Monday
Our final day and its sunny!
Arrived early to check I was happy with my route: I am.
Usual check in with the team and then handing out of pinks bands. A lovely group, including Emma, set sail for our adventure
Stop at the river, dive into the chocolate buttons, and hold our gaze under the wobbly bridge.
We pause to remember Pamela and I share her story: Pamela had sent me a text this morning with thanks for the care that was shown her. We pass by Brian's spot and off to King St
Maureen and Burt in the sorting room of the Cancer Research shop were beautiful framed, either side of the sorting desk, and they share the lovely story of how they met. Brian too shy to speak to Maureen kept brining donations into the shop, and had to stop before he emptied his home.
Off down Angel Walk, taking in Lees garden, and across the back of the church, and the gravestones. Hammersmith Station and the Help Centre lead us to our meeting with Uweme. Such a gentle sole with a story of his gang life, with drugs and crime, to his new life now, as assistant pastor at the centre.
We took in the Apollo story and met with Mark the handyman as we strolled back to Riverside.
Polishing off the chocolate buttons, the group agreed, it had been a very special journey indeed!
What a lovely end to an extraordinary week, as we drank and ate and applauded our endeavours at The Blue Anchor. And that was the week that was, and that was the week that was!
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Sunday 7th
Arrive to chat with David, not part of our journey today, he is thanked for is time. Met Jean and Alan and their adopted dog Roxy and walk back with them to Riverside, chatting as we go. With a lifetime in Hammersmith, they may join our journey later. Have a chat with Kevin in Riverside, who will be the end point of our adventures today.
Were off...
And the sun is shining
Another team of five 'pink team' hit the road from Riverside. A great mix of energy, and its into the chocolate buttons as we hit the river to gaze. The pause under the bridge is again well received, as people marvel at how much is moves!
We walk past the Hammersmith Club and stop, as I share a brief account of Pamela's story, and how we met.
On to Brian's Mosaic, and the man himself! Armed with a postcard of the Mosaic for each of the group and a large black and white photo of when it was painted, he tells tales all those in it, and was a great hit from the off.
We sallied forth down King St and snuck into the lobby of the Tower block, were the Muriel Brian painted, twenty years ago, still covers the lobby walls.
What a delight, when a resident left and ended up involved in the story, she remembered Brian and him doing the work, and reproached him for not including her in it!
We head back down Angel Walk and looked at Lee's Garden, then across the back of the church, the gravestones, and the Apollo story.
Kevin's framed, centre stage in reception as we enter Riverside and he entertains beautiful with tales of Canada and Acting, whilst making his work announcements over the Riverside PA. All back to the special space, with post it notes of adventures and the desire for more!
Friday onwards..
Friday was a lovely shared morning that I got totally lost in. It was only after our beautiful Maltese lunch on Fulham Palace road that I suddenly panicked and realised the clock was ticking and I still had to find another person or persons to tell their story on Saturday & Sunday. So after a tip off I crossed over to the pub opposite the Maltese café.
Unfortunately I called Aurthur a couple of times and got no reply. Reverend Rat however has confirmed, if not hazily, that he is still on for Monday.
So in my quest for a new story teller I introduced myself to the pub landlady Josie, a lovely boisterous lady who I thought would immediately say yes, but turned round and said no, but added that there was a person there that I should talk to instead and she called for a girl named Maria.
Maria appeared and at first was very embarrassed, she also said she had nothing to say or tell. Josie however completely disagreed declaring, that she (Maria) doesn't think she's interesting but she is.
And Josie was right. Maria has a wonderful story of arriving in London 10 years ago to study Drama at college. She started working at the pub 10 years ago to fund her way through college and has stayed ever since. A couple of years ago she went on holiday to Rome and was so inspired by all she had seen she began to study Classics at Open University and is currently learning Italian. She also works one day a week at the British Museum, a place she visited in her first week of arriving in London. She has agreed to tell her story on Sunday.
I then rushed back to the Star Café Grill to find the manager Eser had left for the day, he leaves early on Fridays - clocking ticking I went back to Riverside - I spoke to Jane who told me there was a possibility that I could speak to one of the projectionist of the Riverside cinema and thankfully I could!
Mark the projectionist allowed me to speak to me in his domain and in doing so fulfilled a personal dream for me, I've always wanted to know what it was like to be up there in that box. Mark was a wonderful character, passionate about his job and about film. At the age of six they showed Charlottes Web on film at school and he was hooked. He said if he met his six year old self he would say that he may not have made the money he wanted to or married the girl he liked at school but he ended up doing the job of his dreams.
That unfortunately is all I have time to write this morning. Yesterday was an incredible day, and now I'm going to get ready to prepare myself for another....
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Saturday 6th
Were off...........
And the sun is shining!
