Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. Clara Macedo Cabral met her husband Titus in her native Portugal: less than a year later the pair were living in Highbury. It’s been a culture shock – but one that has inspired three books about Portugal. Interview by Nicola Baird

“I miss Portugal, mostly the lack of light,” says Clara sipping a cappuccino at Oasis Café in Highbury Fields. “Our wedding was in Lisbon and then I moved here in September 2005. I had to give up my flat in Lisbon and career – I was a lawyer for the Ministry of Work and Social Security.”

English is Clara’s third language so she admits that, “When I arrived here I missed half the conversations, but I’ve gradually improved.” Pregnancy introduced a whole new set of words, but when her son Thomas was born in December 2006 she explains how distressing the language barrier sometimes was. “In hospital didn’t understand what the nurses or midwives were saying! I was so tired and they told me ‘newborns need to be cuddled’. I didn’t know that verb ‘cuddle’. I remember crying so much. What I wanted was warmth and sympathy.”

But it’s Thomas, now six and able to speak Portuguese and English, who has helped Clara integrate and provided the inspiration for a series of books.

Tina’s Ices parked near Highbury Fields playground. You can just see the electric cable that makes it the cleanest and quietest ice cream van in the borough.

“I started to go to Euphorium Bakery some months after Thomas was born. I was desperate to be out of the house and not isolated at home. I’d take my computer to the café and while he was sleeping I’d write – it was a book of chronicles because there was no time to write longer pieces. I have taken people into my books people that I met in Islington, like Tina who sells ice creams and Peter Powell who gave walking ours, but has now passed away, and Cordelia, the park keeper in Highbury Fields playground. I am a good friend of hers and she does a fantastic job over there. Also a homeless man I met at Highbury Corner with whom I have good chats about literature and politics.  He has covered a wall at the exit of Highbury Fields station with poetic quotations he knows by heart and have guided him throughout life (it has now been removed).”

“I still love the noise and movement at Euphorium, being amongst people,” says Clara Macedo Cabral.

Euphorium became Clara’s second home. “I knew all the employees, as some were Portuguese and Brazilian. I saw the courtyard changing (it’s now covered) and the building work. I wrote because I wanted to reconnect with myself. With the baby I was so alienated from my inner needs and I was having to adjust to new weather and the rules of a new culture.”

In that first year of motherhood Clara, 44, also spent time at the British Library reading room finishing her Masters (from the University of Lisbon) which focused on the writers Katherine Mansfield and the Brazilian modernist Clarace Lispector to ask if there was a feminine way of writing. “I had a Brazilian nanny who’d bring me Thomas when he needed to breastfeed,” explains Clara.

Masters over Clara dedicated herself to writing more. “I always feel a guest in this country. I don’t want to grab too much attention, I want to integrate myself, get to know the rules and understand the subtleties – the unsaid things. You don’t get understatement in southern European countries! But I don’t want to totally change what I am. So my second book Raposas is  less centered in motherhood and more about the politics and economics of this country and the way austerity measures are affecting the Londoners I meet.

Why Clara loves Highbury

• I like to walk around North London visiting the places where Marie Stopes had her first family planning clinic (Holloway) or the school to educate girls that Mary Wollstonecraft established in Newington Green.

• All my family has bicycles and we like to go along the old railway line (Parkland Walk) for lunch in Highgate. I use my bike to drop off my son at school too.

• I’ve spent many years in Highbury Fields playground – I owe it a lot and it gave me a social life. We also love to go to Hampstead Heath on the overground. We also like to go on the bus (#4) to the Tate Modern, then take the boat down to Greenwich.

To order a copy of LISBON STORY direct from Clara, email claramacedocabral@hotmail.com.

Lisbon Story
Her son may be growing up in London but Clara tries to visit Lisbon regularly. Thanks to her son’s enthusiasm for the tram track up and down the seven hills of Lisbon she began to develop the plot for Lisbon Story. “The number 28 tram route in Lisbon is very picturesque,” explains Clara. “It passes haberdasheries, the cathedral and through narrow streets where sheets are hung up on drying lines. You pass the monastery and a flea market. But it is changing very fast. Those haberdasheries are now used by insurance companies and banks. It made me think that my son was going to have a different memory of Lisbon. This change is happening all over Europe – the facades of buildings are decaying and there is no money to repair them. Craftsmen and independent shops are dying. I see it acutely because I go three or four times a year, and I want to hold on to the places I’ve known.”

The result is Clara’s beautiful story about a young boy and his grandfather living in an old-fashioned style in a small courtyard in quite a communal way. The story takes place during the Festival of St Anthony (13 June) and is filled with pictures of traditional Portuguese homes decorated with Chinese lanterns and what’s known in the UK as pop-ups restaurants where grilled sardines and pork are sold.

There is an English phrase “Can’t see the wood for the trees,” which applies to most of us. We are all so busy rushing to work and coping with daily chores that it is very easy to miss the changes taking place under our noses. Clara’s infrequent trips to Lisbon helped her notice this intently – and the result is a beautiful modern story about a boy who loves trams. For those of us who are staring in at the pictures it’s also a snapshot of a changing city.

• To order a copy direct from Clara email claramacedocabral@hotmail.com
• Lisbon Story is being launched in London in Lambeth – which includes an area around Oval also known as Little Portugal – in early July 2013. The Portuguese Culture Institution, Camões, is also distributing the book to 71 countries where there are Portuguese language lessons. Lisbon Story is aimed at five to eight year olds and is in English and Portuguese, with illustrations by Slovekian artist, Andrea Lozekova, who has a child at Sacred Heart Primary School.

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

It’s not just children who love Tina’s Ices – the electrically-powered, super quiet ice cream van parked by Highbury Fields playground. When the sun comes out you may well spot builders trying to cool off, adults treating themselves and even dog walkers in the queue. Tina De Freitas knows there’s nothing so bad that a 99 cone with strawberry sauce and a spoonful of sprinkles can’t make better. Interview by Nicola Baird.

“I’m a very cool driver,” says Tina who commutes from Woodford, Essex in her Tina’s Ices van. “When drivers see an ice cream van they bip or overtake. There’s no point in retaliating or being rude, if I was they’d follow, and everyone knows where an ice cream van goes.”

“My ex-partner used to have a van by the swimming pool. He felt trapped in the van – it’s a small space and it can be boring. But I love this job. You meet people and kids. I wouldn’t be in a boring job.

But for Tina it’s just a job, though one she now loves. On that first day she had a smaller older van. The one she’s using today she persuaded her now ex-partner (also an ice cream seller) to paint her name on the bits that needed tidying up – hence “Tina’s Ices”. At first the couple worked together in Islington, each in their own van. Tina got the spot be the playground where she still parks up. He was by the exit near the swimming pool.

Sweet treat 
In Tina’s native Portugal, they don’t have vans selling ice-cream. “Back home every Sunday after church I had an ice cream as a treat. I don’t really eat it now,” – which is perhaps lucky for her waist line as she has 1,000s of ice creams in her vanilla-scented van.

During a sunny July lunchtime rush people snap up rocket lollies, 99s, calypso, twin cones, single cones, Mr Bubble, Solero, mint Magnum, lemon ice and two scoops.

And for every child there’s a kind word. Regulars – especially children at Canonbury School and William Tyndale School “all know me and say ‘hello Tina’,” she says as a group of students walk back to their primary school, heads swizzled towards her van, after a morning of sports on Highbury Fields.”

I’ll have a 99
When Tina started 15 years ago she didn’t know how to make a 99 – now she knows all about this most popular of all ice cream van choices.

“They never were 99p,” says Tina. “They were invented in the 1930s when money was different (pre decimalisation) it was pounds and shillings then [and no ice cream cost as much as 99 pence]. The reason why it is called a 99 is the chocolate is called 99 flake” [she shows me the yellow Cadbury’s box to prove her point]. “I have this argument every day. It can take a while to explain to tourists that it is just the name of the ice cream!”

“The mini ice-cream van on the dashboard of Tina’s Ices van says Tina, “is a present from a little boy who gave it to me for my big birthday on 25 April. I want to get another as there’s a shop on Upper Street selling vintage toys but it’s hard to find time to get there.”

Despite such a huge selection of ice creams and lollies the most expensive item Tina sells is just £2.50.  And she has to work long hours – often starting at 7.30am at the cash and carry, an hour commute, and then once at her pitch there is no time to drink, eat anything but a snack, or even pop to the loo.

“People do make comments when they sun comes out,” says Tina injured, “they shout ‘Oy, you must be making a fortune,’ forgetting I’ve been here three months doing nothing.” But most people are “generally very nice in Highbury, the children too.”

With one exception
“One day I heard lots of police sirens – then suddenly someone jumped in through the window [it’s quite a small serving hatch]. I assumed he was going to rob me and I ran out of the van, screaming. This was 12 or 13 years ago. But he was wanted by the police, and they found him. I remember his face – but now he comes and buys ice cream with his wife and kids. He’s never said anything to me. I don’t think he’s told his wife!”

“I don’t do much in the winter – I look after the house and be a 100 per cent mother. In summer I spend more time on Highbury Fields than in my house.” 

Maths lessons
Plenty of families use an ice cream treat as a chance to offer first lessons in maths. Tina is happy to help – “if I know the child well, then I’ll count the change out. Sometimes I’ll trick them and give them too much or too little to see if they notice.” She’s far too kind to let a child make a mistake, but it’s certainly a good way to learn.

In fact Tina’s son, now 16, “used to come in the van every day when he was little. He learnt his colours and counting here before he went to school,” remembers Tina looking around the tiny space she works in and then up at the printed van roof, decorated with cute characters holding vanilla cones. “That’s why he doesn’t like to come now, he thinks he’s too big.”

But he’s wrong! As Tina puts it, “There’s no age limit for an ice cream.” Although she does admit to quiet amusement at the adults who “come for a jog, and then have an ice cream after. I think it’s going to kill them – being hot then eating something cold – but it is good for business.”

Over the years Tina has made many friends, seen children grow up and even won the hearts of the Highbury Fields Association. She’s pleased too to have the electric power supply too which makes her van as good as quiet while it is parked at her pitch. “Years ago there were a lot of complaints from the neighbours, but the electric is better for me too. It saves on diesel and the engine is turned off.”

Tina’s Ices by Highbury Fields playground sells ice creams and cold drinks seven days a week from about 12 noon until 8.30-9pm during the summer. (If it’s a cold day Tina works from 1-6pm). Find her there from March-October.

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. Opened in 1920 Alfredo’s café was an Islington landmark for years, sited at the end of an 18^th century terrace at 4-6 Essex Road. It was probably best known as a fabulous working man’s café (then reborn as the S&M café, now Meat). But it wasn’t just the big plates of food that made it special says Nina Marcangelo, who was born in the flat above the café, and is still one of the owners of the property. Interview by Nicola Baird

“I was cooking before I could walk,” says Nina Marcangelo who was born above Alfredo’s cafe and started work there in 1953.

Nina Marcangelo started working at Alfredo’s in 1953, only leaving when she married Elio and moved to run a café with him in Barnet High Street. “At Alfredo’s I’d be up at 5.30am and start preparing all the food. We had fry ups, steak and kidney pudding, steak pies, braised steak, braised liver, apple pies and bread pudding,” she says. Everything was made at Alfredo’s, including the famous vanilla ice cream*, except the bread and rolls delivered by a German baker called Mr Dickens.

Nina’s family are Italian so they know how to make great food. Many Londoners also got their first taste of spaghetti and minestrone here.

The generous portions and amazing tile interior attracted all sorts of punters – including music hall stars Marie Lloyd and Max Miller when they worked at Collins Music Hall (now Waterstone’s book shop on Islington Green, see photo).

Even the Kray twins were customers.

Alfredo’s biggest claim to fame is surely starring in the cult ’70s film about Mods & Rockers, Quadrophenia. Pic sourced from www.classicafes.co.uk/Best.html

Achingly cool
But Alfredo’s biggest claim to fame is featuring in the classic cult ‘70s movie Quadrophenia. The café starred as the Mods’ London hangout. “The scenes had to be shot at night so the café could stay open as normal (from 6am-6pm six days a week),” says Nina.

Alfredo’s also played a star turn in the less-well known film Mojo (1997).

The original Alfredo’s tiles are listed. See them now if you eat or have a cocktail at Meat, 4-6 Islington Road, N1.

“Daddy bought it in 1920 from my Grandfather Vincent de-Ritis. Actually he was called Alfonso, but he thought Alfredo’s sounded more business like,” says Nina, now 75. “Daddy was born in England. He was a Londoner who wouldn’t leave Islington. Mum came over from Italy when she was 21 to work with her sister, who had a café in Hackney,” says Nina warmly. “When I was little Mum used to stand me on a box to do the washing-up (these are the days before dish washers),” says Nina. “At the end of the day (when I was older) I’d collect all the tea towels and scrub them on a board until they were really white, then ‘spin’ them on the mangle we kept downstairs in the cellar.”

The interview is taking place on a scorchingly hot July day, reminiscent of an Italian summer, in Nina’s sitting room in Barnett. Pride of place goes to a painting of Alfredo’s and, on the opposite wall, a giant photo of her mother’s picture perfect hilltop Italian village home, Picinisco, between Rome and Naples. “Whatever house you go into they all cook amazing,” insists Nina. To prove her point Nina shows me her “favourite book ever’ Dear Francesca (and also Dear Olivia) cookbooks by Mary Contini whose family also hails from the same village.

There are also framed photos of Nina’s parents meeting the Pope, socialising with champion boxer  and Question of Sport TV star Henry Cooper (who “married an Italian girl”) and family snaps of her daughters, Lisa and Rita, and the grandchildren Leo and Rosa.

“Life felt very Italian. Mum always spoke Italian to me. We bought pasta at Gazzano’s, an Italian deli down Clerkenwell Road.” The family also went to church at St Peter’s in Hatton Gardens which Nina says “is like a miniature Vatican inside.” As the years passed the Italians around Clerkenwell moved. Nina says they went to “Highbury, then Finchley and then on further afield. There’s a very big community in Hoddesdon, Herts.”

Family life

“After I married I moved to Barnet with my husband, Elio. We ran a café in the High Street next to the Mitre pub. It used to be called The Terminus, because that’s where the trams turned around. But now it’s called Georges.”

“I had wonderful parents,” says Nina with a big smile. “My mother was a very friendly lady. Within minutes she knew your life history. I think Daddy tended to spoil me – at 21 he bought me a brand new red mini!” But her early years were tough – the youngsters (Nina’s the third child in a family of four, and all the rest are boys) were evacuated during the war to Tamworth, Staffordshire. “We were all near but not together,” remembers Nina. “My parents did it for safety, they stayed in London. But I had a wonderful five years as the people (I stayed with) looked after me like a princess – I stayed in touch until they died. There were no animals, but there was a lovely big field to play in. You’d hear doodle bugs pass over. I think they were heading to Birmingham. And we had bomb shelters – it’s where I learnt to knit and do jigsaw puzzles.”

Once it was safe to come home to Islington Nina went to school at St John’s the Evangelist in Duncan Terrace. “I loved it,” she says. “I wanted to go to the school my brothers were at, Brompton Oratory, but mother said it was too far for a girl. What could I do? It’s not like now. You had to do what your parents said.” The result was secondary at St Aloysius near Euston. And then on to work at the café full time.

