Transpontine

Guy Fawkes on Blackheath with the Treasure Seekers

2009-11-07T06:00:00.004Z

It's the annual free fireworks extravaganza on Blackheath tonight (Saturday 7 November) at 8pm.

Guy Fawkes night in the area features in The Story of the Treasure Seekers by Edith Nesbit, the popular children's novel first published in 1899. The author (and socialist) lived in various parts of South East London and Kent for most of her life, including a period at 16 Dartmouth Row, Blackheath , where she moved in 1879.

In Chapter 7 of the novel the Bastable children have fun on the 5th November:

'When Albert-next-door had gone his uncle sat in the Guy Fawkes armchair and took Alice on his knee, and we sat round the fire waiting till it would be time to let off our fireworks. We roasted the chestnuts he sent Dicky out for, and he told us stories till it was nearly seven. His stories are first-rate - he does all the parts in different voices...

...we were getting very short of money again--the fortunes of your house cannot be restored (not so that they will last, that is), even by the one pound eight we got when we had the 'good hunting.' We spent a good deal of that on presents for Father's birthday. We got him a paper-weight, like a glass bun, with a picture of Lewisham Church at the bottom; and a blotting-pad, and a box of preserved fruits, and an ivory penholder with a view of Greenwich Park in the little hole where you look through at the top. He was most awfully pleased and surprised, and when he heard how Noel and Oswald had earned the money to buy the things he was more surprised still. Nearly all the rest of our money went to get fireworks for the Fifth of November. We got six Catherine wheels and four rockets; two hand-lights, one red and one green; a sixpenny maroon; two Roman-candles--they cost a shilling; some Italian streamers, a fairy fountain, and a tourbillon that cost eighteen-pence and was very nearly worth it. But I think crackers and squibs are a mistake. It's true you get a lot of them for the money, and they are not bad fun for the first two or three dozen, but you get jolly sick of them before you've let off your sixpenn'orth. And the only amusing way is not allowed: it is putting them in the fire.

It always seems a long time till the evening when you have got fireworks in the house, and I think as it was a rather foggy day we should have decided to let them off directly after breakfast, only Father had said he would help us to let them off at eight o'clock after he had had his dinner, and you ought never to disappoint your father if you can help it'.

They plot a play ambush of a neighbour on the Heath itself:

...Our plan was this. We were all to go up on to the Heath. Our house is in the Lewisham Road, but it's quite close to the Heath if you cut up the short way opposite the confectioner's, past the nursery gardens and the cottage hospital, and turn to the left again and afterwards to the right. You come out then at the top of the hill, where the big guns are with the iron fence round them, and where the bands play on Thursday evenings in the summer.

We were to lurk in ambush there, and waylay an unwary traveller. We were to call upon him to surrender his arms, and then bring him home and put him in the deepest dungeon below the castle moat; then we were to load him with chains and send to his friends for ransom.

...As I said, it was Guy Fawkes Day, and if it had not been we should never have been able to be bandits at all, for the unwary traveller we did catch had been forbidden to go out because he had a cold in his head. But he would run out to follow a guy, without even putting on a coat or a comforter, and it was a very damp, foggy afternoon and nearly dark, so you see it was his own fault entirely, and served him jolly well right. We saw him coming over the Heath just as we were deciding to go home to tea. He had followed that guy right across to the village (we call Blackheath the village; I don't know why), and he was coming back dragging his feet and sniffing'.

Transition Lewisham

2009-11-06T06:05:00.000Z

Quite a lot of activity going on locally related to the Transition Towns movement. In case you don't know what that means - and I'm new to this game myself - 'the Transition Movement is about communities deciding they can't hang around for governments to act on climate change and peak oil, but they need to start building up local resilience to prepare for an era of ever-rising fuel prices, fuel shortages and the impacts of climate change. The activities they get involved in are varied, but might range from insulating homes, setting up community allotments, establishing a local renewable energy company to establishing their own local currency to encourage people to shop locally'.

