Plumstead London Zone 4

Plumstead Manor School

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:57:16 GMT

There is a school in Plumstead with the drama profile, which has been co-operating with PIP since October. Their students are great, they do their diploma with PIP as a client, and we really learn from them. They have some surprising ideas on how to get through to people, which we need, they wrote press release and produced posters. Some of them even turned up to the screening in a really bad weather. They are a great bunch who want to do something different. I invited them for class to UEL, so they could see first year students giving a presentation. Afterwords they said: we can do it too! And they are only 16 and working hard. It is good to have their help, they know how to get through to other groups of young people in the area. We have been working as partners for some time. We go to school, brief them, like professional clients, they ask us questions, do their work and then we come back to evaluate their effort. They have already covered all steps of a proper promotional campaign for us, and they will be doing more in the next semester. If they keep on working so hard, they will have an impressive entry to a professional world at the age of 17. Although some of them said that taking the £30 away from them (if it takes place) will prohibit them from continuing in Sixth form. If Prime Minister sustains his negative view on this and the money will be taken away from them, these kids may never put their creative experience to practice.

Events and problems

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:34:09 GMT

It is so difficult to put all strings together to have any community event. The last event we did as a group was a screening of Jill Daniel's film, Small Town Girls, in St Patrick School at the beginning of December. The weather was horrific and not many people decided to come, but all together the atmosphere was good and people admitted they want more! So we are moving now to a series of workshops on film making which will start on 29th January.
The best thing is that the local library will host the workshops. The library is a fantastic venue, centrally located in Plumstead High Street. The manager is a very energetic persona and she really understands the need for more rather than less. It is great to see that there is someone there who is ready to try something new with a group like ours.
That library is also a beautiful building, but its original glory is gone, we were told that several years ago all original features were removed in the process of refurbishment. It is nice and fresh and magnolia neutral today, but the feel of the Edwardian investment is only in the window frames and the facade. Maybe one day it would be possible to have a big makeover... That would be fantastic. We still don't have a space for meetings and events, we rely on cafe Royal by the station. They are really great, staying for us after hours if needed.
There is a nice tiny restaurant next to Cafe Royal, I really feel tempted to have a meal there. It is a Nepalese place which seduces people with smells and lost of colorful bottles of liqueurs. We tried to get there once, but it was full. I am not giving up.
Is it not great that some eateries in Plumstead can be so full one cannot get in?
Why not a day cafe with nice music, fresh press and good coffee? I presume it does not exist yet, but Cafe Royal is a good start to it. We need anotehr another in the High Street, or in Plumstead Common. In the meantime, there have been two more hairdressers opened, £5 per cut!
And we have a professional photographer in the High Street for some time. Not to mention the extension of Ambala restaurant with a superb first floor for bigger parties.
Facades changes in Plumstead a lot, but there is not investment in culture. And there will not be for sure, the government promised us that...

Life goes on

Mon, 27 Sep 2010 09:07:44 GMT

Plumstead Integration Project has decided that we would have a proper film festival! We have a proper committee now and we have announced the title: At the Edge of the City. We will have launch on the 20th November, and the Festival itself in the Spring next year. There will be lots of work, but I am very excited. Hopefully it will attract some interest and we can become regular. There is still no cinema or even a film club in the area. everything starts in Greenwich, of course where the tourists come to spend their money and richer people live. What can attract people to Plumstead, even for the film festival? Hopefully interesting events and people can do the job. Plumstead is not a place with some coherent identity (and which place is?), no one really feels responsible for the space or its cultural "branding", even in the most technocratic way. That is a blessing on one hand which we we want to dive into, we cannot waste it...but we need money too to start some preparation towards the festival.
How can we start with no money at all?

after the break

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 12:57:36 GMT

I haven't posted for a longer time. This was due to bereavement I have been going through. I lost my mother in May and this has changed everything. I still cannot come to terms with it and everything is more difficult than usual, but I would like to to say here that she really liked Plumstead and I feel I should say something about it. When she came to Plumstead first time to stay with me and my daughters it was spring 2005. She liked the buzz and the shops and the traffic! Her favourite place was StPatrick's Church, she didn't understand English (and it was before Polish community could dream about having a mass in Polish language), but she loved the atmosphere there and people. She adored the African gowns which were glamorous and shiny, she even went to the local shop to buy similar fabrics to make her own gowns at home. We still have them...and I wear them now.
She made friends with the shops owners in Chandra Cash &Carry, in DADOOS and the Green Shop by the station. Somehow she managed to communicate with them and they still ask about her, even today. She has that fabulous attitude to people which is very rare. Her heart was open to everyone and she was always smiling and always interested in other people's stories. Whoever met her sooner or later became her friend...there are networks of people of which I had no idea, who still miss her and want to remember her. How did she do it? In Plumstead she learned how to cook new things, how to make Polish meals of Indian ingredients. She was always curious about new things, adventures, new people. She could listen in that special way which made everyone produce a story of one's life for her. Yes, stories were her life....she immersed in them and she inspired them too. Whenever I go to shops in the High Street, I hear her voice and her laughter. Plumstead had never found out about her, but she fell in for Plumstead, she still lives there, between the words, sounds and colours of our everyday routines.

search around the local restaurants is continued ..

