Village Raw - ISSUE 14
Village Raw is a magazine that explores cultural stories from Crouch End, East Finchley, Highgate, Muswell Hill and the surrounding areas. The magazine is created by the community, for the community. If you like this issue you can support the project through a subscription or donation. See the links below. The fourteenth issue of Village Raw includes: THE ART OF SUSPENSION - The art of Merrill Rauch and Rebecca Harker. THE BABEL MESSAGE - The linguistic diversity of Kinder Surprise warning messages. AND ALL THAT JAZZ - The music that never stops evolving. BARNET AND BIKING - The need to grow our cycling infrastructure. LOCAL NATURE - OmVed’s Local Nature project. TAKE THE PLUNGE - Connecting with nature through Hampstead Heath’s ponds. HELP YOURSELF TO SECONDS - Some of the local second-hand clothes solutions. GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO - Scale up support provided by the British Library. COOKING UP A BOOK - Michael Batoux: International cuisine from a school kitchen. ASK OLA - Boosting the immune system and calming the anxiety. AND MORE…
Village Raw is a magazine that explores cultural stories from Crouch End, East Finchley, Highgate, Muswell Hill and the surrounding areas. The magazine is created by the community, for the community. If you like this issue you can support the project through a subscription or donation. See the links below. The fourteenth issue of Village Raw includes:
THE ART OF SUSPENSION - The art of Merrill Rauch and Rebecca Harker.
THE BABEL MESSAGE - The linguistic diversity of Kinder Surprise warning messages.
AND ALL THAT JAZZ - The music that never stops evolving.
BARNET AND BIKING - The need to grow our cycling infrastructure.
LOCAL NATURE - OmVed’s Local Nature project.
TAKE THE PLUNGE - Connecting with nature through Hampstead Heath’s ponds.
HELP YOURSELF TO SECONDS - Some of the local second-hand clothes solutions.
GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO - Scale up support provided by the British Library.
COOKING UP A BOOK - Michael Batoux: International cuisine from a school kitchen.
ASK OLA - Boosting the immune system and calming the anxiety.
AND MORE…
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NOVEMBER 2021 TO JANUARY 2022<br />
FREE<br />
VILLAGE RAW<br />
STORIES FROM CROUCH END, EAST FINCHLEY, HIGHGATE, MUSWELL HILL AND SURROUNDING AREAS<br />
The Art of Suspension: Merrill Rauch and Rebecca Harker / And All That Jazz: the music that never<br />
stops evolving / Take the Plunge: Swimming in Hampstead Heath’s ponds / Help Yourself to Seconds: Local<br />
secondhand clothes / Cooking Up a Book: Michael Batoux: International cuisine from a school kitchen.
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CONTENTS<br />
THE ART OF SUSPENSION<br />
The art of Merrill Rauch<br />
and Rebecca Harker.<br />
THE BABEL MESSAGE<br />
The linguistic diversity of Kinder<br />
Surprise warning messages.<br />
AND ALL THAT JAZZ<br />
The music that never<br />
stops evolving.<br />
BARNET AND BIKING<br />
The need to grow our cycling<br />
infrastructure.<br />
LOCAL NATURE<br />
OmVed’s Local Nature project.<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
<strong>Village</strong> <strong>Raw</strong> is about community and culture. Through these, we relate to one another,<br />
we connect, we make partnerships, we develop ideas, we create meaning<br />
and we evolve. Over the last several years we’ve seen major shifts and changes<br />
in our lives and over the coming years there will certainly be more.<br />
Every issue of <strong>Village</strong> <strong>Raw</strong> is a community collaboration and the content over<br />
the coming pages is born from chance encounters, suggestions, explorations,<br />
knowledge and hope. From following up a curiosity inspired by a Kinder Egg, to<br />
challenging how we use the roads. From investigating the nature connections that<br />
evolved over the last few years, to connecting with ourselves and others through<br />
the music we play and listen to. From researching and refining recipes to invention<br />
and reinvention through the art we create. From experiencing swimming in cold<br />
water to rethinking how we fill, or empty, our wardrobes. All of these things crisscross<br />
and connect, just as the ripples of our actions impact across the world.<br />
As we take another step forward into the unknown, casting an eye back over<br />
our lived experiences, its important that we keep asking questions about how we<br />
relate to that wellspring of meaning that comes from community and culture.<br />
Luciane and David<br />
hello@villageraw.com / www.villageraw.com<br />
By subscribing you’ll not only be supporting <strong>Village</strong> <strong>Raw</strong>,<br />