Transition Lewisham includes people putting on events in Brockley, New Cross and elsewhere. Transition Town New Cross are putting on a screening of the film AGE OF STUPID next Thrursday 12th November, 7.30 pm at the Amersham Arms, 388 New Cross Rd, SE14. They say: 'Come and see this year's most talked - about climate change film from Franny Armstrong for free! Described as the "first credible film dramatisation of climate change", the film uses documentary footage and animation to weave together the stories of six people across the globe and their experience of oil. Featuring Oscar-winning actor Pete Postlethwaite, the film has been described as "bold and supremely provocative" (Telegraph) and the sparky "emotional sibling to the rational brother of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth". The film-makers hope to inspire 250 million climate change activists through international distribution and invented an community franchise system to raise the funds to make the film. Film lasts approx 90 mins. Come, bring your friends and enjoy a drink at the bar and a short discussion after the film'.

Then on Saturday 14th November (7 pm-1 am), Transition Town Brockley present FLUX CLUB at Brockley Social Club, £6: 'It's gettin hot in here, so let's swish all our clothes. Get ready to transform your old world into a new one, through magic, music, miracle and muse! Bring your old stuff and let the magic of El Mago Javier transform it into something new.Funk/rock outfit Grand Illusion will have you swinging from the rafters, while Djs Saffrolla, Mr Burns and Bearjamm ply you with Balkan Beats, Swing, Funky Latin, HipHop, Breakbeat and more' (check out the flyer at Brockley Central).

Folk in South East London

2009-11-05T11:21:00.003Z

Folk clubs are like dog fighting clubs, they're often little known about and in more places than you think. Hither Green, Eltham, Blackheath, Borough, Woolwich, the Union Tavern in Camberwell and Deptford have, or have had, regular folk sessions.

Greenwich has the institution that is the tuesday night Greenwich Traditional Musicians Co-op and there is the gig-based One World Club who have gigs every Thursday night.

Playing tonight are Lewisham and Greenwich (via Essex mudflats and Norwegian coast) band The Kittiwakes, a well-executed trio performing traditional English folk with a Scandinavian tickle. It's a free night at The Mitre tavern, 291 Greenwich High Road, from 8pm. The reviews of their album all seem rather positive.

November the 5th 1888

2009-11-05T06:00:00.002Z

From the Daily News, 6 November 1888:

'Some attempt to keep up Guy Fawkes' Day was made in London; but the original object was completely lost sight of. Such effigies as were carried about were those of persons who have recently made themselves popular or notorious. Amongst a few political "guys" there was a large sprinkling of stuffed figures labelled "Jack the Ripper" or "Leather Apron." Sir Charles Warren also came in for some attention. At Hampstead the usual bonfire was lighted on the heath, in the presence of a crowd of visitors. There was also a procession of masqueraders. The annual carnival of the "bonfire boys" was held at Lewisham amid a good display of coloured lights, but the bonfire was dispensed with. At Eltham Mr. Parnell and other Irish members of Parliament were "guyed."...

Unfortunately some accidents are reported in connection with the celebration. At Swanley a set piece was accidentally ignited, and a youth had one of his hands blown off. At Crayford a young man was discharging a pistol when it burst in his hand and injured it. A rocket was let off at Bexley with the result that it put out the eye of a young lady named Jephson'.

This took place at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders, hence the reference to the subdued celebrations. Interesting reference to the Lewisham 'bonfire boys' carnival would like to know more.

Up the Line - Remembrance

2009-11-04T06:00:00.003Z

I've always felt ambivalent about Remembrance Day - wanting to remember those who died in the terrible wars of the twentieth century (on all sides) but not wanting to have my remembrance conscripted into a military patriotic parade preparing for more wars.

So it's good to see a different take on the whole thing, with some of the Brockley Max people coming together for 'Up The Line' - 'A Lantern cemetery procession in darkness with poetry, classical music, film and soundscape for remembrance of WWI'. It will take place at Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery, Brockley, London SE4 2QZ on, Wednesday 11th November 2009 (Armistice Day) from 7.15pm - 8.30 pm.