Cafe life
“When it was quieter I’d start preparing for the next day. I loved to go to the meat market (at Spitalfields) as the chaps made a fuss of me. There was no nastiness. I used to drive down and then had to give a two and six tip*. I was 17 when I took my driving test, and only 18 when I drove my mother to Italy.  My dad had such confidence in me.” Here she laughs, adding, “To be truthful there wasn’t the traffic. Driving was great fun – once a week I used to drive Mum to the West End, park the car, and we’d go shopping!”

Despite being an early car fan, Nina and her husband are now carless. “We’ve got bus passes, save on insurance and can always catch a cab,” she says practically – showing the insight that led to classic Italian dishes – spaghetti bolognese and minestrone – being added to Alfredo’s menu because “It’s what I thought English people would have a go at.”

“My favourite customers were the builders – as long as you gave them a big plate they were happy,” she says. Nina still remembers where comedian and singer Harry Secombe sat when he tipped her after a fried breakfast. “The Kray brothers used to go there too,” Nina adds more warily. “When you read the terrible things they did it’s a surprise. They were charming – you wouldn’t think butter would melt.”

“When I was a little girl Islington was a right dump. If people asked you where you came from you’d say very quietly ‘Islington’,” says Nina. “Now I’m quite proud to say I come from Islington.”

• London still has working men cafes, but nothing beats the experience Alfredo’s gave. You can find more info about it at http://www.classiccafes.co.uk.
• Alfredo’s site is now occupied by Meat – a posh restaurant and cocktail bar which cooks meat sublimely, and offers veggie options – at 4-6 Essex Road, N1. http://meatpeople.co.uk

  Alfredo’s site is now occupied by Meat – a posh restaurant and cocktail bar which cooks meat sublimely, and offers veggie options – at 4-6 Essex Road, N1. http://meatpeople.co.uk

• To enjoy a taste of Italian life in Islington on the Sunday around 16 July each year at 3pm (“an Italian three o’clock,” warns Nina, “so it may be nearer 3.30pm or 4pm”) there’s a religious procession along Clerkenwell Road and past St Peter’s church. There’s always lots of pizza, clothes, tops and seeds (for your garden).”

WORDS*

Vanilla ice cream/gelato – Alfonzo had a place over the road where he kept his ice cream making equipment.

2/6d is two and six (two shillings and six pence).

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. London is a big draw for people all round the world. Manuel Saavedra – born in Spain – and his wife Stella – from the Philippines – came here to seek their fortune in the late 1960s. They met in the heart of London in the 1970s and married. Now both retired they talk about their years living in Islington. Interview by Nicola Baird

Manuel and Stella are a lovely couple who generously let their back yard be used by the Blackstock Gardeners of N4 for the seed and plant swapping parties that are run two or three times a year. That’s how I found out Manuel is a skilled gardener and expert at saving rainwater, in a collection of rain butts, to use on his thriving plants. This year he is growing blue potatoes, beans, fennel, brussel sprouts, a grape vine and a cucumber. Many of Manuel’s plants were grown from seed given out at one of the Blackstock Gardeners’ Cake Sunday events.*

Manuel: “I was born in Galicia, in the north west of Spain. It’s the next province to Santiago di Compostela. In Galicia it’s green like here. It rains and it snows. We were a farming family, growing wheat, sweet corn, potatoes, beans. It was nice in one way because there was no one to tell you when to wake up or go to bed or get the products ready. In that way were very rich. But to buy a dress we had to sell an animal, or eggs or a cheese. From a very young age my eight brothers and sisters found their way out to a different job. We saw people coming from abroad with the good suit, the good tie and shiny hands. They were so well dressed and had a pile of money. We went out and they said “I’ll pay for him”. That tells me, it tells us all, I must go abroad to Germany, England, or Holland. We never asked how they made their money – they were waiters or washing up…

Stella: “I was born in the Philippines in the city. My mum is from the Philippines and my Dad from China. I’m half and half. I came to London to study nursing at Great Ormond Street Hospital when I was 26. When I got here in 1971 I’d only known hot weather, but I liked the cold. In the beginning I was lonely as there were no Philippino people, now the community is a big one. But I soon made friends and was happy.

Manuel: “From 1969-83 I worked at the Top of the Town (a theatre restaurant, now the Hippodrome) in Leicester Square. I learnt English there. There were three restaurants serving 864 people at two shows a day.  When it closed in 1983 they said it wasn’t profitable, but we were still serving 350-400 customers daily! In 1970 I started working two jobs. Sometimes I only slept three hours. I joined the Ritz Hotel as a commis waiter*. The customers were excellent at the Ritz. Instead of complaining about my English they tried to correct you. I remember Hart to Hart (starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers) was filming in London in 1981 and we opened the buffet for 24 hours a day. I also worked in Mayfair at the Bristol Hotel (now the Mayfair Holiday Inn at the back of Aeroflot) and Browns, opposite Green Park.

Stella: “We met in Leicester Square. It was the nurses’ day off and we said let’s go to the discotheque at the Empire Mecca – it’s a casino now.

Manuel: “If you worked hard you got good money and good tips. I rented a room with my wife first. Then I was able to buy a flat, then a house. In my time you worked hard, but you could make good money – not like today when hotel staff get maybe £6 an hour, below the minimum wage.

Stella: “At first I lived in Holloway. The council ended up compulsorily purchasing the house. It was knocked down and now it’s the Argos car park.

Manuel: “I bought this house from Mr Protter. His mummy had died here. He was in the military, living in Essex. The house has five bedrooms now but with Mr Protter it had been two flats and squatters were getting in. Islington Council had given him £18,000 to do the place up, so everything was new, wiring – everything. My neighbour Lily said Mr Protter’s  mother had been here for over 60 years. I don’t think many people have lived in this house.

On Manuel and Stella’s living room mantelpiece is a blue plaque picture provided by neighbour Naomi of a turn of the century census giving information about the 1911 residents of their home – Daniel Taylor, house painter, his wife and eight children (see pic). There are also photographs of the couple’s son Leonardo, now 34, graduating from Derby University. Leonardo lives in Chiswick now, but he went to primary school off Holloway Road and to St Aloysius Secondary School.

Manuel: “I remember my Mummy, before she passed, telling us at the fiestas to ‘Eat properly before you leave the house so you don’t have to spend even 10 pesetas. If you don’t need it, you don’t spend it.’ That’s why I tell my son ‘Don’t spend money’. I never used to go to the pub, and I don’t drink now. It’s because I was in hotels and in charge, so you can’t really drink. You have to behave yourself. But I don’t regret the hard work.”

Bricks and books for the grandchildren.

Manuel’s thriving plants grow along the boundary wall.

Manuel: “I stopped work in 2006. I noticed I couldn’t pick up a tray from the floor because of my back. But I like Gillespie Park and Finsbury Park and sometimes go for a walk with my friends. We go two or three rounds around Arsenal because it’s all level. I’ve never been to a game but my son went a lot of times with his school friend. I saw the stadium at a conference once…”

Ingenious water saving means Manuel never needs to use mains water on his plants, or to wash his son’s car.

Words*

• Join the Blackstock Gardeners on a Cake Sunday by bringing a cake to share and then catch up on gardening tips and local news over a cup of tea. You can see photos of these events in Naomi Schillinger’s 2013 book Veg Street.  Or follow her blog here.
• Commis waiter – entry level waiter who sets the cutlery, brings bread/water/condiments to the table, etc. See here.
• Hart to Hart info here.

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy the most popular of all islingtonfacesblog posts, Nina Marcangelo from Alfredo’s Cafe on Essex Road which had 800 viewers in a week, 187 views on its 2nd day up and 97 facebook shares.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  Pat Tuson, 68, best known locally as leading the Gillespie Festival team, grew up in the East End but it’s Islington birds and blooms that feature most in her urban and plant photographs.  Interview by Nicola Baird

Pat Tuson: “I’ve always been a bit of a whiz with family history, but I was amazed to find out recently that my grandmother was born in the Paradise Cafe, 129 Holloway Road, N7 (near St Mary Magdalene Church) where my great grandfather was a coffee house keeper. It’s my only Islington connection but one until recently I knew nothing about.”

“I was accidentally born in Somerset, but we came from Bow* in East London, near where the terrible cycling accidents happen opposite where McDonald’s is now,” explains Pat when I track her down at the Ecology Centre off Drayton Park. She’s armed with her Nikon D300 camera waiting for the wind to die down so she can take photos of summer plants.

Pat was a war baby – born in January 1945, and her dad, known as Jack (“actually Denis Archibald – he was the seventh son so they’d run out of names,” says Pat joking). “My grandfather was a scrap metal dealer, and so was my father. There was no stigma to being a scrap metal dealer then, as there is now, and my father was a respected member of the local comunity and the Catholic Church. He was oftern referred to as ‘one of nature’s gentlemen’.”

Life in Bow
“My father was married in 1940, but he’d fallen off a roof a few years before and then rolled under a lorry. He was there concussed for two hours before anyone found him. He was in hospital for two years and nearly didn’t make it. It affected him always – he needed a stick and he was very nervous about my mother and I.”

“We lived in a little row of terrace cottages (not as grand as Whistler Street off Drayton Park, N5) that were in very bad condition. They were held up with wooden supports and our house had a corrugated roof. My uncle lived next door – he was a Labour councillor in Poplar, and became Mayor too.”

“In 1944 doodlebugs* had been dropped a few streets away – seven or eight people were killed, and my father was very nervous, so we went to Minehead. I was actually born in Bridgewater. A note was sent to my father saying he’d had a daughter and then he had to walk to the hospital [21 miles/33km] as there was no public transport due to the bad weather.”

The family was back in London by spring 1945, but in addition to post war austerity they had to put up with a lot. In 1951 Pat’s little brother died just four days after he was born, and then Pat was diagnosed with TB (caught from another uncle). “TB is contagious,” she explains. “I was only eight, and I didn’t feel ill, but I was carted off to High Wood, a sanatorium in Brentwood*, Essex for five months. The cure was rest, you had to stay in bed. I couldn’t understand why I had to go to sleep at 6pm in the summer when the light was flowing in from the window. My parents didn’t drive but I saw them on Sunday visiting. I made more friends towards the end – you start getting up for an hour at lunch, but I don’t remember how I spent the time, though I’ve always liked reading. I loved Biggles and adventure stories. At the end you are institutionalized, but I wasn’t happy there. As an adult in hospital I’ve been well-treated but when I came out of High Wood I didn’t like nurses.”

In those days TB was treated with isolation, and then a year off school – Pat had no chance of catching up the lost work and ended leaving school in Poplar before she was 15. Yet getting work at the start of the 1960s was no problem. “I could do clerical work and typing. I got my first job in Holborn,” she says. “Jobs were plentiful then and there was lots of choice.”

1960s London
It was the ‘60s and inevitably the teenage Pat fell in love with fashion. “I’ve still got a collection of very old Vogues, though I did sell some recently. I wore the trendy stuff. I loved short skirts from Biba and Mary Quant; I loved the first Biba shop. But then you grow out of these things and get into fleeces. Now I have an extra small, a medium and a large so I can wear them on top of each other when it’s cold.”

Pat met her life partner, Chris Ashby, at a party in Chelsea when she was 22. He’d grown up in Blackpool and was working as a mechanical engineer so they tried out Edinburgh, Liverpool and Spain. They moved to Islington in 1973, though In the mid-70s the pair spent a winter on the Island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides watching and photographing the wild geese that wintered there. “We arrived home with four kittens which we’d rescued from drowning, which eventually led to me setting up a cat sitting business in 1992,” she says.

“When I was young everyone got married,” explains Pat. “I always said Chris was too mean to pay the 7/-6,’ she says with a gentle grin, “but my parents weren’t smart people and they didn’t mind what I did, as long as I was happy and healthy. We’ve been together for 46 years and still not married… but we may now, for financial reasons!”

The Ecology Centre becomes a jazz stage with a cafe behind during the Gillespie Festival (on the 2nd Sunday of September).

Islington changes
“In 1973 Islington was already slightly trendy – it started being so in the ‘60s. Then it became more established, lived in by older people. Because there are now lots more flats there are more younger people again, but I feel it’s become very over-crowded. Our house (behind the Emirates Stadium) is now surrounded by people who are new to us. They are packing everyone in and there isn’t enough green space. They build on every tiny little corner: if you can squeeze a house or a flat in, then they’ll do it. In the 1970s Peter Bonsall, parks officer, opened up Barnard Park* http://www.barnardpark.org/history.html, but since then we’ve lost half of Gillespie Park with the Quill Street development.”

One of the many lovely views at Gillespie Park, just behind the Ecology Centre. Find it seconds away from Arsenal tube, just off Drayton Park in the shadow of Arsenal’s old and new ground.

Keeping it green
In a bid to deal with Islington’s lack of green space Pat and Chris have an allotment, were stalwarts of the Green party for years and also used to run the Islington Wildlife Group (part of the London Wildlife Trust). They also joined the campaign to save Gillespie Park from being built over in the late 1990s.

“The first festival was part of that campaign, 27 years ago,” explains Pat who still helps co-ordinate the annual community festival with a green edge held in this unique ecology park behind Arsenal tube. “You can’t imagine the amount of work involved for everybody. You’ve got to make sure the insurance is in place, the police and fire brigade are informed and that all the stallholders are happy…” Despite the workload, Pat, and her team, will ensure everything’s ready for the 2,000 visitors expected to turn up for the 27^th festival on Sunday 8 September from 2-6pm.

One of Pat’s beautiful pictures of urban nature, by (c) Pat Tuson – Gillespie Park Local Nature Reserve under snow with Common reed Phragmites communis in foreground near Highbury Islington London England UK.

Why I love cameras
Q Why do you photograph Islington?
A: Because it’s there when I open my front door. It’s a fascinating place and the supply of images is never ending.”

Q: Where’s your favourite place to take photographs in Islington?
A: Well, it should be Gillespie Park, but I rather like just wondering around the streets and looking at people’s front gardens to see what’s growing over their walls or railings. So if anybody sees their front garden in a smart magazine I hope they don’t mind!”

See Pat’s photos here http://www.pattuson.co.uk/. Her photos are also stocked by Gap Photos, Nature Picture Library, Ecoscene and Alamy.

Pat’s partner, Chris Ashby, may be able to feed your cat if you are away, check prices and dates at 020 7609 5093.

It’s free to join Friends of Gillespie Park

Gillespie Festival is on Sunday 8 September 2013 from 1-5pm. It’s a free event – the entrance is close to Arsenal tube.

If you’ve enjoyed this piece about a Gillespie Festival committee member you might also like to look at interviews with other committee members – Diane Burridge, Stephen Coles, Sue Jandy and ex-committee member Angela Sinclair-Loutit.

Words*

• Bow was part of Poplar, it’s now part of Tower Hamlets – and remains one of the poorest London boroughs.
• Doodlebugs – flying bombs (V1s). Around 6,000 Londoners were killed and 500,000 homes destroyed during WW2. Lots of info about the Doodlebug summer of 1944 here, http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com/V1_maintextg.html
• The hospital I was in was called High Wood in Brentwood, see http://www.workhouses.org.uk/MAB-HighWood/ There were others in the area, eg, the TB sanatorium for young women at Warley, which was opened in 1921, see more here http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-london/plain/A4298646 . The building is still used for the chronically sick, see http://www.marillac.co.uk/home/index.php

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy the most popular of all islingtonfacesblog posts, Nina Marcangelo from Alfredo’s Cafe on Essex Road which had 800 viewers in a week, 187 views on its 2nd day up and 97 facebook shares.