but the community as well. You’ll also receive the magazine<br />
delivered to your door every three months.<br />
www.villageraw.com<br />
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32<br />
36<br />
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TAKE THE PLUNGE<br />
Connecting with nature through<br />
Hampstead Heath’s ponds.<br />
HELP YOURSELF<br />
TO SECONDS<br />
Some of the local secondhand<br />
clothes solutions.<br />
GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO<br />
Two entrepreneurs reflect on<br />
scale up support provided by<br />
the British Library.<br />
COOKING UP A BOOK<br />
Michael Batoux: International<br />
cuisine from a school kitchen.<br />
ASK OLA<br />
Boosting the immune system<br />
and calming the anxiety.<br />
HIGHGATE WOOD INFO HUT<br />
Nature stories from<br />
Highgate Wood.<br />
EDITORS<br />
Luciane Pisani<br />
David Reeve<br />
GRAPHIC DESIGN<br />
Luciane Pisani for Studio Moe<br />
COPY EDITOR<br />
Julie Tang-Evans<br />
ADVERTISING<br />
hello@villageraw.com<br />
COVER IMAGE<br />
Artwork by Merrill Rauch. Photo by Eti Salpeter.<br />
CONTRIBUTORS<br />
Adam T. Adamis, Zoe Bee, Tom Broadhead, Kate<br />
Brooks, Gareth Brown, Sharon Goldreich, Julia Hines,<br />
Keith Kahn-Harris, Antje Lang, Becky Lima-Matthews,<br />
Marieke Macklon, Maia Magoga, Simon Maxwell,<br />
Victoria Meera, Zoe Norfolk, Ola Nwakodo,<br />
Veronika Pap, Carla Parks, David Reeve, Eti Salpeter,<br />
Elliot Wilcox<br />
THANKS TO:<br />
Michael Batoux, Oli Brown, Bernadette Bryant,<br />
Jonathan Chung, William Dean, Corrie Dick,<br />
Meletios Evdokias, Glasshopper, Jess Gold, Paul<br />
Handley, Rebecca Harker, Tom Helliwell, Highgate<br />
Woods staff, Paul Jeal, Lisa Jones, Claire Jury,<br />
James Kitchman, Sharif Labo, Karen Leason,<br />
Teri McKenzie, Sonia Menouer-Mahmood, The Mossy<br />
Buskers, Sabina Motasem, Merrill Rauch, Georgia<br />
Robinson, Kerry Shearer, Lior Solomons-Wise,<br />
Alessandro (The Source), Terry Yoshinaga<br />
PRINTING<br />
Printed in East Finchley by JG Bryson on chlorine<br />
free paper produced by an EU Ecolabel certified<br />
mill from FSC and PEFC regulated forests.<br />
<strong>Village</strong> <strong>Raw</strong> November 2021 to January 2022.<br />
Designed and published by Studio Moe Ltd.<br />
© 2021 Studio Moe Ltd. All rights reserved.<br />
Reproduction of any contents of <strong>Village</strong> <strong>Raw</strong><br />
magazine without prior permission of the<br />
publisher is strictly prohibited.<br />
Tweet us: twitter.com/<strong>Village</strong><strong>Raw</strong>Mag<br />
Like us: facebook.com/villageraw<br />
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Contact us: hello@villageraw.com<br />
Support us: villageraw.com/subscribe<br />
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APP TO FOLLOW US:<br />
03
VILLAGE RAW<br />
ART & CULTURE<br />
THE ART OF SUSPENSION<br />
Suspension in art is nothing new. But it continues<br />
to fascinate artists, audiences and collectors alike.<br />
Words by Becky Lima-Matthews.<br />
PHOTO BY GARETH BROWN.<br />
From the mobiles that dangle over a baby’s cot to the large scale<br />
mobile sculptures originated by Alexander Calder, the continuous<br />
movement of shapes, colour and light captures our curiosity and<br />
invites us to play. We spoke to two local artists - Merrill Rauch and<br />
Rebecca Harker who both create mobile art in very different ways<br />
- about their work and why they work in that medium.<br />
North London artists Merrill Rauch and Rebecca Harker both<br />
create their mobile artworks from home studios. Self taught, multidisciplinary<br />
artist Rauch grew up in New York and has lived in East<br />
Finchley for the past 17 years, where she works surrounded by weird<br />
and wonderful found objects she uses to create her art. Old toys,<br />
pieces of metal, signs, keys and kitchen utensils fill the space. Each<br />
object had a story before and she’s creating new ones through her<br />
art. It’s a theme that recurs as she talks me through some of them<br />
from her studio. “I think there’s a connection to things that are<br />
overlooked or forgotten in what I do,” she says.<br />
Rebecca Harker is Canadian but also spent some time living<br />
in New York before moving to London. Now she is based in Crouch<br />
End, where she makes ceramics including large wall hangings. As<br />
we chat on a September afternoon, she’s just about to open her<br />
doors to welcome visitors as part of Crouch End Open Studios - so<br />
they’ll get to interact with her ceramic hangings up close. Something<br />
that’s brought her closer to the local creative community<br />
post lockdown, having moved to the area from west London.<br />
“I hadn’t really met anybody here so it was a year and a half of<br />