Among those involved are Helen Schoene (associate artist with performance company Switch), Julian Jacobs (concert pianist), Isabel White (local poet), Keren’Or V. Pézard (dance choreographer, Adrian Josey (a.k.a DJ Saffrolla, Ninja Tunes Solid Steel DJ) and John McKiernan (a.ka. Moonbow John).

They say: 'The event is free to all and is designed to give people of all ages an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifices made during times of war. You can read more about the inspiration'.

Skinny Lister

2009-11-03T06:00:00.003Z

Skinny Lister are a folkish band with nice songs that are very of the moment, judging by the success of Noah & The Whale and Mumford & Sons. They're mainly South London-based - not sure exactly where, but at least one of them lives in Greenwich and they played at Brockley Central's Ladywell Tavern night during June's Brockley Max festival. I suspect it might be a while before you catch them playing again in a local pub.

They have been featured on Radio 6, the Independent and Artrocker, and their first single, the Plough and Orion, came out in the summer. Here's a couple of the band performing the song:

Some of the band are also in indie outfit The Alps - busy people.

(update 4 November: one of them lives in Brockley - as they have just confirmed on Twitter)

Brockley Flowers for Paul Rowe

2009-11-02T06:05:00.000Z

This roadside shrine of flowers and candles in Brockley commemorates the sad death of Paul Rowe (pictured), killed there earlier this month.

The basic facts are set out in this story Newsshopper story (22 October 2009):

A 49-year-old woman has been arrested following a road crash which killed a motorcyclist. Police were called to the junction of Brockley Road and Coulgate Street in Lewisham on Sunday (Oct 18) at 11.47pm. A silver Vauxhall Astra had collided with a Yamaha motorbike. Paul Anthony Rowe, aged 44, of Overcliff Road, Lewisham, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Speaking at Mr Rowe's home yesterday, his cousin Terry Rowe, 45, said: "He was a father of four lovely kids and he was an absolutely fantastic dad. "He was a very humble person and everyone really liked him - a very peaceful man. He ran his own girls football team and was a big West Ham United fan. We are a huge family and we all miss him very much."

Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. She has been bailed to return in the new year. Anyone with information should call the collision investigation unit at Catford on 020 8285 1574'.

Paul Rowe was also known as DJ Shinehead, a presenter on Genesis FM and sometime part of the legendary Saxon reggae sound system, run by his brother Dennis. He went to Kelvin Grove Primary School and Roger Manwood secondary.

Duchamp in Croydon

2009-11-02T06:00:00.003Z

Between 1920 and 1959, Croydon Aerodrome was the launch pad for various airborne adventures, including Amy Johnson's 1930 flight from from Croydon to Australia (the first woman to make this flight). Most of the site has been redeveloped, but there are still traces of it.

Anarchist Ian Bone is evidently a fan and has a couple of good photos of a recent event there. In 1938 another sometime anarchist (?*) - the artist Marcel Duchamp - visited Croydon in the company of the wealthy art collector Peggy Guggenheim.

In 1938, Peggy Guggenheim opened Guggenheim Jeune, her first modern art museum, at No 30 Cork Street in London. She was assisted by Marcel Duchamp, probably the best known of the artists associated with Dada and Surrealism (though as a fervent individualist he shied away from actually joining these movements).

According to The priceless Peggy Guggenheim (Independent, 21 October 2009): 'The gallery, christened Guggenheim Jeune, opened on 24 January 1938, with 30 drawings by Jean Cocteau. Two large linen sheets, sent over from Paris, displayed a group of figures with their genitals and pubic hair on display: they were confiscated and detained, of all unlikely places, in Croydon airport until Peggy and Duchamp could hurry to south London to have them released'.

* Marcel Duchamp, to my knowledge, did not describe himself as an anarchist as such, but he was greatly influenced throughout his life by the work of Max Stirner, an individualist anarchist. He kept a copy of Stirner's The Ego and its Own next to his bed, and specifically referred to Stirner in relation to his work 3 Standard Stoppages. The idea for this work, which can be read as a critique of the conformity of measurement, apparently came to him on a trip to Herne Bay in Kent in 1913 (see: 'Aesthetic Anarchy' by Francis M Naumann in 'Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia', Tate, 2008).