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 16:24:21 GMT

Yesterday we ordered fish and rice from Sweet Mother in the high Street. I love Nigerian fish and meat as well. The rice was very spicy, but we were warned and the fish was great, I even got a piece of meat which I didn't ask for...in the same box. Not the best option if I were a vegetarian. Can Plumstead be a place to go out? Whenever I say it people start laughing, but there are a few decent places around worth visiting. My next visit it to a Lebanese restaurant on the 8th May with some PIP members. It is, in fact, a British pub which advertises Indian food, but everyone knows it is a Lebanese place. So simple, as it should be. Today I discovered with my friend Peter a wonderful jogging track, just by the river. It was so quiet and sunny today, and Peter was roller skating and Matthew, myself and Iliana were filing. Later on we came to the High Street and i met my students from UEL who lives in Plumstead. It made me think about Plumstead as a 'bedroom' for many people working or studying in the city. They just rent cheaply and come here to sleep, but no one treats Plumstead seriously as a place to live...to go out...to meet up with friends...to socialise. My student comes from Portugal, like me and many people here he is an immigrant, with a perspective of leaving the place at some point. What can immigrants (ergo temporary dwellers) do for the host place where they know they will not stay long. Or rather, can immigrants feel anything for the place? Do they have a right to invest emotionally in making a home here. The words of my friend come to my mind again: why do you care, you even don't live here any more? Why do I care?

Herne Bay - the place that needs some blood

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:47:43 GMT

I was in Herne Bay in the morning today, a nice quiet day with some warm breeze from the sea. I know this place from knowing Margate and Ramsgate...although I was there first time. Somehow it is very similar, and it is not only about the stony beach and the sea front with small cafes and ice cream sheds, it is more about the emptiness and the lack of...blood...some tempo of life which would infuse sleeping streets and small golf courts, well scissored gardens, and an echoing pier. I liked it all... I needed it in fact, but after 3 hours spent there and walking to and fro the seafront, I felt trapped. My fish and chips were still £7!

Plumstead Gardens

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:35:53 GMT

I have attended the meeting for Plumstead Gardens lovers and users. It was run by the manager from the Council.
www.greenwich.gov.uk/Greenwich/YourEnvironment/GreenSpace/ParksGardens/Plumstead/
There were a few people who are really committed to the renovations of that garden, but on one knows how to do it. There is no money and no infrastructure for such a project. There is a FaceBook website for the Gardens: ww.facebook.com/group.php
The local people are trying very hard to awake others and have something done there. I have read lots of memories from the golden times of the Gardens which make me wonder why this dreadful situation cannot be changed. This is what Louise, the creator of the group is saying:

Plumstead Gardens was once a thriving park, full of families and children enjoying being outdoors in the summer.

It boasted a bike track, a green area for sports, a childrens play area, a paddling pool, toilet amenities, a refreshments hut, beautiful gardens and a pond teaming with small fish and frogs.

Today, it sits in a state of deterioration.

The pool and refreshments hut have been left to ruin, open to the elements and along with most of the trees - covered in graffiti.

My question is, how such deterioration starts? What is the economic and cultural context of the Gardens' slow death? From what I have read and heard, it looks that Plumstead/Abbey Wood area will never attract any interest from politicians and other people who could make definite decisions. Perhaps it would be worth applying for a grant as a community? There is no other place in that area where children can play safely or one could use for jogging, walking or some relaxation. There are problems with prostitution and drinking which affect the locals and keep them away. But maybe the green safe area is a dream today which most urban communities cannot afford, paradise lost to new shopping centres and private developments? Maybe.....but there is no shopping centre there either, not even one tiny place where we could have a coffee and a chat, not to mention a wireless connection to a laptop....There is a centre and a margin.....they do not know much about each other.

Boutique

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 11:19:33 GMT

It is a pity that Kemka had to close her nice boutique. It was only open for a few months, I loved her design and her ideas. The fasion show went well and all children and parents seemed to enjoy it during the May Festival. But it did not help much....It is not a surprise that now there is a barber shop opened in the same place. I haven't heard from Kemka and what happened to her business. There are two more chicken and chips take-aways opened in the High Street. I remember when I spoke to the Council Business Organisation for Plumstead and it was admitted that there is never a lack of business initiative in the High Street, but no one ever measured the number of closures and openings coming after each other. Bankruptcy and hope go together, they are a couple which dominates the High Street, that's why there is always something happening there. Yet the view of closed shutters and unfinished modernisations plans depresses me.

Programme for the 16th May 2009

Tue, 19 May 2009 20:51:45 GMT

Who's Your City?

