 Kids’Fringe
Around forty children and their parents visited the event on the Saturday afternoon in Abney Hall and were entertained by a whole host of activities. Local playworker Christine Lehman spent several hours with face paints transforming the excited children into butterflies, lions and witches, and the local library supplied reading materials for all ages. Budding young artists were encouraged to express themselves – very messily on the whole – with cake and biscuit decoration and various drawing activities, while the skills of parents and children alike were tested on the table tennis tables.
Despite causing me considerable concern by juggling fire on Church Street to entice passersby into the event, Colin the Clown delighted the assembled children, performing magic tricks, juggling and singing songs. And it was all absolutely free! I think its safe to assume we’ll be putting in a repeat performance at next year’s Fringe.
This is not a soup kitchen. But, according to one of its clients, ‘the soupsare famous, everybody loves the soups’. This is the drop-in centre of NorthLondon Action for the Homeless, held in the public hall of Our Lady of Good
And this is a Tuesday, the first of two days on which NLAH provide a free, freshly cooked, three-course vegetarian meal – lunch on Tuesdays between 12.00-1.30pm, evening meal on Thursdays from 7-8.30 – to those in our community who maybe (but not exclusively) homeless, or otherwise in domestic, financial or personal difficulty.
This Tuesday, the soup is cheese and onion, the main course spaghetti and spicy tomato and vegetable sauce, and the dessert yoghurt and fruit salad, all lovingly prepared and served to somewhere between 20 and 30 needy people by cook Ross Watkins and dedicated volunteers.
‘I was using heavy drugs for three years’, another client says, ‘not eating. This place kept me alive.’ Not merely with meals. The centre provides showers, haircuts, and (depending on availability) clothes and shoes, and (most importantly) confidential advice – on benefits, housing or legal problems from Helen Martyn, the full-time advice worker; on health from a visiting Health Service Access Worker (every other Tuesday).
NLAH has been in Stoke Newington for four years – some 8 years previously, it used space at the North London Progressive Synagogue – and, despite its use of space in religious institutions, is entirely secular. Employing only Ross, Helen and manager Alastair Murray, everything else – including the work of its Treasurer, Jon Clarke, and other Trustees (it’s a registered charity – is delivered by acts of (naturally) charity from donors (food gifts, for instance, from such local traders as Fresh and Wild and The Spence) and volunteers.
Among those I spoke to were local painter and decorator Anthony and Australian aspiring community worker Paul, who felt they benefited from their experiences. ‘It’s a nice feeling’, they agreed, ‘nice people and a great atmosphere.’ Indeed, this lunchtime’s atmosphere was of strong community feeling and support among both clients and volunteers.
A recent – and increasingly necessary – addition to their voluntary ranks is a Polish speakingtranslator.ThetabloidmoralpanicoverCentralandEasternEuropeanscoming to the UK masks the real problems many encounter, and the Centre has noticed an increased use of its service from this sector. One young Pole who moved to the UK with his parents said they were attracted by the fact that three days’ pay at UK minimum wage was equivalent to one month’s back home. But work and, in fact, that minimum wage were hard to find, having been offered as little as £2.50 an hour for labouring. ’Everybody here has to look after each other’, he adds, ’or try to.’
Needlesstosay,NLAHneedsmorethanthealtruismofitskitchenandotherstaff.‘It’s a crying shame’, Anthony concluded, ‘how we’re so under-resourced.’ With annual running costs of some £30,000, even the smallest donation can make a difference. As Jon Clarke notes, ‘donations of £5 a month or less will really make an impact if a number of people are involved. Gift aid declarations allow NLAH to reclaim tax, adding 28% to the value of each donation.
ThesedeeplycommittedpeopletrulydemonstratethattherearerealangelsinStoke Newington, not just the stone sculptures in Abney Park Cemetery.
NLAH needs volunteer drivers to help collect donated food from local shops that support their work. If you have an occasional hour or two free on Tuesday mornings or Thursday afternoons please call NLAH Manager Alastair on 020 8802 1600.
T: 8802 1600
E: admin@nlah.org.uk www.nlah.org.uk |