Spiritualism and War Talk

2009-11-01T06:00:00.000Z

This month's South East London Folklore Society talk features Jennifer Wallis on 'Spiritualism & War: From the angels of Mons to rumours of Nazi recruitment of fifth columnist mediums, aifer Wallis look at how the World Wars affected the practice and reception of spiritualism in Britain'.

Thursday, November 12, 2009, 8:00pm at The Old King's Head, Kings Head Yard, 45-49 Borough High Street, SE1.

Spooky stone throwing in Peckham

2009-10-31T19:05:00.004Z

A Halloween tale of ghostly goings on in SE15, 1880:

STONE-THROWING BY “SPIRITS”[The Theosophist, Vol. I, No. 12, September, 1880, p. 310]

'In the July number we reprinted from the Daily Chronicle an account of recent stone-throwings at Plumstead, England, by some mysterious agency. Among other cases reported in the English papers is one at Cookstown, near Belfast, Ireland, vouched for by the Daily Telegraph and the Belfast News Letter. The missiles in this instance, fell under the very eyes of the police without their obtaining the least clue. The Spiritualist cites another similar incident as having happened at Peckham in broad daylight, despite every precaution of the police to entrap any trickster. The editor says that Mr. William Howitt once collected a whole bookful of instances. The thing is well known in India, and that our friends in Europe may have the data for making comparisons, we will be glad if our readers will report to us cases that can be authenticated by respectable witnesses'.

Release the Bats

2009-10-31T06:00:00.002Z

How about a seasonal South London-flavoured halloween post on bats?

1. Earlier this year, a survey in Southwark Park found that the relatively rare Leisler’s bat (pictured)– formerly known by the much better name of the hairy armed bat – was living there.

2. Sydenham Hill Wood is 'the home of the Woodland Bat Roost Project, funded by the SITA Trust with additional help and money from Southwark and Lewisham Councils. This project aims to improve the wood for bats, where at least five species of bat have been spotted' (more from London Wildlife Trust).

3. The excellent London Sound Survey has a new recording made earlier this month of a Pipistrelle bat flying back and forth along a path near the Ravensbourne river in Ladywell Fields, south-east London (if I understand correctly this is actually a recording of the bat's sonar, recorded on specialist equipment so that we can listen to something that is not audible by the human ear).

4. You can find out much more about bats, including how to be more bat-friendly, at the Bats Conservation Trust.

5. Nick Cave was once interviewed for the NME in The Montague Arms, SE15 . Before he became a national treasure he was very scary in The Birthday Party who released the excellent Release The Bats:

A Lens on Deptford - 1978

2009-10-30T06:00:00.001Z

The following article. 'A Lens on Deptford', appeared in the radical magazine The Leveller (no.16) in June 1978. It was written by Sandy Craig with accompanying photos by Chris Schwarz. Very interesting - certainly suggests that not everything has got worse, which is important to recognise. For instance movements against racism have had some success since then, support for the BNP outside of London notwithstanding. If you recognise any of the photo locations post a comment.

In concerned-statisticians' and social justice seekers' computerese, Deptford is "one of the decaying heartlands of London", a "deprived inner-urban area", with a "low record of employment initiative", "inadequate housing supply" and "high intra-racial tensions".

There are 2,716 male unemployed in Deptford. That's 15%, and the percentage is higher for West Indians. Over the last decade there's been a net decline in jobs of over 20%. And now the power station is closing down. Meanwhile, there's fights at the dole offices ...

There's one of the largest doss houses in London in Deptford, Carrington House. A Victorian institution with turnstiles on the door, panda-cars carting back the dossers parked Sweeney-fashion outside, and 750 beds inside. Reporters and photographers not welcome. More dossers sleep in the disused Deptford Odeon across the road. Gypsy caravans on bomb sites and waste-ground waiting for redevelopment down the road.