just being alone. So it’s only in the last couple of weeks, and people<br />
sort of getting together to assemble this show that I’ve got to<br />
know a few people. But it’s quite exciting to know that there are<br />
people around the corner who are really creative and talented.”<br />
The two artists’ styles and experiences are completely different,<br />
yet there are interesting points of connection in how they<br />
ended up making hanging art. Both take inspiration from their<br />
surroundings and, of course, creating such intricate pieces requires<br />
a lot of patience.<br />
For Merrill Rauch, the pieces can’t be planned - she has to<br />
seek out objects and then lay them out to decide how to put them<br />
together. And for Harker, creating one of her large scale wall hangings<br />
takes around three months.<br />
And coincidentally, both found inspiration on the streets of<br />
New York City. Rauch cites her time spent as a prop maker as leading<br />
her to make the work she’s known for and has collected. She<br />
got into it by chance, at university helping out backstage on theatre<br />
productions.<br />
“They couldn’t get anyone to do the props for some reason<br />
and the set guy said: ‘Could you do them?’ And I just loved it. I had<br />
to be very resourceful, I got my own little room on the side and<br />
they would give me a list of what they needed, and I would put it<br />
together because everything was on a low budget. I worked on<br />
Little Shop of Horrors too - as a prop runner.”<br />
That curiosity and resourcefulness started even earlier. As a<br />
child she helped out her teacher mother by making things for her<br />
to use in her classes. Seeing things differently, seeking out interesting<br />
things and creating has always been part of who she is. And<br />
- like many creatives - Rauch’s creative life is not one of linear progression.<br />
It’s about working with what you’ve got, wherever you are.<br />
Prop making isn’t always the easiest way to pay the rent. Tired<br />
of couch surfing and pet sitting, Rauch did a master’s in education<br />
and became a teacher for a few years. But the bug for making<br />
things from discarded objects stayed with her, and she began<br />
making things from stuff schools didn’t want anymore.<br />
“I started taking whatever they were throwing out. That started<br />
my art. I said: ‘I want to put these colours and objects together...’<br />
So I worked with the colour and balance of how they fit together.”<br />
The streets and shops of her Brooklyn neighbourhood were full<br />
of thrifted treasures, including a few items she still has in her collection.<br />
But Rauch eventually swapped the flea markets and found<br />
items of New York for the leafy streets of north London, with her<br />
husband and young kids - where she’s been based ever since.<br />
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VILLAGE RAW<br />
Opening page: Merrill Rauch in her studio. Above and opposite page:<br />
Merrill Rauch artworks.<br />
But she wasn’t the only one to find inspiration lurking in the<br />
five boroughs. Rebecca Harker studied visual art at Cooper Union<br />
in New York and later did an MA in art and architectural history at<br />
The Courtauld in London. But it was outside art school that she<br />
was drawn towards working with ceramics and creating hanging<br />
art, as she explains.<br />
“I was in New York and I saw this crazy ceramic hanging in this<br />
window, at this really cool place in Brooklyn, and I was like ‘that is<br />
so cool, I would love to make something like that!’ So I basically<br />
went and got an hour’s tutorial from somebody a few years ago<br />
because I actually hadn’t used clay in art school, even though you<br />
do every medium.”<br />
Perhaps finding that ceramic mobile art was fate or pure luck<br />
- but it still related back to Harker’s love of space and how art<br />
connects to it. “I was trying to find a way to have an alternative<br />
for rooms other than, like, pictures - two-dimensional things.” In a<br />
different part of town, she found some inspiration far away from<br />
contemporary art.<br />
“I lived quite north in New York and I used to go to The Cloisters,<br />
and they have these amazing medieval tapestries. And I<br />
think that that also has been in my head, like the way that those<br />
tapestries basically were big and added warmth to spaces in the<br />
past. We don’t really have anything like that now.”<br />
To a certain extent all artists, makers and creative people<br />
take elements of the past and connect them to the present. But<br />
this is evident in both artists’ work, and the way they arrived at<br />
working in the medium of suspended art.<br />