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:40:47 GMT

I have read a book by Richard Florida: Who's Your City (2008)which is his second book after The Rise of the Creative Class. The first I swallowed with some difficulty, but the second one made me really angry. The book has become a huge hit in the States and Florida has become a star of all morning talk shows. The point of the book is that today one has to first think about a part of the city to live as an investment for live. I know it is not a new thing in the UK were location, location, location and the role of the postcode has been widely recognised. yet the 'creative city@ by Florida pushes people straight to segregation as part of culture and cultural upbeat lifestyle. Choosing a place to live is in that book compared to choosing school for a child: all our contacts, future friends, and people we come across are determined by a place, if we don't choose rightly, we are doomed. Florida divides cities into creative and non-creative, the first ones are all located in the most strategic economically points on the globe. By providing maps of the biggest usage of electricity in those points, he is showing how creative and cultural they are. He says nothing about the ratio of crime in that same areas. What makes me really disappointed is that he does not say a word about the cost of having "a creative life". He does not provide any explanation to the economic and class divide in the first place. He argues that we are undergoing the mass relocation to hot spots (which leave those which are underdeveloped regressing even more - he does not say it). This is his comment:
"demographic realignment is currently at work: the mass relocation of highly skilled, highly educated, and highly paid people to a relatively small number of metropolitan regions, and a corresponding exodus of traditional lower and middle classes from those same places. Such geographic sorting of people by economic potential, on this scale, is unprecedented. I call it the means of migration, and refer to the regions capturing this demographic group as means metros" (page 93).
Yeah, now, if someone cannot afford joining this migration movement............what do they do? What do metros think about them? London is one the few creative cities to which metros want to move, but Florida is not speaking about anything outside the city............His book is telling me that there is no culture , no creativity, no upbeat anywhere else outside the West End................and it makes non-metros feel like losers. There is another side to it. Apparently only in the creative centres people are really tolerant, intellectual and innovative, and truly artistic, the rest of the world if the province of the creative centre..........I am going to invite Florida to Plumatead for a talk.

Plumstead needs fun

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:10:12 GMT

Yesterday we had a meeting (PIP) in one of the local pubs in Plumstead, a lovely and friendly place where we have been before many times. The meeting for the Spring day attracted interesting people and new members, we are still looking for artists who would like to perform on the 16th May. Antonia brought a friend who was to film a small focus group among us to document our views on what this community needs and how are going to respond as individuals and as a group. Unfortunately, our meeting was disrupted by a fight in the pub, very typical thing on a Friday night, but left us quite numb for some time. I was really afraid that people felt discouraged by that scene against any further voluntary work for the community, but it was not the case.........Everyone was really supportive and we started discussing what other problems and obstacles we have to be prepared for while volunteering in Plumstead. It is life, bit a fictional story about the place and people can get hurt....does it mean that we should sit safely at home and wait until things change into better on their own? Those idiots who started a fight were drunk and looking for trouble, this is not representative of Plumstead as a whole, it is more representative of contemporary city life all over the world....At the end I felt sick but also uplifted by friends and local people, we are not going to give up because of a stupid fight. In fact I feel even more motivated, even if it to be one sunny day bringing some fun to the local people, it is worth our trying...One of my friends said to me later: ok, one sunny event and you are moving this charity elsewhere...........but I am not..............we should not be threatened and I know there are many cool people in Plumstead who want to change something. Camden, Brixton, Brick Lane were desserts in the past and they are hot spots now, and it has happened against all odds and to surprise of many. Plumstead can be better than that....one day...