A small but beautifully formed 'pink' group leave the Riverside Studios. No time is waisted in getting stuck in to the giant chocolate buttons.
We pause to soak up the river and the bridge, then stopping under its heavy weight to hear the traffic over our heads.
We stroll to the Hammersmith Club, and I remind everybody of the very 'real nature of the stories we will hear. We enter Hammersmith club and I receive a welcome wave from my new group of boyfriends.The extraordinary Pamela is waiting for us. Such an incredible and life affirming story of hope over grief: everyone was clearly very moved. The group all thank Pamela and checking she is 'cared for' we head off on our route.
We stop at Brian's Mosaic on the way to King St, along with stories of others I have met. After a brief search I track down David with his interesting, if perhaps slightly truculent, view of what we are doing. All are impressed by his art work
We head back taking in the Headstone's at the back of St Pauls church and The Apollo story. By all accounts a "remarkable" journey.
Were off...........
And the sun is shining!
A small but beautifully formed 'pink' group leave the Riverside Studios. No time is waisted in getting stuck in to the giant chocolate buttons.
We pause to soak up the river and the bridge, then stopping under its heavy weight to hear the traffic over our heads.
We stroll to the Hammersmith Club, and I remind everybody of the very 'real nature of the stories we will hear. We enter Hammersmith club and I receive a welcome wave from my new group of boyfriends.The extraordinary Pamela is waiting for us. Such an incredible and life affirming story of hope over grief: everyone was clearly very moved. The group all thank Pamela and checking she is 'cared for' we head off on our route.
We stop at Brian's Mosaic on the way to King St, along with stories of others I have met. After a brief search I track down David with his interesting, if perhaps slightly truculent, view of what we are doing. All are impressed by his art work
We head back taking in the Headstone's at the back of St Pauls church and The Apollo story. By all accounts a "remarkable" journey.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Day 2 onwards....
Please excuse my blogging, I find it necessary to massively abbreviate the retelling my encounters for so many reasons, and feel unable to fully do them justice here. I also don't wish to bore you with the details I have already tried to pass on in our time together in person, so today I think I will focus on putting down my thoughts and feelings as the project has progressed.
I have frequently felt overwhelmed during this process, I don't mean this in a bad way, just that although we are doing something seemingly small and simple it is also huge. I suspect we were chosen for this project because of an openness in our characters, and I have found that the more open I have allowed myself to be the more I have been affected by all I have seen and experienced. This has been both a positive and negative, mainly the former but sometimes the latter too. I have been hugely touched by people's generosity of spirit and desire to create a sense of community in their lives. I have also found it surprisingly difficult to be told "No, I don't want to talk to you." My approach has understandably changed from person to person, but of course you only get one opportunity to make the first contact with someone so sometimes it's just not successful.
As I mentioned earlier having the time to explore and the purpose of creating Stop-Look-Listen has really given me a sense of license to figuratively and literally open doors and climb on through, to follow whims, make connections and enter spaces I would not normally feel entitled to enter. I really hope to continue this, but more immediately to allow the audience to indulge in this feeling too. My fervent wish is to give them time and space, and not find fault in them or much more likely myself if they "don't get it". I feel incredibly fortunate to have been chosen to have this experience and really hope to give the audience a slice of this...analogies of picture framing spring to mind, and the phrase "moveable feast" has been with me for the past few days.
In fact having typed that I then unearthed this - By metaphoric extension, the term "moveable feast" was used by Ernest Hemingway to mean the memory of a splendid place that continues to go with the moving traveler for the rest of life, after he has had the experience of it and gone away. The author used the title A Moveable Feast for his late-life memoirs of his early life as a struggling writer in Paris in the 1920s. He said to a friend: "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
I have frequently felt close to tears during our time together, for no apparent reason. I've not uncovered any particularly sad stories but have been just marveling at human kind in general. I have always been fascinated by the best and worst in human nature, and this week the predominant themes that have come up in so many conversations are - money won't make you happy and more fool those that think it will, it's better for your soul to always see the best in others, make the best of every situation that comes to you, and we need one another. Essentially Bobby McFerrin had it right, "Don't Worry Be Happy."
Judgement has so frequently reared it's ugly little head in the back of my mind this week. Not that I've been judging the people I've met or their stories, but wondering if other people will find what I've selected profound or interesting enough and therefore by extension judge my stories partners and me. However I've reconciled myself to the idea that they would have not made these connections at all without this project so whatever they take away from it is ultimately not down to me....However knowing money has exchanged hands in order for them to participate does bring up lots of questions about worth and cause me to doubt myself. Having said this I had a great deal of fun this morning in our very brief group walk around Hammersmith and hope that like me the audience will feel that that alone was worthy of their time and money!
