The McMillan Sisters and Rudolf Steiner in Deptford

McMillan Street, Rachel McMillan Nursery School and Children's Centre, and Margaret McMillan Park in Deptford all mark the long term influence of the McMillan sisters on this part of South East London.

Margaret (1860-1931) and Rachel McMillan (1859-1917) grew up in Scotland before moving to London in the 1880s, where they became active in the socialist movement. They met William Morris, the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin, and the Paris Communard Louise Michel, and were involved in supporting the 1889 London dock strike.

Margaret McMillan

In 1910, Margaret helped establish a pioneering child health clinic (called the School Treatment Centre) in Deptford Green, later moving it to Evelyn House (353 Evelyn Street). In 1911, the nursery started on a small scale in the garden of Evelyn House, where there was also a 'night camp' for children over eight years of age while little children were received in the day time. In 1914 the 'camp' moved to a shelter on London County Council land on the Stowage site where the Rachel McMillan Nursery School stands to this day. In the war it was mainly used by the children of munitions workers. New buildings were erected on the site in 1917, with further buildings opened by Queen Mary in 1921. Rachel died in 1917, and so Margaret named the Nursery School after her. Margaret continued to have some involvement in it until her death in 1931.

Rachel McMillan

In the early days it was known as an open air nursery school, as there was a strong emphasis on playing, learning and sleeping outside. Although sleeping outside passed from fashion, outdoor play remains at the heart of the nursery schools movement which Margaret McMillan helped inititate.

Margaret McMillan’s writings on childhood criticised schools for just preparing working class children for unskilled work. At a time of rigid discipline she opposed corporal punishment and stressed the importance of free play. In Deptford she tried to put into practice her vision of the school as 'a garden city for children', with children playing, learning and sleeping outside. Her description of children sleeping under the stars has an almost mystical quality: ‘sleepy eyes looked from their pillows at points of starry fire in the indigo blue depth; the night wind cooled their little heated bodies, and a primrose dawn called them awake. Will these children ever forget the healing joy of such nearness to the earth spirit as is possible even in Deptford?’ (quoted in Steedman).

The nursery and the clinic were both practical efforts to answer the question McMillan herself posed: ‘We all hate the poverty – and the riches – of capitalist society. But the real poverty goes deeper than wages. It is in the starved, cramped, diseased bodies and minds: the eyes that do not see; the ears that do not hear: how can we change them?’ (quoted in Steele, 1999).

Rudolf Steiner visits Deptford

McMillan's progressive ideas about children and education were shared by the Austrian thinker Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). In August 1923, Steiner visited the nursery school in Deptford at the invitation of Margaret McMillan. He described this visit at the time:

'Today I was able to accept her invitation to visit the nursery and school established by her at Deptford, London. Three hundred of the very poorest population, from the ages of two to twelve, are wonderfully cared for there by her... one sees at work in the various classes youngsters who are spiritually active, happy in soul, well-behaved and growing healthy in body. It is an equal pleasure to see these children at play, to see them learning, eating and resting after meals'.

Mentioning that some of the older children were performing a Midsummer Night's Dream, Steiner remarked: 'The institution lies near the spot where once upon a time the court of Queen Elizabeth stood, who herself lived at Greenwich nearby. Shakespeare apparently acted for the royal household almost in the identical place in which his works are now being so delightfully interpreted by these little ones' (quoted in 'Rudolf Steiner speaks to the British: lectures and addresses in England and Wales', Rudolf Steiner Press, 1998).

Rudolf Steiner

As well as an educationalist, Steiner was an occultist with his own doctrine of Anthroposophy combining elements from Theosophy, esoteric Christianity, and Rosicrucianism. This spiritual side of him seems to have appealed to McMillan, judging by her account of his visit to Deptford. She wrote to her friend Margaret Sutcliffe: 'He came here and everything seemed new and wonderful as he entered the room... The whole world is a whispering gallery to him, and vibrations reach him for which we have no name'. She later recalled 'how in walking with her round the school he kept telling her, very concretely, of the spiritual presence of her sister Rachel with whom she had begun this work - whose death not long before had been a very heavy blow for her' (according to George Adams, cited in 'A man before others: Rudolf Steiner remembered', Rudolf Steiner Press, 1993).

Steiner's educational ideas are still applied in the Steiner-Waldorf schools, the first of which in the UK opened in Streatham Hill in 1925. And judging by a conversation I had recently with a Brockley allotment gardener, his biodynamic agriculture ideas are being applied in South East London to this day.