People are going crazy at Sainsbury

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:52:39 GMT

When I looked through the window today, there were so many people at the Sainsbury's car park that it looked like one huge packed surface, the same happened just before the Christmas day when everybody was running like crazy, including myself, and buying and buying and buying....And then suddenly in the evening on the 24th December it went quiet..........no more cars, only people seeking entertainment. They were looking for pubs open and places to drink, they had parties booked, after midnight there was was some noise outside from the drunk teenagers who, as always, were playing with cones in the streets and were trying to smash the bust stop, but altogether something changed - it felt like the whole area had more air and there was some forgetfulness about order and duties which normally make us move around in a certain way. Festive season - it is called, isn't it? Escaping the rules. For me the 24th was the most important day of Christmas and we had our dinner/supper in the evening when people outside were having fun in the pubs. Quite impossible for Poles - going to a pub on a Christmas Eve, almost unimaginable, I must say. We opened our presents after dinner and that was the best part, much better than fried carp with cabbage, which nobody really liked, but I have to cook it anyway every year. When were were done with dinner and presents, and the peak of our festive mood had just dropped, some of our neighbours were getting ready to find their presents under the tree, it was just after midnight on the 25th. In the morning I looked through the window on the Sainsbury's carpark, it looked like a gray ice rink echoing silence...........yes, there were no cars in the streets, and no people..........the whole street just frozen in silence, this beautiful phase of peace lasted till 10am, I could not believe how soothing such silence can be. I would like the 25th to happen at least once a month as the day of silence from noise, traffic, shops, and people...........But on the other hand, when I realised that we did not buy enough bread for Christmas I started panicking: where we can find an open shop on a Christmas day? not in Crayford, not in Bexleyheath, not in Bexley, not even in Sidcup............of course........Plumstead was there with its own culture of Indian shops, Pakistani news agents, Bangladeshi video stores with sweets and fruit cans...........everything was there, even fresh Polish bread in Chandra Cash & Carry. I love Plumstead, it never closes down, when walking along Plusmtead High Street one cannot forget that there are so many different festive seasons and ways of celebrating. I know that Muslim, Hindu and Sikh people love Christmas and they celebrate it too, but if they are business owners it is not a reason for them to close the shop down at the time when English people sit down to their turkey. And this is how one can appreciate cultural differences and one can get one's Polish bread on a Christmas day! It would not be possible in Poland where everyone has to be a Catholic, especially at Christmas:)) This kind of mix we have in Plumstead should be a reason for celebration every day, even at the price of giving up the day of silence. So I take it back and I have to admit I favour noise, pollution, and traffic over tranquility and monotony. Oh my, I just remembered that we did not buy any champagne for today and the shops are closed already! Another trip to Plumstead then, no rush though they never sleep there. Isn't it great?

Christmas in PIP - and nobody minded!

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:41:42 GMT

Yesterday we had a Christmas meeting in Volunteer's. and there were more of us than the last time! Debbie, the owner of Volunteer found for us a cozy table by the Christmas tree and she served us, as usual, great coffee in those enormous and beautiful cups which look like pieces of art.........and we also got home made cookies shaped as Christmas trees! That was a great creative start to our hot debate. Yesterday we moved on dramatically, it looks we are becoming formal, with action points, minutes, email gropup, and even agenda for the next meeting! As the Chair I feel responsible for checking the proportion of formality and homeade cookies, always in favour of the latter. It is a relief that we all agree that formality cannot surpass creativity, which we all want to inject across Plumstead, yet starting from ourselves. Yesterday we shared our creative ideas which we would like to see happening in Plumstead and to do so we had to admit what are creative passions and talents are. I believe personally that every single person is creative in some way, it can be even the way of seeing the world or sorting Christmas cards on the window. We are the walking evidence of this approach: a bunch of people who have passions for different activities, like singing, reading, writing, dancing, performing, playing instruments, designing gardens, designing websites, and cooking. The way we want to share our interests will be through offering our time to those who have similar passions or try to expolre some new area which they have never tried before. We are not going to be teachers, but we want to be out there and attract others to what we think can be empowering and educational. Creative activities can give us confidence and skills and one can try again and again even if things don't go too well at the beginning. I can't sing, for example, but I imagine I can, and I would like to try a bit without feeling embarrassed and far from my daughter who would "die if I do it in public". I can write stories though visualise them, so if someone wants to exchange I woudl first to be there! If there are some groups who want to do certain activies together, we can think how to find money to develop in a more specialised way. There are so many things happening in the Greenwich borough, but the thing is that many of us in the community have never though about joining classes and it sometimes it is too much pressure (and money) to take a class, isn't it? It can be too difficult to commute, or simply we feel too stressed to face new situations. Perhaps if we could meet just somewhere close to home, in an informal place, where people speak different langauges, and come from different countries, represent different cultures and different accents, and where we can connect despite those differences, would it help to find inspiration and do something together for ourselves and for this place? Plumstead is its own planet where everyone is 'different', most of London is like that, as my friend Peter said the other day: "there is space for every freak in London", but does it mean that everyone is accepted? It is so hard to feel like at home here, isn't it? I know from my own experience that one has to be very stuborn and committed to make home in London. I have tried in Plumstead for a couple of years too and I think I have succeeded. That experience gave me confidence and I know now I make home for myself and my family in every community, but it needs resistance and stuborness. Home does not fall on us from heaven, we have to make it, sometimes against all odds. Producing a sculpture or an installation together for the local park, as was suggested yesterday, could be a good start. Or watching films or photographs about Plumstead together produced by our ourselves, local children, our neighbours or visitors? Boring? Maybe, but what if the theme is "My first date in Plumstead: how did I feel" or "If Plumstead was an animal: what would it be?" or "What song presents Plumstead worst side". I don't know, what themes would you like to do? Can we make Plumstead a creative planet where different talents and non-talents meet? We are looking for a place in Plumstead now where we could do all these things, not only talk about them. Our next "formal" meeting is on the 10th of February at 7pm, EVERYONE is invited, and I will guarantee there will be the right ratio of homemade cookies, teas, and coffees, and I promise - I will not sing, not yet:)