As I said to Jane today I feel our two tours merging was a happy accident caused by having independently made connections with a couple of the same people and some how all roads seeming to lead to and from Bob. In fact it's emerged today that there is connection between pretty much every single person we have met and I've been astonished to uncover such a vibrant little community and feel so whole-heartedly welcomed into it!
I hope this doesn't read as self indulgent twoddle, or an irritating stream of consciousness...it's heading dangerously close, but as I said it's the enormity of it all which makes it difficult to record in any sensible way. Quite a few people we've spoken to have asked if we will be recording the "performances" and I've been responding by saying that no although it's like a documentary it's just happening in moment for the sake of all those lucky enough to be there at the time, and potential story partners seem to have been very satisfied with this explanation.
Anyway now I am rambling so I shall leave you all in cyber space peace for now.
Much love, A
I have frequently felt overwhelmed during this process, I don't mean this in a bad way, just that although we are doing something seemingly small and simple it is also huge. I suspect we were chosen for this project because of an openness in our characters, and I have found that the more open I have allowed myself to be the more I have been affected by all I have seen and experienced. This has been both a positive and negative, mainly the former but sometimes the latter too. I have been hugely touched by people's generosity of spirit and desire to create a sense of community in their lives. I have also found it surprisingly difficult to be told "No, I don't want to talk to you." My approach has understandably changed from person to person, but of course you only get one opportunity to make the first contact with someone so sometimes it's just not successful.
As I mentioned earlier having the time to explore and the purpose of creating Stop-Look-Listen has really given me a sense of license to figuratively and literally open doors and climb on through, to follow whims, make connections and enter spaces I would not normally feel entitled to enter. I really hope to continue this, but more immediately to allow the audience to indulge in this feeling too. My fervent wish is to give them time and space, and not find fault in them or much more likely myself if they "don't get it". I feel incredibly fortunate to have been chosen to have this experience and really hope to give the audience a slice of this...analogies of picture framing spring to mind, and the phrase "moveable feast" has been with me for the past few days.
In fact having typed that I then unearthed this - By metaphoric extension, the term "moveable feast" was used by Ernest Hemingway to mean the memory of a splendid place that continues to go with the moving traveler for the rest of life, after he has had the experience of it and gone away. The author used the title A Moveable Feast for his late-life memoirs of his early life as a struggling writer in Paris in the 1920s. He said to a friend: "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
I have frequently felt close to tears during our time together, for no apparent reason. I've not uncovered any particularly sad stories but have been just marveling at human kind in general. I have always been fascinated by the best and worst in human nature, and this week the predominant themes that have come up in so many conversations are - money won't make you happy and more fool those that think it will, it's better for your soul to always see the best in others, make the best of every situation that comes to you, and we need one another. Essentially Bobby McFerrin had it right, "Don't Worry Be Happy."
Judgement has so frequently reared it's ugly little head in the back of my mind this week. Not that I've been judging the people I've met or their stories, but wondering if other people will find what I've selected profound or interesting enough and therefore by extension judge my stories partners and me. However I've reconciled myself to the idea that they would have not made these connections at all without this project so whatever they take away from it is ultimately not down to me....However knowing money has exchanged hands in order for them to participate does bring up lots of questions about worth and cause me to doubt myself. Having said this I had a great deal of fun this morning in our very brief group walk around Hammersmith and hope that like me the audience will feel that that alone was worthy of their time and money!
As I said to Jane today I feel our two tours merging was a happy accident caused by having independently made connections with a couple of the same people and some how all roads seeming to lead to and from Bob. In fact it's emerged today that there is connection between pretty much every single person we have met and I've been astonished to uncover such a vibrant little community and feel so whole-heartedly welcomed into it!
I hope this doesn't read as self indulgent twoddle, or an irritating stream of consciousness...it's heading dangerously close, but as I said it's the enormity of it all which makes it difficult to record in any sensible way. Quite a few people we've spoken to have asked if we will be recording the "performances" and I've been responding by saying that no although it's like a documentary it's just happening in moment for the sake of all those lucky enough to be there at the time, and potential story partners seem to have been very satisfied with this explanation.
Anyway now I am rambling so I shall leave you all in cyber space peace for now.
Much love, A
Met with David and Alister, who then got questioned by the police. David and I went to his assistance. Interesting how the tone of a conversation can change when someone not homeless comes along: bit tense there for a while, but eventually all well and we went for coffee. Alister was a little shaken and visibly very cold. It seems he had his Big Issue vest and badge stolen and thats the problem
Off to Cancer Research shop to meet with Maureen again and Burt and it's a yes for Monday!
Off to meet up with the team and snatches of our excellent adventure
Off to walk the route, vey pleased how that has come together. Got into the walled garden to see Brian Deighton other mosaic work, sent him txt to let him know.
Met the team for a'spot of lunch' and another snip of a story.