Joan Lock: “When I finished Dead Born and read it again I thought: ‘I did a lot of research’, so that’s why I wrote the history of The Princess Alice Disaster.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  So far during 2013, crime writer Joan Lock has had two books published – a Victorian crime novel, Dead Born, and a non-fiction book about The Princess Alice Disaster. Later this year she is to have a book re-released. She has also been a winner in a John Lewis art competition. Not bad for someone just about to celebrate their 80^th birthday.  Join in the competition to win a copy of these books, see how below. Interview by Nicola Baird

Dead Born – the latest in Joan’s popular Detective Sergeant Best mystery series to be issued in paperback – starts with the handsome hero, Sgt Best, living in Barnsbury next door to a suspected Islington baby farm. The plot deepens when Sgt Best ends up on the Princess Alice, a pleasure steamer which sinks on the River Thames, in 1878, after being rammed by another boat at near Woolwich. Around 650 people drowned, making it Britain’s worst-ever inland waterway disaster.

“The Princess Alice went down in two minutes, taking with it a lot of people from Islington who were enjoying the sudden improvement in the weather with a day out on the river. Their chances of survival were hampered by the fact that both sexes wore boots, the women  wore long skirts – and  most of them could not swim. Islington vestry (parish council) had turned down the suggestion of public swimming baths so, after the disaster, they were severely criticised by the Islington Gazette,” says Joan from her desk in her Barnsbury flat.

Mixing real Victorian news events with fiction has become Joan’s speciality.

“When I first decided to do some fiction I wasn’t sure I had enough imagination so based my first crime book, Dead Image, around the real Regent’s Canal boat explosion in 1874,” she says with a wicked chuckle. Joan is being modest though. Her first two books were autobiographies about her experiences working, first as a nurse in the north-east and then as a policewoman in Mayfair and Soho.

Joan Lock’s flat is full of books she’s written, and pictures she’s painted. She is a member of a local art group and also paints when she stays at the John Lewis’ staff (known as partners) and ex-staff holiday hotel Brownsea Castle, wich is on an island in Poole harbour.

Lady of the night
She left nursing because she was “underpaid, overworked, and the conditions were awful”. She then left policing when the feeling of novelty was overtaken by recognition of the limited work and career opportunities for women. “It’s all in the book,” says Joan patting her hardback copy of Lady Policewoman. “As a police woman in the West End I went to film premiers and all the Royal occasions, like Princess Margaret’s wedding, which was all rather fun but the work was probably less interesting than that in the poorer and more residential areas such as the East End or Islington. At the time, the West End was teaming with prostitutes but when the Street Offences Act came into effect the authorities were anxious to find out how the women would now seek customers. I had had this disastrous red hair rinse, which rather clashed with my new salmon pink duster coat, which may have been why they asked me to pose as a prostitute and go to newsagents to enquire how much they would charge to advertise ‘my’ services.”

Reluctant Nightingale, to be renamed Please Nurse! (which is about Joan’s student nursing life in the 1950s) is due to be re-published by Orion this autumn in part due to the popularity of the TV show Call the Midwife. A new edition of her The British Policewoman may be published soon, while her only modern crime novel Death in Perspective and the non-fiction Blue Murder (about police officers suspected of murder) are about to come out as eBooks.

“Policing and nursing are very similar. A large part is dealing with people under stress and pretending you know what to do next,” said Joan with characteristic good sense. “As a police woman I saw some sad things such as the senile, mentally retarded couple who had not been seen for a couple of days. When we broke into their flat we found them in bed.  The woman was cuddling and talking to the old man’s lifeless body and she refused to be parted from him, or to believe that he was dead. The mentally disturbed seemed to gravitate towards me. I also dealt with quite a number of attempted suicides.”

Joan is well-known in policing circles for her history of The British Policewoman: Her Story (published in 1979, 60 years after first police woman joined the Metropolitan Police), as well as campaigning articles and radio programs asking questions such as ‘When would the first female chief constable be appointed?’ Her efforts paid off when Pauline Clare was appointed to run Lancashire’s policing in 1995. Though there’s clearly a way to go as of the 52 chief constables only seven are currently women. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_constable

After finishing as a police woman Joan opted to work part-time on a John Lewis in-house journal to give herself enough time to do her freelance writing.

Early life
Joan was six and had just started school in New Malden, Surrey, when World War Two started. “I remember a test siren and all this panic,” she says. “We moved to my father’s home Barrow-on-Furness and settled there in the middle of the shipyards as people thought the German bombers wouldn’t have enough fuel to get that far. They were wrong and we were bombed to bits. I wasn’t allowed to go to school there because my legs were too short – I just couldn’t run fast enough to reach the bomb shelter in time,” remembers Joan with regret.

“We slept under a steel table but were constantly being dragged out to go to the air raid shelters.  I have a vivid memory of my mother, Ena, screaming for us to get out of bed blending with the scream of a dive bomber…”

The family managed to escape to an aunt’s house in Cartmel in the Lake District – now famous for sticky toffee pudding – and then moved to Tyneside where they were duly bombed again. “I attended 10 schools, but not to grammar school because I failed the entrance exam. After leaving I did various jobs and then went into nursing the same as my mother,” she explains.

Take a break
Joan might have stayed working as a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead if it hadn’t been for a fantastic birthday present. “My parents gave me a trip to Paris for my 21^st. On the way we passed through London where I saw a police woman sheltering in a doorway and thought ‘That’s an idea!’ It wasn’t exactly a vocation, but I wanted to go to London so I joined the Metropolitan police and was posted to West End Central, just behind Regent Street. There were 20 of us women at the station and six hundred men – which was very good for our social life! It’s where I met my husband, Bob. We married when I was 24.”

“My relatives in Alnwick, Northumberland say all their friends are jealous that they can borrow my flat in Islington right at the heart of London. When they are here they like to breakfast at Carluccio’s. I like the egg and chips at the Workers’ Café opposite the Town Hall.”

JOAN LOCK’S LIFE IN ISLINGTON
Q: What do you love doing?
I write for around four hours a day. I go to the RA, Tate and the Mall Gallery exhibitions; play board games with neighbours and I’m a long-time member of Book Circle at Islington Central Library.

Q: Where’s good to eat?
Recent very good finds have been the John Salt in Upper Street with very innovative food, and the Pig and Butcher, Liverpool Road – hate the name but loved the food.

A favourite Turkish is The Gem in Upper Street – nice family place with wonderful lamb (a farmer relative was most impressed!) and it is a very convenient place to meet friends alighting at the Town Hall bus stop.

Q: What about shopping?
I use the shop and drop service at Waitrose, Holloway Road so I don’t have to carry my shopping home.

At The Sampler wine shop in Upper Street you can taste before you buy and get a chance to at least savour wines well above your price range.  Wish it had opened before my husband died – he would have loved it.

Moving to Islington
Joan has lived in London since that birthday trip, moving to Islington in the 1970s. “I’d been to the Tower Theatre with friends and thought Canonbury looked very attractive, so when we had to move out of our police flat near Tottenham Court Road we asked for one of the police flats in Canonbury Park South.” When Bob retired the couple found a Barnsbury Housing Association flat, on the other side of Upper Street, where Joan still lives.

“I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. London is the best city in the world and Islington is perfect – it’s very lively and so near the West End and all my research places:  the British Library; Guildhall and the marvelous London Metropolitan Archives where I found the Princess Alice disaster inquest papers.  The local Coroners who drew attention to Islington baby farming were Dr Thomas Wakeley (founder of The Lancet and MP for Finsbury) and Dr Edwin Lankester who carried on Wakeley’s work by insisting on proper post mortems and inquests for the babies and encouraging murder verdicts.*

While researching in The Islington Gazette about the finding of baby’s bodies behind hedges and railings Joan came across a report on the Police Fete at Alexandra Palace.  “This set me off writing Dead Letters (2003) which is to be the next in the Sergeant Best series to come out in paperback – except that he is now an inspector – a reward for the hard time he had in Dead Born!”

Find out about all Joan’s books and life story at http://www.joanlock.co.uk/ Also see Joan Lock’s amazon page, here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Books/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Joan%20Lock&page=1&rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3AJoan%20Lock

COMPETITION & BOOK GIVEAWAY: If you would like a FREE copy of Dead Born and/or The Princess Alice Disaster please add a brief comment below stating (1) which book/s you want and (2) whether you knew anything about Islington baby farms or the Princess Alice sinking before reading this interview. (3) You’ll also need to include your email. Names will be picked out of a hat two weeks after this interview is published (so last comp entries will be at midnight on 24 September 2013). Entry only accepted if you have a UK address the books can be posted to.

WORDS*

Islington Vestry – the Vestry criticized by the Islington Gazette would be the Parish Council – similar to today’s Islington Council.

 The Book Circle at Islington Central Library also known as The Central Library Reading Group meets monthly on the penultimate Monday of the month between 6-7.30pm. Meetings are held in the Gallery at the Central Library. New members are always welcome. The next meeting will be on Monday 23 September, and the group will be discussing Bring up the bodies by Hilary Mantel.

• If people are interested they can contact the Central Library on 020-7527-6900, or email centrallending.lib@islington.gov.uk  or Lisa Tyas Lisa.Tyas@islington.gov.uk
• For details of this and other reading groups in Islington, see http://www.islington.gov.uk/services/libraries/morethanjustbooks/Pages/1359.aspx

Islington baby farming – there was one at College Cross, N1. According to Joan: “Amongst the last of the baby farmers to be hanged (in 1903) were Annie Walters of Danbury Street, N1 – behind Islington Green near the canal and Amelia Sachs of Hertford Road, East Finchley.”

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy the most popular of all islingtonfacesblog posts, Nina Marcangelo from Alfredo’s Cafe on Essex Road which had 800 viewers in a week, 187 views on its 2nd day up and 97 facebook shares.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  It’s only two weeks since the summer holidays ended but Year 13 student at Camden Girls’ School, Corinna Snashall, is not just busy studying for A levels, she’s also pulling together a hectic round of fundraising events including a November Bonfire party. Interview by Nicola Baird

Corinna Snashall: fundraising during A levels so she can volunteer as a teacher in rural Namibia before going to university in 2015.

“I’ll invite a few friends, and have a few fireworks. It’ll be the same as always – fireworks in the garden, then pumpkin soup, baked potatoes and cake, but people will give a donation,” says Corinna, 17. The reason Corinna’s got to charge her friends to come to her family’s back garden Firework Party is pretty exciting. If she can raise £5,600+ by summer 2014 she’ll be able to spend the time between sixth form and university volunteering as a teacher for young children in a remote part of Namibia. It should be a life-enhancing experience for her, and a huge benefit to the kids who get to learn English from an English first-language speaker.

It’s also a long way from the Gap Year of crazy holiday partying so wittily satorised in the YouTube clip Gap Yah, see here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU

Corinna’s the first to admit that the fundraising for a year of living expenses, support for the organising charity, Project Trust, and a return flight, is a challenge. “I’m planning the Bonfire party, a ceilidh* and a Christmas party,” she says.  “I raised £40 at my first cake sale and plan to do many more. I needed ideas, so my mum said, ‘why not get sponsored to walk backwards to school?’ And then I wondered if I could walk backwards to somewhere Namibian. I did some research and saw that the Embassy is in Marylebone.* So I’ll walk backwards to it from Islington on the day after 21 March, Namibian independence day (ie, Saturday 22 March 2014). Hopefully I’ll get a few friends to help me. They can say ‘move left’, or ‘someone’s there’, or ‘watch the dog poo’, and I can have collecting buckets for donations and hand out leaflets.”

Some of the students on the selection course with Corinna, here seen after climbing the highest point on Coll.

Project Trust is a gap year charity http://www.projecttrust.org.uk  that sends young people for 12 (or eight) months to work on community projects worldwide.  Corinna went to a talk at her school, and then decided to apply. To do this she had to make her way to the remote island of Coll, western Scotland – taking a train from Euston to Glasgow, then Glasgow to Oban, and then a ferry.

“It was really fun in Coll,” says Corinna who is studying Music as one of her A levels (she’s also doing Biology and Chemistry) and plays the piano and trumpet well – she’s working on Grade 6 for both. “I had to teach a lesson to our group. I did it on basic note value for crochets, quavers and minims. I got people lying on the floor to make minims,” she says laughing.

“We also learnt about every aspect of life on Coll, dug a vegetable garden and climbed the island’s highest hill. We all had individual tasks to help members of the community. I did stock taking, but others were sheep herding!”

Corinna was selected and offered a volunteer teaching opportunity with primary school aged children, or younger, in Namibia.

“I’m lucky as I’ve been to Namibia before,” she says. “My dad’s a doctor and he was invited in 2009 to do some work with a Namibian doctor working on the uranium mines. The doctor said he should bring his family along. I was 13 and what I remember most is the smell you get as you step off the plane. It’s kind of earthy, sunburned, gamey smell. That time we didn’t really interact with the community but we saw a leopard sanctuary, walked up amazing red sand dunes and saw very old cave paintings. I even saw two giraffes mating – I held up my video camera to film one giraffe and suddenly another giraffe jumped on the other! We also got a CD of a Namibian children’s choir. It’s a capello (no instruments) but they use a lot of clapping and stamping. A lot is sung in Xhosa which I’d love to learn. There are three types of clicks  – it’s really impressive to someone who doesn’t speak with clicks.”

Although Corinna enjoyed her time as a tourist, she also knows that living in a rural village will be challenging. “I’m dreading the spiders, snakes, insects and the vaccinations,” she says with a clear shudder. “I’m a total wimp when it comes to injections. I don’t even have my ears pierced…”

Namibia in a nutshell
Namibia only became independent (from South Africa) in 1990. Although it’s a sparsely populated country of 2.1million people – and some of the biggest uranium and diamond mines in the world – Namibia looks unlikely to meet key Millennium Development Goals. Child and maternal deaths remain high. Every month many women die after giving birth.

Corinna: “It’s not just money I need to get to teach in Namibia. It’s donations of prizes for raffles or a free venue or publicity.”

Learning to plan
Moving into the final year of sixth form is a long way from child-maternal deaths, but it’s still a tough time for most students. Not only do 17 and 18 year olds have to cope with more rigorous learning, they may also have to find jobs and a university place. Corinna’s timetable is definitely tight. “The idea is to apply for bio-medical science on a deferred place. But I’m still thinking about studying medicine, ” she explains.

 

Where do teens go locally? Corinna’s time out in Islington
What I like about Islington
It’s easy to get everywhere – shopping in Angel is only a bus ride away and it doesn’t take long to get into central London on the tube. Transport is good in general – regular buses and tubes. Lots of parks around – Clissold, Highbury, Gillespie and Finsbury all within about 10mins. Most of my friends live around here, which means it’s easy to meet up at weekends, and for the people living further away it’s still not too difficult.