safety and creativity

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:32:48 GMT

Today we were all woke up with by the police: there was an armed robbery downstairs to the bookmaker's, at 8am! who breaks into the bookmaker before they even start making money? I did not hear anything and they did not catch anyone, but it left an uneasy feeling about the area. There is no safe place in London, it can happen everywhere. Yet some people believe that South East London is the worst, maybe after East London, and the Media know how to make it a big hype. I cannot see it everyday and I feel safe in Plumstead and Bexley and Erith and local neighbourhoods, but they do not make a good impression on newcomers. Plumstead is the most intense mixture of tastes, smells, and people, Woolwich too. I am fascinated by this intensity, but I am put off at the same time. I don't like litter and dirty bus stops with the smell of pee, I don't like shattered windows and ruined flats and screams in the streets. But it would not be the city without it, it would not be a city margin. It would never happen in the centre where the cleaners rush around with plastic sticks picking up all that's ugly and all that's classified as rubbish. This definition gets relaxed in the margins of the city, especially where people do not feel affiliated in anyway with the area, where the place belongs to everyone and to no one. Furniture in the streets, rubbish from the previous decade, broken windows: all 'dark' sides of life which the centre of London removes so smoothly from their view. The London Mayor makes so much effort to make it even smoother but cutting all funds on transport projects for East and South London and pumping more money into the City. Plumstead reveals many layers of not belonging............people come and go, they migrate around cities and countries, no one has time to think about this place as home. And it is not even pleasant and is not likable on the surface. Maybe knowing it deeper would help, and first of all knowing people? But at this stage there is not even one place in Plumstead where people could meet beyond the borders of their families, churches, pubs, and clubs, not even one public arena where everyone could feel accepted, however idealistic it sounds. I hope the community cafe will change it, but there is a long way to go.

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:50:25 GMT

Breathing life into Plumstead
Cafe/Community Centre update
The “ONEDAY” Cafe

Summer has flown by almost unoticed! But your incredible feedback has not….What an amazing community we have here. Greenwich council has heard you and aware that Plumstead has potential for something extraordinarily special as we campaign for a cafe community centre to bring the area gloriously alive.
Were you at the 1st great live music evening in June at the Rugby Club ….or did you read about it in the Greenwich Time?…there was such a fantastic response about the cafe/community centre possibility that it just had to happen again.
SO - the “ONEDAY” Cafe is returning… this time the church has opened its doors to the community and offers St MARKS CHURCH HALL, OLD MILL ROAD, SE181QE on Saturday 27th SEPTEMBER. The DAY starts at 2pm with a space for locals to exhibit and sell their Arts and Crafts alongside Tea/Coffee as an opportunity to get together. At 5pm Dominic will lead an exciting drumming intro/workshop, all ages welcome at only £3.
The EVENING will kick off at 7.30pm with the ROWLAND SUTHERLAND TRIO, a superb flute led ensemble featuring Phil Dawson on Guitar and Davide Mantovani on Bass. Performing a fascinating collection of Jazz originals and arangements by Rowland with influences from Brazil, Caribbean, Africa and the UK. Not to be missed. Artists can all be found on google under their names with links to Myspace.
This will be a unique evening…..£7 on the door…half price for consessions/children welcome.
The hall is licensed but has no bar….so BRING YOUR OWN!
We are going to have a very large table for a spread of FOOD to share, all contributions welcome…anything from a loaf of bread to a curry….
And we”ve been invited back to the Rugby club for an event before Christmas, what a perfect setting for Jazz on a winters night. …
Please come and join us and get to know your community.
Please email me (rosiejane47@yahoo.com) with your ideas, enquires and any amount of enthusiasm. The only way is forward for Plumstaed and Plumstead Common.
Jane Fenton

Plumstead (seriously) goes creative!

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:27:56 GMT

Plumstead Goes Creative!
We would like to invite all inhabitants and fans of Plumstead to a series of creative events which will take in our area this Autumn.
The First one will take place this Saturday 27th September form 2pm-10.30pm in St Marks Church Hall,Old Mill Rd, Plumstead Common, SE18 1QE, where different kinds of arts and crafts will be presented, professional music concerts (8pm £7 concession for students and children ), and creative workshops (all day 3£). This event is the initiative of Jane Fenton who has already shown her great determination to change Plumstead into a creative land (some of you must have attended her other events in Plumstead Common) and put it on the map of social events in London. Jane is a musician and a yoga teacher. She has To this event Jane has invited professional musicians who will be playing for the people of Plumstead from 5pm and other artists who will be teaching the young and the elderly how to play drums and other instruments. If you have some craft which you make or sell, please bring it with you and promote yourself for free! If you are a make up artist or you know how to knit or bake, bring your stuff with you and show it to others! You are invited to bring your own drinks and food and share it, the idea behind is to make people know each other and encourage them to think about Plumstead as a place to spend leisure time and develop artistically! Jane and myself are working on the project of setting a Creative Centre for Plumtead where everyone, knowing English or not, being talented or not, can come and try creative sessions of different kinds. If you want to give us your support, come to the next creative evening in Bannockburn Primary School on 10th October (as below)

Project: Integration through Creativity:

A proposal to set up a Creative Centre in Plumstead for the local people of different ethnic origins.

