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We spotted on TV at the end of October, local librarian Richard Boon (he dropped the ‘e’ – his joke), aka N16 Fringe’s very own MC Ricky B. Richard, a regular contributor to N16 Magazine, was on the box by virtue of his career in the late 1970s as Buzzcocks manager, and he was a talking head (and hat) in a programme on the band The Fall, fronted by his old mate Mark E Smith, a colourful and somewhat outspoken character. As Richard reminisced (with some authority and perception), it was not hard to perceive a sense of nostalgia for those heady days of Manchester punk. Never mind, Richard, the Fringe will soon be back…
Dressed entirely in black, like a vision of an old-time hellfire-and-brimstone preacher, noted novelist Will Self delivered this year’s Richard Price Memorial Lecture at the Unitarian Chapel, Newington Green, at the end of November. An engaging, timely and provocative discourse on the relationship between religion and satire was attended by a capacity crowd, whose questions – from the satirical to the religious – were ably riposted with charismatic wit and erudition. His own satire on organised religion, The Book of Dave, is published in Spring 2006.
St Mary’s Church has been welcoming guests who need a meal, a bed for the night and friendly company as part of Hackney Winter Night Shelter for the last four years. HWNS is run by a group of churches in Hackney through January, February and March, with each church hosting a different night of the week. This year St Mary’s will run the shelter on Wednesday evenings at St Mary’s Community Centre, 5 Defoe Road. They provide hot, nourishing, tasty food, and a warm bed for up to 15 guests. This year they also hope to have access to a dormitory for an additional five guests.
They are looking for more people to join their dedicated group of volunteers who have helped run the shelter since it was first set up four years ago. Volunteers can choose from a range of activities – welcoming guests, cooking, serving meals or joining guests at supper for a chat. Other volunteers stay overnight and some help serve breakfast and clear up after the guests leave – around 8am. The first night of the shelter is Wednesday 4 January 2006 and it will then be open each Wednesday until 29 March 2006. Contact Melissa Martin, 020 8802 5220,
( Hackneyharridan@yahoo.co.uk
) if you’d like to help out.
Hackney is about to experience what Mayor Jules Pipe describes as ‘a revolution in community policing’, thanks to a £3.5 million cash injection from the Hackney Strategic Partnership. The Partnership, chaired by the Mayor, has fast-tracked the arrival of a Safer Neighbourhood Team in every ward in Hackney. That means teams of uniformed community police – two constables and three community support officers – on the beat are about to become a familiar sight in every ward, a year before most other London boroughs.
The teams will be dedicated to community policing in their neighbourhood's, and will get to know local residents who will be able to contact them directly to report crimes and discuss their concerns. Importantly, they will not be ‘abstracted’ from their areas in the event of a major disaster or act of terrorism in London (after the events of 7/7, crime in the non-central areas of London shot up as a result of police being seconded from their areas to police the ‘terrorist threat’ in the West End). The idea is that every Hackney resident will have the name and mobile number of these officers.
The Mayor commented: ‘As far as I was concerned this couldn’t happen quickly enough in Hackney. A consistent uniformed police presence in our communities will tackle crime and the fear of crime. This will make a huge impact on our residents’ lives. That is why we provided the money to make it happen quicker.
Also, residents will be able to advise the police where to patrol, and each team will have
a safer neighbourhood panel, including local residents, which will meet to advise the police
on the area’s priorities. All 19 of the Borough’s wards will have this welcome initiative in place by the end of the year.
The Stoke Newington Business Association held an open meeting last month at the Old Fire Station. Attended by a fair cross-section of local businesses (although representation from the High Street was disproportionately low), the subjects covered included parking, street safety and crime, recycling, begging and illegal trading. Chaired by Yum Yum’s Atique Choudary, and attended by local police who discussed the new Safer Neighbourhood scheme, the meeting raised some important issues, which will be pursued further at the next meeting in January. Heidi Early, a member of the committee, has a letter in this issue (page 8) concerning the current parking fiasco. The date and venue for the next meeting will be announced shortly. It’s important that as many businesses as possible attend, as business in the area needs a
unified, coherent voice to put forward to interested parties (Council, police, TfL etc) the views of the community.
N16 was a hub of literary activity in October when the award-winning Stoke Newington Bookshop launched its first ‘My Word’ festival.
The series of wide-ranging author events covered everything from tracing your family history with Anthony Adolph, to our love for the now obsolete
Routemaster bus with Travis Elborough. One event saw fashionistas
flock to hear local author Ian Kelly talk about his acclaimed biography of the ultimate dandy, Beau Brummel. He was joined by author and ex-Vogue journalist Justine Picardie, and they talked about fashion and its influence on our lives. In addition, Stoke Newington resident Sally Gardner invited the fairy world into the shop with her magical children’s book
I Coriander.
One of the highlights of the festival saw fans of Hackney writer Iain Sinclair pack the bookshop (see picture) to hear him talk about his new book
Edge of the Orison, the story of poet John Clare’s journey from an Epping Forest asylum to his home in Northborough. This was quite a coup for Stoke Newington, as not only was the evening the
first promotional event for the book but also John Clare passed along our very own high street during his journey. It was standing room only as the audience listened to Sinclair recount his own journey following in Clare’s footsteps, and then had the opportunity to ask questions about his books and his life as a writer
(see Richard Boon, page 30).
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