What I do in Islington
I like to go up to Angel with friends – can easily spend a whole afternoon looking around shops – H&M, Butlers, Paperchase, Book Warehouse (great for Dad’s birthday!), Cybercandy, Samba Swirl, Waterstone’s etc… Lots of places to eat as well – both locally to go out with family and cheapish places in Angel to go with friends (Nando’s Crew!). Handy to have a cinema close, also making good use of the Fieldway Crescent library (off Holloway Road) now, both for homework and looking up charitable trusts to hassle for grants.

What she is certain about is that the university she picks won’t be in London. “I was born in central London and then when I was tiny my mum and dad moved to Islington.” She’s been to schools in the borough – St John’s Primary School and Highbury Fields Secondary, both in  N5, and is an Islington fan.

“It’s not about disliking London. It’s about wanting a change and experiencing life in a new place,” she says before quickly focusing again on her fundraising efforts.  “It’s not just money I need to get to teach in Namibia, it’s donations of prizes for raffles, or a free venue or publicity.  I need to get the message out to everyone because someone may be able to help me, especially organising a venue for a ceilidh. I only got my fundraising pack two days ago, but I’ve already made a flyer and done a cake sale!”

Here’s wishing Corinna very good luck with her fundraising efforts and a safe time volunteering in Namibia.

To make a donation go to www.virginmoneygiving.com/corinnasnashall or to suggest a fundraising idea, offer a venue or donate a raffle/auction gift please email Corinna at latitudegirl@btinternet.com

Corinna has also started a blog, see here.

More info about Project Trust here http://www.projecttrust.org.uk

Words*

Namibian High Commission, Marylebone – see http://www.namibiahc.org.uk  Walking backwards the 4km (3miles) from Highbury, N5, where Corinna lives, to Marylebone, E4 sounds like a challenge, but the real distance between London and Windhoek, the capital of Namibia is vast – around 8,965km (5,571 miles) see here http://www.distancefromto.net/distance-from/UK/to/Namibia

Celidh – Scottish dancing party, ideal for mixed ages and usually a lot of fun. You don’t have to know the dancers as a Celidh caller can shout out the moves.

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy the most popular of all islingtonfacesblog posts, Nina Marcangelo from Alfredo’s Cafe on Essex Road which had 800 viewers in a week, 187 views on its 2nd day up and 97 facebook shares.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. Gillespie Road looks so ordinary but it is home to an astonishing array of sport-related businesses – there’s the old Arsenal stadium (the reason the tube was renamed Arsenal in 1932), the Gunners’ Fan Club and The Sarah Toner School of Ballet. Here ballet teacher Sarah Toner explains why ballet is good for us all. Interview by Nicola Baird

Sarah Toner: “I love ballet with all my heart.”

Sarah Toner has always loved dancing. She went to ballet school in Hertfordshire, joined a company in Portugal and then danced with the Birmingham Royal Ballet (which was the original Sadler’s Wells).  “I love ballet with all my heart,” she says when we meet at Cinnamon Village at 109 Highbury Park.

“I loved the training and the camaraderie, but being a free spirit I found it difficult to tolerate the ballet world, with its hierarchy and the way things are always done the same.” It didn’t help that Sarah’s elder sister was at the same school, followed the same career and initially joined the same company of dancers.

“I was always the naughty little sister and we were always competitive. We are both tall so we’d both be the big swans, or the two old ladies or the two evil sisters – and yet we’re very different!”

Sarah Toner calls Cinnamon Village her office. “I have a cappuccino every day,” she says. Other local café haunts are Cinnamon 2, Paul on Upper Street, Highbury Barn pub for coffee at 7am, Vintage Café, the new Highbury Arts Club. Special meetings are held at Covent Garden Hotel in Monmouth Street, not far from Dancia which supplies her students’ leotard, skirt and shoes.

This love-hate relationship with ballet companies means that Sarah has spent chunks of her dancing life working freelance. A highlight was a year-long tour with the Pet Shop Boys in the early 1990s. The show kicked off in Japan, went via the US and Europe before finishing at Wembley.

“Even for a dancer it was glamorous,” says Sarah who was one of 10 classically trained dancers and two street dancers on the tour. “We were so well looked after. There were lots of quick changes, a brilliant choreographer, Jacob Marley, a good per deum (for daily expenses) and the Pet Shop Boys were really kind.”

Sarah, now 49, ended up in Islington because her husband – also a dancer and who she is now separated from – had a place not far from Sadler’s Wells.

“I always thought I’d move back to west London but then I had a baby, and another, and another and you stay where you are for them don’t you?” Eventually the family moved to Gillespie Road.

Opening a ballet school
“I opened my ballet school when my marriage ended. I had to find a way of being a full-time mum and working. My youngest, Lulu, was only six so came to all my dance classes – she’s done a lot!  Then it seemed like a financial necessity but it has become the most enjoyable chapter of my life.”

All Sarah’s kids are performers – Seb, 18, is working on a music tech BTEC; Molly, 14 is at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts  and  “always on TV in the programme School 4Stars”, while Lulu, 11, has just won a place at the Royal Ballet School (where the mythical Billy Elliot nearly botches his dance future at the interview stage).

“My parents knew nothing about ballet. My mum, probably like lots of mums, thought it was a nice thing for a little girl to do. Ballet gives you such confidence and self discipline. It teaches you to learn to enjoy being quiet, and to listen, as well as to understand anatomy and how the body works. My classes are not twee, there’s lots of discipline, but we don’t do exams, and we are very creative.”

Many of Sarah’s students are very young, but she loves working with Year 5 -7, she says this is the perfect age to progress quickly and get to love dancing, rather than attending a club because your best friend will be there.

Baby ballet classes are run at 45 Gillespie Road for The Sarah Toner School of Ballet.

People watching
As well as baby ballet – for two and three years olds – and a range of dance and exercise classes Sarah runs a Fabulous in High Heels course. “Years ago I worked with actresses on deportment who needed position coaching for costume drama. Then one day I was people watching in the City and kept finding myself seeing beautiful women, so elegantly dressed, but thinking ‘they’d look so much better if they just softened their shoulders or relaxed their knees.’ A friend encouraged me and I ended up writing Faboulous in High Heels (£9.99). It’s not my mission for every woman to strut around in high heels, but it can give you the confidence to be that woman who looks fabulous as she enters the room…”

A favourite client, Jennifer Saunders part of the Ab Fab team, wrote the preface and since then many women have put on their heels for the course. “Mums come with their daughters, and sometimes it’s dads who send their girls – I think because they are so horrified that their daughters are turning into these glowing young women.”

The book comes free with the course.  ”I find that for the women coming to the class it’s often nothing to do with how they walk in heels – they’re lacking in body confidence, so I help them go away feeling better about themselves.

Shri, who’s lived in Islington for 36 years, helps Sarah run The Sarah Toner School of Ballet. “We met because our daughters were friends at St John’s Primary School.”

Busy busy busy
The one flaw with Sarah’s life is she has so little time for herself, oten not finishing classes until 9.30pm. “I do some lovely things – I’ve just done an event with Louis Vuitton at Selfridges,” explains Sarah, “but I go out less than once a year!”

As a result Sarah can’t recommend glam places in Islington – but she says her mum, Ann, comes up from “Cambridge once a week to cook the teenage grandchildren a roast dinner, and “She goes to the butcher on Blackstock Road for chicken, oh and my daughters have their hair cut at Zebra with stylist Annie.”

“My kids have had to share me with 200 other children,” explains Sarah, “but I feel it’s made them very tolerant. I hope they’ve seen me being kind, and not judgmental – because you never know what’s going on behind closed doors.” And that’s where we leave this interviewee – Sarah glam in her long black suede (flat!) winter boots catching up over a coffee with her colleague Shri in their unofficial office, Cinnamon Village. Here’s hoping this has inspired families to send their daughters and sons to ballet class, and everyone else to try out at least one of Sarah Toner’s exercise classes.

• The Sarah Toner School of Ballet at 45 Gillespie Road, London, N5 for baby ballet.
• There are always half term workshops.
• All other classes run by The Sarah Toner School of Ballet are at Joan of Arc Community Centre on Kelross Road, N5.
• Christmas Extravaganza 2013 for children aged 8-16 years is on Sunday 15 December. Rehearsals start at half term.
• For bookings contact sarah@sarahtoner.co.uk or see http://www.sarahtoner.co.uk or text 07968 891751.

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy the most popular of all islingtonfacesblog posts, Nina Marcangelo from Alfredo’s Cafe on Essex Road which had 800 viewers in a week, 187 views on its 2nd day up and 97 facebook shares. You might also like the interview with young dancer James Olivo.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.   Not so long ago Anna Harvey, 24, moved from Manchester to London. She has spent the past year at the N1 Centre (she’s the Centre Administrator). She’s the one who sorts out the big lawn in the summer and gets to invite Father Christmas over. But she’s also brought us meerkats, photo competitions, pop up shops and even a giant dinosaur… What will shoppers find there next? Interview by Nicola Baird

Anna Harvey:  ”People in Islington are into their fashion, food and arts. There’s a great offering for those things here – not just in the N1 centre (where I work), but along Essex Road and Upper Street too.”

Q: What is the NI Centre?
The N1 Centre is a shopping centre sandwiched between Liverpool Road and Upper Street, just opposite Angel underground station.  Have you seen the metal halo between Monsoon and Oasis? That’s our entrance!  You can find our angel wings on the Liverpool Road entrance opposite Sainsbury’s.  The N1 Centre is an outdoor shopping centre, so I think that has always made it quite different. We’ve got a great range of fashion retailers including Monsoon, GAP and H&M along with some amazing restaurants such as wagamama and GBK.  For night-time fun we also have the O2 Academy here as well as a VUE cinema.  It’s a good job that we don’t have any doors because I don’t think we’d get the chance to close them for too long! We always say to people that we’re a one-stop destination for shopping, dining and entertainment and I don’t think you can argue with that.  N1 is Islington’s post code, but the N1 Centre is at the heart of Angel, Islington.

Q: What’s happening over Christmas?
My favourite part of this job is organising the events at the centre.  Christmas kicks off early at the N1 Centre this year – on 23 November we’ve got the Christmas light switch-on.  From 2pm we’ll have Father Christmas visiting, a guy dressed as a reindeer and two elves handing out free goodies for the kids.  We ordered the Christmas giveaways in July so I’ve been feeling festive for four months now! For 7-8 December we’ve also booked a giant snow globe that you can climb into and have your photo taken, which should be great fun.  On 20 December we’ll have living, breathing reindeer on site.  We organised the reindeer last year and they were such a hit with everyone.

Being an outdoor shopping centre is definitely a bonus when it comes to having animal visits. In April we had Zoofari come along with a range of animals to teach the kids about meerkats, tortoises and raccoon dogs. Getting the chance to hold a meerkat was a pretty rare opportunity.

Q: Why does the N1 centre run events?
We like to offer our customers free events and competitions throughout the year to promote our retailers and give customers added value. In the summer we always put down a fake lawn and deck chairs for people to relax on. We’re quite well-known for this! We like to offer something extra now and again as it entices customers in, and gets people talking about the N1 Centre.

Q: How do you choose the events?
We have our regular events that prove popular with everyone, such as Zoofari, which was held in April this year. We’re always up for trying something new to entertain all types of customers.  In August we had a Stegosaurus pay us a visit, which was great fun. The sight of a dinosaur stomping around the centre stopped everyone in their tracks. Last Friday we had a 50ft inflatable sperm whale in the centre. Kids could crawl inside it and watch a mermaid and pirate put on a show.  I was helping set up the event that morning and a man walking past said quite calmly, ‘Oh, a whale this time?’ It makes me smile to know that the people of Islington are used to our antics.  Most of our customers are local and they know what to expect – they know that we’re different and like putting on new and fun events.

Q: What do you like doing in the N1 area? 
There’s an infinite combination of things to do during the day or on a night out. I love going to The Little Angel Theatre just off Essex Road; the children’s puppet theatre. I went to see Macbeth the other week and it was mesmerising.  If I fancy a drink without breaking the bank you might see me in The Glass Works.  There’s Chapel Market for fresh fruit at a bargain and then there’s the vintage fair round the back of Camden Passage each Sunday, which is brilliant for bric-a-brac and antiques. Slim Jims has to get a mention too – it’s great entertainment to take in a new friend and see their reaction when they notice the hundreds of bras pinned to the ceiling.  The cocktails are great too. wagamama is one of my favourite restaurants to grab a quick bite to eat, and luckily we have one here at the N1 Centre. I also love the newly opened Naamyaa, which is owned by the founder of wagamama. It offers great flavoursome food at affordable prices.

Q: Do you live in Islington?
I used to have an N1 postcode until last week. I moved a little bit further North a couple of weeks ago. Islington is very lovely and the price reflects that. However, I’m really glad I still get to work here – I think I’d miss it if I didn’t! I think I’ll move back one day, until then I’m only a bus ride away.

Q: What so you like about Islington?
There’s a sense of community here, which is quite special for an area so close to central London. It’s a place that has so much to offer – you can catch a gig or film within a few steps of each other and in terms of dining, you’re spoilt for choice. Working here is a lot of fun as well, I have a unique job at the N1 Centre and dealing with the public is often a highlight. We’ve always got something different going on, whether it is a performance from local drama academy, True Stars, or a pop-up shop opening like John Lewis’ Open House, which is currently located on the ground floor. No day is ever the same both at the N1 Centre and in Islington as a whole.

Q: Is there anything you’d like to change in Islington?
Rent prices can be a little steep and it would be great to see more cycle paths in the area.

N1 Centre info (including newsletter sign up plus info about all events) http://n1islington.com/

2013 calendar

23 November – Christmas lights switch on, plus afternoon visit from Father Christmas.

7-8 December – enjoy the giant snow globe

20 December – real reindeer visit.

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy the most popular of all islingtonfacesblog posts, Nina Marcangelo from Alfredo’s Cafe on Essex Road which had 800 viewers in a week, 187 views on its 2nd day up and 97 facebook shares.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. Having a baby 20 years ago gave Caroline Russell, the motivation to give up her art studio and retrain as a civil engineer. When her third child arrived she opted to be a full time mum, busy with the PTA at her children’s school and then as a parent governor, and chair of governors at Canonbury Primary School.  As the kids have grown she’s had more time to focus on local issues ranging from campaigning for 20mph limits to tackling air pollution and more recently working to get Green Party members elected on to the Council.  Interview by Nicola Baird

Caroline Russell: working in her office/kitchen.

“I’ve lived in Islington since 1986,” says Caroline Russell, 51, recalling her King’s Cross home with husband Roly Keating who now runs the British Library. “It was rough round the station and I remember when the amazing old potato market buildings were illegally knocked down one night. We had the feeling development was just about to happen and King’s Cross would be utterly transformed… it’s been a very long time coming!

Caroline claims the couple moved to Highbury by mistake…

“We wanted to stay in King’s Cross, but saw an old shop on the end of Battledean Road, N5, and fell in love with it.

The next year I had my first child and became immersed in life in Highbury. It also led to Caroline cutting her campaign teeth. “With small children I became aware of how difficult it was to get around the streets if you were at all vulnerable. With a buggy you realize what it might be like for anyone who can’t get across the road fast – the older and the slower. If a driver has a moment of inattention they might kill someone, but if a pedestrian or cyclist has a moment of inattention they might be killed,” she adds.

Time to make roads safer
Down the hill from the Highbury home where Caroline and family now live, you can still see bouquets and a Road Peace flower motif tied to the railings by one of the few pedestrian crossings on Blackstock Road. The flowers mark the spot where little Zahra Adams was killed in her buggy, by a lorry.