Margaret and Rachel McMillan are both buried in Brockley Cemetery.

Sources other than those already referenced: Jess Steele (ed.) The Children can’t wait: the McMillan sisters and the birth of nursery education (London: Deptford Forum, 1999); Carolyn Steedman, Childhood, culture and class in Britain: Margaret McMillan, 1860-1931 (London: Virago, 1990).

Laurence James/Mick Norman

In the 1970s there was a hugely popular genre of youthsploitation pulp fiction in the UK, with paperbacks catering to a seemingly insatiable demand for tales of sex, drugs, violence and youth subcultures (skinheads, bikers etc.). A key figure in relation into all this was Laurence James. As an editor at New English Library he was involved in publishing many of them. Then he moved on to writing his own novels themed around Hells Angels under the name Mick Norman - Angels From Hell, Angel Challenge, Guardian Angels and Angels On My Mind.

I've just been reading Stewart Home's interview with James, conducted several years before his death in 2000. And yes - if you read this site regularly you can probably guess where this is going - James/Norman was living in SE London at the time he wrote the Angels novels.

James originally moved to the area from Birmingham to study at Goldsmiths in New Cross: 'I came down to London at the beginning of the sixties and dropped out of college about '62... After a year, I decided teaching was not for me and I went to work in Foyles bookshop'.

Apparently his corner of SE London was not particularly swinging at the time:

'HOME: You were in London in the sixties, rumour has it there was a lot happening.
JAMES: There wasn't a lot happening in Hither Green. Not down in south London. I hung around with a lot of friends living down in New Cross. I had a girlfriend down there at the time. I don't think very much was happening outside the centre. It wasn't a drug crazed heaven at all'.

However, it was to be his time living in Hither Green that inspired the start of the first of the Angel novels: 'It was triggered by the opening episode at Hither Green station, where there's this long tunnel, because I lived in Hither Green for a time and I always thought it was really creepy, this pedestrian tunnel that ran under the railway. The tunnel was only about five or six foot wide and I always had this nightmare that you'd be walking along late at night and some guy on a motor bike would come thundering down the other way. That was what triggered the opening scene in the book. Everything else came from that' ('Angels from Hell' opens with a blind teacher dying under the wheels of bikes in the HIther Green tunnel).

Laurence James also wrote many other books under his own and other names, including some of the Deathlands series of Science Fiction novels under the name James Axler.

The Jolly Sailor and the Lady of Greenwich

Fran and Geoff Doel's Folklore of Kent (Tempus, 2003) mentions a number of eighteenth-century broadside ballads related to South East London, including The Jolly Sailor and the Lady of Greenwich which includes the verse:

A Lady Born of birth and fame
To Greenwich Town for pleasure came
Where she a sailor did behold
Both tall and trim, of courage bold.

Others include 'Greenwich Moorings', 'The Greenwich Pensioner's Garland', 'The Greenwich Lovers' Garland', 'Jack of Greenwich' and 'Fair Betsy of Deptford'. Some of these seem to have been included in volume called The Kentish Garland, but I haven't been able to trace the lyrics of these South London songs. Anybody got them?

Lady Danga

Flicking round the dial in search of pirate radio action last weekend, spent some time listening to reggae and dancehall on Mystic FM (98.1), including live chat from South London's Lady Danga. The sometime UK Dancehall Queen dancer is now putting out tracks herself - check out her Youtube channel. Not sure what part of the Southlands she is from, but she's having a night at Club Simba in Woolwich tonight (November 20th).

East London Lines

When the East London Line extension finally does open next year it will make a big difference not just to how people move around London but perhaps to how they perceive the city. By directly linking Croydon and Hackney (or at least Dalston) via Brockley and New Cross it could generate a sense of East London that crosses the river. Today when people talk about East London they generally mean the Eastern part of the city north of the Thames, whereas in Victorian times for instance, Deptford was often described as being in East London.

Anyway ahead of the curve on this shift is EastLondonLines, 'an independent news website produced by students and staff of Goldsmiths, University of London. It will be the virtual shadow of the new East London Line, connecting communities in virtual space, just as the new line connects them in physical space'. What this means in practice is that it is a news site covering Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Lewisham and Croydon.

They've already run some good local stories, including one on health inequalities: 'life expectancy in Lewisham is still below the national average... Department of Health figures reveal that a baby girl born and bred in Kensington and Chelsea can expect to live up to 8 years longer than one in Lewisham, where female life expectancy averages around 80'.

