Utrophia - last few days? (or maybe not)

Utrophia has been running as an art space in the old Job Centre in Deptford High Street since July 2011 (for a short period before that the building was squatted as Deptford Social Centre Plus).  Utrophia has been expecting to close some time soon to make way for a planned new pub, provisionally called The Job Centre, and run by Antic London. But at the moment things are in a state of flux, so it may or may not be there a little while longer...

Matt Rigsby Smith from Utrophia has been selling off many of his possessions in a temporary shop there, 'Matt's Cool Things'. There's vinyl, comics, badges, badminton racquets and much more... and probably not much time left to buy it. The shop will be open tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday, 12 noon to 6 pm, with a planned shop closing party on the 16th February. 

Utrophia, who were previously based on Tanners Hill, are looking around for other possible sites locally. Meanwhile no date has been set for the opening of the pub, and some have questioned what's up with Antic. There are actually a number of different companies under the Antic brand, two of which have gone into administration in the last year  - The Black Ant Company and Antic Ltd. The latter's pubs, including The Royal Albert (New Cross Road), Brockley's Jam Circus, and The Tiger in Camberwell are up for sale.

But seemingly Antic London is still expanding - as well as The Job Centre, they are also planning new pubs in Woolwich, the Walworth Road and elsewhere.

Local Currency Conference in Deptford

Utrophia Project Space (Deptford High Street) is hosting a Local Currency Action Conference on Saturday 18th February (11 am to 7 pm). They say: 'The Local Currency Action-Conference will look at the role of money in an economy, and how a local currency can be harnessed to promote small businesses, entrepreneurship and a stronger local economy and identity... The aim of the action-conference is to provide an informative and lively introduction to community finance to those interested in listening, and then developing a concept of a local currency that could be rolled-out in Deptford and New Cross for those interested in doing. At the end, it is hoped that we will have a blue-print to start working on making a local currency a reality'.

Previously Utrophia artist Stephen Molyneux has designed a prototype Deptford Pound to get people thinking about this.

Local Pounds for Local People?

Molyneaux's 'Deptford Pound' talks of 'Helping small businesses and a strong local economy in times of global economic meltdown'. I do understand that in a world where many people's livelihoods feel threatened by impersonal global economic forces there is an attraction in apparent local solutions. Personally though I am sceptical about some of the radical claims made for currency reforms and local currency schemes and would like to see more debate about some of the underlying premises. For instance:

- is there really such thing as a discrete local economy? - currency schemes seem to posit a shopkeeper utopia of small businesses trading with each other in the local area, but this can obscure the real economic relations that underpin the 'local' economy. Even the simple cup of coffee sold in the local cafe is the end product of the labour of countless people on farms in Latin America, on ships crossing the oceans, in roasting factories, packaging plants and warehouses in Europe.

- is keeping it local necessarily a good thing? - isn't there something rather selfish about the desire to keep money circulating in limited areas amongst comparatively privileged people (e.g. small business owners). When I go to my local corner shop I know that some of the money I spend there is probably going to help relatives in Sri Lanka, and indeed money sent home by migrants (remitttances) constitutes a major financial inflow to many of the poorest parts of the world. A lot of the money spent in shops, restaurants and takeaways in South East London goes to other parts of the world in this way - good thing too.

- are small businesses intrinsically more socially beneficial than larger ones? Do they always treat their staff better for instance, pay better wages, recognise unions... Anyway today's small business may be tomorrow's big one - after all Tesco's started out as a market stall in Hackney.

Well I could go on,  I 've been reading Marx's Capital alongside attending John Hutnyk's lectures on this at Goldsmiths, which are open to non-students like myself. The interesting thing is that around 100 people have been attending most weeks, the majority of them out of personal interest rather than for course credits. There is clearly a thirst to understand what's happening in the world economy, even if the reading is sometimes hard work.  Trying to get to grips with what money is and what it does is complex but important, so thinking about what it all means for an area like Deptford may be good. But can global problems be solved at the local level, or even the national level?