“I think about Zahra Adams and her mother, Durrah, an awful lot,” says Caroline who is chair of Living Streets Islington, and also works part time for the organisation. “Zahra’s death in 2003 was a defining moment for me. We hear about people on bikes being killed by lorries all the time, the cycle lobby is good at speaking out. But huge numbers of pedestrians are killed in London and we don’t hear about them. It’s as if we accept our streets will see road deaths and life-changing injury. The pedestrians who are killed are young, frail or older so it seems like a social justice issue. It’s horrendous that people living in their area, walking or just going about their lives are in danger of massive lorries driving into them.”

Speaking out
“In Islington there has been investment – the pavements along Upper Street are good. But in Highbury Barn you see older people struggling to cross the road to get to the medical centre at Highbury Grange or to the flats at The Chestnuts, Taverner Square and Peckett Square. People want to cross at the north end of Highbury Barn and they do take risks, but I think we should be prioritizing the people who are getting around under their own steam, rather than driving through the area. Driving is a minority activity in Islington? Only 35 per cent of residents have access to a car or van, and many only use their vehicle rarely.”

It’s this sense of a wrong needing to be righted that made Caroline turn to mainstream politics in 2009.

“I stood for the Council for the Green Party in 2010, in Highbury, because I realise that you can do so much as a campaigner, but if you get elected you have more opportunities to effect policy and bring about change. Joining the Green Party is not the quickest way to get yourself elected!” Caroline says with a wry laugh. But she’s been campaigning hard on air pollution plus many local concerns since then, which is why she adds, “I hope we will see some green voices on the council after the next election in May 2014.”

Places Caroline loves in Islington

• Le Peche Mignon on Ronald’s Road is great for a treat. It has proper food, cooked from scratch and very nice coffee.
• I still love King’s Cross, especially the bottom of Caledonian road, where Housmans Radical Bookshop and the Italian deli Continental Stores have survived the regeneration of the area.
• I enjoy walking by the canal – heading east or west on either side of the Islington tunnel. I don’t cycle along it, I’m far too scared of falling into the water, and it’s crowded. So if I’ve got my bicycle I push it.
• I love Highbury Fields – it’s the village green where you bump into people all the time. Gillespie Park (behind Arsenal tube) is another green lung, but it’s where you go to feel as if you are not living in the city.
• I’ve been shopping at Highbury Barn since I moved to Highbury in 1992. It’s lovely to see that the shops are thriving and we have a launderette, hardware store, key cutter and cobbler as well as more specialist foodie places – the butcher, fishmonger and cheese shop. The Health Food shop (Five Boys) is amazing – it has baby food, every sort of ingredient and stays open until about  8pm every night, so if I’m being experimental in the kitchen I know I can find pretty much anything I need.
• I also love the Turkish shop on Madras Place/Holloway Road, Moonlight Supermarket. Their bread is completely fantastic and the veg and fruit really good value.

Whatever happens Caroline is certain that she’ll be an active force locally for many more years. “I can’t imagine leaving Islington. It’s a multiplicity of villages, far more like a village than the village in Hampshire where I grew up. Islington is home: you just feel part of a strong community, and that’s really special.”

• Find out more about the campaigning charity Living Streets here.
• To find out more about the Green Party use this link.
• Housmans Radical Bookshop is at 5 Caledonian Road, N1, tel: 020 7837 4473, or website sales  here.

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy the most popular of all islingtonfacesblog posts, Nina Marcangelo from Alfredo’s Cafe on Essex Road which had 800 viewers in a week, 187 views on its 2nd day up and 97 facebook shares.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. Elia Luyando’s life has been filled with travel and adventure thanks to her great skill as a dancer. She’s lived in Mexico city, Cuba and New York; taught in Japan and is now settled in London teaching dance and raising a family. So how did she end up in Islington? Interview by Nicola Baird

Elia Luyando: offering cakes to her interviewer (very welcome!).

Elia Luyando was born in Mexico but thanks to her passion for dance, and a scholarship, studied ballet in Havana, Cuba from 12 to 15 years – the drawback was that she was only able to see her family once each year. But she came home to Mexico to dance and spent the next 20 years as a professional dancer working in Mexico as well as New York and  Japan… Eventually she ended up in London where she teaches full time at the Central School of Ballet on Herbal Hill, EC1 (teaching 2^nd year ladies and acting as the Ballet Mistress for 3^rd Years).

Dancing may be a constant in Elia’s life, but since the early 2000s, so too is Islington. Elia married at Islington Town Hall in 2004. In 2011 she also celebrated her Citizenship Ceremony in the borough.

“Taking the UK citizenship test was the right thing to do,” says Elia in her super-tidy N5 kitchen where she lives with her husband, Bill Cooper, the renowned opera/dance photographer. Their school-aged sons are busy with homework and there are cakes for the interview on this wet November evening.

“My family is from here,” says Elia simply as she explains why she wanted to become a UK citizen. “I’d been trying so hard to belong and to fit in. But on the day of the ceremony by chance my parents were over from Mexico. My dad is 78, and I could see he was a bit over-whelmed, this was one more thing away from Mexico. But the ceremony was special; it was attended by the Mayor, and I have lovely photos.”

Elia speaks English with a delicious accent. She is perceptive, kind and warm. I’ve known her since her sons and my two daughters attended Drayton Park Primary School, but until now I didn’t realise she’d had such an eventful dancing life.

“I started ballet in Mexico when I was seven. Instead of TV my mother used to dance for us,” she explains. “Then when I was 12 Mexico and Cuba had a cultural exchange, so Cuba, which had a fabulous ballet school in Havana, offered scholarships. There were nine of us Mexican girls aged between 12 and 15. I was 12.

Living in Cuba
“It was a big change – a different country and communist. There were no telephones, and the post took a month. My family could not get visas. Once a year they would come over for a tour and my mum would slip away from the tour to stay with me.  But it was special, the nine of us were a group. We worked so hard that we were trained in three years. At 15 I graduated and went back to Mexico City where I joined the National Dance Company waiting for us.

“I joined as they were getting ready for the Royal Ballet version of Sleeping Beauty. I was so young, so although I was desperate to be on stage, my first role was as a mouse. My mother came to see me, but with my big head and tail she didn’t know which mouse I was!”

Eventually Elia danced everything in the Company – mouse, lady-in-waiting, guard and swan – becoming a soloist from 1994-99.  “It was a good career,” she says modestly.

It wasn’t as simple as it seems on paper though, because at 18 things fell apart.

“At 18 I decided that was enough of dancing. I wanted to be a normal young woman,” says Elia smiling at her younger self. “I wanted to go to college (in Mexico there is a three year pre-university course) and study in school the whole day with my mates, then go to the parties in the evening.” She enjoyed the studying, but: “After a year trying this, I realised it was silly. I needed ballet.” It was a shock to discover she had to audition to get back into the company.

Since then she’s done ballet every day. In order to develop her contemporary dance knowledge, Elia decided to get to know the Limon Technique, one of the most important American modern dance schools, better.  In 1998 she went to stay with Limon’s company in New York for six months – a move which subsequently led her to become teacher and Director’s assistant of the National Dance Company, Mexico.

Elia on the stairs beside one of husband Bill Cooper’s photos.

Settling in London
Fast-forward to London where she met Bill when he was living in Shoreditch “in a wonderful warehouse.” They weren’t there for long because, “The area was developing in a way we didn’t like, so Bill decided to sell his beautiful building. We didn’t know Islington neighbourhoods but we liked N5 because it was very close to my work and Bill’s work, in Covent Garden, and Sadler’s Wells. This house was fully renovated but it had a feeling. I came in and said ‘I like this one’. Now we know the neighbourhood too and like it very much.”

Mexicans in the UK often complain that they miss the taste of home – it’s hard to find cactus flowers and mole (chocolate sauce) in London, but Elia stops my questions about homesickness with a firm wave of her hand.

“I don’t cook – the boys know I just do scrambled eggs – and Bill cooks so well, so I decided I’m not going to miss the food. I’m here. When I visit home I eat everything Mexican, plenty of salsa and tortilla. I’ve learnt in Britain you can’t be wimpy. In Mexico City it’s always 24C. If it rains you cancel, or don’t go out. But here you can be at a beach in a gale or rain – and you enjoy it no matter what. It makes me laugh: I think “if my mother could see me here in this gale…”

And with that we finish the interview ready for me to cycle off through the rain to organise a supper of scrambled eggs for my own children – the perfect recipe for busy women.

Elia recommends

• In the fruit and veg market off Seven Sisters Road you can see big avocados – it’s a bit like a Mexican market.
• Highbury Fields playground is so fantastic. When the boys were little they must go every afternoon. Now they are bigger they love the astro turf, the football pitches and tennis courts, but they still like Tina’s ice cream van.
• My boys can’t manage without the Sobell Leisure Centre for ice skating, badminton and football. When they were little they loved the Safari Soft Play and have had several parties there. The Pirate’s Playhouse on Green Lanes is good too.
• As a family we go to Sadler’s (Wells) and we like Clissold Park. It has a nice café and there’s a new skateboard area.
• When Bill and I want a treat we go to Trullo on St Paul’s Road. Near us is Peche Mignon which we used to go to for coffee when [the owner] was a young man and just beginning, but it became very busy, so now we like to go to the café in front of the Town Hall.
• Opposite Peche Mignon we buy from Farm Direct [which sells vegetables, seasonal produce, game, fish, Christmas essentials etc).

Over to you

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right).

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy the most popular of all islingtonfacesblog posts, Nina Marcangelo from Alfredo’s Cafe on Essex Road which had 800 viewers in a week, 187 views on its 2nd day up and 97 facebook shares.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story. Katherine Horsham, manager of the Islington council-funded Here To project designed to encourage helping out in the borough, is a huge fan of living in Islington, and one day hopes to live by Regent’s Canal. Interview by Nicola Baird

Katherine Horsham is manager of How To Islington, an organisation which helps match volunteers with tasks to be done locally. The dish is risotto served at Sunday, a fabulous cafe on 169 Hemingford Road, N1.

“It’s a real privilege to live and work in Islington,” explains Katherine, 26, who moved to Islington about a year ago. ”I grew up in Chingford, near Epping Forest. It has quite a different feel from Islington; it’s a bit suburban. Now I live in a place of such history  – the former swimming baths on Hornsey Road – and wake up to the lovely view of a Victorian school [Montem Primary].”

“Islington was central and closer to everything, but it was only when I moved in that I realised how awesome it is,” she explains at the packed Sunday café on Hemingford Road, N1 not far from her office.

“I’d studied History at Durham University – which has a lovely community feel – and then a Masters in International Management at King’s and had to move back home. Chingford doesn’t even have a tube, it felt so far away from everything.”

Here To snaps

Your interviewer tries out the How To Photomatic Machine at Gillespie Festival 2012, offering to “listen to your life story.”         Apart from changing the blog name that’s exactly              what I’ve done!

Here To started life near Katherine’s flat, but is now based at the Isledon Head Office on Caledonian Road. Although Here To is still relatively new and only has a small team behind it, you might have come across the Photomatic Machine at summer festivals around Islington (see photo, left).

The key goal of Here To is to connect local people to local projects in fun, flexible ways. The idea is to first get people thinking about their personal goals and the perks they want to get out of helping out, and then the ‘secret skills’ they have to offer Islington. Here To can then match proactive people who can do stuff with project and community groups who need stuff doing. This can range from sorting out Oxfam Islington’s shop window and befriending older residents to story telling and even teaching scuba diving.

Over the past year since Here To first launched, hundreds of people have gained perks like learning to cook, watching free theatrical performances, developed skills for their CV and had a lot of fun too. On the Here To website this is more elegantly put: “We’re Here To start a movement in Islington. We’re helping local people do great things, helping new ideas get off the ground, and helping local organisations get the right people with the right skills to help them with their projects.”

Birthday party
More than 170 people will be at Islington Town Hall to celebrate Here To’s 1st birthday, including the Islington Mayor and Young Mayor on Thursday 30 January 2014.

“We wanted to recognise everyone who’d been involved in Here To so far – they’re part of a really special group of people and projects pioneering a new way of helping out locally. Here To is evolving daily as a result of feedback we get from our users, but the long term vision is to get to a point where every person who lives, works and plays in the borough uses Here To at least once a year…”  explains Katherine.

It’s an ambitious dream, but Katherine, with her red hair and pinky purple wellies, is unfazed. “I’d always volunteered as a child but after doing that Masters, which was the worst and best experience ever because it saved me jumping into the wrong job in the City, I made a conscious decision to work in social change and have a job that mattered,” explains Katherine.

Things to love about Islington

• Parkland Walk at the Highgate end. It’s a 2.5 mile foot and cycle path, with a lot of joggers, made from a disused train line.

  Because of my job I’m always popping into Islington’s two youth hubs: Lift, in White Cross Street, and Platform, off Hornsey Road. There’s usually a hot chocolate involved.

• I love the Sobell – it’s laid back and everything I could ever possibly want to do is there. Plus as a member I can go gyms all over the borough – yoga at Highbury or swimming at Archway.

• I buy fresh fruit and veg from Michael’s Fruiterers, 56-58 Seven Sisters Road, N7.

• My new favourite place to go is the Breakfast Club, 31 Camden Passage, N1. Their smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and avocado is amazing.

• I went on a canal boat holiday from London to Windsor and back, so now I can do locks and drive canal boats. I therefore really love Regent’s Canal and hope to live there one day.

• I like the tube stations and local buses – the 91, 43 and 271 seem to take you anywhere you could want to go. People complain about transport in London, but I don’t drive and have always travelled a lot in the UK… it seems more than fine to me.

• I’m a massive sushi fan: the Japanese restaurant Hana Sushi at 150A Seven Sisters Road is an undiscovered gem.

• I can’t believe Parkland Walk even exists! You feel like you’re in the countryside.

As she suspected working in a social enterprise environment like How To is personally fulfilling, but the work is tough and the hours are long – she does extra work most weekends. “But I don’t need to be doing something relaxing to be relaxed,” claims Katherine with a huge smile.

Project TILT
This perhaps explains why in the midst of start-up mayhem at How To she still found the energy to help the 200 plus householders where she lives get to know each other better.

“The only drawback to my block of flats is no one sees each other. There are all these people with loads of secret talents, and I have always wondered what they were, so I got £300 seed funding to try and get my neighbours to talk to each other more.”

After letterbox surveys (using a special post box in the block’s reception) and a focus group, Project TILT kicked off at the end of 2013. Residents have already had a Great Christmas Share Off (pot luck lunch) and there are plans to run specialist clubs – such as running, knitting and yoga – as well as larger supper events such as a Big Lunch in June 2014.

It’s rare to meet a person who can bring out the best in a stranger, but Katherine’s positive energy and charm does exactly that. The moment I’d finished this interview I had a good look at the website and plan to help out too and offer a rewarding task for anyone who’d like to interview a friend or neighbour with stories to tell about living or working in Islington. So a big thank you to the positive force-field that is Katherine Horsham and a big up to Here To Islington… do go and see what the fuss is about.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  Sybille Hazward started her business with just £80 after using her flatmate’s printer to create 500 flyers. The result was FreeFormFitness and Highbury Fields’ first fitness boot camp – but not the military style regime she despises.  Sybille talks about loving your body and the pleasures of working in Islington. Interview by Nicola Baird

Sybille Hazward: fitness trainer.