Bermondsey and Deptford Suffragettes

London SE1 notes the recent 100th anniversary of suffragette protest in Bermondsey. On the occasion of a Parliamentary by-election on Thursday 28 October 1909, Alice Chapin 'a 45 year old supporter of votes for women living in the West End' broke a test tube of acid on the ballot box in the polling station at the school at Boucher School in Grange Road. Some of the acid splashed into they eye of the presiding officer George Thorley, but he was not seriously injured.

'At the Old Bailey the following month Mrs Chapin was found guilty of interfering with the ballot box and sentenced to three months imprisonment. In addition she was found guilty of a common assault for which she received four months to run concurrently. Also sentenced in the same court was Alison Neilans who tried to pour fluid into the ballot box at the Long Lane polling station... Miss Neilans was sentenced to three months in Holloway Prison along with her fellow conspirator. Both women were members of the Women's Freedom League (WFL) which was a breakaway from the Women's Social & Political Union (WSPU)'.


I have also come across a report about a Deptford suffragette from 1910. In that year, the Education Committee of the London County Council, meeting at County Hall, heard that 'an application for re-appointment had been made by a lady teacher at a Deptford school who the report stated "had absented herself from her school duties as the result of her association with a demonstration in connexion with women's suffrage". The teacher "promised not to take part in any further demonstration while in the service of the Council, but subsequently resigned her appointment". It was explained that the teacher was absent from her duties because she had gone to prison. The committee subsequently approved the employment of the teacher on supply' (Times, 21 April 1910).

Christmas at Kirkdale Bookshop

Kirkdale Bookshop in Sydenham is kicking off the festive season on Friday 4th December, 4pm -9pm, with a Christmas event featuring readings from Dickens, mulled wine & mince pies, a Christmas lucky dip for children and 10% off everything in the shop. And believe me there's lots of good things in the shop, with new books upstairs and a second hand basement that has a whole section of old London books.

The shop is at 272 Kirkdale, Sydenham SE26 4RS. Tel: 020 8778 4701, kirkdalebookshop@hotmail.com, http://www.kirkdalebookshop.com/.

Georgina Cook

Architecture is a photography exhibition by Georgina Cook. It's on at Antenna Studios, Haynes Lane, Crystal Palace until November 29th. Haven't checked it out yet, but it looks promising.

Georgina Cook is the Crystal Palace-based photographer and basshead behind the excellent Drumz of the South. She has some good photos of the area at the site, and some interesting thoughts on the Crystal Palace cinema campaign: 'Who wants a business orientated church in the art-deco building that used to house the Bingo Hall (once originally a cinema)? And who wants an independent art-house cinema? Hmmm......hmmmmmmmmm. No Brainer? I'm a creative type, I oughta want a cinema; and I do... BUT I worry that it will yuppify this area even more that it's already yuppified over the past few years and that I should I decide to stay in the area (largely because my family are near) or should I decide to leave and then come back when I'm older and should be living somewhere like here, will property be even more costly partially as a result of a cinema?'. A reminder that gentrification is not victim-free - rising house prices mean that people who grew up in an area often have no chance of getting a place to live there themselves when they leave the family home.

Also check out her collection of South London photos on Flickr, including quite a few from La Cronx itself (that's Croydon to you).

November/December at Cafe Crema

November and December events at Cafe Crema in New Cross include films and music. On the film front the Thursday night season includes:

November 19th: The Steptford Wives - the original and best version.

November 26th: Tocar y Luchar; To play and to fight: 'The captivating story of the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System – an incredible network of hundreds of orchestras formed within most of Venezuela’s towns and villages'.

Decmber 3rd: Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious.

Dec 10th: Cable Street.

As for music, on Saturday December 5th, there's the regular New Orleans New Cross piano jam plus gig featuring Bobby Valentino's band.

Café Crema: 306 New Cross Road. London Se14 6AF. 020 8320 2317. Doors open for evening screenings at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £6. More details at http://www.cafecremaevents.co.uk/.

(STOP PRESS 20th November - Cafe Crema have announced that all these events will be postponed until after Christmas pending sorting out some licensing issues)

Cuts push asylum seekers deeper into poverty

From East London Lines, 14 November 2009:

Action for Refugees in Lewisham are urging the public to raise money and donate clothes for destitute refugees after the Home Office slashed benefits for asylum seekers to £5 a day, which the Refugee Council claims is half what the government says a person needs to live on. The cuts agreed last month mean the weekly rate for a single asylum seeker over 25 will be reduced from £42 to £35 a week.

