Julia has lived in Stockwell a relatively short period of time, coming via Hendon and Lithuania. What attracts a young professional to the area? In this interview, Julia explains how she found herself living in Stockwell, and explains why the area meets most of her needs.
And so for this week’s Palfrey Palfrey video picture, I’m pleased to announce that we have a slightly suburban take on dumping your rubbish in a public place.
Long gone are the days of random fly tipping around my little patch of South London. As a replacement, we now have neatly arranged bin bags, dumped in a public place to cause an environmental nuisance. Still, at least they appear rather uniform, even if they smell somewhat repugnant.
Bin bag alignment aside, the issue here is still one of dumping your rubbish in a non-designated refuse point. Wheelie bins are provided by @lambeth_council to all residents. A quick glance around the local properties confirmed that each house has a wheelie bin outside.
So why the need to dump your weekly waste in such an open, public environment? It’s either an outside job, or simply that I’m living in the vicinity of some incredibly selfish people.
Apologies for only providing photographic evidence this week. The plan was for some video action, but as soon as I fired the flip up, some foul, ill-mannered local type decided to urinate all over the bin bags, right in full shot of camera.
That’s what happens when your local environment is left to look like a s***hole - people will treat it like one.
Dirty dogs.
I have been wanting to catch up with Peter Bradley for sometime now. Peter is the author behind the brilliant Out of the Blue - a Celebration of Brockwell Lido. The book is essentially a social history project, published in 2007 to celebrate seventy years of outdoor swimming down in SE24.
We agreed in principle to record a podcast back at the start of May, when the lido opened for its first chilly dip of the new season. Work constraints, out of sync swimming routines and just general loving of lido life throughout the summer, have all conspired against our social history recording.
It was with some celebration then that I managed a chat with Peter over a coffee at the Brockwell Lido Users AGM on Saturday. The plan was initially for a five-minute audioboo podcast - thankfully I had the foresight to see that Peter was worthy of so much more.
And so in-between showing a group of architecture students around the splendours of the old building and other general BLU business, I managed to pin Peter down for a lengthy chat in our wonderful new cafe by the water.
All pre-pod preparation was disregarded. Peter is a lido lover, a social historian and a friend. We simply sat down for a chat, and took it from there.
What follows is a potted social history of outdoor swimming in SE24, covering the early days of the original Lake Brockwell, all the way through until the current Fusion years. Within this time frame we consider the construction of the lido some seventy years ago, the rise, fall and neglect of the pool by Lambeth Council, the squatting years and the golden days of Paddy and Casey.
I had wanted to talk to Peter about his more personal, subjective experiences of lido life. No worries - that can wait for a podcast part II project next summer.
Many thanks to Peter for being so generous with his time. If this recording leads you to wanting to know about the social history of Brockwell Lido, then I highly recommend purchasing a copy of of Out of the Blue.
Endell Street, WC2, The Way We See It.
“This week we’re heading to Neal Street’s little sister, Endell Street. At first look it’s a poor companion; sure there’s a few nice trendy shops and cafes and stuff, and also a wonderfully old foliage festooned pub, the Cross Keys.
But what Endell Street is infamous for is the Hospital Club. Set up by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Dave Stewart, it’s a club whose ethos is to promote all aspects of being creative. Knobbers Lovely.
I’ve always liked Endell Street. Mostly for the Cross Keys, but also as a wonderfully quick way to get through Covent Garden without being chuggered to death. Oh, there’s a little public drinking fountain too.”
And so that was the lovely lido season for another year. Ah, you say that…
*shhh* we’ve got another couple of weeks to sneak in before the shutters are finally, finally closed poolside in SE24.
It was therefore somewhat strange to be meeting up with the good folk of Brockwell Lido Users (BLU) for our annual AGM on Saturday morning, with the waters of Lake Brockwell still glistening and tempting us in for another fortnight of early morning tepid swims. Careful for what you wish for, and all that.
The BLU AGM is traditionally a reflective meeting, and one of some sadness, with the prospect of no more outdoor swimming planned for another eight months or so. Not so on Saturday morning in the packed splendid surrounds of our newly refurbished cafe by the water.
“I’m proud to announce we have decided to keep the lido open for a further two weeks,” declared Paul Maier, pool manager for Fusion. In terms of winning over an audience, the declaration of intent led to the first spontaneous applause for the morning. That’s the healing power of free cappuccinos and croissants. The cold reality of 7am on Monday morning might not be so welcoming.
I love these BLU AGM events. I tick off my tally of attendance in the same way I used to keep a count of how many girls I had snogged at school. That’s school as is *my* schooldays, and not the day job. Phew.
There’s a sense of the lido community coming together for one final time of the season. Work schedules and lie-ins often mean that you know all the lido regulars, but rarely get to see each other in the same room at the same time - fully clothed as well. Blimey.
Chairperson Melanie Marther opened the AGM by reminding members of the issues raised last year: a disappointing cafe, small changing rooms, talk of a Triathlon club and the need for pool railings. Testament to the power of BLU as a lobbying group, plus the willingness of leaseholders Fusion to actually listen to the users - all of the items on the agenda twelve months ago have now been actioned.