It’s a wet, cold Monday afternoon. The café we hoped to meet in is shut. For many busy Londoners this conspiracy of small nuisances would infuriate, but Sybille Hazward isn’t phased at all. In fact she smiles and laughs throughout our interview in a way that makes me feel like I’ve had a happiness workout with my jasmine tea.

Sybille, now 37, was born in Austria and grew up in Lintz. She was a sporty child – did lots of skiing and won judo competitions. But then at 17 she left for New York. “Well,” she explains, “I told my parents I was going and they didn’t stop me!”

Sybille Hazward, fitness trainer: “I like to keep my feet warm, I teach in these on Highbury Fields.” She’s also happy for clients to bring along a baby in a buggy or even their dog.

In America she eventually started to train as a doctor but with fees of $45,000 a year she needed a job as well. “I’d qualified as a personal trainer, and it had flexible hours and was well paid,” she says. “New York people are much fitter and more health conscious, there’s less of a drinking culture – it’s not straight from the work to the pub, it’s more work to the gym or a yoga class. Though I’m not saying you don’t have cocktails after that, sometimes!”

But after six or seven years, “When I was shockingly close to finishing my medical degree, I thought I’m not doing this anymore.” Baffling perhaps, but the date coincides with the attack on the Twin Towers. For a while Sybille moved to the Middle East, “trying to understand the political situation.” Then she met someone and came with him to London.

And of course, needed a job.

“I found people thinking that being thin is being fit, it’s not – and I didn’t like the format of gyms and fitness centres,” she explains which is how her company FreeFromFitness was born, offering tailored classes – including yoga, pilates and functional training, often outdoors on the edge of Highbury Fields.

Fit for life tips – focus on enjoyment
January and February are busy times for gyms and personal trainers – everyone’s get fitter New Year Resolutions bring Sybille extra clients. “Recently I’d been working for 16 hours and I was so tired that I walked into a lamppost and then apologised to it, in front of a bus queue!” she says, so here are some fit tips you can try at home:

• Don’t skip a proper warm up.

• Remember how much you loved moving as a child? How you wanted to kick higher? Keep the joy; fitness isn’t about losing 10lbs.

• Dress for the climate when you exercise outside. Keep your hands and head warm in winter.

• Move at home too. ”I used to live near Seven Sisters, but now I’m in Hackney. My apartment overlooks the Olympic stadium so no one can see me jumping around like an idiot for two hours.  But you could always go for a run along the canal rather than the treadmill.”

• Rollerblade when it’s nice.

“You don’t need to suffer to get results,” explains Sybille. “Often people’s goal is they want a basic lifestyle change. I find out what their needs are, and to make it more affordable integrate them with other people. That way it’s like a team – people encourage each other.”

Combined with her knowledge of anatomy and nutrition learnt, at medical school, she’s a formidable trainer in positivity.  “I want exercise to be something you enjoy and a way to interact with other people, like you did as a child; rather than a way to strip away and forget yourself. Enjoying your body stops you from aging and breaking down.”

It’s a very attractive philosophy and combined with her own obvious fitness one many of us might benefit from, and maybe even enjoy. Good luck to all islingtonfacesblog readers embarking on a sporting or fitness challenge in 2014.

Maison d’etre coffee house on Highbury Corner with classic steamed up winter windows. Inside find fabulous cakes and drinks.

Fun places to unwind in Islington
“I love London, it’s the most exciting city in the world. You can’t let yourself get down when it’s grey. Keep well nourished to keep seasonal adjustment disorder away,” says Sybille. Here’s what she likes to do locally:

• I love going for sushi at 196 Essex Road at Akari Sushi.

• Love the Almedia. American Psycho was fantastic! And I love Sadler’s Wells too.
  

• Screen on the Green is great too, and then a martini at 69 Colebrook Row.
  

To contact Sybille Hazward to find out about her regular classes, email info@freeformfitness.co.uk. Coaching ranges from £5-£75 for a session.

See Sybille’s facebook page  here

Over to you
If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right), @nicolabairduk

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z list of posts, or the A-Z of jobs to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  In 1985 Pauline Tiffen, working from a grungy office opposite the old Angel tube station, began to shake-up the way companies treated their suppliers. Fast forward to 2014 and meet the woman who helped shoppers get Fairtrade* products.  Interview by Nicola Baird

Pauline Tiffen: “I’m not a campaigner, that’s why you haven’t heard of me.”

“I was working as a journalist and translator in the City,” she partially explains. “When I translated Gorbachev’s economic advisors’ statement about the USSR stopping being communist, I took a decision not to translate perestroika. It was funny later on seeing all these other countries – Vietnam for instance – using their own word for perestroika.”

She then took up a very different role, working as a network organiser at the newly formed Twin* which had been set up by the GLC (Greater London Council). Sharing the building were the Women’s Publishing Collective, the London Food Commission [now in White Lion Street, N1] and some others.

Old Red Lion is where Tom Paine wrote the Rights of Man – inspiring many others including Pauline Tiffen when she worked at TWIN, an early fairtrade networking organisation.

New ideas
“We were unleashed just before Thatcher closed the GLC,” she recalls, “in one of those grungy offices converted from Georgian houses beside a French polisher, an antiques seller and the porn shop on the corner where the Virgin fitness club is now. There wasn’t even a kitchen. All our meetings were in the Old Red Lion. We’d step out of the office, over the road and down that alleyway into the pub.” Pauline stops and laughs at the memory. It’s about 3pm and we’ve met in Maison d’Etre on Highbury Corner for a cup of tea. It seems very refined compared to the stories she tells.

“In the ‘80s we all drank pints at lunch. I don’t know how we did it,” she says faintly embarrassed. But it was the politics that kept her going – “Tom Paine wrote the Rights of Man at the Old Red Lion (in 1791),” she says with pride. “And we drank at another with panelled walls where Marx drank, but has now been pulled down… Even with our pints we knew we were working to revolutionise the world. And all those great ideas, like fairtrade have influenced far beyond their product.”

Marx Memorial Library at 37a Clerkenwell Green, EC1. This started life as a Welsh charity school. Lenin had his office here – it’s where Iskra (The Spark) was produced. It has long been a centre for Marxist scholars – and is open 12 noon until 4pm Monday to Thursday.

Islington is special
“Islington was a ridiculed bascule then,” she remembers thinking of how the right-wing press saw it as the home of the loony left. And it’s true that Islington can boast a history of the rioting peasants led by Jack Straw*, the Tolpuddle Martyrs*, as well as famous leftie drinkers and writers – not just Tom Paine but Lenin and Marx too. “Islington had more interesting thinking than just militant labour which never turned me on,” she explains.

Even though Pauline has had a house in Islington for many years – she now lives off St Paul’s Road – she is still intrigued by the area. “When I think of the Islington which I know and love, there’s a chimera of a place with the very rich, like Boris Johnson and Keira Knightley, but there’s also the diversity which makes life so multi-dimensional with people of all different origins, classes and cultural norms. It makes life very rich. And now I have children – Aykan, 10, and Jan, 8, – I know another Islington too. At Canonbury School you find every type of person and every religion. There are so many nationalities. My sons are invited to tea at council houses and to homes worth £3.5 million. They don’t distinguish – and in general this mix can only be good.”

Winter view from the steps as you enter Culpepper’s Garden. It’s a real haven away from the bustle of Angel and the N1 Centre.

How Pauline Tiffen spends time with her boys in Islington

• I love Culpepper’s Garden 1 Cloudsley Road, N1. After shopping, or shaking a tin for coppers for Downright Excellent which my younger son who has Down’s Syndrome needs for speech therapy, we buy snacks and go to the garden to look for wildlife. Downright Excellent is Sainsbury’s local charity of the year.
• The boys and I love to walk along the New River – we call it Duck Walk.
• I wish the Duke of Cambridge organic pub wasn’t so expensive. At Divine we still want fairtrade to be accessible for everybody.
• I’ve always loved Sadler’s Wells, and the boys like modern dance.

All about chocolate
It’s hard to remember when Fairtrade didn’t exist, the best shoppers could do in the early 1980s was boycott products – and that didn’t help small farmers.  But Pauline’s work at Twin Trading helped bring fair trade to the UK, at first coffee beans and then cocoa beans – the essential component of chocolate. “Cafedirect completely changed the coffee market,” says Pauline proudly although she feels that the largest chocolate companies, such as Nestle, do still “dictate the rules”.

“Companies have come a long way, it is now easier to make them care about oil spillages or if factories fall down,” she says. “But they don’t really know how to behave to cocoa farmers. I am happy that companies can say they obey the rules and are fair. But is it enough? I say ‘don’t you want to prove to yourself you are more than a balance sheet?’  A lot of people would like to do the right thing, and there’s enough awareness to get companies to take good ideas seriously… but there aren’t enough good ideas around.”

“I love the campaigners – Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Amnesty International – may they continue,” says Pauline, who claims, “I’m not a campaigner, that’s why you haven’t heard of me, but I wish there were a few more groups working on human rights.”

That’s two interesting challenges from Pauline: Where are the ideas that enable corporates to do good as they trade? Where are the campaigners that work to ensure small farmers or working families get a fair price for their efforts – and are able to live comfortably without fearing hunger, ill health or skimping on schooling for their children?

Pauline lobbed the questions at islingtonfacesblog, perhaps because she has such high expectations for our borough’s ability to shake up the status quo. Please do take it up.

Words*

Another Islington left wing legacy: a mural of the Tolpuddle Martyrs (painted in 1984) can be seen at Copenhagen Street, just by the green space at Edward Square, N1. See more here.

Fairtrade is a way shoppers can make a difference through everyday choices. it aims to enable the poorest farmers and workers to improve their position and have more control over their lives. See more at  fairtrade.org.uk

Perestroika (restructuring) a Russian word brought to the Western world’s attention as USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev began to dismantle communism. Perstroika is often used alongside glastnost (openeness) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika

Twin Twin Trading (originally known as the Third World Information Network or TWIN) was the first office set up by the GLC [Greater London Council].

Old Red Lion, 418 St John Street, EC1. In addition to famous past drinkers there is a theatre upstairs, see here.

Loony left – affectionate (or sometimes highly critical) reference to Islington’s radical past. In addition to  Thomas Paine, Lenin and Marx there were also significant peasant/worker fight-backs for better conditions including Jack Straw (1381) see more here and the Tolpuddle Martyrs (see mural pic) which saw Dorset men who formed a Trade Union in 1834 arrested and sent to Australia.

Downright Excellent  provides weekly speech and language therapy sessions for children with Down’s Syndrome, as well as support for siblings and carers. It is Sainsbury’s local charity of the year for 2014. World Down Syndrome day is 21 March, see info here.

Over to you
If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right), @nicolabairduk

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z list of posts, or the A-Z of jobs to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  Londoner Rachel Zatz has been planning a big trip to Brazil after she last visited 10 years ago with her eight-year-old. But she’s had to wait for her son to grow up, find time to learn basic Portuguese and think of a way to travel without ruinous bills. The answer has been to rent out the spare rooms in her N7 home. Interview with Nicola Baird

***This post is sponsored by Airbnb***

Rachel Zatz and partner Scott tried Airbnb during a birthday treat to Lisbon, Portugal. Rachel: “We loved it! We saved so much money because we could cook.” Once back in London they became Airbnb hosts renting their three spare rooms.

Rachel Zatz and partner Scott live just off the Holloway Road in a quiet, mostly ex-local authority row. They moved to Islington from Camden about a year ago after buying a four-bedroom home here.

“We had a friend living with us, but they moved and my son moved out so we had spare rooms,” explains Rachel in the living room that’s lined with shelves of records and set off by a music deck along one wall.

It’s clearly a room ready for the next party, but looks homely with Scott’s two cats, Rizla and Ginger, relaxing in the spring afternoon sunshine while we wait for the kettle to whistle.

Travel pull
The pair were seasoned couch surfers (you register on a website and then find a sofa to kip on at someone’s home for free) and regular hostelers. Scott has trvelled all over Asia; Rachel spent a year in China as part of an Anthropology BA at SOAS and even travelled for months at a time with her son, Spike, when he was little. But it wasn’t until they visited Portugal last year (2013) for Rachel’s birthday that they used Airbnb for the first time. “It saved us so much money,” remembers Rachel – and they enjoyed the experience too. So, as soon as they were back in London they began renting out their three spare rooms, see here.

“People say ‘Isn’t it weird having someone in your house you don’t know,’ but it’s travellers like us. I’m not good at being on my own – I came through squatting and new age travel, and I’ve done 12 years with just me and Spike. Now I want the communal thing, so when you are stuck in London it’s a way to meet new people, pay the bills and get a little bit extra,” says Rachel, 46, sipping from her I-heart-London mug.

To make sure the right sort of visitors book with them, Rachel adds: “We keep it cheap so we’re not getting business people.”

“We get cool people who want to party, go to Camden or the Emirates, into the West End or to the museums and we can tell them which bus,” says Scott. He’s not a fan of ‘suits’, but quotes another Airbnb host who pointed out: “If you don’t like the guy, they’ll be gone in a couple of days.”

Airbnb allows hosts to post rules. Rachel Zatz asks vegetarian guests to use her pans or Scott’s pans if they are meat eaters.

Rent your spare room
Turns out quite a few families are renting their spare rooms with Airbnb around Islington.  Airbnb have even set up a local office and are looking for more host homes, see how to sign up here.

Hotels are fiendishly expensive and a bit formal for many people. Rachel doesn’t like them at all:  “Hotels are not a luxury for me,” she says. “I like to smoke a bedtime cigarette and I don’t want to get dressed and go outside.”  That’s why she makes it clear to potential visitors that she and Scott smoke and have two cats. “We don’t cater, we keep it clean and tidy, though not to hotel standards, and we have clutter – so we’d rather charge less (£25 a night plus an extra £5 a night if there’s an extra person) so people are not bothered. I think that’s why we haven’t had families.”

Easter Island mementos from Rachel Zatz’s round the world trip when her son, Spike was eight. “I had 12 years of being a single mum and being in England living by school term times. It didn’t feel like a life…”

Ready to travel
Those extra sessions vacuuming and sorting out clean sheets and duvets is helping Rachel and Scott fund a three-month trip to Brazil, starting this May.

”I went to Brazil with Spike when he was eight, but a month wasn’t long enough, I said then I had to go again, but I knew it had to be when Spike was 18. Being in Brazil for the football will be fantastic,” says Rachel who has secured tickets for four World Cup games in Salvador, and plans to watch other matches on Brazilian TV.  The pair have booked an Airbnb place – “we got a good deal and we’re near the football,” adds Rachel about their accommodation in Salvador.

They also plan beach stays and a five day trip down the Amazon river from Manaus.

Rachel Zatz’s tips: as good for tourists as Islington locals

• There are good restaurants on Stroud Green Road – Jai Krishna, the Indian vegetarian,(161 Stroud Green Road), and Pappagone (131 Stroud Green Road) for pizza because it is cheap and cheerful.
  
• Pubs: I’m not a big drinker and I like a vegetarian Sunday lunch. The price in Islington pubs is outrageous!

• At the Angel ”I go to Desperados for Mexican (67 Upper Street). Emporium by Islington Green is good for coffee.” 
  