2008-2009

Being still sculpted in the Victorian original landscape, Plumstead is a very specific part of South East London – it differs substantially from its neighbours: the busier and more connected Woolwich, the tourism-orientated Greenwich, and the purely residential Bexley. Having been established for the last two decades a home attracting African and Asian immigrants, recently Plumstead has become a very popular destination for Eastern European newcomers. The mixture of cultures and nationalities has been expressed not only in the wide range of goods from all over the world in the local shops, but also in the characteristic - physical occupation of space and people’s attitudes to the process of regeneration of that space.

In this project we analyse the situation of the local people of Plumstead immersed in diversity of cultures and religions. The aim of the project is to facilitate the process of integration between different ethnic and religious groups which quite often do not know about each other and do not have an opportunity to exchange views or lifestyles. There is a need for a common platform of communication for those groups and the local English people in Plumstead, a platform which can be accepted by all of them as part of their common public space, such as a library, or a leisure centre where we propose an opening of the Creative Centre.

The main emphasis of our projects is on different ethnic groups and how they relate to each other. Among them, we distinguish the religious groups, such as the Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, Protestants, Catholics, and others. From our previous research we have identified additional problems, such as the lack of knowledge of English among some groups of immigrants, and the lack of confidence to communicate with others, especially when it comes to traveling beyond the borders Plumstead. The Creative Centre located in their local environment would respond to the characteristic demands of the demographic diversity of Plumstead. We regard creativity as a common language in which diverse people can communicate also in a non-verbal way, for example, through photography, painting, dance etc. In the Creative Centre everyone would be invited to participate in different activities, mostly free of charge. If you want to give us your support, please write to us at: rabikom2000@yahoo.co.uk, or come to another event!

The 2nd event will take place in Bannockburn Primary School on 10th October at 6.30pm - 9pm. In co-operation with the School and the University of East London we will screen a documentary about Plumstead High Street by Marta Rabikowska, which was the First Jury Prize at the Film Festival in Milan (June 2007). teas and coffees will be provided. After the film we will discuss with the audience the project of the Creative Centre to be set in Plumstead for the local people, where they could develop all kinds of creative skills, from music, to photography, dance to film making.
Other events will be announced soon, watch this space!

what happened to Dadoos?

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:48:41 GMT

I have noticed that one part of the Dadoos grocery is closed. It is a great pity since they had all fresh vegetables and fruit there and the biggest chillies for miles. Only one part is open now. If other small shops keep on disappearing the area will lose its character. A local carpentry shop is gone too and there is a church there at the moment. But they do lots of work for the community, they offer computers and classes which is quite surprising as for a a church. I had a conversation with someone there and it looks they won't stay for long anyway since the whole building has been bought out and there will be flats there..........Plumstead needs new housing, that's for sure, but it needs a place to meet up and have classes for free too. It also needs a better lighting at bus stops where the whole night life is centred!

prices in Plumstead go up

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:10:10 GMT

I have noticed lately that house prices in Plumstead have gone up. Considering recession in the country, this is quite phenomenal, I think the DLR station in Woolwich may have something to do with it. There are no new investments in the area, no new business, except groceries and barbers, which seem to be always in need, but I did not notice any other kind of business opportunity emerging in the area. I attend the business meetings with the local business owners and a representative from the Council. We have Rachel Morris now who is very helpful and really cares about the regeneration process in the High Street. She initiated the website for Plumstead which will show all business and future plans, like the park refurbishment and the playground. It looks the Council have lots of plans, but I am not sure is there is a sufficient response from the people. I still blame mainly the lack of integration among different ethnic groups, especially with those ones who don't speak English. One can say, oh, it's their fault, if they don't speak English, they are not bothered. But my own contacts show that it is never an easy process, people find it very difficult to break through the wall of the local community, even if there is no community at all, but the immigrants always feel "worse", just by default. And if they don't speak the language, they take it almost for granted that they won't be accepted. There is also a question of time, most of them (from my experience in Plumstead), work all day and they come back home so exhausted that learning English is the last thing they want to think about. Ok, what about the weekends? Quite often they have a shift schedule, and if not, it is the only time to have some social life and fun, and then they end up with other immigrants who speak the same language and go out together. No, they don't go out, they rather stay in, that's another interesting aspect of their life as immigrants. Plusmtead does not provide any entertainment, except pubs, where would they go out? So they prefer staying in and drinking together. I am speaking about Polish immigrants, Indian immigrants, or Nigerian, or Ghanian ones don't drink (as far as I am aware)if they are Christians. Polish immigrants are Catholics (mainly) but drinking and eating is their major form of entertainment. It is an important part of Polish culture! Although there are exceptions from this rule too. My research is concentrated on a group of immigrants living in Plumstead, but I am sure there are different habits and lifestyles among others. What I noticed is that drinking among Polish immigrants has special value which evokes home: they sit together around the table, serve lots of food, talk, play cards, sing, play instruments, argue about politics and the Church, and cry. This is a very nostalgic picture, I know, but it happens every time they can spend some time together, so there is something in it. It reminds me of Polish weddings, and name's day parties, or christenings. They all look similar. Perhaps 'partying' at home is what creates that home when far away from their homeland? Is it possible to mix with other immigrants on such occasions? would they feel 'at home', I suppose they might, even the local English people, but they would need to be invited, but it is a completely different story.

