff of daily life, were ruthlessly eliminated".  (p.193)

Taylor also defended the residents who had moved into Milton Court in 1971: "this estate is horrendous; there is a madness in the design". Old Deptford councillors "never understood why people weren't grateful for these estates. How dare they form a TA and start attacking the council when they'd hardly moved in?". (p.194)

Taylor had, however, been in favour of demolishing some of the old houses in the area Milton Court was built on, since they were so badly built – cracking apart and subsiding on poor foundations – and were in danger of falling down anyway. Not because they were 'slums'. Steele goes on:

Nevertheless "the replacement of companionably unhygienic slums by soulless tower blocks with broken lifts" (Macgregor 1987) has haunted the memories of Deptford people and planners. Perhaps most upsetting is the admission that by no means all of the streets cleared for the estates were slums...How many other houses were lost in Deptford through the ignorance and indifference of Lewisham planners? Cllr Taylor tells of taking other Lewisham councillors on a Saturday morning coach tour round Deptford, a part of their borough some of them had never ventured into...(p195)

Steele quotes a piece in the The Sunday Times (Peter Way): "Having destroyed a community, devastated trade, and broken up a good deal of workable low level housing the planners have just completed one of the alternatives: an awesome complex in which people are refusing to live..."

Steele also goes into the politics of how Deptford became part of Lewisham (rather than Greenwich), quoting the Deptford MP Sir Leslie Plummer, who said, "When Deptford was a civilised borough and community, the people of Lewisham were practically running around in woad...(whereas) we launched ships, and brought an empire to Elizabeth 1. We were not common scullions and cooks (like those in Lewisham who claimed King Alfred had burnt his cakes there); we were navigators who girdled the globe and brought riches and treasure to this country." p.197

Another chapter is devoted to the two World Wars where she describes how the area was affected through its proximity to the docks – from which one can gather that a process of rebuilding and rehousing had been going on for some time. She also details the economic ups and downs that occurred between Booth's time and the late 20th century which caused Deptford's fortunes to rise and fall accordingly – with focus on the charitable work and voluntary efforts that helped to shape the positive places and things we see today (The Albany for instance).

In her final chapter Steele tackles the subject of racism which also has a resonance that this film could not tackle, and which she describes as "an elastic and manipulable ideology, surviving by adaptation to specific circumstances. Its logic is filled with useful blindnesses and justifying amnesia". (p211)

Epilogue ('History dying and demolished all the time')

In her epilogue (written in 1993), Steele quotes another local activist of that time, Richard Walker:

The main question...is "whether inherent design faults and the continuing ghettoisation of the inner city underclass can be addressed by capital investment, administered through Lewisham Housing Department, major architectural consultants and big construction firms. Are these not merely the 1990s version of the agents who built these estates in the first place?" (p228)

The problem of housing the underclass was handed over a few years later to Lewisham Homes aka Lewisham Council (Crossfields chose this option in consultation) and to various Housing Associations, but the present call to 'build new housing' has the same ring of the old triumvirate: a local authority (whose planning committee has no training in planning), and architects working with giant construction firms.

Clearly an update from Jess Steele, or her equivalent, would be welcome.

In some ways the neglect of Deptford has been a blessing. We have many beautiful buildings in the High St...Other buildings all over the borough have scraped past the redevelopers precisely because the area was deemed so worthless...(p225)

If anyone has other books or useful resources on this topic they can recommend please leave a comment.

UPDATE 12-06-2012
See Deptford Misc 

UPDATE 14-06-2012
Thanks to Deprford Misc for link to Martin Taylor speaking about his father in Guardian letters. 
Also, copies of Turning The Tide are available at Creekside Centre at normal retail price.