Fusion Finance Director Ivan Parkinson addressed the floor first:
“2009 has been a very good year. Increased usage and structural improvement had led to the lido being the most successful site for Fusion. Pool improvement will continue, with no price increase for next season.”
Ah, the lido prices. This has been a point of concern for some. I think my £150 season ticket represents superb value for money. It also serves as an incentive to dive into the waters of Lake Brockwell each morning. I’m not sure I would feel the same if I was paying £5.25 for a single swim.
Maier then explained the finer details on the 2009 season:
“The twenty-six week season of swimming is the longest the lido has been open in the modern era. In total, 44,333 swims took place - a figure up 11,000 on the 2008 season. This has been the busiest summer for Fusion, with on average, 283 swims a day. 30th June saw 2,313 swimmers. The average water temperature from May to October was 21.2 degrees.”
That’s a hell of a lot of lido lovers, and a figure that Fusion and BLU should both be equally proud of. Lidos can be the most amazing environment during the heat wave days, such as 30th June; the flipside is that they can be thoroughly miserable during dour weather.
Maier then outlined the notorious algae situation, which led to the lido being closed for forty-eight hours at the start of September:
“We increased the chlorine, but not enough to suppress the seasonal increase in trout fly. The seasonal conditions of a cool August, followed by a bright early autumn, were perfect for an increase in fly activity. Next season we are experimenting with a chlorine free solution.”
With water temperatures currently at 14 degrees, its no surprise that we haven’t seen too many of those pesky trout flies around in recent weeks.
About those the pool temperature: we swim outdoors because we want to. It’s a natural experience, and one that invigorates your limbs in a way that the sterile, sweaty and soulless surrounds of Brixton or Clap’ham can’t compete with. Maier confirmed that the possibility of heating the lido all year round has been explored:
“The solar power option used by the newly opened Bristol lido would cost a pool our size £180,000 per year. No company is prepared to give a guarantee of pool temperatures for this outlay. A heated pool is still a possibility, but not at the standard indoor temperature of 28 degrees. Our swimmers appreciate 18 - 21 degrees.”
Fusion site manager Jeremy Lake then explained the importance of the lido as a recognised local facility for swimming, rather than just sitting around poolside:
“The lido is now a swimming destination and not just a hot weather location. We need to treat extended swimming into the season as an evolution. School swimming is important for promoting the lido as a community facility.”
The ‘evolution of swimming’ is well underway. There is a momentum in place now that is difficult to ignore. We went to the end of September in 2008, and a month later still for 2010. Plans were hatched for a Brockwell Lido Swimming Club during the AGM, using the Tooting based South London Swimming Club as a model for all year round swimming.
Next to address the AGM was Caroline Burhard from Whippersnappers, a children’s organisation that was established at the lido back in 1994. As ever, this was an inspiring, breathless speech. Whippersnappers are good, good people. They are achieving some truly brilliant results here on the ground in South London, continually punching above their weight and leading the way for young people in the area. They deserve your support. Long may Whippersnappers be an active presence at the lido.
The many splendid activities organised at the lido over the past twelve months were then outlined by Gethan Dick, the Heritage Education Co-ordinator at Brockwell.
“What has been really pleasing has been to witness how initial events that we set up over the past three years have now become established. Users are expecting these to happen, and they have become calendar events. The midwinter swim attracted 400 brave souls on the Saturday before Christmas, with all money raised donated to Age Concern. This event is confirmed for the 19th of December 2009.
The Modern Movement Art Deco Fair is a great season starter, with 2,500 visitors over the May Bank Holiday. We doubled out schools programme this season, with 1,600 South London children getting the opportunity to swim at the lido. The artist in residence project has functioned as a fantastic public art project once again.
The Rider event, linking Brockwell up with our friends at Parliament Hill lido was well supported. We plan to include Charlton Lido next year, encouraging bicyclists to make the journey between all three venues on the same day, and compare their experiences. It is good for the lido community to learn from one another.”
A quick pause for coffee, and that was most of the main business of the BLU AGM over with. It got slightly surreal with a form passed to me for completion, asking:
What are your memories of water?
Um, wetting myself for the first time?
Feedback sessions followed. The main points from the floor seemed to be a desire for all-year round swimming, earlier weekend opening (currently 10am) and also a request for nude swimming sessions. Count me in.
And then all that was left was for the traditional BLU AGM question from the lone lido nutter sitting in the corner, asking the Man from Lambeth Council:
“What progress has been made in the past twelve months to introduce a Lambeth wide swimming scheme? I don’t see why I have to pay GLL to swim in Lambeth owned pools, and then take out a second membership scheme with Fusion to swim in another pool owned by Lambeth.”
With apologies to my fellow BLU members, but it is a question I will continue to ask each year until (i) I get an answer, (ii) the uniform membership is rolled out or (iii) I bugger off to Wivenhoe in search of nude swimming sessions at the nearby Brightlingsea Lido. I think you know what the most likely scenario will be.