And cramped rows of austere Victorian "artisan" terracing; clumps of red-bricked century-old tenements, gaze blankly across rubbish tips at the huge, futuristically-planned and graffiti-scrawled, housing developments and a sky-line prickling with tower blocks. All: "neither good enough to promote, happiness nor bad enough to produce hopelessness."

Yet, of course, with nowhere else to go, they defend what little they have. Students and other tenants on the Speedwell estate are about to be chucked out to make way for a new: housing complex. (Only, the Labour Council haven't even put a provisional date on when this will be built.) Their flats are cramped, with little light, few services and without bathrooms. There are few lights on the external stairs. But it's somewhere to stay.

Of houses in Deptford, 80% are council-owned. Under 5% are owner-occupied. Yet, the Tories campaign here on issues of Law and Order and "mugging". In neighbouring, middle-class Greenwich, where only about a third of the houses are council but where the percentage of blacks is much less, the Tories campaign on issues of "buying your own council house" and home improvement grants.

And race relations - how "good" are they? There's different measures: in the 1976 local council be-election the NF and National Party polled 44%. This was a freak result, but it resulted in the formation of ALCARAF (All Lewisham Campaign Against Racism And Fascism). Recently, they organised a Festival over three Saturdays which was attended by well over 5,000 people, black and white, all enjoying the stalls, theatre shows and the sounds.

On the other hand Deptford was one of the starting points for the "Stop Sus" campaign, because this is one of the worst areas for police harassment of black youth, where the police continually pull them in on "Sus" (suspicion). And the NF, though they don't have many activists in the area, pull in outsiders to capitalise on that ‘76 freak result (and, of course, the street-battles on 13 August 1977 in, Lewisham High Street). A few weeks after an NF meeting when it was suggested "to send the boot-boys in to burn down The Moonshot (a local West Indian club), the Moonshot was burned down. Police continue with their enquiries.

Life can get even heavier for West Indians and Asians. On 11 March an Asian student, Nyrup Reddi, was killed in a fight outside a party on the Speedwell Estate. He was killed by a gang of white youths. Witnesses from the party (who joined in the fight) state that Reddi was separated 'and taken around the corner by these white thugs. They are convinced this was a racial murder. There is, of course, no report of this "mugging" in the press.

Down in Deptford the Tories are even more overtly racist than Thatcher: when ALCARAF asked all the political parties not to share any election platform with the NF, only the Tories didn't comply. They went further and stated they would share their platform with the other parties, only if the NF were there.

And what about the Labour Party? They've been in charge of Deptford for decades. They've not provided any policies to halt the slide of unemployment and bad housing. (At the moment they're opposing the extension of the Fleet tube Line which might just bring back industry.) But while nationally they practise policies which are covertly racist, in Deptford things might change.

For there, we have Russell Profitt, a black left-wing Labour councillor. And there's the growing power of black and white grass-roots organisations like The Stop Sus campaign and ALCARAF. Fighting back. And despite their hardships, so do the people of Deptford. Making the best of someone else's bad job with fun, humour and vitality.

(This copy of The Leveller was found in the archive at the 56a Infoshop Social Centre, SE17. They have an excellent collection of radical literature, particularly from the 1980s and 1990s and are always interested in more, inlcuding from earlier periods. So if you have any old boxes of magazines, leaflets or other ephemera get in touch with them. On a personal note I would love to come across copies of the People News Service bulletins - a newsheet from the 1970s - as I am sure there would be some lost nuggets of South London history in them. If you have any you would like to donate, or even just lend for copying/scanning, please get in touch with Transpontine or 56a)

The London Nobody Sings

2009-10-29T06:00:00.003Z

The London Nobody Sings is a site I really should have come across before, as it's right up Transpontine street. The simple premise is to post a song about London, or a part of London, every day. This intersects with the ongoing project here of documenting and indeed encouraging songs about South East London. South London songs covered at London Nobody Sings so far include:

- Roots Manuva - Baptism - name checks East Street Market (as does Nine Below Zero's East Street SE17);

- Crisis - No Town Hall (Southwark) - 1979 punk single issued with the Peckham Action Group protesting against a plan to move Southwark town hall from Peckham.

