Every received a letter like this? 7, June, 2007

Invite 1

“No f***ing chance round here, mate” 1, June, 2007

“Funny you should say that, because lots of your neighbours think differently.”
“What, this lot? No chance. Back home, maybe, but no. Been here 20 years - they’re useless”
“Well, I’ve been knocking on doors for the last couple of hours…”
“Well, you know what I mean then!”
“… and I’ve spoke to someone at nearly every flat and I’d say 70% of the people I’ve spoken to thought it was a good idea and I’ve got twelve names of people who want to meet up and start planning something next week.”
“What… no… you serious?”
“Completely”
“Blighmy. [long pause] Put me down too then.”

something amazing’s happening in Bow…

Why am I bothering? 30, May, 2007

It’s been a while since I’ve put anything up on the blog - partly because things have been so busy. We’ve a number of embryonic parties in the offing and without wanting to jinx them it doesn’t feel like it’ll be a challenge to hit our target of five parties. There’s a real appetite for this intervention: people are nervous; skeptical; distrustful - but they’re willing to give it a go.

One man said to me this evening as I was knocking on doors:

“We’ve got problems here, sure, you’d be a fool to say that we don’t. But that’s nothing as to the potential on these estates. There’s lots that think like me, they just don’t know other people are out there too. If we all get together there’s nothing can stop us.”

I can write articulate strategic documents about this form of intervention as much as I like. But I’ll never be able to put it better than that.

Knees Up in East End Life 14, May, 2007

Following my post on Wednesday of the article that appeared in the Tower Hamlets Recorder, this appeared in East End Life today: Knees Up in East End Life

St Barnabas Church, Bow 14, May, 2007

On Friday morning I met Fr. Brian Ralph and Nikki Stevens who are the brains and brawn behind the wonderful annual St. Barnabas Festival. Brian invited me to speak to his congregation yesterday - most of whom live in Bow - about what we’re trying to do:

Thank you for allowing me to occupy Brian’s place for a few moments this morning. I first met him on Friday morning. I confess, though I said I was keen to connect with his congregation as soon as possible, I had little idea I’d find myself behind a lecturn of a Sunday morning. I’m not in the habit of giving sermons. As I was thinking about what I was going to say, I remembered the story of the Vicar who starts the service to find that the mic isn’t working and so taps it and inaudibly says, “I’m sorry everyone, I think there’s something wrong with this mic” And right on cue everyone in the church choruses “And also with you.”

It’s easy to fall into old habits and received formulas. But I want to talk to you about doing something a bit different. I’m not a vicar, I’m not here as anything other than a person. An east Londoner. One of your neighbours. I don’t mean neighbour in the Good Samaritan sense, I mean, quite simply I live just round the corner. After the service, I hope I’ll chat with some of you. And I want to make the bold claim that I think our lives will be that bit better if we do. Not because I think I’m an extraordinary person – I don’t – nor because I think you’re going to slip me the secret of eternal youth or Wednesday’s lottery numbers. Simply because we’re people and I don’t know you now, but I think I’d be better off if I did. I’m sure that we’ve led different lives, done different things, been different places, think and believe different things. But I’m also confident that what connects us is greater than what divides us.

And that doesn’t just apply to you and me. It applies to he old lady over the road you’re always too busy to speak to, to the kid who scares you when you walk home at night. It applies to the fella two doors down who you’re not sure speaks English and seems just different somehow. I’m not here to blame you for not wondering over to your neighbours and introducing yourself – I don’t do it. It’s hard work, it takes time, and it takes courage. And it takes putting to the back of your mind all that we’ve come to believe in recent years – that strangers are dangerous, that every other person’s a mugger, that kids in hoods are anti-social, that women in headscarves are distant, and that Asian men with beards are terrorists.

Many of the things that we hear are scary. But if there’s one message that comes through consistently from the pages of the Bible it’s the three words, “Be not afraid”. I strongly believe that when we’re scared of each other, we’re all diminished. There is such a thing as society if we want to make it so. East London is a fab place – I love it. Bow is a great area. I don’t want to pretend it’s not got problems and I don’t want to pretend they’re not serious. Nor do I want to pretend that I think anything other than that it’s an area that’s been really let down by some of the people who are supposed to have looked after it most – the council and organisations like mine that work with people to make things a bit better.