There’s a theatrical nature to some of Rauch’s work, with<br />
touches of vaudeville and surrealism at play. And Harker’s road<br />
to creating hers also involved some interesting jobs. Having<br />
worked in equipment-heavy mediums like photography, design<br />
and screenprinting, she wanted to make work by hand, something<br />
she got the chance to do at work.<br />
“I used to work at the V&A, helping in the furniture and textile<br />
departments. And I ended up helping downstairs in the basement,<br />
creating these little models. I found that hands on work is better<br />
for me, and clay is the medium that I found that is most like that.”<br />
Both artists seek out discarded objects, as well as looking for<br />
materials with different textures. Rauch goes to car boot sales,<br />
picks up street finds and collects items found by the river too.<br />
Recently, she’s got more into working with old wood and has a<br />
growing collection of wall-mounted wooden pieces.<br />
Harker cites inspiration for her work as coming from the tension<br />
between living a busy urban life and feeling a deep need for<br />
balance. Something she finds in Haringey’s green spaces, as she<br />
explains: “I get a lot of stimulation being in London and being able<br />
PHOTOS BY ETI SALPETER.<br />
6
VILLAGE RAW<br />
ART & CULTURE<br />
Opposite page: Rebecca Harker in front of the wall hanging Carapace, holding Amorphic Wall Art I. This page: Ceramic<br />
wall hangings by Rebecca Harker: Pictogram (left) and a section of Triptych (right).<br />
PHOTOS BY VERONIKA PAP (OPPOSITE PAGE) AND SIMON MAXWELL (THIS PAGE).<br />
to go to museums and galleries. But it’s also noisy, very vibrating<br />
and intense … and I need a lot of quiet to work, so I love to go<br />
to Queen’s Wood in the mornings, and I’ve been swimming at the<br />
Ladies’ pond on the Heath.”<br />
Finding quiet isn’t always easy, especially with three young<br />
kids at home. But a lot of Harker’s practice starts with inspiration<br />
found in nature. It’s a connection I see in her work too, such as the<br />
piece White to Black, which looks a bit like rainfall.<br />
“I think that’s a really beautiful sort of image to put on top<br />
of the bead hangings. Some things are more directly connected<br />
- like the Amorphic Wall pieces which were influenced by a trip<br />
to Wales I took with my family a few months ago. It was nice to<br />
see the sea and sketch the water over the rocks, and just look at<br />
amazing things like the shape of water in rock pools.”<br />
Although both artists create in media other than suspended<br />
art and are experimenting with new wall art pieces as I type, their<br />
mobile hangings have a particular way of transforming a space.<br />
Both mentioned that they look good against brick - and they do.<br />
But it’s not just about the aesthetic - they are tactile pieces, inviting<br />
us to look closer, touch, and think about how they interact<br />
with the space they’re in.<br />
“When people come and see my work they say it brings up<br />
memories for them, and stories or dreams - or maybe one of<br />
the objects will remind them of childhood or something they<br />
had,”Rauch tells me.<br />
As I wrap up my conversations with both artists, I ask them<br />
what advice they might give to emerging artists.<br />
“I think at a certain point, you just have to do it alone and find<br />
your own way. You have to be brave and know that maybe it’ll take<br />
a really long time. But keep on plugging away, and basically try to<br />
tune out the noise and just trust your own voice,” says Harker.<br />
“My advice is to do what’s true to you. There is no way - how<br />
could you not? So I continue to feel strongly about that, um, but<br />
it’s hard to make it in the art world - so do what you have to do,<br />
and a lot is down to luck. But understand who you are and follow<br />
your eye,” Rauch says.<br />
So there you have it: two unique artists who draw on their different<br />
backgrounds and varied influences but are connected by<br />
their love of suspended art.•<br />
For more information on Merrill Rauch, or to arrange a visit to her studio go to:<br />
www.merrillrauch.com. To find out more about Rebecca Harker, or visit her studio:<br />
www.rebeccaharker.com / @rebeccaharkeruk<br />
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ART & CULTURE<br />
THE BABEL MESSAGE<br />
R E N A I S S A N C E<br />
In a celebration of linguistic diversity, author Keith Kahn-Harris used the<br />
lockdown to investigate the warning messages found inside Kinder Surprise eggs.<br />
Words by Keith Kahn-Harris. Photo by David Reeve.<br />
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When I was younger and imagined what my life would look like in the<br />
