|
Dear N16
A few comments in response to Stevie’s thirty-three things he/she hates about this
borough (Letters, Issue 18).
Anyone who calls the area ‘Stokey’ is too sad for words, especially when they
spell it Stokie. Hoxton isn’t Hoxtey and Clapton isn’t referred to as Claptey so
what is it with this tabloid press baby talk – been reading Sue Heal again, have you
?
Anyone who hates everyone and everything from three wheeled prams, Vortex and estate
agents to prostitutes, junkies and crackheads (same thing, surely ?) and loonies is at
best a dreary bloody nimby and at worst a borderline fascist. What’s your favourite
fantasy, Stevie, a ‘final solution’ for the action seekers in the cemetery ?
Labour camps for the beggars and the kids in hoods ? Anyone who hates the police is up
their own arse, a plastic socialist trying to get some street cred.
Anyone who complains that the streets are full of shops selling expensive crap but that
there are no jobs is so dumb that they don’t realise that shops actually do create
jobs (selling the expensive crap, geddit ?). They are so dumb that even if they managed to
discover what agency supplies the council with road sweepers and tried to get themselves a
job cleaning the shit off the streets they’d be turned down.
Anyone who thinks people from Hackney never win competitions is paranoid or no bloody good
at competitions. Anyone who expressed a desire to watchcable TV needs to get out more.
Anyone who thinks the bouncers need bouncers in any of the pubs around here is obviously
too scared to get out more. Anyone in this position will be very confused. Anyone who
hates him or herself for living here will be no loss. Bugger off.
Yours
John Gardiner, Imperial Avenue, N16
PS. I was glad to read that your bikes got nicked. Couldn’t happen to a more
deserving person.
Dear N16
I’m researching the history of the derelict mansion property at the corner of
Lordship Park and Lordship Road (73 Lordship Road, formerly known as St Mary’s
Lodge).
So far I’ve only been able to find out that:
it was built around 1840
it was occupied by the William James Crabb (corn merchant) family in
the1880’s
it was sold by the Church Commissioners to a Mr Cecil Goldey Hyde in
1957
by the 1990s it was owned by Hackney Council, who used it as a shelter
for homeless single mothers
In 2003 Hackney Council sold the house and the fruit orchard behind it to
the Torah Etz Chaim Synagogue in a private sale for £705,000. Despite the preferential
price, the only restriction Hackney placed on the property’s future was that the land
was to be used for ‘community/educational use’.
Because of the significant modifications done to the mansion over the years, it is not
eligible for Listed status. The new owners plan to demolish the structure.
Any info you might have on the history – long past or recent – of St Mary’s
Lodge would be greatly appreciated.
Charles Rohrer, chuck.rohrer@virgin.net
Dear N16,
I have been looking at N16 on-line (n16mag.com), an excellent magazine.
My view might be biased because of the article by Rab MacWilliam on page 17 Issue 3,
‘The Growth of Stoke Newington’. By some sort of strange coincidence, I was
searching the internet for the Albion Hotel, Stoke Newington but returned a nil result.
However, looking for ‘albion clissold, newington’ I found the N16 website and
lo-and-behold on the above page a picture of the Albion Hotel.
What is even more interesting is the name over the windows which looks like
‘Williams’. Why was I looking for the Albion Hotel? Just recently I have been
checking the 1901 census for my wife’s family. You may have already spotted the
connection.
On 31 March 1901 Thomas Williams was the Licensed Victualler at the Albion Hotel. He was
there with his second wife Mary and seven of his children. One daughter, Maud, my
wife’s great-grandmother, was living in West Ham.
I was wondering if you are able to pass my e-mail onto Rab MacWilliam in the hope that he
might know more of the ‘Albion’ and the Williams’ family. For example when
did Thomas Williams become and cease to be the licensee? Also would you be able to e-mail
me a better quality copy of the picture of the Albion, and any other images of the Stoke
Newington area around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries? I have a broadband
connection so file size is not an issue.
Any help that you might be able to offer would be greatly appreciated.
Yours faithfully,
Ian Cruttenden
Email: cruttenden@one-name.org
Website: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/i.cruttenden
Dear N16
My daughter’s primary education took place at Holmleigh, the best primary school in
Hackney, a school so far undiscovered by anyone who regularly appears in print/ the media,
and/or on Eastenders. In September 2001 my daughter started at Clapton Girls. Ten days
into the Autumn term, and after only one unwitting appearance by my daughter on a Channel
Four documentary, I did the only thing left possible to me and became one of the catchment
convoy. I moved house. To Northumberland.
Two years later, I’m very happy with my daughter’s school. And I keep in touch
with Stokie through n16mag.com on the web. It’s not ideal. No Bar Lorca, no Clissold
Park, no pizza delivery. But I’ll be back.. once she’s got her A levels. Did I
mention you can buy a 3-bedroom nineteenth century cottage with a paddock for the price of
a dog kennel in the sky on Rectory Rd ? And Easyjet fly from Newcastle to Stanstead on the
hour. Anyway, must finish, as I have to be home in time for the farrier. The pony needs
re-shoeing.
yours traitorously
Sam Potter
Dear N16,
I was born and bred and educated in Stoke Newington, and I still visit there regularly, so
I am always pleased to read your magazine. I was very interested in your article
‘Dissent in Newington Green’, since this area has been the home of dissent for
many centuries, hence its particular character and history. I should like to add a couple
of comments.
First, you could have added that prominent members of the Unitarian Church included the
family of Charles Darwin. Second, I find it inappropriate that an article about a
Christian institution should gratuitously smear the Jewish State. You refer to a rabbi who
wished to ‘make an atonement for the Israeli occupation of Palestine’. In fact
no rabbi would make such a statement, unless it was qualified by reminding people that the
Jews in Israel are threatened with annihilation and have a right to defend themselves.
This is a point that Minister Cal Courtney didn’t wish to pursue, maybe because, as
you mention, he does not like to engage in politics.
Sincerely
Charles Heller
32 Bayhampton Court
Toronto Ontario M3H 5L6 Canada
N16 asked Cal for his comments on Charles Heller’s email. This is his
response:
I cannot accept that I or my church attempted to gratuitously smear ‘the Jewish
State’. Firstly, Israel is not a Jewish State. It is a secular state. Secondly, our
record of supporting the Jewish people speaks for itself. Charles Heller can rest assured
that all acts of cruelty are challenged in this church, irrespective of the religious
adherence of the people involved.
Please contact us with your observations, views and comments.
N16 Magazine, PO box 44624, London N16 5WN
email info@n16mag.com
|
