|  Our cover photo this issue features Susie Snyder, curate and priest at St Mary’s Church. Bishop Stortford-born Susie studied history at Cambridge University, and then theology in Birmingham. She recently was invited to the Millennium Development Goals for Social Justice conference in South Africa and she will be contributing an article on her trip for our June issue. She is also an accomplished jazz singer but, naturally, in an amateur capacity.
Time to show off again about our website www.n16mag.com. We are currently receiving between 800 and 900 ‘unique visits’ per day, a ‘unique visit’ being defined as someone who clicks on at least twice within half an hour (according to our web host). Also, if you type in ‘Stoke Newington’ or ‘N16’ on Google or Yahoo, our site is number one. Furthermore, if you type in ‘local magazine’ into Google, n16mag.com comes top out of over 200 million websites worldwide. As for our N16 Fringe site, n16 fringe.co.uk, we are in seventh place in Google, one place above the Official Edinburgh Guide to the Fringe. How all this has happened we don’t know, but we haven’t paid a penny to any search engines. Not being slow to understand the commercial benefits of so many visitors to our main website, we are offering hyperlinks from our home page to advertisers’ websites for the modest sum of £50 per month. If you’re interested, then please contact info@n16mag.com
Is anyone out there from Lithuania? If so, could you let us know about a magazine in that country called ‘N16’ to which we’ve noticed references in Google but which doesn’t seem to have a website of its own. We’d like to talk to them about twinning up in some way (so long as it’s decent). We’ve tried the Lithuanian Embassy but have had no response. We’d love to know more about this.
Readers of the Independent on Sunday may have noticed a feature in February in the Review section on the friendship between Ismail Amaan and Rabbi Hershey Gluck, and the Stamford Hill Muslim Jewish Forum. Readers with a long memory may remember that the January 2002 issue of N16 carried a front page picture of the same two gentlemen in a similar pose, interviewed Ismail and described, in an interview with Rabbi Gluck, the work of the Forum. It’s nice to know that it takes the national press over five years to catch up on a local story.
The pubs they are a changin’. There’s been a lot of refurb work going on in Stokey’s bars recently, with more to come. Hugh and Caroline have recently re-opened the Three Crowns (previously Bar Lorca and the Samuel Beckett) and created a gleaming new gastropub. The name ‘Three Crowns’ is the bar’s original name. It was a coaching hostelry where James VI of Scotland stopped for the night in 1603 on his way to being crowned King James I Of England. As he was also King of Ireland, that meant he had three crowns, hence the speedy name change all those centuries ago (does anyone have any idea of what it was called before the royal visit?). The Coach and Horses has also been significantly and tastefully re-designed by Frank, who also runs the Embassy on Essex Road, while a new jazz bar – Satchmo’s – has just opened on the High Street on the spot where once stood Tonic, Potter’s Bar, Krystal’s etc. The Daniel Defoe is to close briefly next month for redevelopment of the garden area. Finally, the area’s largest pub, The Rochester Castle, is closing for a few days from 26 March for another refurb. Our Publisher is going to have to find another pub until it re-opens.
While on the subject of pubs (not that we’re ever very far away from the subject) we send our heartiest congratulations to Jimmy and Jean, owners of the Wheatsheaf, who, on 24 March to the very day, celebrate twenty years of running the pub. Jimmy, from County Mayo, and Jean, from County Louth, took over the pub in March 1987 and the pub has been virtually unchanged since then (OK, the TV’s a bit bigger). Situated on Windus Road, the Wheatsheaf has great Guinness, a great pool table and jukebox and a really friendly atmosphere. What more do you want from a local? Here’s to the next twenty, Jimmy.
Readers intrigued by the letter ‘A Kettle Writes’ in our last issue may care to visit Jonathan’s Kettle website www.kettlememoirs.com. All you need to know about the inner lives, aspirations and problems of being a kettle.
‘My mother was an early plastic kettle.
She was born before the age of thermoplastics
And eventually her power switch melted.
She never boiled again.’
A sad and poignant tale on the website, compiled by local kettleologist Patrick Fry.
Snowfall and thunderstorms threatened the planting of Butterfield Green Orchard, but once again events conspired to help this venture on its way and, on Sunday 11 February, planting conditions were perfect. Growing Communities and the local area Parks Team contributed thirty-three fruit trees plus soft fruit bushes and, along with the Tree Musketeers, were there to share their expertise, good humour and patience. Many local residents generously sponsored trees and, more importantly, have committed to aftercare. An inspiring day, which showed the creative possibilities of people working together. The first follow-up day will be on Sunday 1 April, including a picnic, clear-up of surface rubble and discussion of meadow planting. Watch out for notices on park railings and notice-boards.
Stamford Hill, usually so calm and serene, bore witness to much commotion on a recent Saturday afternoon as two unrelated and rather unsavoury incidents occurred simultaneously, Firstly, an unleashed Staffordshire terrier locked its jaws on a collie outside the Birdcage, causing all manner of kerfuffle and shouting. The police arrived which meant that they were already on the scene when a gunshot rang out from the petrol station forecourt on the other side of the road, provoking yet more pandemonium. However, even being at the crime scene before the crime took place wasn’t quick enough, as the shooter duly scarpered, and Stamford Hill was closed off while the plod scoured for clues. The dogs were eventually separated without too much damage inflicted on the collie, although both dog and owner were left badly shaken. While nobody was hurt in either event, it serves as a reminder that N16 isn’t quite the utopian oasis amid the gritty inner city that a lot of people often seem to take it for. Bad things can happen here as well. |