Iolanda Chirico, chair of the charity said: “Can you imagine living on nothing? Unfortunately many of our asylum-seekers here in Lewisham live off handouts from relatives, friends and local churches. Donations will be used for essentials such as food, baby milk and nappies.”

Hannah Ward, spokeswoman from the Refugee Council said many refugees relied on the local community to survive. Ms Ward said: “It’s difficult for people who have never experienced poverty to understand what life is like for these refugees.” Policies that prevented refugees from working in the UK were “leaving people in severe poverty,” she said.

Ms U, 22, who wishes to remain anonymous, attends English classes at the the Lewisham-based refugee centre. She first applied for asylum one and a half years ago after fleeing violence following the civil war in Sri Lanka. She now lives with her mother, sister, brother-in-law and four-year-old nephew in a two-bedroom flat in Lewisham. Her sister supports the family by working in a shop.

Ms U said: “Now it’s so hard. We have no income. Me and my mum live on my sister’s wage only. Now we have many problems, income problem, food problem, clothes problem,” she said.
“We have no contact with family in Sri Lanka. We don’t know what happened to them. It is very dangerous. We can’t go back. I want to study but I have no money to study.” (read the full story here)

Future Roots at the Birds Nest

On Thursday 26th November, there's a benefit gig for Unite Against Fascism/Love Music Hate Racism at The Birds Nest in Deptford. The line up includes the Sufi dub of Celt Islam and The Sysiphians ('future roots vibes from France').

It's one of a series of four nights of 'experiments in dub, future roots and beyond' being put on by Urban Sedated Records.

A Camberwell Servant Learns the Mandolin

A nice story from South London Observer regarding a Camberwell servant getting ideas above her station by learning to play the mandolin.

‘The Servant’s Mandolin’ (South London Observer, 6.5.1899) tells of a court case in 1899 where the father of Agnes Reid, aged 18 and ‘in service at Camberwell’ was sued by Miss Rosina Love, a Peckham music teacher. The cause was Agnes’ failing to pay for her mandolin lessons, but the fact of her learning to play the instrument was seemingly cause for comment.

The Judge asked her father 'what induced your daughter to learn the mandoline' to which he replied ‘One of the other servants put her up to it. I know no other reason’. Judge Emden of Lambeth County Court concluded: 'I do not say that a servant should not play the mandoline if she does not annoy the people in her mistress’s house by so doing. But she must pay her music teacher'.

(a bit more context at History is Made at Night)

Yet more ukes

The South East London ukulele movement continues to spread its four stringed tentacles. First of all there was the Dulwich Ukulele Club, now a well established band on the festival circuit. Then Brockley Ukulele Group started up about 18 months ago, and are regularly to be found in the Amersham Arms and elsewhere.

Now there's the People of Lewisham Ukulele Collective (PLUC), which meet on alternatvie Tuesdays The Lewis Club, Lewisham Hospital. There next session is on November 17th at 8:30 pm (heard about this via Leepedia on twitter).

Incidentally, Brockley Ukulele Group will be playing at Jam Circus in Brockley on Friday November 27th.

Liberty Lodge: Land Squatters in Deptford 1909

From the Times, 2 Feb 1909:

'Seizure of Land at Deptford

Five of the unemployed men whose attempt to seize a piece of Crown Land at Eltham, Kent, on Saturday night, was frustrated by the police, yesterday took possession of a building site belonging to the London County Council at Deptford, opposite the Wesleyan Central Hall in Creek-road. The ground is enclosed by railings about 6 ft high, which the men scaled. They then erected a shanty in one corner of the plot, and put up a large placard describing the structure as 'Liberty Lodge'. On the walls of some houses near by were inscribed the words, 'What will the harvest be?' During the morning the men were seen digging up a portion of the land, apparently with the intention of cultivating it. About 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon two representatives of the London County Council arrived and requested the men to leave. One of the men, William Needham, refused to do so and was ejected. The four other men left quietly'.

This is one of those stories where a little fragment of news shines a light on a forgotten corner of social history. Pretty clearly this wasn't just a case of a few blokes deciding to dig over a piece of vacant land - they were obviously determined and motivated, but were they part of a wider movement? There is a history of radical land occupations stretching back at least as far as the Diggers in the English Civil War, but I hadn't heard of any in London in this period (early 20th century). Does anyone know any more?