East London is famous as a welcoming home for generations of immigrants. I’ve not been here very long myself but that spirit meant I was calling it home pretty quickly. Yet it is caught in a spirit of indecision between inclusion and tension. By no means am I the first person to suggest that when a bomb went off on the underground on 7th July 2005 at Aldgate East – not half a mile from here – what was being attacked was the remarkable model of welcome and inclusion that you celebrate here every year with your festival. That’s as hated by fundamentalist Islam as it is by the BNP councillors a little further east in Barking and Dagenham. Until you’ve got bombs going off on your doorstep, it’s easy to feel that that’s someone else’s problem. As I talk to residents round here, I can understand the gripe of long-term residents that this area, which you’ve lived in for years has transformed beyond recognition. It can feel like you’ve been left behind. But equally understandable is the suspicion of the Bengali community who feel distrusted both nationally and locally. Life’s tough day to day and it’s all too easy to blame our neighbours for whatever we’re struggling with. Again, I’m absolutely convinced that what connects us is greater than that which divides us.

Which is why I’m proposing that we do something about it together. Something simple. Something people powered. Something easy. Something that harks back to an older simpler time but can be made new and useful and exciting now.

This year, I’m running a project called Knees Up. See – it’s working already; Bow’s just got a bit better because 100 people just smiled at me! It’s a slightly wacky name and it’s a slightly wacky project – so bear with me. My job is to help anyone in Bow who is interested to run a street party and from there to start a journey. Why a street party? Well, people smile when you say those words. They remember good times they had, national celebrations. In east London, the “Knees Up” is still a powerful idea.

One of the first stories about Jesus in John’s Gospel is the story of him turning water into wine at a wedding party. John says quite particularly how much wine Jesus provided and when you do the maths it works out at over 900 bottles. I once heard a Greek-scholar talking about this and with all his theological learning his response to those quantities came down to just two words; “some party”. At the other end of the Gospel, just before he dies, when Jesus has some of his most important things to say, he arranges a dinner party with his closest friends. That party was so important that Brian will be remembering it for us shortly. Parties, those connections we make, can change lives.

They’re also quite easy to set up. I’ve got a few bits, a few contacts. I can lend a street who are interested some bunting, some road closure signs, a barbeque, put you in touch with someone who’ll do some games with the kids, hire a bouncy castle. Between us, we can decide what will happen when, make sure everyone knows about it and get everything in the right place at the right time. Then, if you want to take part, all you’ve got to do is step out your front door.

At first it might be a bit uncomfortable, but you’ll get chatting. Kids will make friends for life very quickly given half the chance. It may take those of us with a few more inhibitions a little longer but you will meet your neighbours and see your street in an entirely new way.

Afterwards you’ll feel different about that kid you always worried would mug you. You might have seen him and his mates play a song in their band or playing games in the street. You’ll have shared a cuppa with the old lady over the road and found out you know her granddaughter. Who know, that weird bloke two doors down might be really nice.

The power of the idea lies in reclaiming the places in which we live. How will it do this? East London is a busy place these days. In the past there were fewer cars and people and less noise. Some of you will remember a time when people and community came first. If, as I’m suggesting, not many of us know now our neighbors – and that it is from here that the distrust I’ve been speaking about springs then it’s also possible that it’s here that the beginning of the solution also lies. If we get to know each other, we’ll feel safer in their streets. Next time I’m walking down Roman Road, there’s a good chance I’ll see one of you. We might just smile and nod, but the day will be a bit better for that. It’s easy for roads to feel, not like places where we live, but just thoroughfares other people use to get from A to B. Streets should and can feel like part of a community home, not simply where a house or flat happens to be.

I’m not claiming that having a party will be the end of every problem, but it might be a start. Archbishop Oscar Romero, whose diocese faced even bigger problems than Bow, said this, “This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development; we provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realising that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way.”

At its best, what your street party will be, will be a step along the way. When we’re done, we can think through together what was best about that day we shared and how we can make some of those changes a bit more permanent. I’m working with two other organisations; the Suzy Lamplugh Trust who work on increasing personal safety and Living Streets who work to improve the physical streets we live in. They’re keen to work with you too – as am I to find solutions to other problems that become clear as we work. Sometimes people can feel that this is a frivolous project. For the reasons I’ve outlined, I don’t think it is but I do think it’ll be fun. But with these two organisations and in the year following the parties I’m committed to making real and concrete changes to the neighbourhoods that have taken part. The streets will look different. People will have received training in how to look after themselves. And new groups of neighbours will be working together to keep the streets the sort of place we’d all like to live.