• “We send people to Holloway Road for basics and supermarkets. It’s cheaper, local and has good food. There are brilliant cafes but not great after 6pm. Me and my friends go to a lovely tapas place, El Molino, (379 Holloway Road) all the time for lunchtime meals – four dishes and a drink for around a tenner.”
  

• “People come and stay here because they’ve booked tickets for a match at the Emirates or going to a West End show. I’d recommend Visit London for special offers – theatre needs to be pre-booked. And get an Oyster card the first tube trip you make. Visitors can get their Oyster refunded when they leave.” 
  

Get to know Islington
Long term the pair hopes to run a campsite in Spain but for now  – and before their big Brazil adventure – there’s plenty to explore in Islington.

“After only a year of being in Islington, Islington is so much better than Camden,” reckons Rachel who has been impressed by council compost collections. Compost know-how is one of her specialities, knowledge honed while she worked on the Camden Green Fair. She even set up hot-composting collections on the last estate where she lived.

“We still advertise as near Camden because that’s where tourists want to go,” she admits. But then Scott and her start talking bus routes from Holloway Road – the 390 that stops by the British Museum, the 29 that goes to the West End or the 17 to St Paul’s where you can get off and walk over the Millennium Bridge, or in the summer join a free beach party…

It is clear Rachel and Scott are as much fans of all that London can offer, as their new home borough, Islington – just so long as they get a travel fix regularly too.

• Book a room at Rachel and Scott’s, see here.
• To become an Airbnb host, see here.

Useful

Airbnb, www.airbnb.co.uk  offers places to stay in 34,000 cities; 192 countries. A study from Airbnb community generates £502 million in economic activity in the UK (Jan 2014) calculated that a typical Airbnb host occasionally rents out the property in which they live, and the typical host earns £2,822 per year by renting 33 nights per year. Also 85 per cent of Airbnb hosts wants to “live like locals”. Full press release here.

Couchsurfers - sofas in 100,000 cities.

Youth hostels  - worldwide.

World Cup Brazil is from 12 June – 13 July 2014.

***This post is sponsored by Airbnb***

Over to you

If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z index of posts, or the A-Z of jobs to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. 

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right), @nicolabairduk

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

Thanks for stopping by. Nicola

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  Do you know this Islington art gallery? The world-famous collection of Italian Futurist art at the Estorick Collection, off Highbury Corner, attracts 1,000s of visitors, but for many it’s been thought of one of London’s best-kept secrets. Here Roberta Cremoncini talks about art, the new ‘The Years of La Dolce Vita’ exhibition and what she likes about Islington. Interview by Nicola Baird

Estorick Collection director: Roberta Cremoncini in her office with the paperweight gift Islington Council gave her after her Citizenship Ceremony in 2004.

“I’ve been here forever,” says the elegant woman in charge of the Estorick’s remarkable Futurist collection of art with a friendly laugh. Roberta Cremoncini studied art history in Florence but has been working at the Estorick Collection since 1997. She was here even before it opened to the public, first as assistant curator, then curator. Since 2001 she’s been the Director – based in an office boasting a colourful Marc Chagall print. The desk is crowded with work but on the hard drive are stuck sweet love notes, in Italian and English, from her seven-year-old bilingual daughter.

“I love Islington,” says Roberta, 50, who now lives so close to her job she doesn’t have to cross the road to get to work. “It seems everyone knows me: I’m the Italian who works at the Estorick. Sometimes that’s daunting, other times it’s great. When I had my first baby, Thomas, everyone stopped me in the Square. I had millions of cards… and when he started going to The Children’s House nursery I got to know so many local people.”

Islington citizenship ceremony
Back in 2004 – before the infamous British Citizenship test was introduced – Roberta took on dual nationality. “I had my citizenship ceremony in Islington. It was a rainy day and I went on my own. I hadn’t realised it was so serious. It was like a wedding: everyone was dressed up, there were photos and food. I was given a glass paperweight from the Borough of Islington (which she keeps on her desk). Afterwards there was a Turkish mezze – that seemed very Islington! My colleague gave me a card with a picture of an English breakfast on it, which seemed very appropriate.”

Her only bugbear about the borough is perhaps what Islington is most famous for, its Italian delis. “I find the Italian connection a bit of a cartoon of Italy. When I turn up at 9am with my children for the Italian School at King’s Cross and no one’s arrived that feels right, it feels Italian, but when deli staff insist on talking in Italian and saying ‘Buon Giorno’ to everyone it’s a bit cheesy… I pretend to be very British, despite my accent, when I go in.”

Places to love in Islington
Roberta Cremoncini who is Director of the Estorick Collection is from Italy but has lived in Islington for years. She loves it here but says: “There have been lots of changes, perhaps some of the special things have been diluted.”

• Upper Street is more mainstream but it has certain nice shops like 20/21 and Aria. I still go to Angel shopping centre and I am looking forward to Muji opening, it’s my kind of shop.

• My children love fish and chips so I go to Seafish on Upper Street for birthdays or during the week. It’s got nice tables and you don’t come out smelling of fish.

• For lunch I like the Workers’ Café also on Upper Street. It’s been there forever – I first went there in 1997.

• I like Highbury Fields for a picnic.

• I sometimes go to the little pub, the Compton Arms but a half is probably enough for me.

• I loved the Little Angel puppet theatre when the children were younger.

• Last Christmas the Estorick celebrated with a dinner at Gem on Upper Street. I also go there regularly.

The Estorick Collection, 39a Canonbury Square, N1 has a peaceful garden and cafe as well as the world famous collection of Italian Futurist art and exhibitions. Current show is black and white photos from the 1950s and 1960s ‘The Years of La Dolce Vita’. Nearest tube/station is Highbury and Islington.

How well do you know the Estorick?
For many years the elegant Georgian home of the Estorick Collection was an artificial flower factory. The factory closed back in 1968 but for the first decade of Italian-born Roberta Cremoncini’s working life with the Estorick – she joined in 1997 – she remembers meeting “people who lived in Canonbury Square and had worked at the factory.”

The permanent collection was formed by Eric Estorick (1913-1993) and his wife Salome (1920-1983) during the 1950s. It’s a world-boasting collection of Italian Futurist art with work including Balla, Boccioni and Severini. There are also pieces by de Chirico, Modigliani and Morandi.

Visitors to the Estorick enjoy leaving feedback.

“We are here by chance,” admits Roberta. “When the Foundation was set up, the son of Eric (Michael Estorick, now the chairman) used to live in Highbury and often passed this building, which was for sale.” By 1994 the Estorick Collection had its Islington home. By 1998 it was open with enough space for a pretty garden and café. There’s a fee to see the art, but for an annual membership of £20 a year the shows are free and there’s a café discount.

“We could double our visitor numbers and still feel special – we are a bit bored of being London’s best-kept secret,” says Roberta with a laugh. In fact the Estorick’s permanent collection of Italian Futuristic art and exhibitions attracts 20-25,000 visitors a year. Until 29 June you can also see The Years of ‘La Dolce Vita’ –two rooms of black and white paparazzi shots of the stars.

“This will appeal to the public there are fun shots, famous people in Rome with recognisable faces. It’s the ‘50s and ‘60s. You have the allure of Rome and the beautiful photography,” explains Roberta who is pleased with the media coverage of the exhibition in its first week. She obviously loves this era and is enjoying offering a more populist show.

“They are so beautiful, look at their elegance,” says Roberta as she takes me around the room of Marcello Geppetti’s images. Brigitte Bardot with her beehive and plaits looks adorable. Jayne Mansfield is posing with a dish (Mike Hargarty) and spaghetti. Audrey Hepburn is a fashion stylist’s dream in scarf, swing coat, gloves and an outsize handbag, which is roomy enough for the dog trotting beside her.  Roberta then leads me into the next gallery to see some rather different shots – stars attacking the photographers. The image of Federico Fellini’s star Anita Ekberg, in stockinged feet, putting an arrow on to her bow to menace photographers is as hard to forget as her antics in Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain were in the 1960s film La Dolce Vita.

“When we first arrived it wasn’t easy – we were not liked by the locals at first. But that’s changed dramatically,” explains Roberta. “People like the collections, the paintings, the building, the coffee, the garden and the fact I’ve been here forever… “

Of course there is the £20 offer for annual membership – plus a rather special bonus, the chance to see the Estorick’s ghost. “The building hasn’t been lived in since 1916,” explains Roberta. “Our ghost is a horseman – at least our caretaker used to say that. He’s been seen in Gallery 2. I’m convinced,” she adds. If the potent mix of garden café, celebrity photos and Italian art isn’t enough, then surely the chance to sense a real Islington ghost in a Grade 2 listed Georgian house has to be the icing on the cake? Enjoy the show.

Estorick Collection, 39a Canonbury Square, London N1 2AN @Estorick

Tel. 020 7704 9522, http://www.estorickcollection.com http://www.facebook.com/estorickcollection

Opening times

Wednesday to Saturday: 11.00 – 18.00
Sunday 12.00 – 17.00
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

Tip: become an Estorick member for £20 (£15 with discounts) and see all exhibitions free, use the art library and get discounts at the café.

Words
La Dolce Vita – an Italian expression meaning ‘sweet life’ became popularly understood only after Fellini’s film which came out in 1960. The concept of the paparazzo was also introduced to the world in that film.

Over to you

If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z index of posts, or the A-Z of jobs to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. 

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right), @nicolabairduk

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

Thanks for stopping by. Nicola

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  In London’s whirlwind rush how can you find the time or the strength to be calm and make big decisions that are right for you? Step forward life coach Karen Liebenguth who coaxes out the best you can be… and it all starts with a walk in a  park like Highbury Fields.  Interview by Nicola Baird

Karen Liebenguth: “A life coach doesn’t give advice or answers: people have their own answers. I’ve had to learn to trust that each person holds the answers for their lives. We have the solutions we need, but we sometimes need the space with someone to explore and ask us important questions.”

“I always wanted to combine working with people and being in nature. All my life I’ve spent a lot of time outside and I’ve felt the positive impact of nature,” says Karen Liebenguth who grew up in Dusseldorf Germany, but has been in London for the past 13 years.  We’re at the Oasis café on Highbury Fields, sitting outside with our coffees, under an umbrella that’s keeping off the light spring rain. Karen, wrapped up cosily in hat and waterproof jacket looks over Higbury Fields contentedly. “I’m passionate about making a difference in people’s lives – helping people to live their life more fully.”

Karen, 46, does this by working as a life coach.  She sees all ages, men and women, but reckons many women come to her when they “are in their 40s and 50s. They want to know what to do with the next half of their life, and often don’t want to live like the first half of their life on what seems to be other people’s agenda.”

Karen Liebenguth: “When I take people into a green space I always walk across the land, never on the path. When you go off the path a slowing down happens.”

Tips for well-being

• Go outside, even if it is only for 10 minutes. It doesn’t have to be a park or green space, you can always walk around the block.

• Have a cup of tea sitting on the sofa or balcony or in your garden and do nothing. Try to create 10 minutes to half an hour every day where you do nothing.

• Write down three things you are grateful for. Practicing gratitude helps people focus on positive things that happen. Our human psyche likes to focus on the negative but when you focus on things that haven’t worked you can’t ever remember someone smiling, or holding the door or offering a cup of tea. I like to think about what was the best bit of today – just by thinking about it I smile.

• Well-being comes from reducing mind chatter. Stress is often a deep sense that life is too much so when you plan next week, allow some me time. Perhaps don’t watch the telly and don’t use Facebook or Twitter or email. You might find it helpful to say no to joining colleagues in the pub. Instead have one evening a week which belongs to yourself. You could do a yoga class, have a bath, read, paint, draw or pick  up the phone and talk to a dear friend for a meaningful chat.

• Occasionally take a day for reflection – be completely by yourself. It helps ideas come and helps you think things through. All my best ideas come when I’m on a solitary walk.

Inside or out?
Karen is happy to see clients at her consultation room, or on Skype, but finds that “90 per cent of my clients want sessions in green space”. Favourite places include Green Park and Victoria Park, near her Bethnal Green home, but she’s often on Highbury Fields, because she works part-time as a Life Coach at the Healthy Living Centre above Mother Earth on Highbury Corner. ““Walking next to each other is different to sitting opposite someone in a consulting rooms, it feels very equal.”

Life coaching is growing in popularity, and Karen’s unique approach in taking her clients into London’s green space seems to be working well. “People arrive on auto-pilot and at a fast pace. Then we walk across the land and they slow down. Our mind and body also slows down. The green space gives space for thinking. It allows the mind to flow and not let it get static and stuck.”

Life coach Karen Liebenguth works with men and women clients. “People talk and I listen”.

“People talk and I listen,” continues Karen. “Sometimes I reflect back what I hear. That’s beneficial for clients because they are reassured that I’m listening. I offer a lot of listening time – it’s unconditional as I have no agenda. For some people it’s all that’s needed, you can walk out of your problem into your own solution.”

Another challenge for many people is undoing parental expectations. “Our parents’ values are often with us for the first 40 years. That’s when people feel strong enough and grown-up enough to look at our own values and finally let go. A lot of people are deeply dissatisfied with their own life, they find it lacks purpose and meaning. A recurrent theme is that each one of us want to make a contribution and find our life’s purpose, something that serves a greater good – and leads to our spiritual or personal development.”

Places life coach Karen Liebenguth loves in Islington

• I love Mother Earth, on 282-284 St Paul’s Road, because it’s an organic shop and close to nature.

• The Ecology Centre in Gillespie Park, by Arsenal tube, is a wonderful place. Find it at 191 Drayton Park, N5.

• I sometimes go to the North London Buddhist Centre on Holloway Road for talks, classes and yoga.

• My favourite restaurant on Upper Street is Galipolli. I like the one near the cinema as it has so many vegetarian choices, the staff are very friendly and you can sit there forever without being chucked out.

Karen Liebenguth: “London is the best place on the planet for green spaces – there are so many squares, big parks, commons and churchyards.” There are even outdoor cafes, like Oasis on Highbury Fields.

Just walk and talk
Using the space under the lovely London plane tree avenues and grassy lawn of Highbury Fields, Karen’s calmness and ability to ask the right questions seems to help everything fall into place.

So how does Karen unwind after hearing so many people’s worries?

She smiles in recognition but has the answer… “I go for a 10-12 mile walk at least once a month – and I have done for at least 12 years!”

One of her favourite walks on the south coast can be reached by train. “Just one hour and 20 minutes from Victoria train station is Seaford (change at Lewes) from there you can walk the Seven Sisters and the Cuckmere Valley and across the South Downs. It’s a beautiful walk.”

Then she laughs, leans forward and shares the emotional good sense that she hopes more of us will discover: “It makes me happy when people say ‘I might go outdoors a bit more’. My secret belief is if we all spent more time outdoors the world would look different and we’d all treasure the environment a bit more. It’s as simple as that.”

Email Karen for a free 30 minute taster session outdoors on Highbury Fields (or by phone or Skype). This offer applies to all new clients.

www.greenspacecoaching.com

email: karen@greenspacecoaching.com  tel: 07815 591279

Over to you

If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z index of posts, or the A-Z of jobs to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. 