UPDATE 19-06-2012
Thanks to Deptford Misc for this link: www.dfpbooks.co.uk/index.html

UPDATE 19-06-2012
South London Press carries a story from Nick Taylor himself in their Tuesday paper. Unfortunately it's not available to view online without subscription. Taylor says:

"I had nothing to do with these decisions. I was one of the first campaigners in England against the 1960s policy of bulldozing houses and replacing them with tower blocks....the first thing I did when I was elected to the council in May 1971 was to stop the demolition of the houses in Gosterwood Street, Etta Street, and the remaining half of Rolf Street. When I was elected in 1971, the High Street was in a terrible state and I played a major part in saving the street, bringing it back to a flourishing life, bring the market back into it in 1975, so that it is now renowned as one of the best places in London for its vibrant and varied shops and stalls." (Er, steady on, Nick).

Nick's son, Martin, is quoted as saying, "My father and I are furious and extremely upset. He has spent his life working for the good of Deptford and is devastated at the way in which the film makers have portrayed him."

A BBC spokesman says: "The film includes a line which clearly stated the contributor in question wasn't on the council when the decision to demolish Reginald Road was taken."

Secret History of Our Streets airs tonight on BBC2

'Creek Street' residents were labourers, poorer artisans and street sellers. What has changed since 1889?

Back in January 2011, Crosswhatfields posted that it had been contacted by Century/Halcyon Heart Films, with a request for us to help them find people they could interview for their documentary series on six London streets – one of which was Deptford High Street.

We had already posted quite a bit about Charles Booth's 1889 Poverty Maps of London (see links below), which the producers were using as a starting point to base their enquiry on. They wanted to know: how have these streets changed in the past 120 years?

Whether we were any help or not (we were slightly concerned that people's stories might end up on the cutting room floor), they have now finished making their series, and the first episode of The Secret History of our Streets airs tonight on BBC2 at 9pm – and it's all about Deptford High Street.

To give you a flavour, Time Out previewed the Deptford episode last week – the programme looks set to reveal an interesting story about slum clearance and social engineering. Also see the short clip on the BBC 2 website.

Meanwhile, here's what Marmoset wrote on Crosswhatfields about Booth's Poverty Map of Deptford:

A brief history of Deptford-Greenwich borders October 2010
Putting the clock back in Deptford (1) October 2010
Putting the clock back in Deptford (2) November 2010
Putting the clock back in Deptford (3) November 2010

You can view Booth's Poverty Map at the Charles Booth Online Archive, courtesy of the London School of Economics.

I remember when Crossfields was just fields...

CROSSFIELDS MEMORIES  
Top: Late resident Sue Godfrey in Greenwich Park (Moore or less...)
Bottom: Sue Godfrey in the nature park named after her with the old South East London school behind.  

Well, obviously I don't, none of us go back that far.  But it must once have been true.  Even more recent times get forgotten too.  Many residents on Crossfields - those who have lived here for many years or who have family who lived here before that - will have already forgotten much of what it was like to live in the area back in the day.

An email that arrived in the Crosswhatfields inbox last week might give us a chance to catch some of those memories before they disappear for good.  Goldsmith's University student, Anna Merlini, is doing her anthropology dissertation on on memory and geography in New Cross and Deptford and is hoping to get in touch with local residents who would like to share their recollections of everyday life in these areas. ''Involvement in the project would entail taking part in short conversations about personal memories, commenting on old photos of the neighbourhood, or creating a memory map.''

Anna has asked us whether any of our blog readers would like to participate in the project.  And she is happy to collaborate with the blog so that residents' tales don't disappear onto a library shelf in academia but remain accessible to present and future Crossfielders.

In her words:

Do you live in New Cross, Telegraph Hill or Deptford?

I am a BA Anthropology student at Goldsmiths College, writing a dissertation on memory and geography in New Cross, Telegraph Hill and Deptford. 
 

I am looking for local residents who would like to get involved in my project, taking part in informal, short conversations about their memories and recollections of everyday life in these areas.

If interested, please contact me at an903am@gold.ac.uk 

Of course, Crosswhatfields would be equally pleased to receive emails which we will pass on to Anna. Or if you prefer, you can simply tell us your tales in the comments box below.