My Old China
Well folks, here at Spread the Word we are coming to the end of our My Old China project, which has seen us out and about in Lambeth Walk busily collecting histories and memories. Here’s a recap on what’s been happening over the last few months.
New years are great for new starts and, in testament to this, January saw us relocate project headquarters from the pop-up shop at 67 Lambeth Walk to the Doctor’s Surgery on the corner. Some of you might have had a chin-wag with our writer-in-resident Steve Tasane there, and even more of you might have had a butchers at our display boards showing photographs of the Walk in all its various guises through the years.
The early months of the year also saw the start of phase 2 of the project, in which Steve dug out his writing pen and sat down to produce the rather brilliant ‘Amazing Case of Lambeth Walk’. Weaving fact and fiction, past and present, the story takes the form of a thriller, where the Story Detectives have to solve the mystery of ‘who killed Lambeth Walk?’
Meanwhile, local residents at Creative Sparkworks were taking their cue from the old Doulton’s factory, to design, make and decorate a collection of pots for the project. The designs were again inspired by past memories and emblazoned with cockney haiku and imagery. Keep an eye out for some of the pots in shop windows on the Walk and on our touring exhibition, which is visiting Roots and Shoots, Chandler Hall and Durning and Brixton Libraries.
Steve was also busy working with the Year 5 class at Walnut Tree Walk Primary School, exploring what it was like to grow up on the Walk in the past. Different generations came together when two of the Walk’s veteran residents popped along to give their childhood memories. The children took these memories and combined them with their own experiences to create and rehearse a play, The Walnut Tree Walk Time Tunnel, which was performed to the whole school.
Naturally, all the stories we heard and all the art that they inspired, were just too good to keep to ourselves, so at Spread the Word HQ we’ve been busy putting together the commemorative book of the project. The ‘My Old China ’ book has turned into something we would be proud to display on our shelves. In it, the story has been brought to life with real photographs and exhibits we came across, the haiku which inspired the pots have been joined by two fantastic poems by Steve and you will find The Walnut Tree Walk Time Tunnel in there too. If all that wasn’t enough, you can explore the history of the area yourselves with a guided walk; discover the stories behind some of the pubs and learn about Charlie Chaplin’s connection to the Walk. If you didn’t get your hands on a copy of the book (they went like hotcakes on our Fun Day!) then you can download a pdf copy of the guided walk Here. You can also download the mp3 audio accompaniment here, read by talented London poet Inua Ellams.
Finally, we couldn’t forget the hugely successful Fun Day we had in partnership with Roots and Shoots last month. The turnout was fantastic with people coming in their hundreds to help us celebrate the past and present of this distinctive part of London. Many familiar faces were there, including some of people that had kindly shared their stories, the Mayor of Lambeth and even the Pearly King of Peckham and his family came and led all in a dance of ‘Doin’ the Lambeth Walk’. With so many things to do and see, the hardest choice was what to do first. There were mosaics and pottery workshops to try, readings and history talks to hear, locally produced products to buy and the gorgeous wildlife of Roots and Shoots to explore. To refuel we munched our way through delicious homemade cakes, tea and strawberries and even cautiously tried the jellied eels, which were surprisingly popular!
There was an great atmosphere to the day and it was a great way to end the project. Spread the Word would like to thank everyone who took part in My Old China or came to the Fun Day. It’s been an amazing experience and we have loved being part of it.