The street is changing

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:26:20 GMT

Plumstead High Street

Easter

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:35:32 GMT

I went to shoot to the Polish house. We film every now and then, trying to be as regular as possible, a life of one Polish group of friends living in a Victorian house in Plumtead. We came on Saturday to film the eggs painting. Viola, our main character, had a friend from Poland to help her. They used felt tips to do it and the eggs turned out very colourful. I didn't have time to do mine and I had to take them naturally 'brown' to the church. There was a mass at 6.pm to which crowds of Poles came from all over South East London. Last year there were only a few people, not to mention four years ago when I was the only one parading with the basket along the High Street like an idiot. This year I was busy with filming. I love filming frsh food and people eating and preparing it, that is my turf. I had a quick fight with Matt over the fig-rig who was to shoot the Easter table, finally we both did it. I have a different eye, I can tell, I like the detail and stillness of the picture, he likes the narrative within it. I use a camera like a brush, he uses it like a pen. Altogether it was good. We came back on A sunday morning to film the breakfast. I have to make some stills from the film as I did not have a chance to use a still camera this year at all. Does anyone know how to make the stills from a video footage made by Sony Z 1?
The table was heavy with food, all Polish ingredients and dishes which traditionally should eb there and which i did not have on my table..........Dozens of painted egggs, white sausages with bigos, potatoe salad, herring, many kinds of cakes and sweets, and much more. Even during the breakfast Viola was still cooking! amazing. I felt really small as a hostess, my Easter is nothing like that.........it was quick and modest, Alicja was rushing for her rehersal in the theatre, Suzy was nervous about her English essays which needed some corrections, and we were rushing to film.........yet we had a basket and all blessed food which I took to the Church when we were filming there. I met Angelo in the Chuch and his beautiful daughters. Angelo was interviewed by me for the first film, he has his massagae studio at the Hair Dresser's in the High Street, but he is not there any more. He promised to come to the next Business Forum. I got an email today from the Woolwich Council asking about the progress with teh Creative Club. I wish I could say more..............but not much has happened in that department yet.

Business Meeting in Plumstead!

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:00:34 GMT

Today there was a first forum of the Plumstead business owners, counselors, and guests organised by the Council. It was held in the local pub, Volunteer's in the High Street and it attracted about 12 people in total. I expected more owners to be honest, but it was only the first attempt at calling them together, so next time perhaps we will see more. Emma, who is a very energetic representative of the Council tries her best to change something in Plumstead in a very practical way. Her department deals with the regeneration project for Plusmtead High Street and it is their responsibility to improve business effectiveness, infrastructure, and 'hard' reality of the area. I am in fact on the opposite end: creative inspiration as the ground for improvement, too abstract and too unrealistic for many. However, I know that there are people who believe that creativity and general psychological well being can contribute to the regeneration of the difficult areas. Why is Plumstead difficult and in what sense? I don't use the governmental stats and I can only quote the local people and use my own observations, this is very subjective and not everyone would agree with me. I feel there is not enough reason to stay in the area for the local people, the local council blames the lack of employment, but it can be the atmosphere in the area as well. There is no tea room, no centre, no place for people to meet. I asked the participants of the forum where they would go for a date in Plumstead, it sounds like a surreal idea, every would go to the city, yes? But not everyone can afford it and not everyone wants too. The only family restaurant which is Chinese Buffet is alway packed, there is a need for a place where people could meet up and spend time together, whereas now the only places to eat are take aways.......I remember when two years ago I wanted to invite a friend for dinner after a long day spent on typing and working in my house in Plumstead, we walked to and fro the High Street five times and there was no one place where we could sit in and eat. The pubs are good if one likes the pub food, but we wanted to have something different, it didn't work, we had to buy Indian take away. When i talked to the Local Council about it their answer was that first people have to have shelter and a job, and later they can thinking about going out, and Plumstead is not on the former stage yet. Is it really what it is? If socialising is too expensive for Plumsteadians, why they cannot have a community centre with a nice tea room, or a library which could serve as a socialising point?
Anyway, the next business forum will be on Wednesday 2nd at 6 above Co-op in the drama centre. I am looking forward to it and hope more people will come this time.