Update, 2024:

This seems to have been linked to agitation amongst the unemployed by the Social Democratic Federation. For instance in the Manchester area in 1908 Arthur Smith 'organised a series of "land grabs", i.e. the illegal occupation and cultivation of private land by groups of the unemployed. These attempts at what Smith called "communalism" were more for propaganda purposes than anything else. His intention was to draw attention to the plight of the unemployed, who, he claimed, were starving while valuable private land lay uncultivated (Justice 21 July 1908). These experiments were short-lived and the "communalists" were soon evicted'. 

In East London 'SDF took part in the famous 'land grab' of the Triangle Camp. This was a piece of waste ground in Plaistow that they took over and encouraged men to use for growing food. However, after a long summer of dispute the council finally obtained a court order to clear it forcibly in August 1906'.

David Wiffen - Sydenham-Canadian singer

Thanks to Bob from Brockley for providing me with a rare opportunity to weave The Cowboy Junkies into the Transpontine Mythos, albeit via a rather indirect link with South East London.

For, as Bob notes, Canadian singer-songwriter David Wiffen was actually born in Sydenham in 1942 and spent his childhood in South London and Surrey before moving across the ocean at the age of 16. In the early 1970s he recorded two solo albums before his career floundered, but his song Driving Wheel (Lost my Driving Wheel) has been covered by many artists including The Byrds, Tom Rush, Brothers of a Feather (Chris and Rich Robinson from Black Crowes) and The Cowboy Junkies (it's on their live album, 200 More Miles):

Herbert Burden: Shot at Dawn

In 2001 a memorial was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum in Lichfield, Staffs to 306 British and Commonwealth soldiers shot by their own side for 'cowardice and desertion' during the First World War.

The statue is modelled on the likeness of Private Herbert Burden of the Northumberland Fusiliers, executed at Ypres in 1915 for desertion. Burden came from Lewisham, where his father worked as a gardener, and was just 17 years old when he was shot. It is likely that he had lied about his age to join the army, since he must have been only 15 or 16 when he joined up. This was common and colluded with by the authorities who turned a blind eye to underage recruitment. According to some reports he at one time deserted the Fusiliers for another regiment, the East Surreys at Deptford, and then returned to the Fusiliers.

During his brief 'trial' Burden stated that he had just gone 'to see a friend of mine in the R.W. Kent Regt. in which Regt. I served in 1913 and as I heard he had lost a brother I wanted to enquire if it was true or not'.

LCC Occupation

Students at London College of Communications at Elephant and Castle have occupied the main lecture theatre in a protest against cuts, course closures and redundancies. More news at their Oppose LCC Course Redundancies blog. They have a facebook group too, and have received messages of support from students occupying colleges in Austria and Germany.

Lewisham and Croydonisation

I must admit I haven't been giving due attention to plans for the redevelopment of Lewisham town centre. As I understand it two separate large scale developments are planned - Lewisham Gateway and Loampit Vale. Both of them have planning permission from the Council.

As both Brockley Central and Max Calo report, 'This coming Thursday 12th November, at 7:30pm at the Tabernacle, Algernon Road SE13 7AT there will be a public meeting held by the Central Lewisham Action Group, a group of residents that opposes the current plans for redevelopment of the area often referred to as Lewisham Town Centre although currently this area is still mostly a transport hub with a roundabout'.

There's also an 'alternative Lewisham gateway' site run by objectors to both schemes, making various criticisms including lack of community facilities, scale of buildings, loss of open space etc. I was struck by their anti-Loampit Vale development poster with its slogan 'No to Croydonisation'. Not sure who coined this word, but a quick google search shows that it has been used by opponents of development in Dalston, Chiswick, Ealing, Canada Water and Putney (and no doubt soon, Paris). Seemingly becoming like Croydon is the worst fate many can imagine.

It all put me in mind of Jamie Reid's famous image from the Situationist-influenced Suburban Press from the early 1970s (mentioned here before). It shows a picture of Croydon with the headline 'Lo! a monster is born... Croydon redevelopment 1956-1972'). So some people were critiquing the 'Croydonisation' of Croydon itself while it was happening.

New Deptford Film Club?

Some people are investigating setting up a film club in Deptford and are surveying local film lovers to find out what sort of film club they want. They've set up a Deptford Film Club blog and an online survey, so tell them what you think. If all goes well, the first screening will happen in December or January.

