Clapton Pond Blog

Film Treat: The Big Smoke

If you saw the British Film Institute's compilation of old documentary film footage of London when it was shown in our local St John's Ambulance Hall the other week - part of that Clapton celebration day - you might want to see the full 90 minute version of The Big Smoke at the Rio in Dalston tomorrow afternoon. In fact, come to think of it, you might want to see it even if you didn't see the short version. It's eye-opening stuff, capturing scenes and citizens from the capital between 1896 and VE Day. The longer version, I'm told, contains quite a lot of material from Hackney. Tickets are £5 and £3 (concessions). There will be an introduction by the BFI's James Taylor and a question and answer session. You can book in advance here.  

  

These Days Nothing's Safe

Did anyone else spot this at the corner by the esteemed New Era dry cleaners? How was the massage couch stolen in the first place? Aren't they rather large objects for a burglar seeking to make a quick getaway? More importantly, has the rightful owner recovered it? 

The Hackney Buswall

A reader writes:

There have been roadworks at the corner of Mare St and Amhurst Road for about a week causing gridlock in Hackney - mostly buses. Given that there is regularly a buswall on the Narroway and often backing onto Lower Clapton Road even without roadworks, could it not have been anticipated that this would cause further problems and 1) re-routed some buses 2) have had less buses on this route (shuttle buses?) given that most are pretty empty as people who can have gotten off the buses and walked. I have seem ambulances stuck in complete gridlock a couple of times.

 

Are there any plans to allievate this situation longer term and re-route buses so the Narroway can be a pleasant shopping experience?  More cycling parking would help promote alternative means of getting to the shops and to Hackney Central. I've seen plenty of TFL people with clipboards recently - I look forward to hearing about improvements.

This is becoming quite an issue, one that Dalston resident Andrew Boff AM has raised at City Hall. I've more than once recently jumped off a jammed up bus at the top of the Narroway, taken to the pavement, walked past the "wall" and caught a different bus at the bottom end - in one case of the same number as the one I got off. I'm not sure what the answer is, though. I've mentioned it to TfL myself in the past. Inspired by this reader's letter I will try to pursue it further.

Olympic Park: A Proper Podcast & A Ropey Bit Of Film

My Guardian friend Francesca Panetta visited the 2012 site recently to make her latest classy Hackney podcast. I too visited the site a while ago, and took a really rubbish bit of video. Still, I'm really everso sincere.

Disrespect For The Dead

Thanks to those readers who've alerted me to their local blogs. In time I will link to them all. To begin, this sobering and sensitive account of the recent funeral of a local young man:

   

It was a mild morning in June and people in their thousands were dressed in black. There was a funeral going on. A young boy whose life had been cut short by the hands of a knife and by the actions of evil lay in a casket where his family and friends attended to pay their respects. The amount of people who attended the ceremony at St Johns on Lower Clapton Road was significantly large; a rough estimate would probably be around the 2,500 mark. Young, old, black, white, some walked, some took their cars, a sombre occasion for a life no longer. Looking down from above, he would have been grateful and proud.

Now read on.

Departing Ducks

Photographer Fran Monks saw them while they were in the Pond. One of my daughters saw them in the street nearby while on her way to school. Later that same morning my youngest and I spotted them waddling down Cornthwaite Road in the direction of Lea Bridge Road. Fran tells me of speculation that they were heading for the river. I hope they got there. 

A Sunday Celebration

Does this poster tell you all you need to know? It probably does, though I'll add that the screenings of The Big Smoke are encompassed by Mayor Johnson's Story of London festival. My views about that enterprise caused Boris's culture director Munira Mirza to tell me the other week that she "has a bone to pick with me." That's no reflection on The Big Smoke, though, which I hope to be able to go and see. Click on the poster to make it bigger. 

Hackney Citizens

The latest issue - number 5 - of the Hackney Citizen landed on my doormat yesterday and I was really pleased to see it. Professional, sensible and refreshingly upbeat it provides just the sort of news and culture coverage the borough needs much more of. It also carries a astute editorial on that very theme:

Commenting recently on the role of local papers, Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian said: “Communities need information; local politicians and officials need challenge; citizens need a voice.”

He did, too, and he's right. The Citizen adds:

A viable independent press is a crucial part of democracy.

Right again. And the same is true of independent local blogosphere. Hackney has been perhaps surprisingly slow off the mark in this regard. We lag behind the trailblazers of Greenwich and Barnet, where such as 853 and Barnet Eye make valuable nuisances of themselves. Let the cry go out. More local bloggers required!

Snapping Hackney

The borough and its people inspire all sorts of photographers in all sorts of ways. Yesterday I visited a retrospective of Tom Hunter's work at the University of the Arts gallery at 65 Davies Street, W1. It includes some of his many celebrated images of Hackney. (Some newer Hunter works, on the theme of London's history, are presently showing at the Museum of London). Meanwhile, at the LSE atrium in Houghton Street, an exhibition called Viewing Restricted includes photos along with text and audio by Mishka Henner on the theme of poverty in the borough. And tonight, just down the road, Pages presents a private view of the work of Colin O'Brien. They look fab. It starts at 6.00 and ends at 9.00, and there's a 10 percent discount on books.  

Pillar Box Blockage

Why has this pillar box on Cornthwaite Road been blocked up for several weeks? Why are the ones at the bottom of Chatsworth Road opposite Millfields park and outside the former (thanks Gordon) post office by the roundabout at the top of Lower Clapton Road not blocked up? Why have I not got round to phoning either of the two numbers shown on the blocked up pillar box to ask? I can answer that last question: I haven't got round to it. Perhaps I will tomorrow. Perhaps you will before I do. If you do, please let me know what you were told (click on the pic to make the numbers more visible. Or believe me when I tell you that they are 08457 740740 and 0845 6000606).