The Man from Lambeth Council replied by repeating the same answer he gave me back in the spring at the Clap’ham Users Forum: the recession has meant that we are short on money and can’t subsidise.
Aren’t we all, Bruv. Still at least it was an alternative from previous years when a “compatible turnstile system for different sites is still being looked into,” was offered as a response one year, and “the pool is part of the park services, and not leisure,” at another AGM. I love creativity within my Council employees.
Same place, same time, same question next year.
There’s been some nasty activity, online and offline, within Lambeth over the past seven days. Online democracy should benefit the electorate. In Lambeth it just seems to have become an arena for various egos to see who can shout the loudest. Not many people are listening, and those weirdo local politico types that are staying awake, are rapidly losing interest with all the modern interweb squabbling.
It all started off with the defection of Nu Labour councillor Betty Evans-Jacas (made up name!) to, um, Dave’s Nu Tories. I can’t quite see what the fuss is all about myself, swapping one bland centre-right party for another.
But here’s where it gets interesting, with the twittering councillors of Lambeth using the micro-bogging platform to launch insult and counter-insult at each other, all from behind their safety of their laptops.
Idiots online are nothing new. But 2.0 transparency should by now have taken us away from the Dungeons and Dragons user name style static message boards of ye olde, and onto to the What You See Is What You Get world of shiny social media.
There’s nowhere to hide in the twitteratai, not even if you delete a tweet, as one local Lambeth Councillor did having called their defected colleague a “scab” in a throwaway tweet. Thanks heavens for screen grabs, and a copy of the offending item now stored away on my hard drive. This should come in handy during the next local election campaign, when @cllr_robbins is doing his nice meet ‘n greet thing, putting across the friendly face of Nu Labour.
But both sides are as bad as each other. Following the Nu Labour online name calling across the Rotten Borough, @lambethnews (um, Lambeth Tories in a not very good disguise) took it upon themselves on Thursday to throttle the bandwidth in the borough with a missive off ill-informed tweets and online press releases.
The least credible of these was a wild claim that Lambeth Nu Labour is going to close the swimming pools in Clap’ham And St Reatham. This is noting new. Yep, Labour certainly plans to close Clap’ham and St Reatham. Chances are they are going to re-build them as well.
The closures and re-buildings can’t come soon enough for me - bring it on. Plus… dontcha just love the tedious use of the 2012 prefix, used by any wide of the mark attempt to draw a link between sport and the corporate world 2012?
The blue corner of the borough (squint and you just might see it) is using social media to spread an online message of nothing but negative news stories directed at Nu Labour. No wonder Dave is accused of being all style and no substance. Nice blog layout, Lambeth Tories; shame about the content.
I ran the Tory twitter feed through Wordle, just to see what themes would emerge. I was looking for hope and inspiration in the borough, and a forward thinking party that just might persuade me to vote for them (stop sniggering.)
Instead I came to a conclusion that the Tory twitter feed is as interchangeable as Nu Labour’s. Which probably goes a long way to explain why the good councillor Jacas (yeah, yeah) made the switch from red to blue.
I despise this form of negative campaigning. The people of Lambeth have enough personal strife to deal with. The last thing we want from our elected politicians is to set an agenda of conflict online. I want to hear positive action about real people. @mayoroflambeth seems to be redressing the balance during his apolitical sabbatical. But it just shows how much goodwill can be achieved online, if the political intent is genuinely there.
All of the above tells us little that we didn’t already know. Local politicians can’t be trusted either online or offline. What has changed now is the online tools that are available to dig around and mash up the data to find the real truth behind the spin.
And so it looks like the laissez faire landlord of Sunny Stockwell has finally accepted that he must operate within the law of the land. Either that or spend his time banged up in a compartment with probably only slightly less living space than the pokey flats he rents out.
You may remember how Mr Mukesh Andani flouted planning permission laws, in the same way I flout the four can per person ground regulations at The Oval - frequently, and all in the name of penny pinching.
Both acts can lead to unpleasant consequences, and in the case of the Mr Andani, a rather expensive reverse ferret, as he takes down the extra floor he erected on his Clap’ham Road property, having forgotten to apply for planning permission.
I hope that the scaffolding that has appeared around these parts this week is not another King Canute attempt by Mr Andani to construct a fifth floor, as he sticks he fingers in ears and sings La! La! La! to the Lambeth planning officers.
Unlikely, but given his track record of ignoring the laws of the land, then who knows. It is with some genuine excitement that I wait to see if the army of labourers that knocked up the illegal fourth floor can operate with the same haste to dismantle the local eyesore.
And what of the tenants, presumably kicked out on a slight legality of living somewhere that shouldn’t really exist? It’s a moral victory for the neighbours, @lambeth_council and the area in general.
Now then - about those satellite dishes appearing all over the leafy enclaves of the Stockwell Conservation area. You can pick up BBC4 via Freeview, doncta know?