Did a taster of my Saturday walk and snips of others: fabulous!
Back to Riverside and look at how it all hangs: hangs pretty darned well I'd say
What a wonderful team we are!
Onwards!!!!!!!!!!!!
Off to Cancer Research shop to meet with Maureen again and Burt and it's a yes for Monday!
Off to meet up with the team and snatches of our excellent adventure
Off to walk the route, vey pleased how that has come together. Got into the walled garden to see Brian Deighton other mosaic work, sent him txt to let him know.
Met the team for a'spot of lunch' and another snip of a story.
Did a taster of my Saturday walk and snips of others: fabulous!
Back to Riverside and look at how it all hangs: hangs pretty darned well I'd say
What a wonderful team we are!
Onwards!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
On my way to the Riverside this morning and I noticed a beautiful house behind a lot of scaffolding that you can only see by peering through the gate. I went down the path and rang the bell. Lizzie opened the door and let me in to a building known as Temple Lodge. The former home of artist Sir Frank Brangwyn, it is now a Christian guesthouse and a church is currently being constructed on site. The house is peaceful, warm and serene with high ceilings, lots of books and natural light, a large garden and lots of greenery. It was completed unexpected to find such a calm oasis only moments from the Broadway and the Flyover. Lizzie was busy tidying away breakfast dishes but she said I could go back at 12 o clock when she would have time to talk.
I met Anna at Riverside and we set off in search of the Anderson Shelter Bob had told us about on Lillie Road but we were unable to find it, despite asking a few people in the area.
We visited Cosco cafe and chatted to owner Joseph. He has currency from all over the world decorating the walls of the cafe, and Bob made the frames for him.
We returned to Temple Lodge and met Alyssia. She showed us two pictures by Brangwyn (the only pictures of his that are there) and spoke about how she enjoyed working there and had not known of Temple Lodge previously, having seen the position advertised locally. She gave us the telephone number of the Priest, Peter and thinks we may be able to visit on Monday. It will be a lovely place to pause and we may get a story too, we will contact Peter to ask if we can visit.
We continued through the snow to The Distillers to try the chips Scott had told us about ... and they were indeed delicious. Scott told us he is happy for us to visit on Saturday and will even wear a clean apron for the occasion.
We met Emma and went to Bob's house in the afternoon. Bob showed us some photographs and told us many stories of his life that were both touching and inspiring.
After the meeting at The Riverside we went to see George, the fellow Geordie on Fulham Palace Road. He had just received a parking ticket but despite this was friendly and upbeat and he asked us to post his appeal letter for him on our way home. He worked as a hotel manager and a squash teacher before he set up his own soft furnishings company and he lives above the shop. He has agreed to be part of Moving Stories on Monday.
We then visited Joseph the Maltese patisserie owner. He showed us pictures of Maltese celebrities that have visited him and he has customers that come from as far afield as Portsmouth to purchase his goods. He loves London but misses the cafe culture that exists in Malta and he set up his own cafe to create that world here. We left with not just one but two pastries in hand each, which did not last long... He has agreed to be part of Moving Stories at the weekend.
I met Anna at Riverside and we set off in search of the Anderson Shelter Bob had told us about on Lillie Road but we were unable to find it, despite asking a few people in the area.
We visited Cosco cafe and chatted to owner Joseph. He has currency from all over the world decorating the walls of the cafe, and Bob made the frames for him.
We returned to Temple Lodge and met Alyssia. She showed us two pictures by Brangwyn (the only pictures of his that are there) and spoke about how she enjoyed working there and had not known of Temple Lodge previously, having seen the position advertised locally. She gave us the telephone number of the Priest, Peter and thinks we may be able to visit on Monday. It will be a lovely place to pause and we may get a story too, we will contact Peter to ask if we can visit.
We continued through the snow to The Distillers to try the chips Scott had told us about ... and they were indeed delicious. Scott told us he is happy for us to visit on Saturday and will even wear a clean apron for the occasion.
We met Emma and went to Bob's house in the afternoon. Bob showed us some photographs and told us many stories of his life that were both touching and inspiring.
After the meeting at The Riverside we went to see George, the fellow Geordie on Fulham Palace Road. He had just received a parking ticket but despite this was friendly and upbeat and he asked us to post his appeal letter for him on our way home. He worked as a hotel manager and a squash teacher before he set up his own soft furnishings company and he lives above the shop. He has agreed to be part of Moving Stories on Monday.
We then visited Joseph the Maltese patisserie owner. He showed us pictures of Maltese celebrities that have visited him and he has customers that come from as far afield as Portsmouth to purchase his goods. He loves London but misses the cafe culture that exists in Malta and he set up his own cafe to create that world here. We left with not just one but two pastries in hand each, which did not last long... He has agreed to be part of Moving Stories at the weekend.
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