- Roy Rankin & Raymond Naptali - New Cross Fire - another reggae track about the 1981 fire

- ATV - Fun City SE8: from their 1981 album Strange Kicks, Alternative TV/ATV sing of the delights of a weekend in Deptford High Street. Can't work out all the lyrics - help me fill in the gaps if you can - but it mentions the market, the Oxford Arms (a punk pub of choice at the time, now The Bird's Nest) and the Crossfields Estate: 'To go out shopping in the High Street, is the [?] of Deptford beat, the housewives chat and the barrow boys shout, it's Saturday morning and everyone's out, Fun City SE8, down the Oxford, Can't wait, Fun city 691, a barrel of laughs come and join the fun, The market's closed and it goes quiet, but not for long see the lights, the pubs open up and in we pour, we have a few drinks and we have more, when the pubs are all shut up, it's up the [?] for a knees up, Crossfields bannisters the sound of fun, when the pigs go come see everyone run'.

- The Slits - Difficult Fun - 'He's south of the river, he's restless and unsatisfied, He's searching forever for better but finds nothing ..." (maybe linked to the time members of the band spent hanging out in Forest Hill).

- Mica Paris - South of the River - great song from the Brockley diva.

Plus quite a few songs about Brixton and London Bridge.

I can't stop watching this clip of Sid James singing about Bermondsey from the 1964 film 'Three Hats For Lisa'. Sid , Joe Brown, Una Stubbs, Dave Nelson and Sophie Hardy dance down by Tower Bridge while Sid James sings 'Oh-ho-ho, Bermondsey, that's home to me. I'm longin' for the moment when I shall see the 'appy, laughing razor-slashed faces of the people I love. Back in Bermondsey I wanna be, 'cos the smuggled booze they've got is practically free. I've so many childhood memories of that quaint old fashioned town, there was a quaint old-fashioned schoolhouse, 'til the school kids burnt it down... I'm off to Bermondsey, oh gosh oh gee... I'd like cosh that cooper you see, who sent away to Holloway and Brixton all the people I love'.

That was Deptford X

2009-10-28T06:00:00.003Z

I managed to take in some of the recent Deptford X festival, including the Babylon showing reviewed previously. Other highlights included Patrick Hackett's Scape Boat, a boat made out of copies of the Financial Times, inviting various metaphors about the economic crisis (sinking ship of capitalism etc). For the duration of Deptford X it was parked on the grass in front of Laban. Not sure what happened to it in the end, I was hoping for some viking burial action with a blazing boat floating in the Creek but I suspect that the artist may have become quite attached to it. After all he won the Deptford X prize so might not have wanted to follow the commendable auto destructive art example of Gustav Metzger.

On Saturday 3rd October, there was the Deptford Marbles' Tea and Dance event, a collaboration between Artmongers and Laban students. There was tea and cake...

... and dancing. The dancers were remarkably unphased by their interaction with some of the interesting 'characters' who frequent that patch of Deptford Broadway and who occasionally joined in by wandering into the action.

Fred Aylward had two exhibitions. Before and After at the Albany included information about lost entertainment venues alongside photos of what has replaced them. Meanwhile at the Dog and Bell he showed a series of his watercolours depicting similar buildings in their prime. Places featured in the exhibitions include the Deptford Odeon, the New Cross Empire, the Albany Empire (in its original Creek Road location), the New Cross Kinema (most of which is still standing as the Venue) and the Electric Palace at 197 Deptford High Street - one of the earliest local cinemas, now Shades snooker hall. I was impressed that he had discovered a last trace of the Broadway Theatre behind the chemist on Deptford Broadway (the one featured in the picture above) - a sign saying 'Way Out'.