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right), @nicolabairduk

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

Thanks for stopping by. Nicola

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  How do you introduce children to music? Many people in Islington head to Islington Music, just off Cross Street  run by Tricia Cottle. It’s well-known as the first-stop shop for all mums hoping their children’s budding interest in music will remain, but also well-visited by professionals replacing a string, buying rosin or flicking through the many music scores on sale. You may even meet a tourist here looking for gifts.  Interview by Nicola Baird

Tricia Cottle at the counter of her shop Islington Music, 6 Shillingford Street - the only music shop in Islington for the past  25 years.

“I’m not very interesting,” insists Tricia cradling her mug of coffee interrupted from her morning tasks at the counter of Islington Music. She’s wrong of course: she sings, plays the viola “very badly” (according to her) and can tune all sorts of stringed instruments including guitars and violins. She’s also run the only music shop in Islington for around 25 years – it’s where local families go to buy or rent instruments, replace broken guitar string and join the craze for ukulele bands.  There is also a huge range of the must-have ABRSM music exam books for an orchestra of instruments.

Let’s run a shop
“When my youngest son, Jon, was two or three, I realised I had to work, but I couldn’t do a job from 9-5 because of the boys, so I thought ‘Shall I start a shop?’ I thought it would be fun, but I had no idea how much time and work would be involved.” She laughs gently at her younger self…

Tricia Cottle’s first Islington home was near the hole in the wall in Almeida Street.

Tricia shared a flat with a friend in Islington, just off Almeida Street, when she was first moved to London in her early 20s, and then ended up in a flat on Seven Sisters Road when she got married a few years later. Her husband Malcolm is a musician – working as a pianist, organist and conductor – so the pair had a head start when it came to deciding on what sort of shop, and were also able to take good advice from friends including the owner of the Southgate Music shop (now no more) and the thriving Harpenden Musicale in Hertfordshire. For the first three years they were in 41 Cross Street – in the premises later taken on by the famous Old Woodworking Tools shop – before moving across the road to 6 Shillingford Street. Tricia’s boys are grown up now, the youngest is 35, but all were encouraged to play music well as children.

So what are her tips for helping youngsters get good?
“I was pretty determined that the boys couldn’t give up playing until they were 16. I feel it is really important for anyone to give learning an instrument some time before saying ‘I can’t do that’,” says Tricia, although only Nick gave up as a teenager. The result is that Ben took violin and the viola with sports studies at university and Jon is still a cellist, playing in Barcelona where he’s now based.

For those who can’t make up their minds or those who like the flexibility of not buying yet, Tricia rents (for a very reasonable quarterly fee) cellos, violins, violas, flutes, trumpets, alto saxes and clarinets. Many are available in child-sized versions suitable for the very young.  Ukuleles are also very popular but Tricia suggests caution as children love fiddling with the pegs.

Although Tricia Cottle is mostly based at her shop Islington Music, just off Cross Street, she likes going out in Islington and Hackney.

Things Tricia enjoys in Islington (& just over the Hackney border)

•  I like going to see the opera at the King’s Head pub. They have amazing things.
• The Rosemary Branch is brilliant. I’ve seen panto and other shows there and enjoyed a wonderful birthday party.
•  I like the market at the Angel and the stalls and shops on Camden Passage. We have loads of art galleries, the Canal running through Islington and Hackney and we are also so close to the West End – should you run out of things to do in Islington.
• We have the 38 and 73 – what else do you need? They are two fantastic buses.
• We live in Northchurch Road, N1 and it’s almost too nice now on Southgate Road! There’s a pizza place and a deli and the Scolt Head pub, though I find it a bit noisy. Sometimes I meet a friend for coffee at St Peter’s church (which also does lunch).

Tin whistle or ukulele?

Tin whistles can be a good way to introduce a class of primary school children to music.

“I’ve just delivered 12 tin whistles to John the Evangelist Primary School at Angel. One of the teachers says tin whistles are very popular there – and at least they stay in tune. Ukuleles are very popular in schools, but it must be very difficult to keep them in tune.” Here Tricia almost winces – it’s as if she can hear those early efforts. “I used to play music in the shop, but then it became just another of the many things that you have to pay for. I thought it was an absolute cheek,” says Tricia who is well-loved for having conversations with many of her customers.

Music celebrities
“We get a lot of famous people in the shop, but I never recognise them, and I’m sure on the whole they are pretty pleased about that,” she says. “We have had  that one who bared his bum at Michael Jackson (Jarvis Cocker at the 1996 Brit Awards), and one of the original King’s Singers (a cappella band) and Simon Rattle, the conductor – everyone knows what he looks like.” I nod enthusiastically, knowing I don’t, but Tricia isn’t trying to test me.  Indeed it turns out that Islington Music attracts Eastend actors, MPs and “lots of famous lawyers. They are all very charming,” says Tricia diplomatically.

What do you want to learn to play or get better at playing?

Islington Music’s mix of old-fashioned promise that you too could soon play an instrument wonderfully, is irresistible whatever age you are or how skilled you are. Both Tricia, and her colleague Bronwyn, know so much about music and raising kids to play all sorts of instruments that they can offer very practical advice. Indeed Tricia is adamant that, “I will not tell people that I know about something, when I don’t know about it.” It is that honesty however that makes Islington Music such a special place for us shoppers. Do let Tricia be the wise voice she is when you next go to Islington Music.

• Islington Music, 6 Shillingford Street, N1 tel  enquiries@islingtonmusic.co.uk Open 9.45-5.30pm Mon-Sat.

• Here’s a youtube on how to tune a ukulele here

Over to you

If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z index of posts, or the A-Z of jobs to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. 

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right), @nicolabairduk

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

Thanks for stopping by. Nicola

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  Anyone love camping? Me too – but it is a surprisingly tricky thing to do in Islington, which is famously the London borough with the least green space. It’s especially hard if you don’t have a back garden with a bit of grass big enough to pitch a tent, or have a tent. Many families are also put off having a go camping, especially those with young children, because you seem to need so much kit that you also need a car to get you to a safe camping spot. Those are just a few of the reasons why Islington Giving helped organise a one-night camping adventure for Islington families who don’t usually get the chance to go on holiday. Here’s the feedback from mum Ola and her two children who enjoyed a one night camp out at Freightliners Farm, N7 during summer 2013.  Interview by Nicola Baird

Freightliners Farm offers a taste of country life in the city. It’s free to visit and open every day except Mondays. See farm and cafe opening times at the bottom of this post.

Ola is a Nigerian-born mum who is bringing up two kids in London.

“I visited Freightliners Farm previously but never had the time to look at the animals because the visit was brief! I have never experienced camping before, it’s not a Nigerian thing. The only form of camping I ever experienced was the National Youth Service Camp, Nigeria. The thrill about camping at Freightliners starts with setting up the tent yourself, it was fun and exciting for everyone.”

“The organisers provided everything: the tent, sleeping bags, torch light, food, drinks etc. The tent had a living room and even the bedroom can be partitioned as a spare bedroom for the children: I call it ‘ luxury camping’ because we did not have to spend a dime! At night it was calm, so quiet and peaceful. It was raining at night and you could hear the raindrops on the tent, that tranquillity was captivating! I slept like a baby….. the rain was so soothing!!!”

Campers enjoyed listening to the night rain on their tents, and then waking up to the sound of cockerels. Freightliners Farm aims to bring “a little bit of the countryside into inner London”, but it also provides volunteering and work opportunities for young and vulnerable people – which is why it’s just won a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

“We did arts and craft and had a fantastic BBQ, setting up the coal and grill. The food was so delicious… yummy!! And the smell caused us all to salivate!!! We even made bread ourselves with our children and baked it in the oven. We also did some planting of various herbs and some vegetables, which was part of our take away package.”

Ola was interviewed at the Parent House which  offers English lessons, IT training plus a place to meet, learn, plan and dream. There’s a lovely garden too.

“It was only one night but seemed like a week! At the end of the camp we had a magician who performed different tricks, hmmm… magic!!!”

“Time to leave was an ordeal because the kids didn’t want to go, and likewise us parents. It felt like the goodbyes will never end! I enjoyed every moment – this is what I call ‘Wealth’ for money cannot buy such a wonderful experience. Thanks to all the organisers for making it a tremendous moment in my LIFE at the time we needed a ‘comforting arm around us’.”

Ola was interviewed about her camping experience at the Parent House, King’s Cross which is open to mothers, fathers and grandparents. It offers English lessons, IT training plus a place to meet, learn, plan or have a cup of tea. For more info about the Parent House see here.

Everyone on Islington Faces Blog has a story.  How do you strike the right work-life balance? Close to Holloway tube is bustling Hornsey Street with its flats, gyms, medical centre, eateries and the lovely Sacred Café. Go a little further and you access Islington Household Reuse & Recycling Centre (aka the dump) – but the occasional waste lorry doesn’t seem to spoil the atmosphere. Bikram Highbury & Islington co-owner Georgina Gray explains why this bit of Holloway is the perfect location for a Bikram yoga studio.  Interview by Nicola Baird

Georgina Gray from Bikram Highbury & Islington speaks Polish, Russian, Spanish and English.

“I’ve met so many incredible people since we opened Bikram Highbury & Islington,” says Georgina Gray in a chic blue business dress over coffee at the Sacred Café, which she dubs her “unofficial board room”. “People have been so welcoming. We all find it friendly whether we’re newcomers or born and bred here.”

Although Georgina, now 46, has lived in London for years. She moved here from Poland when she was 27, then spent a decade in demanding jobs for the BBC and several huge corporate media companies including Fox Kids (now Disney).

“When I came across Bikram yoga [yoga done in a humid room heated to 40C] I found it really helped me cope with the demands of my daily job,” she says. “The mental and emotional benefits were so powerful. I regained my sense of calm and peace. It meant I could deal with anything.”

She became such a fan of Bikram yoga that not long after marrying her Yorkshire-born husband Carl she ditched the corporate world, with its relentless travel, so the pair could settle in Bristol. “We set up the first hot yoga in the South West of England,” explains Georgina, proud that this business is still thriving on Bristol High Street.

Although the pair still love “beautiful” Bristol, they missed London terribly. “We didn’t have children and we liked going to the Barbican, independent cinemas, music and galleries,” explains Georgina. “For everything we wanted to do we had to travel to London and then stay on people’s sofas.” The obvious answer was to move back. So they did and now live in a tiny flat in Camden with a dream of one day moving to Islington where the pair opened their second Bikram studio a year ago.

Places Georgina loves in Islington

• The Farm Direct shop on Ronald’s Road was an amazing discovery. It’s where you can buy lovely lamb, organic cheeses, non-pasturised dairy and vegetables. You can see which farm it came from and see a picture of the people who made it. I eat a lot of soups and salads, but because I come from Eastern Europe so I believe there should be a nice warm soup on the table every day – and it’s an easy way to eat your seven types of fruit and veg.
• Sacred Cafe on Hornsey Street is like our board room. Every fortnight at 8.30am there’s a community networking meeting at Ez and Moss, organised by Ruth at Rowan Arts.
• I love walking up and down Holloway Road to discover new things. I like the antiques shop, the little bistro La Muse (119 Holloway Road) by Vagabond and Love For Flowers, the new flower shop run by a Spanish guy at 115 Holloway Road.
• I go to Zebra (98 Highbury Park) to get my hair cut.
• As Georgina lives with a real Mr Gray her choice of reading matter has to be probed… “I have 50 Shades of Grey on my shelf. I bought it because I saw everyone reading it, and I’m interested in the way women are portrayed in the media. But I haven’t read it yet!”

Georgina Gray: Thanks to Bikram yoga I meet so many amazing people every day – seeing 60 English people, men and women, in their little tops and pants sweating together really warms my heart! Once you reach a certain age and aren’t at school you don’t meet like-minded people. We organise drinks every first Thursday so people can chat. Our vision is to be the most loved business serving the local community, and to build partnerships with other local businesses.”

“We wanted to open Bikram yoga in Islington because it is densely populated with young people. They need fitness to give them balance to their lifestyle,” says Georgina who tries to do Bikram three times a week, so knew there wasn’t much Bikram yoga on offer in the area.

She also wanted to play a bigger part in Islington’s community again. “In my early 30s I wanted to put some credit in my Karma bank so I volunteered at weekends at a detox place on City Road – that was around 1999, I’m not sure it’s there any more,” says Georgina.

Turned out that volunteering with the heroin users was more a friendship mission. “We’d go the swimming pool or have coffee – that’s how I got to know Upper Street. It was full of independent shops then, and there was Tinderbox – all the people I took to Tinderbox loved it. But by 2013 Upper Street was a different place. I talked to the antique sellers on Camden Passage and they were saying they were disappointed that big business was pushing the independents out.  We looked at Crouch End which has a great community, but it was difficult for transport links.”

Next choice, Holloway, ended up the winner.

“In many ways this is the perfect area,” says Georgina. “It’s rough on the edges but authentic: I never felt unsafe. But before we opened we talked to marketing consultants and everyone would say Holloway Road has such a bad reputation. Our personal feeling was very different. I think people have an attitude that is from 10-20 years ago and it needs to change.”

For a while Georgina planned to call their business Bikram Lower Holloway – “like the Lower East Side in Manhattan” but in the end the marketing advice won out hence Bikram Highbury & Islington.

“Going away from London to Bristol made us very conscious of what it means to give back to the community – we wanted a business that is not only about the profit. Bristol is very independent, and proud of it. That’s what we were looking for – and Holloway felt that way too. People have been very welcoming, friendly and supportive – they want us to do well.

Media dreams
You’d think Georgina and Carl would be fully stretched with two Bikram yoga studios but Georgina also hopes to launch a new women’s magazine. “It’s for the ambitious woman. Something has to be done about the way the media portrays women as nothing but the long leg, the fake tan, pneumatic breasts, Botox lips and long blonde hair,” she says fiercely. “Women contribute to politics, science and technology but do we read about this?”

Sadly we all know the answer to her question, but if Georgina’s plans go ahead we may be seeing a very different publication about women out next spring.

It’s a big juggling act running a studio that’s open seven days a week from 6am-11pm – with six reception staff and 15 freelance yoga teachers – at the same time as launching a magazine, but testament to Georgina’s own abilities to do Bikram yoga and keep her mind on project timetables. Go Georgina!

Bikram Highbury & Islington has classes from 6am-11pm seven days a week. The heat helps muscles stretch making it suitable for absolute beginners with no previous yoga experience, the unfit and for all ages including 60+.  To help tempt in new clients there is an introductory offer of £35 for 20 days, and there are lots of discounts for key workers –nurses, firemen and council workers – and for actors and artists.

Bikram Highbury & Islington, Studio 19, The Studios Islington, 8 Hornsey Street, London, N7 www.bikramhighburyandislington.com  tel: 020 7700 3363   info@bikramhighburyandislington.com

Islington Household Reuse & Recycling Centre opening times and info here.

==

Over to you
Would you like to nominate someone to be interviewed? Or would you like to write a guest post for this blog? if the answer is yes for either please email nicolabaird.green@gmail.com

If you’d like to feature on this blog, or make a suggestion about anyone who grew up, lives or works in Islington please let me know, via nicolabaird.green@gmail.com. Thank you. 

If you liked this interview please SHARE on twitter or Facebook. Even better follow islingtonfacesblog.com (see menu top right), @nicolabairduk

This blog is inspired by Spitalfields Life written by the Gentle Author.

If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or jobs to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola