Laka D

The first week of the festival and my first stewarding session of the season.
Laka D is brilliant and the choir, embarrassingly for such an area, all white, some known to me, singing beautiful upbeat jazzy songs.
As a lowly steward my task was to stand there, give out programmes and wear a yellow lanyard with my name on it.  You would think that was pretty easy.
Mistake number 1  Got there one minute too early and crashed the  professional organisers meeting instead of waiting for the stewards briefing.  The pros tend to huddle together and whisper as if they were organising the D Day landings
Mistake number 2 Do not get your  lanyard twisted!  Mine was and worse still came off entirely when I removed my scarf
mistake number 3 Missing out on the fire steward duties. They consist of sitting on a chair by the exit until the end of the show. Instead I opted for giving out the programmes-and that led to
Mistake number 4 Surely I should not need reminding to add the word 'free' to the word programme when dishing them out.  Avoids that dash past you

Big Lunch for Royal revellers in Spitalfields just hits the sun in time - News - East London Advertiser

Big Lunch for Royal revellers in Spitalfields just hits the sun in time - News - East London Advertiser:

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The Queen's Diamond Jubilee: Alone at her finest hour, but embraced by a loving and fiercely protective people - Telegraph

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee: Alone at her finest hour, but embraced by a loving and fiercely protective people - Telegraph:

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Jubilee Party in Spitalfields

Sunday Morning

How long, how long can lovers last?

the days, the weeks, the years fly past

And only dreams can stem the flow

As crowds and clouds just come and go.

Come and hold me, close my eyes

And open my heart and calm my cries

This poem is by Bernard Kops- I am not a great fan of his but love this poem for its simplicity and it was printed in Spitalfields Life this morning.  

An by the window there is an enormous roar and hundreds of motorbikes and scooters are coming down  Commercial Street.  They would have drowned out the bells of Christ Church pealing for Pentecost

Bunting making

I would have sneered at this even a few years ago- but now love the idea of celebrating the quirkiness of England- and the chance to make bunting for my friends and decorate our streets.  last night our sitting room was turned into a bunting factory -John doing the hard work with the pinking scissors while I just machine away - it's the easy, fun bit

The Friday night meal

It was not our first visit to a synagogue but the first to hear the full Friday night service in an orthodox synagogue. We friends sat with the women -about twenty of us and only us four were christian. We tried to follow the service with the english translation but it was all sang in hebrew except for the occasional aside 'over the page' by the magnificent cantors. You can see one of them in the video- I dare not record part of the service but the clip is of the three course meal afterwards; a blessing with wine, then chicken soup, followed by gefilte fish and hummus and then chicken, potatoes and salad. Myself and a friend then finished the evening at 'the Merchant' a new cafe/type bar place at Liverpool Street station which was busy but not packed.  We could not quite face Witherspoons at the front of the station as that was heaving- as were all the pubs locally.  It was the first evening in ages where there was no rain

Green Space Guardians award - National Trust

Green Space Guardians award - National Trust:

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Susan's garden in other words.
She says it is just £10 a year to become a key holder- and then there is a waiting list for a small plot

Hackney Free no more

http://www.theurswickschool.co.uk/

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, visited and officially opened The Urswick School in Paragon Road, Hackney on 26 April 2012.

During his visit, as well as unveiling a commemorative plaque, the Archbishop toured the school, watched a drama performance on the history of the school and held a special opening service, where he joined in with an African drumming performance by Hands of Africa, the school's male drumming group.

Following the service, the Archbishop was presented with a cityscape pencil drawing by Year 11 student Qui Phan and a monogrammed, stone carving by Year 10 student Promise Adeosun. The Archbishop released 300 balloons, with prayers written by Urswick students attached, from the school's environmental roof as part of the celebrations.

During the opening service, attended by students and guests, the Archbishop said:


"What a fantastic school. I encourage all the students to continue to exceed all expectations with their studies. All of you students are gorgeous, talented and gifted. God loves and calls each one of you by name. So be the best you want to see."


The Urswick School is one of the oldest schools in the country. Founded in 1520 as Hackney Free and Parochial, the school was based on a number of sites before moving to its permanent home in Paragon Road in 1951.


The school has been completely rebuilt in three phases, as part of the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme. Work was completed last year and the school became The Urswick School in September, in recognition of the school's founder, Christopher Urswick.
Headteacher, Richard Brown, said:


"I am absolutely delighted that the Archbishop was able to officially open the school. We are proud of our school's history and today was a celebration of our past and the future of The Urswick School. Our new school buildings and facilities have given our students a fantastic environment to learn in. We are now looking forward to building on our improving GCSE results and opening our new Sixth Form Academy in September. 

Tory borough plans £40,000 pay limit on couples hoping for a council home | The Times

Tory borough plans £40,000 pay limit on couples hoping for a council home | The Times:

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Babel, Caledonian Park, London / Close the Coalhouse Door, touring review - Telegraph

Babel, Caledonian Park, London / Close the Coalhouse Door, touring review - Telegraph:

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4 friends are in this...I ought to go and see them.  But then again

preview of Wah-Wah Girls

http://www.sadlerswells.com/show/Wah-Wah-Girls

Craft Stall in Islington

Bessie is our travelling workhorse

http://www.khwgarden.org.uk/

Anyone interested can look this up. Small plots can be got for £25 a year and a short waiting list. Susan has a plot and I normally help with her sewing... the children are actually much better at most things than me

Woodbrooke Quaker College Birmingham

part of the walled garden

the last of the cherry blossom

Course participants snake through the grounds

part of the woodlands

http://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/

All in Good time

We got in for free- a preview and a change to meet the young stars of the film.  
Recommended as light and a bit cheesy- but wonderful to see Bolton and many shots of the town.  It was followed by a Q and A- although the audience had got in free most made a quick exit left.  The actors were very posh and self assured- very unlike the great naive characters they portray in the film.  Fay said to me 'Well, they are actors'  Fair point I suppose

Terry Spinks - Telegraph

Terry Spinks - Telegraph:

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the Hustings For Mayor of London

A group of us booked tickets via the BBC for this recording of the four main contenders for the mayoral-  quite an uninspiring, point scoring, depressing 'debate' but Andrew  Neil  hosted brilliantly.

Stratford 'Circus' is a prefabricated building dumped next to the Theatre Royal which has also mysteriously been renamed Stratford East.

Gospel concert in Waterloo

http://serefo.org.uk/

Dr Arnold, founder of SRF and the Mayor of Wandsworth Mrs Jane Taylor

This was a fundraiser for the Separation and Reunion Forum. a group concerned with helping people heal from the separation of mothers and children in the fifties and sixties as a result of migration from the West Indies. The concert had the most marvellous Barbados nurses choir and the tenor Ronald                 .
I am afraid I can never stop myself trying to sing along...But wanted people to hear the choir

Jonah Lehrer

http://www.jonahlehrer.com/

It's just been a week of continuous rain and it has made us all a bit fed up. After a taste of how wonderful London can be in warm spring weather a couple of weeks ago, London has been given a good thrashing of rain.  We had booked tickets for this lecture by Jonah and our friend was keen to go.
I was too, struggling to learn sewing and get some creativity going as a therapy I was keen to know what the latest research is in neuro- science about inspiration and why some people make a good fist of things- if not brilliance, and others don't.


We booked the lecture through 'The School of Life' and it was part of their Sunday Service series.

http://www.theschooloflife.com/Sermons
 Modelled on a church service we sang a very funny Ian Dury 'hymn'

Noel Coward was a charmer.
As a writer he was brahma.
Velvet jackets and pyjamas,
"the gay divorce" and other dramas.

There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bas-tards.