Crossbones

2009-10-27T06:00:00.000Z

As Halloween comes round again, there will be the 12th annual Halloween of Crossbones event, featuring a performance followed by a candelight procession to the site of the Crossbones graveyard (Redcross Way, SE1), a paupers burial ground rediscovered during the 1990s Jubilee Line extension works. This year's Halloween event is fully booked, but there are monthly gatherings (7 pm on the 23rd of the month) to remember the poor and outcast dead who were buried there.

Here's a new short film about the site, focusing on its links with sex workers (historical accounts refer to a Single Women's burial ground, presumed to include the prositutues of the many Southwark brothels):

Here's another film with a bit more of the wider context:

A Chartist Church in Deptford

2009-10-26T06:00:00.001Z

One strand of the radical Chartist movement was Christian Chartism, some of whose adherents created their own churches which put into practice the democratic principles of the movement. One such church was in this area; according to Mark Hovell's book The Chartist Movement, 'at Deptford there was established a "Working Men's Church," whose members were said to study the New Testament in Greek' (his source is the Chartist paper, Northern Star, October 30 1841). I wonder where this was?

Hollaback UK: South London Sleaze

2009-10-24T07:23:00.005Z

Via Swimsuit Issue (cool Transpontine-linking feminist blog) comes news of the start of Hollaback UK, 'a place for women to fight back against street harassment. Whether you're commuting to work, out shopping or going for a night out - you have a right to feel safe where you live'. It is based on the US (and indeed now global) Hollaback phenomenon whereby women not only describe their experiences of harrassment, but post photos of the offenders online (see for instance Hollaback NYC).

The UK version hasn't got any photos yet but it already has some depressingly familiar stories, including this 'South London Sleaze': 'I'm from South London and this happened to me this morning. I got off the bus on the way to work and a man standing outside a shop said 'hey sexy'. I ignored him and carried on walking and he started to follow me!! He said 'hey, I'm talking to you, where are you going?'. I kept going, didn't turn round. As I was walking into my work he yelled through the doors - 'Bitch! What makes you think you're so f****** special?'. Nice'.

Chaucer: robbed in Hatcham

2009-10-24T06:00:00.001Z

Some people like to look back to a golden age of crime-free New Cross, but I'm not sure how far back you would have to go to find it. Presumably further than the 14th century, when Geoffrey Chaucer was robbed in Hatcham, as the area was known in those times. As A.W. Ward described it in his biography:

'Though by the latter part of the year 1391 Chaucer had lost his Clerkship of the Works, certain payments (possibly of arrears) seem afterwards to have been made to him in connexion with the office. A very disagreeable incident of his tenure of it had been a double robbery from his person of official money, to the very serious extent of twenty pounds. The perpetrators of the crime were a notorious gang of highwaymen, by whom Chaucer was, in September, 1390, apparently on the same day, beset both at Westminster, and near to "the foul Oak" at Hatcham in Surrey'.

I wonder where the 'foul oak' was? Presumably somewhere on Watling Street (now the A2/Old Kent/New Cross Road), the old road from London to Kent upon which the pilgrims of Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales tell their stories on their journey from Southwark to Canterbury.

Nail the Cross

2009-10-23T20:06:00.003Z

Didn't make it down to No Pain in Pop's Nail The Cross the weekend before last, an all day and all of the night music festival spread across various New Cross/Deptford venues. There's a good review of it though in this week's NME, which starts off: 'Nail the Cross is a mini festival. In the south London hinterland of New Cross. In October. Limitations aside, it boasts a line-up so ahead of the curve that most of these artists – from dubstep’s new blood to the more esoteric fringes of indie – could look over their shoulders and thumb their noses at the zeitgeist trailing wheezingly in their wake'.

Trailer Trash Tracys are great by the way - the NME review is not far off in describing them as sounding like 'Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell slurring over JAMC guitars', which couldn't be more me unless they also had Frankie Knuckles remixes. As far as I know, they are not from SE London, but they have manifested on the earthly plain via the New Cross portal of No Pain in Pop so can we count them as part of the Transpontine Great Work?