Lewisham War Memorials

Continuing with the World Wars One and Two remembrance theme, Lewisham Local History and Archives Centre is hosting the interesting Lewisham War Memorials wiki, seeking to document the various local war memorials that exist or have existed. There are 10 for Brockley, 19 for Deptford and 15 for New Cross, among many others.

I find the ones that have vanished particularly poignant. For instance at the long gone South East London Synagogue in New Cross there was a memorial dedicated on 19 March 1922: 'Solid Brass Menorah: a candelabrum with sockets for nine candles, each socket inscribed with the name and date of death of one of the men who lost their lives in the war'. As neither the Memorial or the Synagogue now exist (unless somebody has the former somewhere) let us remember Joseph S. Heron, David Barmes, Lionel Goldston, Godfrey Levy, Lewis Levene, Bennett Chart, Philip Barnett, Montague Spurling and Philip Frank.

South East London Coalition Against Poverty

London Coalition Against Poverty is a newish group established 'to show solidarity with individuals and families affected by the regressive and hostile attitude of government and employers to poor and working class people'. It is inspired by an organisation based in Canada, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, which has developed the use of 'direct action casework'. This involves combining advice for people at the sharp end of the housing and benefits system with demonstrations etc. 'to pressure an institution to accept the demands of an individual, family, or small group. That institution might be a housing office, a job centre, a local authority, a landlord or perhaps an employer'.

As they acknowledge, similar tactics were used in this country by the unemployed movement in the 1920s and 1930s - see this previous Transpontine post on protests at the workhouse in Nunhead.

There is now a South East London Coalition Against Poverty and if you want to hook up with them, head down to their Kickin Beats and Fighting Poverty party next Thursday (November 12th) at Dirty South, 162 Lee High Road, Lewisham, London SE13 5PR. £2 entry.

Stop press 10th November: the venue for this has been switched to Jamm, 261 Brixton Road.

In Deptford streets the houses small huddle forlorn together

On Remembrance Day, the most famous poem of the First World War will no doubt be extensively quoted. For The Fallen by Laurence Binyon was written in 1914, when the war had barely begun, and features the lines:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

Less well remembered is Binyon's London Visions (1895), a collection that includes two poems about Deptford. The poem John Winter is the tale of a local lad who seemingly wants to run away and be a sailor:

What ails John Winter, that so oft Silent he sits apart?
The neighbours cast their looks on him; But deep he hides his heart.
In Deptford streets the houses small Huddle forlorn together.
Whether the wind blow or be still, 'Tis soiled and sorry weather.

But over these dim roofs arise Tall masts of ocean ships.
Whenever John Winter looked on them, The salt blew on his lips.
He cannot pace the street about, But they stand before his eyes!
The more he shuns them, the more proud And beautiful they rise...'

In the same collection, the poem Deptford paints a less than flattering portrait of the area, it's wretchedness seemingly only surpassed by the misery of the broken-hearted narrator:

'Well is it, shrouded Sun, thou spar'st no ray
To illumine this sad street! A light more bare
Would but discover more this bald array
Of roofs dejected, windows patched that stare
From sordid walls: for the shy breath of Spring,
Her cheek of flowers, or fragrance of her hair,
Thou could'st not, save to cheated memory, bring.

Alas! I welcome this dull mist, that drapes
The path of the heavy sky above the street,
Casting a phantom dimness on these shapes
That pass, by toil disfeatured, with slow feet
And with mistrustful eyes; though in the mud
Children the play of ages old repeat,
Because of quenchless wanting in their blood...'

Guy Fawkes on Blackheath with the Treasure Seekers

Fireworks night on Blackheath is a long established tradition, and  Guy Fawkes night in the area even 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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).

More on the Post Strike

Picket line banner outside the Post Office in Brockley last month

From the Communication Workers Union:

'POSTAL WORKERS ARE FACING:
• Threats to job security – full time to part time and compulsory redundancies
• Unreasonable demands – being bullied to meet impossible work targets
• Cuts in pay – longer hours for nothing

THE PUBLIC IS FACING:
• Less reliable and later deliveries – a part-time workforce means a part-time service
• More delivery office closures – you may have to travel to pick up your mail
• Creeping privatisation – a business based on profit only, not a service based on need'.

Support groups for the postal workers are being set up across London. Contacts for the local area include Greenwich (Rob Owen 07930 953265) and Lewisham/Brockley (07506 790733).

See also: Post Stike in SE London

Spiritualism and War Talk

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.