Van Gough did some eyeball pleasers.
He must have been a pencil squeezer.
He didn't do the Mona Lisa,
That was an Italian geezer.

There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bas-tards.

Einstein can't be classed as witless.
He claimed atoms were the littlest.
When you did a bit of splitting-em-ness
Frighten everybody shitless

There ain't half been some clever bastards.
Probably got help from their mum
(who had help from her mum).
There ain't half been some clever bastards.
Now that we've had some,
let's hope that there's lots more to come.

There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bas-tards.

Okey-dokey!
Oh!
Segovia.
Da-laa la-laa da-daa da-lee
De dump di dump de dump-dump-diddle li-lee.

There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever bastards
(Lucky bleeders, lucky bleeders)
There ain't half been some clever........
bastards





 followed by a Bob Dylan song which illustrated how Dylan scooped ideas from very diverse sources to produce a flash of inspiration that came out in the song 'Like a rolling stone'


The essence was that we need to choose our aims carefully and in the end how much 'grit' we have, ie determination and perseverance, added to our creativity sparks will be the main predictor of our achievement.  Jonah talked about clusters of creativity, where against popular myth, groups of very highly talented thinkers met together - and this is going to be more and more likely as the problems we need solving get more complicated and team work is more likely to produce genius than the individual working alone.

Liberal England: Songs of Praise and the class system

Liberal England: Songs of Praise and the class system:

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My Life in Travel: David Starkey, historian and television presenter - News & Advice - Travel - The Independent

My Life in Travel: David Starkey, historian and television presenter - News & Advice - Travel - The Independent:

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I so agree with him

The changing face of Brick Lane

The Ice Cream parlour makes way for another money change place

Bengali Cafe goes- coffee and cakes comes

A trip round the Olympic park

the best bit of the park 

the Green Tube walking path 

Only three months to the Games. And we toured the park, courtesy of LO-Cog and a jolly Hockey guide who name checked some of the athletes as if they were personal friends.  It was like 'Here's where Tom is going to dive and Perri is not going to stay in Mile End but here in the village"
The Park has some great buildings but seems very bitty and just like a series of installations like at an art gallery. The loveliest  but was a small fifties type industrial building with a cafe for the builders and that is planned to come down I think. But perhaps it just needs people to make the place live.

Henrietta, Mavis and Joan

Henrietta's  poem

Henrietta and 

Mavis

our three great ladies of Spitalfields

http://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/01/21/mavis-bullwinkle-secretary/

My favourite choir

This is the choir who sings every Sunday at Petticoat Lane Market between 11-12. This song is 'Jesus, Morning Star' and it's my favourite title for him.  
I love this choir and you can just about hear me singing along in a voice that is just terrible. John is at the start of the video and you can just see him rushing away in embarrassment and hiding between the stalls

Spitalfields Life Chit Chats

Spitalfields Life Chit Chats:

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Our friend, the amazingly named Mavis Bullwinkle is speaking tonight

Around Bermondsey

http://www.bermondseyvillage.org.uk/

With an old friend we wandered round Bermondsey- not anything like the place I knew not that many years ago- it must be one of the most pretentious of London's new desirable areas. The notice board in the park, untouched by graffiti or funny comments must have had one hundred invites to waste your money per notice board. This 'Praise the Pork'  was typical- along with massage, soothsayers, nutritionists, herbalists et al

Easter Bank holiday Monday

view from our window

Well this has been the most appalling Bank Holiday. rain for two days almost non stop, freezing cold churches, huge amounts of food to use up from friends who failed to turn up in the rain.  Our lovely fiery plant you can see in the picture began to spout it's red leaves a couple of weeks ago when we had our first spring.  Now I am afraid it will get all confused and get cold and lose it's rosy cheeks

