Rosanne Berry, owner of Rosa lingerie and bra shop on Church Street, is organising a community fashion show on Friday, 26 November. The event is scheduled to take place at Abney Hall, and the proceeds will go to Breakthrough Breast Cancer. 'I'm asking all the clothes shops on Church Street to get involved', says Rosanne. She hopes the event will be a celebration in the run-up to Christmas and wants anyone who is interested in getting involved to contact her on 020 7254 3467, or pop into Rosa at 3 Stoke Newington Church Street. Aspiring models or people happy to model clothes on the runway should get in touch.

Pollution in Stoke Newington, like anywhere else in inner London, is a problem, and noise pollution is a particular nuisance. Without wishing to knock our boys in blue, one of the biggest culprits are local police, who seem to use the High Street and Church Street as their own personal siren testing circuits.

N16 checked with the Met Press Office to find out what the formal guidelines are for using police sirens. Well, there aren't any, other than the driver's discretion, bearing in mind the nature of the call, the persons and the area concerned and whether the control room label the original call 'immediate' or 'soon'. We appreciate that this is a relatively high crime area and support the efforts of the police in trying to combat this. But do they really need to irritate the hell out of everyone virtually every time they speed out of the nick?

It has seemed odd walking along Church Street over the last few weeks. The sense of cultural uniqueness and local identity has perceptibly diminished, and there has been a subtle change for the worse in the psycho-geography of the street.

And the reason? The arrival of the bendy bus or, more accurately, the absence of the Routemaster. The bendy bus - designed for the wide boulevards of Paris and the sleek dual carriageways of Frankfurt - feels like an unwelcome interloper, bringing with it a homogeneity and blandness at odds with the jumbled diversity of its surroundings. Sure, the Routemaster was a grumpy, shambolic old workhorse which had seen better days, but who round here can't relate to that? Furthermore, you could jump off it, it could turn corners properly without the threat of imminent disaster and it didn't get lost up Green Lanes (as some of the bendies have been doing). Too late to complain, now. Sad, really.

A free, twenty-week film training course in Hackney is now available to young people aged 14 to 25 years old. WORLDwrite's new film facility offers budding filmmakers a chance to learn the ropes while making films that could set the world on fire. The next film training course starts on either Tuesday 26 October between 6.30 to 9pm for beginners or Thursday 28 October between 7 to 9.30pm for the more advanced students. Contact Viv or Ceri at WORLDwrite on 020 8985 5435, email world.write@btconnect.com or write to The WORLDwrite Centre, Millfields Lodge, 201 Millfields Road, London E5 0AR.

Bad for flyposting. Last month Highbury Corner Magistrates Court found in favour of Camden Council and issued ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) against a flyposting company called Diabolical Liberties. Camden believe that flyposting is akin to urban vandalism and costs them £250,000 per annum to remove. Others believe that the only available public option for promoting small arts organisations, alternative groups, small live venues and street culture generally will disappear, and that the ruling, once extended, will limit freedom of expression and adversely affect political and cultural diversity. Roland Muldoon of the Hackney Empire lamented the decision, saying 'it is terrible for theatre and arts venues because more councils will follow'. Let's see what Hackney Council does.

The capital of Grenada, St George's, is twinned with Hackney. Hackney Council has launched a special appeal fund to help the people of the hurricane stricken island, more than half of whom were made homeless last month by Hurricane Ivan, which left up to 20 people dead, as well as causing extensive damage to homes, crops and businesses. 

Councillor Geoff Taylor said 'The between Hackney and Grenada is a very important one, and I am sure than many people in Hackney will want to show their support.' Hackney residents can help the people of St George's by sending cheques, payable to the Speaker's Grenada Fund, to the Speaker's Parlour, Hackney Town Hall, Mare Street, E8 1EA.

The Unitarian Chapel on Newington Green was packed out on 25 September for the induction of Cal Courtney as Minister (see interview with Cal, Issue 18). N16 is not known for attending church on a Saturday (or, indeed, on any day) but the service was refreshingly unpompous with dashes of humour, reflecting the down-to-earth style of this popular, young Irishman. Wine and food were served after the ceremony, and Cal and friends later repaired to the Cava Bar to toast his new role in life. N16 congratulates Cal, who now presides over what must be the only church in North London with an expanding congregation.

Have you noticed an increase in the number of planes flying over Stoke Newington? Are you concerned about the low altitude at which they are flying and the noise of the jet engines? Apparently, 50% of all flights into Heathrow are routed over Finsbury Park, Stoke Newington and Highbury when the prevailing wind is blowing (which is 75% of the time). HACAN (Heathrow Association for Control of Aircraft) ClearSkies is a pressure group which campaigns for quieter, cleaner and safer conditions for residents under Heathrow's flight paths, and local members have recently been in touch with Hackney Council to complain about the noise. To find out more, visit www.hacan.org.uk.