1st Screening

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:38:57 GMT

The screening went very well. We had more people than we expected and they all seemed to like it! However, due to some technical problems I was not able to show a full festival version of the film but only a short, half an hour one. We served teas and coffees to make the atmosphere more homely, it was really nice and friendly. I had some friends and students to help me with everything and they conducted some interviews with the audience during the event. Their reception was really warm and encouraging, the common motif was: 1. we need more of such events, 2. we have never met other ethnic groups and it is great to know about them. I decided to hold another event in June then. If the local people want it and the School wants to help, we should do it again. Next time there shouldn't be any technical omissions and a full version will be shown. I have to go to the High Street again to invite people and send as many text messages as possible. This event made feel more needed than I thought after my first campaigning in the High Street. I am still very concerned about the use of the library in Plumstead and how the first floor is wasted at the moment. We could do some creative workshops and the next screening there! Emma from the local council promised to find out what is the destination of that space/ Also, the local Leisure Centre is being closed and we don't know why? How is it going to be readjusted and for whom? My "fight" has not stopped then, I will be around in the following weeks.

Another campaign

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:22:42 GMT

I am preparing a screening of my film about Plumstead in the local school. The staff and headmaster are very helpful, I am lucky to have their support. I started going around with the posters, talking about the event and trying to remind people about my project. It was a very strange "campaign" - some people did not remember me at all and they were not very keen on talking about some abstract ideas of "community work" during their working day. I went into some shops where I had the interviews, but the owners did not have time for me, and some of them simply did not remember me trying to get rid of me and turn to their customers. It was a strange feeling......but what was most disturbing was that so many people have moved out from the area. They either set up new businesses elsewhere or moved out to Spain! I was walking from one place to another thinking who will recognise me and most of them didn't. It was not so long ago, but the community changes all the time, new people have moved in and old people moved out. A typical "flows based" scenario. Yet some owners and even customers were happy to see me and they asked me about the project. When I was passing the Red Lion Noodle Bar I realised that Comax had disappeared and there is some new activity going on there behind the closed curtains. On a closer inspection it turned out to be a protestant church chapel and a Christian bookstore. I had a very nice chat with managers who are also doing some work for the community, they had computers which anyone can use and they want to do some workshops for the local youths. I hope to see a lady who is running the place at the screening but she didn't come.........I popped in to the hairdresser and Karen, as always, had a nice chat with me, unfortunately she could not come to the screening, but promised to invite others. After two hours of walking from one place to another I faced the old dilemma: what is left from MY place here? I felt a bit deceived how quickly the place has forgotten about me and I sympathised with all those locals who were so nostalgic about Plumstead from 50 years in the interviews. And suddenly it hot me that I had spent only a couple of year there and it was never my REAL home! But why not? Where is my real home then? I felt so attached to Plusmtead in three years as people who lived there for decades? Is it possible at all? What made that place felt like my home? And what made the place forget about me so quickly? I came back home after my campaign being rather upset and stressed, I did not know exactly why I felt like that. Formally I have no right to call that place "home" , do I? I left my posters with the shop owners hoping they will put them in the windows and that some people would come to the screening. I became too acutely aware that if I want to belong to that community, or any other community in that respect, I have to fight for it, possibly against all odds and the community itself. Strange..........

New Year

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:07:28 GMT

Plumstead was very quiet on the New Year's eve, some fireworks at midnight cut the sky for a few moments of surprise. We were filming the party at our Polish friends' house. It is an ongoing documentary production which takes place on a regular basis in one house rented by a group of friends, all immigrants from Poland. We try to cover all important celebrations and events they are involved in, but mostly it is just everyday life...shopping, cooking, visiting friends by one main "character, a female friend who has become a focal point in the film. The film grows according to what they do and how they live, we try to not be involved at all, a classical cinema verite is our ambition. When we came back after 1am, I wrapped myself with blankets, took another penicillin and fell asleep. My cold is a pain, literally. When my daughter came back after a night out in the city and I told her about my New Year's Eve, she looked at me with pity, but I was happier than she could think...The first day of the New Year is rainy any windy and I enjoy sitting at home at doing nothing, I would like to freeze like that. I am still receiving text messages from all my friends, it has become a new habit of communicating on this special day, without them we feel neglected. I promise to myself every year that I will produce some special cards for my friends, I am still waiting for that extra time which will enable me to do it. Somehow I cannot find it in my time box. But next year I will do it...

Shops

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 00:20:47 GMT

Dadoos, as always was open during the first day of Christmas and today of course. It is open all year round. Other shops were closed in the High Street, a strange feeling of quietness possessed the landscape, I wish there was so quiet every day, with no traffic at all. But how would we live without cars and last minute shopping on our way home from work? I looked at our Christmas tree today and I felt sad, it will have to be undressed again and all decorations put in the lost. Like an attic death performed every year, and another hope to come with a new piece of tinsel.