University cash crisis hits historic women’s library

University cash crisis hits historic women’s library

Oldies afternoons at the Picture House

You know for sure you are officially 'old' when you can get in to these silver screen films on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for £2.50 and also stuff your face with custard creams and no questions asked  Having said that it's a nice time to meet 'real'east enders (not easy) and see some truly awful films.  Despite good reviews 'This must be the Place' seemed like pretentious nonsensical beautifully filmed with little motifs like Sean Penn blowing the hair of his face.  At the end I had to ask Ann, 'what was that all about?'  
'Jump Street' was funny and witty but too much repetitious stuff about 'dicks' And a pretty awful car chase.  All very shocking for older people I say!

the size of the walrus

This FREE museum is just half an hour away on the Overground from Shoreditch high street.. It is an amazing place- natural history and this enormous walrus and a very good photographic exhibition of the old cultural festivals of England- and not just May Day.
Even more fascinating was the armies of yummy mummies with their children- coaching them along- toddlers listening to professional story tellers- most of the children were less than a year and could not possibly understand what was going on.  Teaching starts early in this affluent part of South london

Our Saturday workshop

These are some of the results of a three hour workshop workshop at Heba.  Two of these women are complete beginners!   We meet every Saturday at 10am

Free Craft Class

modelling one of the designs

This is a FREE workshop on Monday afternoons at the only school in the City of London.
the teacher, Hafsna, will help with any craft project and there is a friendly atmosphere. The class has some very talented needlewomen and designers and also some beginners.  All are welcome and the classes are aimed at mothers and grandparents-


http://www.sirjohncassprimary.org/familyroom.asp

Olek

http://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2012/03/06/dont-miss-out-street-artist-olek-crochets-an-entire-room/It is a room made of crochet- made by the polish artist Olek and subtitled after Tracey Emin
"I do not expect to be a mother but I do expect to die alone"

Ken and the Prophet | The Spectator

Ken and the Prophet | The Spectator:

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Open day at Sandys Row Synagogue

The roof has been restored- this poor place is about a yard from the City Of London boundary so Tower Hamlets is officially it's location. This gorgeous little place, home to the dutch jews originally, gets very little help from the local authority. Jeremy Freedman showed us round on this open day- his forefathers worshipped here and he spends a lot of his time here, keeping the tradition alive    http://www.sandysrow.org.uk/

Flying the flag

hand sewing - more to come we hope

Family Bangla Craft and Textiles Workshop :: Rich Mix

Family Bangla Craft and Textiles Workshop :: Rich Mix:

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Welcome to Sandys Row Synagogue - London's Oldest Ashkenazi Synagogue

Welcome to Sandys Row Synagogue - London's Oldest Ashkenazi Synagogue:

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‘We’d rather side with the bankers than some vegan protester twit on benefits’, say Gilbert and George - Visual Arts - Arts - Evening Standard

‘We’d rather side with the bankers than some vegan protester twit on benefits’, say Gilbert and George - Visual Arts - Arts - Evening Standard:

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Ornish Spectrum Introduction

Ornish Spectrum Introduction

I will never give up... but reading/watching/thinking instead of doing

Meshwi Restaurant

these hand painted robins decorate the walls

This is the newest restaurant in Bethnal Green Road and is owned by a friend of ours. Taizul aims for it to rival the famous Tayab sin Whitechapel and so we decided to try the lamb chops which were as delicious as Tayabs. The restaurant seats 90 and the food was brilliant. Someone also recommended Bunda Khan in Commercial street for their lamb dishes - so at Easter I might well give it a go

The launch of the book 'Spitalfields Life'

Even royalty attended- pearly queen of Upton park no less

spitalfields life

The food stall was besieged. Eccles cakes and cheese

I am not in the habit of going to book launches.  This was a first for me so near home and it was deservedly packed for our local author.  he has faithfully kept his blog daily for two years- it is beautifully written and wonderful descriptions of this great place where we are so lucky to live.  The doors were closed when 600 people were inside and still people were queuing to be let in as people left. Many of the people in the book are well known around here so it was especially exciting.