weeks leading up to my 50th birthday, I didn’t envisage celebrating<br />
the publication of a book I’d written on the warning messages<br />
inside Kinder Surprise eggs. But then, I also didn’t imagine that<br />
the final years of my forties would be spent under the shadow of a<br />
global pandemic.<br />
Like many others, I responded to the pandemic by searching for<br />
new distractions. Work and my daily constitutional around Alexandra<br />
Palace were simply not enough. While my wife made use of her<br />
sourdough starter, I searched for a more quixotic project. I found<br />
it by revisiting a talk I had given in 2017 at the Boring Conference<br />
which I later recorded for the BBC Boring Talks podcast series.<br />
My talk celebrated the tiny piece of paper found inside Kinder<br />
eggs on which the warning not to give the toy to children under<br />
three (as “small parts might be swallowed or inhaled”) is translated<br />
into 34 languages. I’ve always loved this Lilliputian linguistic treasury<br />
that showcases such rarely seen delights as Georgian and Albanian.<br />
In my talk though, I pointed out what wasn’t on the sheet<br />
and showed off translations of the warning message in tongues as<br />
varied as Irish and Biblical Hebrew.<br />
In the spring of 2020, I escaped the confines of my home by<br />
reaching out to translators around the world. Soon the translat-<br />
ed warning messages started flooding in - from Afrikaans to Zulu,<br />
from Basque to Braille. Each and every one was a miniature delight.<br />
Initially, I had commissioned the translations with no particular<br />
aim in mind. But over time I began to see a book in it. My last two<br />
books – on denial and on antisemitism – were pretty heavy in tone<br />
and subject matter. I wanted to write something joyful and celebratory.<br />
And the diversity of human language is indeed something<br />
to celebrate.<br />
I guess the biggest surprise was that my agent found a publisher<br />
who felt the same way. I wrote The Babel Message: A Love<br />
Letter to Language during the dark days of the winter lockdown. It<br />
will be in the shops soon – delivery problems<br />
permitting in these uncertain times.<br />
Yet while I hope my book will find readers,<br />
to some extent its purpose has already<br />
been fulfilled: finding a source of obsession,<br />
wonder and hope during one of the<br />
bleakest periods of my life. •<br />
The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language is<br />
published by Icon Books.<br />
12
VILLAGE RAW<br />
VILLAGE SOUNDS<br />
Jazz. The music that<br />
never stops evolving.<br />
From 1920s America to<br />
worldwide popularity.<br />
How and where is this<br />
distinctive style of<br />
music available for<br />
you to enjoy in your<br />
local area?<br />
Words by Kate Brooks.<br />
AND<br />
ALL<br />
THAT<br />
JAZZ<br />
PHOTO BY MARIEKE MACKLON, COURTESY GLASSHOPPER.<br />
12 13
VILLAGE RAW<br />
VILLAGE SOUNDS<br />
Opening pages: Jonathan<br />
Chung, Corrie Dick and<br />
James Kitchman (left to<br />
right) of Glasshopper.<br />
Left: The Mossy Buskers.<br />
Right: Crossover Jazz<br />
Room in Crouch End.<br />
“Complete freedom of expression and liberty. I get to articulate<br />
better with the instrument than I do with words. A lot of what I think<br />
I can’t really say. I can do it better with an instrument.”<br />
Jonathan Chung, Muswell Hill based saxophonist and lead of<br />
trio band Glasshopper, opens our conversation with a description<br />
of his definition of jazz. Originally from Glasgow and a non musical<br />
family, Jonathan got curious about the saxophone from around age<br />
13 and proceeded to buy records, learning the instrument that way.<br />
“It was a random decision. I saw someone playing it on the street<br />
and thought: that’s what I want to do.”<br />
Falling in love with music and jazz records, influences such as<br />
John Coltrane and Miles Davies pulled him in. A rebellious streak led<br />
Jonathan to fall into the web of jazz music. Corrie Dick, the drummer,<br />
also from Glasgow met Jonathan on the music scene and<br />
introduced him to James Kitchman who plays guitar. Jamming together,<br />
Jonathan started writing for that line up and the band grew<br />
from there. With the same ideologies and similar personalities they<br />
all clicked and in 2012 the trio became Glasshopper. Rooted in jazz<br />
but influenced by rock and folk music, it is hard to define Glasshopper’s<br />
unique sound. Leaving the audience pleasantly surprised,<br />
the heavily improvised traditional styles of jazz are often most effective<br />
when you let loose and get creative. Jonathan elaborates:<br />
“There’s an architecture that we have rehearsed and learnt from<br />