117 Lewisham Way

At Utrophia (120 Deptford Hight Street) this month there's an exhibition/series of events called Deptford Soil 'an exhibition of work by local artists whom have an affiliation with the McMillan Herb Garden, a non profit making organisation who run creative workshops for young people in the Deptford area.The exhibition celebrates differing aspects of Deptford culture and illustrates the personal creative processes born from residing in SE8'.

Tomorrow night (Saturday 10th, 7 pm start) they are showing some films with live music, including:

- Hide and Seek - a 1972 Children's Film Foundation production set in Deptford and starring a young Gary Kemp.
- Deptford's 'Jack in the Green' 2006-2011
-'Gone House Ghost House/117 Elegies' 2005 - a split screen with live sound track from RABBIT.

Free entry.

I saw Rabbit performing  live with the '117 Elegies' film at the Old Police Station in New Cross back in March (pictures below are from that performance). The film documents 117 Lewisham Way, a Victorian villa demolished in 2006 and known in its last period as 'The Elephant House' when squatters living there decorated it with an elephant art work salvaged from Goldsmiths.

The film was made by David Aylward and Tom Scott-Kendrick, the musicians in Rabbit. The duo rehearsed at the house, as it was Tom's family home when he was growing up. Essentially the film consists of shots of various details around the house - the staircase, the windows, the door handle, rust, crumbling brick. It's quite poignant, a record of years of labour and living that had created a space soon to be swept away.

The house was built in 1849/50 on what had previously been grazing fields rented out to a farmer (Samuel Shepherd) and owned by Augustus Hamilton. It was originally known as Durham Cottage, and its first occupants had moved in by April 1850. This was a family, Mr Jabez Garrett, his wife and their son and two daughters aged between 1 and 7. There were also two servants, aged 23 and 14. Mr Garrett was a 32 year old warehouseman (wholesaler) in Woolwich and had been involved with the business since his early twenties. By 1861, the Garretts had moved out and Elizabeth Hawkins, proprietor of houses, moved in with her 18 year old son, Henry Young, a lighterman (operating small boats to offload merchandise from large ships onto shore).

Ten years later, in 1871, the house was lived in by a family made up of Mary Jennings, 45 and wife of an unnamed civil engineer, with her widowed sister Frances Harley, 50, one young niece still at school, Mary Ann Spicer, and another niece it would appear, also called Mary Ann but with a different surname and possibly a servant. By 1888, the house was occupied by Andrews William, a tobacco pipe-maker.

Four years later, in 1891, a larger family moved in, with 47 year old Herbert Tiffin, a Solicitor’s clerk, his wife Eliza, daughter Florence (24) and sons Charles (22, also solicitor’s clerk) and Herbert (17, clerk to a grocer). There were also four smaller daughters, aged 10 and up. Ten years later, in 1901, Mr Edward Berryman, 45, printer engraver and stationer, had moved in with his wife Sandra, of the same profession, their 13 year old daughter and their one servant. During this time, the Cottage was renamed Withdean Lodge, probably after a place in nearby Surrey.

In 1907, a Miss Pearce moved in, possibly with William A Brunfield, whose entries appear regularly over the next few years, and possibly with a Frederick Pearce, furniture dealer, who may have been her son as his first entry in the records only appears in 1925. At roundabout this stage, the house was divided into two units, 117 and 117a Lewisham High Road. Up until 1930, 117a was occupied by Agar Francis, FRHS, seed merchant but additional entries also appear for Alfred Alvarez (1910) and, subsequently, Arthur Edward Brown and Robert William Anderson (1921).

