p5

news in brief

The Prince, Saturday morning 22 November. Wonder what they’re celebrating...?

A Stoke Newington library user reports that, when trying to find local band Bikini Beach’s website (to blag a free invite to a gig) on the computer system there, he received the answer ‘access denied’. Hackney Council clearly see themselves as our moral guardians and wish to shield us from such obscene words as ‘bikini’. But what if you’re trying to find out more about the 1954 H-Bomb test on Bikini Atoll in the South Pacific?

Or making an academic study of the lyrics of Brian Hyland’s lovelorn ballad ‘Itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini’ from the same era ? Just do it from home.

While on the library, Hackney Council appear to have omitted the Stoke Newington branch from the normally reliable BT Phone Book 2003. An  error by Hackney or BT, or the first stage in a sinister plan to deprive Stoke Newington of its literary heritage ? Probably just a cockup, if experience is anything to go by.

A young kid was recently spotted nicking a bike from outside one of Church Street’s restaurants. Two of our fine fireman gave chase and caught up with the lad outside another restaurant. As they were wresting the bike away from him, they were harangued and assailed by some outraged diners for their ‘bullying’ attack. As they attempted to explain, the kid legged it with his newly acquired trophy.

Hundred of local residents and businesses have signed a petition against the proposed erection of a mobile phone mast on top of the tower on Stoke Newington Fire Station. Phone company Orange has lodged a planning application to erect the mast which would raise the height of the tower by ten feet. As well as the health implications, residents are concerned that the mast will be an eyesore and will reduce the value of their properties. The firefighters are also against the proposal with forty out of the fifty of them signing the petition. Watch our website for developments.

So Hackney schools aren’t good enough for Diane Abbott, who is sending her son to a private secondary school outside her constituency. The more educated, middle-class parents who send their children to local schools, the better it will be for the future of education in the borough. Surely Ms Abbott knows this, particularly as she is well known for her left-wing view on the world. We seem to remember her critical comments on Harriet Harman and Tony Blair when they did something similar with their children. Certainly, young black males are the lowest achieving group in Hackney schools, but this should be addressed by engagement from within and not by shrugging off the Borough and going elsewhere. Particularly when you are MP for Stoke Newington and Hackney North.

The Sea Cadets, long resident on Church Street, have been forced to close. The unit was set up nearly 85 years ago, but they could not find a new venue. The centre was forced to close because the council wanted to be paid a full market rent instead of the peppercorn price that the Cadets had been paying for many years. The council suggested that they could move to the new reservoir complex but again they would have to pay the full market value.

It makes you think. Hackney Council has been heavily backing the Hackney Young Parliament. And a group of them came to talk to the June meeting of the Stoke Newington Forum and stated that they wanted more activities for teenagers. And yet at the same time the council was asking the Sea Cadets for a rent rise from £200 per year to £11,000. The Sea Cadet movement provides a wide range of activities based around sailing, and provides a healthy life style. At a time when the youth of Hackney are crying out for more support, it seems a strange decision to pull the rug from one of the few activities open to the youth of Stoke Newington. Oh yes, while the council plans eventually to sell off the site, squatters have now long since moved in.

Do you want to help local children to read? Volunteer Reading Help is a national charity working locally to enable children to become confident and literate for life through the sustained support of trained volunteers. In Stoke Newington they have 6 reading helpers working with 3 children each in 4 primary schools. The need for their services far outstrips their supply of trained volunteers and they are looking to attract new members of the community to become reading helpers in schools in the area.
Contact Karen Chinery on 07793 611498 or karen.chinery@vrh.org.uk

Danny from the Fishery recently had an unusual request. A woman whom he guesses is from Russia asked him for a large salmon – guts and all. Danny was surprised because most customers ask for the innards to be removed. But the young lady insisted that the fish was fully intact. She explained that the fish was an essential part of her erotic act at a Shoreditch club. Her act climaxes in intimate contact with the Scottish fish’s innards as she rips it open. Danny politely declined the offer of a front row VIP seat.

Do you enjoy playing bridge? But you don’t have a partner? Never mind, contact Steve on 07980 288436 as he’s setting up single bridge parties. Eating, drinking and smoking are encouraged, so they’re not for the faint-hearted.

A rather special exhibition of 14 new art works is being held at Clissold Park Cafe, Stoke Newington until January 2004. What makes this display unusual is that all of the artists are homeless or at risk of homelessness. All the artists come out of a project called Vision Impossible?, an art studio based at St John at Hackney Community Space Centre – Hackney’s last remaining day centre for the homeless. It’s a worthwhile cause: the money from sales keeps the project going as well as encouraging the artists. For further information on the Vision Impossible? project, the artists and the St John at Hackney Community Space Centre, contact Simon Powell on 020 8985 6707.

The cover picture for this issue was taken by Mike Roberts from the top of the crane at The Point. It is just one part of a 360-degree view of Stoke Newington which Mike is putting together and will be exhibiting shortly. He arrived in the pub after his assignment still visibly shaking after his near death experience. Well done, fella. Next cover pic, Mike, the North Face of the Eiger.