but we then can take liberties built from the trust we have for each<br />
other, which allow us to deviate and just have fun.”<br />
The band don’t rehearse together as much as before, instead<br />
tending to let it grow at gigs which keeps it free and loose. Develop-<br />
ing their sound and bridging other genres, the band started playing<br />
at The Royal Albert pub in Deptford, at a night called Good Evening<br />
which hosts up and coming jazz bands.<br />
At the moment gigs are sporadic and unfortunately the band<br />
weren’t able to tour with the release of their debut album in 2020<br />
due to lockdown. The album Fortune Rules, a live recording over<br />
five days, has been well received and the band continue to focus<br />
on the jazz music overlaps of distinctive rhythms, harmonic<br />
sophistication and melodies that improvisation and playing live<br />
music have to offer.<br />
With the London Jazz festival at the Green Note in Camden in<br />
November, the band have an upcoming opportunity to showcase<br />
their unique and distinctive sound: “It’s not saxophone led, it’s a<br />
trio.” Although Jonathan is the composer he makes it clear that the<br />
music is: ”a melt of us all together.” I finally asked Jonathan what<br />
jazz music means to him. “Having a great time,” he replied with an<br />
obvious passion. “I really enjoy a connection with people. It’s wonderful<br />
to connect. Decisions are made on the spot with both the<br />
audience and the band reacting to it. There is a whole language going<br />
on that people don’t realise everyone is contributing to in some<br />
way. I like the surprise. It’s an absolute thrill. It’s good.”<br />
If you are seeking the thrill of live music, look no further than The<br />
Crossover Jazz Room in Crouch End. Created in 2016, Bernadette<br />
Bryant, organiser of the event, elaborates on the name. “It was<br />
born out of an idea that I had where jazz would be the foundation.<br />
However, by calling it The Crossover Jazz Room, it would mean the<br />
event would cover other genres of music too.” Starting at Crouch<br />
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MOSSY BUSKERS.<br />
PHOTO COURTESY OF CROSSOVER JAZZ ROOM.<br />
End Picturehouse, Bernadette ran the night voluntarily each Friday.<br />
Outgrowing the venue in terms of capacity, the live evenings soon<br />
moved to the North Middlesex Cricket Club, Park Road. However, the<br />
enforced closure due to lockdown left regulars devastated. “It became<br />
part of their lives - a type of community event. The feedback<br />
is that there is no other place like The Crossover. The atmosphere,<br />
the vibes, so friendly.”<br />
Now up and running again due to popular demand, a new name<br />
has been given to the evenings. Encouraging expression and originality,<br />
Singers and Performers, held every Thursday at Kiss The Sky<br />
in Crouch End, has picked up the musical gauntlet and continues to<br />
thrive. The Crossover Jazz Room is looking to return to a larger venue,<br />
to accommodate its growing popularity: “The plan is to take it<br />
to another level in terms of venue and performers when we reopen.<br />
There are no limits that this music can be taken to. We are looking<br />
at another venue for next year but nothing has been confirmed as<br />
yet,” says Bernadette. Described by one valued customer as “a gift<br />
to Crouch End”, it can’t be soon enough.<br />
Another place to find your jazz fix is in St. James Square,<br />
Muswell Hill. Outside Planet Organic you can frequently find a collective<br />
of young musicians known as The Mossy Buskers. With an<br />
age range of 16-18, the seven members of the group met while<br />
jamming in garden sheds, through Haringey Young Musicians and<br />
Guildhall’s Saturday Jazz School. With a sound that mixes jazz<br />
fusion and funk with traditional jazz, they can be found playing<br />
both jazz standards and blues as well as more modern covers by<br />
artists such as Drake or Childish Gambino.<br />
Member Lior Solomons-Wise explains further: ”We also love<br />
to play completely improvised tunes, building off an initial idea<br />
from one musician.” All playing and performing independently<br />
from each other, they are quite the impressive bunch. Between<br />
them they have a repertoire of studies including The Brit School,<br />
Junior Royal Academy and The Guildhall School of Music. With singles<br />
available to stream and a performance at The Roundhouse<br />
to boot, Nathalie, Nate, Lior, Hugo, Jess, Zac and George - AKA The<br />
Mossy Buskers- are a group of young musicians hoping to let you<br />
hear and feel their music. Lior spells out their hopes: “To continue<br />
to bring joy to people in the local area, while having a wonderful<br />