Brockley Ukulele Group October & November

2009-10-23T06:00:00.000Z

Brockley Ukelele Group's session at the Amersham Arms on Oct 11th had a good crowd, with the usual uke box 'shout the number, and we play' format. A couple of new members made their public singing/strumming debut.

There's an unbiased review at ЯocktobeR, whose author is documenting 31 consecutive nights of London music-making (the following two photos are from there):

The November session is on Sunday 8th November, 8:00 pm.

No Pain in Pop Halloween Party

2009-10-22T06:00:00.001Z

No Pain In Pop presents a Halloween party on Friday 30th October 2009 at Goldsmiths Student Union in New Cross. Impressive line up including:

The Bug ft Flowdan - 'Claustrophic bass from London's most visionary producer, complete with rumbling rhetoric from Roll Deep's Flowdan'

Teengirl Fantasy - 'Equal part weird cut & paste ambient compositions and high-energy dance anthems'

Gold Panda - Pitchfork endorsed organic frequencies and stomping sub-bass.

Deep Sht - Crestfallen slowgaze from heartfelt romantic Tom Watson and co.

DJs Cooly G - 'The first lady of funky, Hyperdub's deep house superstar' and Joy Orbison - 'Rolling, soulful and very danceful, Croydon based producer'

Advance £6 tickets here , on the door : £5 NUS / £7.. Student bar prices / Funktion One soundsystem / Music over two floors / Fancy dress (facebook event here)

Post Strike in SE London

2009-10-21T19:33:00.003Z

Looks like the national post strike is going ahead tomorrow, with SE London expected to be one of the strongholds of strike action. In an earlier walkout in July, there were picket lines outside all 28 delivery centres in south-east London, including New Cross, Peckham, Kennington, Mandela Way and Catford. Out of a unionised work force of 1,500, only 28 people went to work (see report).

I would urge people to look a bit further than the short term inconvenience of not having mail delivered and understand some of the wider issues in this dispute - there's a good article by a postie at the London Review of Books which explains some of the context. The post office may be a dry run for the future of public services, with increased casualisation, attacks on pension rights (work till you drop), reduced services etc. All the indications are that whoever wins the election, public sector workers will be expected to pay for the cost of bailing out the banks, while top bankers continue to pay themselves big bonuses.

There's a meeting tomorrow night (Thursday 22nd October) to set up a Southwark Postal Workers Support Group - 6:30pm at the Unison Office, 1st Floor, 177-179 Walworth Road London, SE17 1RW (telephone: 020 7525 6030). Anyone know if anything similar is planned in Lewisham?

See also Uncarved 'Granny Smith Doesn't Matter Anymore'; Stroppyblog; David Semple and Dave Osler at Liberal Conspiracy.

Free Indie Pop in Brixton

2009-10-21T06:00:00.001Z

How Does it Feel? present another fine night of indie pop in Brixton this Thursday 22nd October, with a great line up including

Tender Trap - legendary indiepop outfit, fronted by Amelia Fletcher of Talulah Gosh/Heavenly fame.

MJ Hibbett And The Validators - from Leicester with humour. If you like Half Man Half Biscuit, this could be your cup of tea.

Leaving Mornington Crescent - dreamy indie pop duro from Malmo in Sweden (not Camden as the name might suggest)

Hissing At Swans - 'ramshakle ukelele and 80's keyboard demo collective from Essex/East London'

Unbelievably it's all free - at Jamm, 261 Brixton Road, SW9 6LH, 7.30pm (facebook event details)

Harlan County USA

2009-10-20T13:00:00.000Z

Full Unemployment Cinema have a film show coming up this Sunday (Oct. 25th), this months it's Harlan County USA from 1976: 'Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award–winning Harlan County USA unflinchingly documents a gruelling coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. Featuring a haunting soundtrack – with legendary country and bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens, Merle Travis, Sarah Gunning, and Florence Reece – the film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line'.

5 pm at 56A Infoshop, 56 Crampton St (off Walworth Rd), Elephant and Castle. Admission free.