In 1930, the entries for 117 disappear and one must assume that the house was left unoccupied for a short while. 117a disappears for good and there is no more suggestion thereafter that the house was divided into two. By 1931, Walter and Minnie Jane Booth moved in with Ada Janes, and two additional entries were recorded in 1938 for Giles Winnifred and, in 1947, with Walter apparently gone (war casualty?), two lodgers, Frederick Sibley and Eleanor Vanner.

For a period in the Second World War, the house was used at the South East London Synagogue when the synagogue in New Cross Road was destroyed by a Nazi bombing raid (see earlier post).

Michael and Rosemary Scott moved in in 1953, and had a succession of student lodgers over the years. Tom tells me that these were often art students from Goldsmiths, as his mother was an artist herself. He thinks artist Bridget Reilly may have stayed there for a while, and the Lewisham-born painter/forger Tom Keating is reputed to have done some of the decorating.

After the family moved out, it fell into further disrepair having a final flurry as the squatted ‘Elephant house’. Most people didn’t realise what they were losing until they saw it being demolished in November 2006 – replaced with a block of flats (see pictures at Brockley Central). But you can at least see it on film on Saturday night.

(thanks to Claude St Arroman for sending the historical research on the house's history of occupation.  The two house photos were sourced from Flickr so long ago I can't remember where I found them. If they're yours and you would like a photo credit let me know)

Utrophia opening party

The Utrophia opening party was lively last night at their new premises at 120 Deptford High Street (having just moved from Tanners Hill).


A big mixed art show with all kinds of different work, I was struck by this fox (couldn't see a label with the artist's name, please comment if you want a credit):


I had loads more photos but unfortunately had such a lively time there and later in the Royal Albert that I lost my camera. It's an old small black digital camera with little financial value, if you happen to have found it let me know!

Seemingly the party last night at the Old Police Station in New Cross was even livelier, with the police turning up to tell the band playing outside to turn off the music.

Utrophia opens in Deptford High Street

We reported a little while ago that Utrophia were having to move out of their art/music/performance space in Tanners Hill.

They now have new premises at 120 Deptford High Street, with 'The grand unveiling and opening show' taking place next Friday July 29th (7:00pm - 10:00pm). They promise 'A big group art show, some performances, good times, good times, damn good times. Free entry'.

This is the former Job Centre building that was recently squatted as Deptford Social Centre Plus.
Facebook event details here

Deptford Deli Closes Down

Sad to hear that the Deptford Deli has closed, the coffee and food was good and in the summer it was very pleasant to sit outside. There is now a 'to let' sign outside.


Dawn has been running the cafe there for a couple of years but has decided not to continue. The same building - 4 Tanners Hill - housed Utrophia's short-lived Deptford Properly cafe in 2008. They had issues with flooding and the landlord - seems that Deptford Deli also had flooding/plumbing problems there, as Brockley Central notes. Incidentally, in the 1930s the Communist Party had their Workers Bookshop and committee rooms at that address during the time Kath Duncan was active locally.

That pedestrianised end of Tanners Hill is one of my favourite bits of the local area, a reminder of what London streets looked like in the 19th century. Having a cafe there with tables outside brings it together as a public space, so it's a shame this one has gone.

Utrophia on the Move

Utrophia has been running as an arts/music space for a couple of years in the old ice cream factory at 136 Tanners Hill in Deptford, but they have to move out by the end of June as the building is due to be demolished to make way for housing.

There's a few final events next month, including a Norwegian artists' group show from 6th-18th June entitled Show Me Your Chakra! and an Alt Folk night on 18th June with This is the Kit, Rozi Plain and Mouth 4 Rusty. The moving out part is on 24th June with an 'evening of art, music, homemade food, performances, film and more to say farewell to the Ice Cream Factory'.

But all is not lost. Utrophia have moved before - they were originally at The Engine House at 49 Greenwich High Rd, and also ran the Deptford Properly cafe for a while (now the location of Deptford Deli). And they will shortly be moving again into another yet to be disclosed address.