time playing ourselves.”<br />
While all music can take us elsewhere, helping us let go and<br />
feel, I have learnt that jazz with its dynamic freedom to improvise<br />
and merge genres, gives both the musician and listener a certain<br />
sense of surprise and creative freedom. As Lior sums up: “Playing<br />
jazz is truly joyful. The spontaneity that it offers is liberating and<br />
so exciting.”<br />
A host of other local venues offer up space to jazz. A wealth<br />
of world class talent can be seen at The Woodman, Archway Road<br />
- and the nearby Pavilion Cafe in Highgate Woods often has live<br />
alfresco jazz in the warmer months. The in-house cafe and music<br />
venue of Renaissance, Myddleton Road hosts weekly music, including<br />
the Renaissance Jazz Club and singer/songwriter nights. •<br />
You can find out more: @glasshoppermusic / @themossybuskers / @crossoverjazzroom<br />
/ @the_woodmanhighgate / @renaissancen22 / @pavilion.highgatewoods<br />
<strong>14</strong> 15
WELLBEING<br />
BARNET<br />
AND BIKING<br />
East Finchley currently has the<br />
only segregated cycle lane in<br />
the borough of Barnet - but even<br />
that is only a trial.<br />
Words by Julia Hines. Photo by David Reeve.<br />
If we want to keep living life as we know it, we need to change.<br />
That’s true on a global scale with climate change - but it is just as<br />
true locally. The new cycle lane, heading north up the A1000 from<br />
East Finchley, is a perfect illustration.<br />
The cycle lane - the only segregated one in the borough of Barnet<br />
- was installed with a funding grant from TfL in October 2020.<br />
The timing matters. Lockdown saw many people recognising the<br />
difference less traffic makes - to clean air, to street safety, to<br />
noise - and to discovering the sense of community that comes<br />
from walking or cycling. People cycled, children learned to cycle - all<br />
because the streets felt safe. It has also been a time when people<br />
became worried about their jobs and businesses, so any change to<br />
traffic or parking is met with anxiety.<br />
Actually, the impact on parking stress has been minimal and,<br />
although there have been some issues with traffic moving to rat<br />
runs and with congestion at the bridge over the North Circular, congestion<br />
is not that different to before.<br />
Jess Gold, chair of Better Streets for Barnet, a campaign group<br />
that promotes walking and cycling, argues that it takes time for<br />
people to switch transportation. They talk to lots of people who say<br />
they need to be confident that the lane will stay in place before<br />
they invest in a bicycle or e-bike.<br />
As she says: “Barnet Council is committed in its transport strategy<br />
to building cycling infrastructure to enable citizens to sometimes<br />
leave their cars at home and to travel actively with zero carbon. Removing<br />
Barnet’s only segregated lane would be a very expensive<br />
shot in the foot, and a great disappointment to current cyclists, as<br />
well as would-be cyclists who need to feel safe to venture out.”<br />
Charlotte French, who runs group cycling for women as a volunteer<br />
for Breeze Barnet, disagrees with people who think the cycle<br />
lane is not used. Numbers are growing but people also need to<br />
recognise that cyclists take up significantly less space than cars.<br />
Another local cycling group that has sprung up is Lymore Ladies<br />
club which meets at Martin Primary School, next to the lane.<br />
Somayeh Caesar who runs the group says: “I started my cycling<br />
journey last March during lockdown. It was a brilliant choice for my<br />
physical and mental health. I couldn’t find any local groups that<br />
were relatable, that ‘looked like me’. So I started Lymore Ladies<br />
cycling club because I wanted to build a safe, diverse and social<br />
space for women to cycle together without judgement. The cycle<br />
lanes on the high road have been a brilliant addition to East Finchley<br />
as a lot of the ladies I ride with were not road confident. They<br />
would not have started cycling if they were not in place.”<br />
If people think removing the lane will keep things as they were,<br />
they are mistaken. Barnet plans to build 36,000 homes in the next<br />
few years. There will not be space for all those extra cars. Buses<br />
and tubes will be significantly more crowded, with people unable<br />
to get onto trains - unless we change. The obvious change - the<br />
healthiest, greenest and the best for our high streets - is to grow<br />
our cycling infrastructure.•<br />
You can find Better Streets for Barnet at: @betterst4barnet. Lymore Ladies Cycling<br />