But I’m running ahead of myself, and ahead of Oscar Romero’s excellent advice. Let’s begin at the beginning; a chance to set up some time with your neighbours to break down those initial barriers. If a street party sounds like something you even might possibly be interested in, then come and say hello at the end of the surface, and we’ll see where we can go from there.

Finally, why am I doing this? I work for an organisation called Quaker Social Action. As such, it’s founded on the same values as this church. George Fox, who began the Quaker movement 350 years ago instructed those who wanted to practice Christianity in the manner he suggested to “Walk cheerfully over the world answering that of God in everyone.” That instruction to do cheerfully the things we think are most important really makes sense to me when I think of this project. QSA has been working in east London for 140 years. We’ve got no illusions about what’s wrong round here but we think there’s lots to celebrate too. And we think that celebrating together might be a good start to making things a bit better. If you fancy it, or think I’m mad, or have a question, then come and chat to me at the end. Thanks for listening to my madcap scheme. I hope it’s caught your imagination and you fancy giving it a go. That’s a journey I’d love to take with you.

That’s the spirit! 10, May, 2007

Nothing to do with Knees Up but I enjoyed this piece in the Guardian yesterday. That’s the feeling behind the project; it’s a triumph of optimism over cynicism.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,,2075275,00.html

Word is spreading… 9, May, 2007

This cheerful article appeared today in the Tower Hamlets Recorder:

knees-up.pdf

Knees Up at BYM 4, May, 2007

Today we launched Knees Up at BYM, the annual national gathering of Quakers - here’s the little speech I gave there.

QSA is a really exciting organisation to work for because it brings together the sober, time-tested values of the Quaker testimonies with an active and exciting engagement with the sharp end of life in contemporary Britain and the realities of poverty. QSA can boast, as we recently did in the Friend, of being fully Quaker and fully east London. To my mind, Knees Up, our new project, exemplifies this.

Knees Up! is a project with serious community development objectives, framed around the celebratory function of a street party. The street party will function as a Trojan horse. By engaging local people to plan their own street party, the project will bring people together in a positive and collaborative way. Local residents will lead the process, being steered and supported by me only where absolutely necessary. However, during the planning process, I’m becoming a familiar figure and hopefully a trusted one. This will provide an opportunity to capitalise on the feel good factor generated by the party to ask are there other services they would like to access? This would involve signposting but maybe even supporting them to a first visit if they are anxious. Are there gaps in services that they would like to see filled? This will involve helping them think about how to go about this, who to join up with, who to lobby, how to get their voice heard, useful forums they could join. And then working with Living Streets and Suzy Lamplugh Trust to make some positive interventions to break down fear of crime and improve the environment physically.

East London is famous as a welcoming home for generations of immigrants. Yet it is caught in a spirit of indecision between inclusion and tension. By no means am I the first person to suggest that when a bomb went off on the underground on 7th July 2005 at Aldgate East – not half a mile from the area that Knees Up is working – what was being attacked was a remarkable model of integration, as hated by fundamentalist Islam as it is by the BNP councillors a little further east in Barking and Dagenham. In a muted form, these tensions grumble on in the estates of Bow. With some justification, long-term residents feel they have seen the area in which they have lived for years transform beyond recognition and feel like they’ve been left behind. Equally understandable is the suspicion of the Bengali community who feel reviled and distrusted both nationally and locally. Poverty is a real and pressing daily reality in these parallel communities, and it’s all too easy to blame your neighbours for the day in, day out struggle.

Add into this mix the built environment; some social housing beggars belief as tiny windows with frames you could put your finger through look out from concrete monoliths that would not look out of place on a filmset for 1984. Many of the estates in Bow nestle almost literally in shadow of Canary Warf, perhaps London’s most conspicuous symbol of wealth. In recent years there have been fierce battles to hand ownership of decaying social housing to social landlords in the form of housing associations. Some of these have been won and improved, others have been won and seen little change and others have been lost. Those that have not gone over to social landlord’s are left, rightly or wrongly, with a sense of having missed the boat and that the big opportunity for regeneration has been missed.