I picked up a few books and other bits at their jumble sale last week. Deptford Market style I feel obliged to put one of them back into the public realm, at least digitally. This Jewish New Year prayer book was published in New York in 1911 and is now in pretty bad condition, with woodworm holes and a broken spine. It seemingly belonged to one M.L. Davidson of San Diego, California, who has signed the title page. Elsewhere is the hand written date 9 September 1911, perhaps the date the book was bought - Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year occurred on 22 September that year. Who knows how the book ended up in Deptford, but any descendents stumble across this, they can have it.


There's an interview with Utrophia over at Alternative SE4

Folk nights in Nunhead and Deptford

Kit and Cutter

Kit and Cutter used to run a delightful folk night at the sadly-missed Deptford Arms, including a memorable night last year when I shared the stage with Martin Carthy (OK I wasn't actually on the stage at the same time, but I did give a little talk on May Day as part of the same event).

Anyway the good news is that they are back in the area, putting on a night at The Old Nuns Head, SE15, on Saturday 21st May 2011 (7:30pm, £5 to get in). Line up includes:

Jeff Warner: 'Among the nation’s foremost interpreters of traditional music, from the lumber camps, fishing villages and mountaintops of America, Jeff’s songs connect 21st century audiences with the everyday lives–and artistry–of 19th century Americans. Jeff grew up listening to the songs and stories of his father Frank Warner and the traditional singers his parents met during their folksong collecting trips through rural America. On a whistle stop visit to these shores, catch him while you can…'



Wagon Tales: 'Push the tables against the walls – the Wagon Tales are an energetic bluegrass band who play up tempo bluegrass with a raw blues sound. They pride themselves on their rich vocal harmonies and the ability to create a good old knees up'.

Breakspears Southern Harmony Singers: 'twelve-strong group following the tradition of Sacred Harp singing from a 200 yr old songbook of gallant, rousing anthems, saturated in 4-part harmonies and intricate lyrical layers'.

Facebook event details here.

Utrophia

On 18th June, there's Alt Folk Night 4, the final music night at Utrophia in the old ice cream factory at 136 Tanners Hill, Deptford SE8. Folie à Deux presents This is the Kit, Rozi Plain and Mouth 4 Rusty.

Tickets are £6 and can be purchased here.

Puppet Life

Puppets taking over Deptford and New Cross this weekend...

At Utrophia, the Old New Cross Public Hall (136 Tanners Hill, SE8) there's 'A Fate Worse Than Deptford: The Puppet Musical'. The plans is to create, build and sing a musical over the weekend, starting with puppet making at 11.00 am on Saturday morning and finishing with a show at 7:00 pm on Sunday evening (March 14th). More details on facebook.

Meanwhile over at St Catherine's Church (junction of Kitto Road/Pepys Road SE14), this year's Telegraph Hill Festival Communty Show is a production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, with a mass cast of adults, children and yes, a couple of puppets! Word from rehearsals is there are some really good singers, you can find out yourself at one of the four performances on Saturday and Sunday. Box office details here.

Easter/Equinox happenings

Various quirky and interesting happenings over the weekend...

Utrophia Arts Network are putting on an Egg festival, starting tonight (Friday 21st, 6:30 pm) at their Deptford Properly cafe on Tanners Hill and going on until the full moon tomorrow morning at 6:40 am. There will be story telling, food, performances and medieval-style music from Walpurgis Night.

Tomorrow night they will be having a party at the Utrophia Project Space (136 Tanners Hill), then on Sunday 23rd there will be a marching band-led procession/egg trail from Deptford Properly (2 pm) to Friendly Gardens for fun and games including a maypole and egg and spoon space.

On Easter Monday meanwhile, Blackheath Morris Men observe their annual tradition event of "Chair Lifting" in which young women are lifted into the air in a chair with music, dancing and rinking along the way. You can catch them in Cutty Sark Gardens from about 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm and at various pubs in the area throughout the afternoon (more details from Richard at Baggage Reclaim).