In this depressing context, what is the point of running a street party? Surely such an intervention is simply rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic. Much beloved of Quakers are the words of Oscar Romero who said, “We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way.” This is what Knees Up is, a small scale intervention that will plant seeds we hope will flourish after next April when the project will come to an end. Everything that QSA does is providing small improvements that make life in poverty a little easier and make change possible. A revolution in peoples fortunes lies beyond our possibility but these small changes can make an enormous impact. Knees Up is an excellent example of our constitution’s commitment to “identify gaps in existing provision for social inclusion, building practical projects to meet that gap with clear and concrete benefits, creates services that can be replicated by others and share our learning wherever possible.”

How will it do this? East London is a busy place these days. In the past there were fewer cars and people and less noise. People and community came first. Not many people now know their neighbours – and it is from here that the distrust I’ve been speaking about springs and so in this simple change that the beginning of the solution also lies. If people know each other, they’ll feel safer in their streets. It’s easy for roads to feel, not like places where anyone lives, but just thoroughfares other people use to get from A to B. Streets should and can feel like part of a community home, not simply where a house or flat happens to be. A street party is a great way to get to know your neighbors, take some time to relax and celebrate living in the vibrant, exciting place that, with all its problems, Bow is. And after the party has taken place, who knows what might happen? Everyone will have made new friends, had a great time and seen their streets in ways we’ve not done before. Knees Up will still be around to enable communities to make some permanent changes to their environment. We can help them to take what was best about the streets when we were partying and make it permanent. Together we can make some changes to help reduce fear of crime and keep your street a place where people come first. We’ll work with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust – who’s Director Julie is going to speak to us shortly – and Living Streets who specialize in changing the physical environment to make it a safer, more person friendly place.

Knees Up is a beginning, not an end, but I’m really excited to see where we can go. It’s a deeply respectful form of intervention which is all about listening to where people are at, celebrating what’s best about a community, providing the opportunity to see it differently and then work together to make the best parts of that more permanent. It’s Quaker in that it is collaborative, adventurous, bold, optimistic and cheerful, in the best tradition of George Fox. It’s east London in that it is a vote of confidence in the people of Bow as worth celebrating. And so, in this combination, it is very QSA and I’m grateful to the Quaker community for making it possible with your enthusiasm and money and I look forward to letting you know where it leads us. Thank you.

A May Day delivery 1, May, 2007

On such a beautiful day - and a traditional holiday and celebration of the working classes - it’s easy to feel optimistic about the task ahead - which is pretty momentous. This was helped by taking delivery of these leaflets, fresh from the printers. I’ve got 1500 of them to spread round residents of Bow. Next Wednesday morning I’m getting up dead early to bake a load of cookies (not quite 1500…) which I’ll take out with Dinar, an outreach worker from our Street Cred project who’s very well known and liked in the area, and a load of these leaflets to do a giveaway and peak a little interest in what’s happening.

My intention is twofold. When I first started working at QSA, I passed through Victoria station everyday as I was coming in from Surrey. The truly miserable experience of commuting was always slightly relieved by the fact that on a virtually daily basis someone was giving something away free: pizza, biscuits, toiletries, money-off vouchers and the like. Cynical marketing? Yes, but that only works with people like me who had jobs and disposable income - and enough of it to afford the train twice a day.

It upset me at the time, an invidious little way in which the rich remain rich and the poor become a little less visible. Our personal value is so often determined by our economic status. No-one flogging anything goes on a giveaway round Bow, another little statement that this is a community without worth. Knees Up is about making a different statement and I want people to feel valued enough that Dinar and I will give away a free cookie. It’s simple but that’s the spirit of generosity and neighbourliness I’m hoping to promote more widely. It’s just a start, just a gimmick in some ways, but I hope it also says something about the values of the project.

Here is the leaflet: Residents Leaflet

What do you think?

A couple of unusual vistors at Victoria Park Square… 26, April, 2007

Staff were having a get together to meet some new colleagues and I invited along Pearly King John and Pearly Queen Lil to have a drink with us and create a photo op for the local papers. We should get some coverage next week. I’ll put PDFs up of anything that gets published.