Club: @lymoreladies_cyclingclub. If you support the A1000 cycle lane please let<br />
Barnet councillors know.<br />
18
VILLAGE RAW<br />
PARTNER CONTENT<br />
“A hibernation is a covert<br />
preparation for a more overt<br />
action” Ralph Ellison<br />
LOCAL NATURE<br />
Words by Antje Lang. Photo by Tom Broadhead.<br />
Illustration by Maia Magoga.<br />
I write this at the tail end of my first trip to mainland Europe in two<br />
years. It was an unassuming trip - to a research centre for training<br />
for work - but it was exhilarating all the same. The feeling of moving<br />
through a space that has not yet defined some part of you and<br />
which you have not yet defined, is an experience that perhaps we<br />
don’t consciously seek but - for me at least - it strikes awe and<br />
expansiveness. To stare out of the Deutsche Bahn window at the<br />
whimsical forests passing by, a good album in my ears, surrounded<br />
by people with whom I will likely only share a moment in time, is a<br />
common yet often unappreciated gift.<br />
This trip was the closest I feel I’ve come to the ‘before’ times.<br />
It’s not that I haven’t already engaged with people and places and<br />
activities that were a hallmark of my pre-pandemic lifestyle but a<br />
work trip really did feel like the final step (and I do recognise there<br />
is no post pandemic here). It made me realise that, in retrospect, I<br />
see the many months of lockdown as a kind of hibernation. It was<br />
a forced interlude between ‘doing’ and the inability to during the<br />
strictest parts of the lockdowns. We found ourselves invited to ‘be’<br />
in a way that was discomfiting. That’s not to say the experience<br />
was a vacation or that there was no doing to be done, but the isolation<br />
from our ‘normal’ lives provided time for reassessment. For<br />
me, and for many others, that reassessment hangs as a flashbulb<br />
question mark in the air. What now?<br />
I investigated this question - and the relationship between<br />
hibernation and action - as part of a research engagement in<br />
partnership with OmVed Gardens in Highgate. Through our project<br />
- Local Nature - we surveyed and interviewed over 60 people<br />
about their experience of place during the pandemic. We sought<br />
to investigate what the experience had been like in the local community.<br />
Had it taught us anything about ourselves, our community<br />
or our locality?<br />
By nature of the research we did and the tools available to us,<br />
the participants were self selecting and more or less representative<br />
of a particular location and population at a very particular time<br />
- and yet it was a true honour to hold space for the stories and<br />
perspectives shared with me as our participants reflected on their<br />
time between March 2020 and March 2021.<br />
The final outcome of the research is an illustrated booklet<br />
which centres around the key themes of the interviews and, in late<br />
August, we held a roundtable discussion about the final outcome<br />
of the work. Both the booklet and the roundtable underscored this<br />
question mark - this ‘What now?’ Many people did have the time<br />
to reassess, to reprioritise, to question some actions they’d previously<br />
habituated. And yet, many felt unsure of what it all meant<br />
or how to put into action some of these reflections as the world<br />
inched back towards the ‘before,’ albeit with the assurances of<br />
rebuilding better - whatever that might mean. Most people didn’t<br />
want to go back to their pre-pandemic lives exactly but weren’t yet<br />
sure how to change course.<br />
There were no clear takeaways from this roundtable but I would<br />
like to stress the value of that. We’re used to the concept of ‘action’<br />
meaning ‘to dos’ that can be crossed off a list - but what if action is<br />
coming together in a community to make space and time to listen<br />
to one another? What if action doesn’t actually look a whole lot like<br />
doing anything at all?<br />
Going forward, OmVed will continue to create space for the local<br />
community to answer these questions throughout the Local Nature<br />
project. We will centre this work physically at OmVed Gardens, situating<br />
ourselves as integrated, natural beings within the landscape,<br />
to provide space intellectually and spiritually to explore how the<br />
experience of lockdown has changed us and how it will continue to<br />
shape us. As author and healer Brenda Salgado noted: “the frenetic<br />
pace of doing, doing, doing without being present with each other<br />
and the season we are in, what is happening around us, is unnatural<br />
and counter to life.” Let’s work more to be - less to constantly do -<br />
so that we can consider what action means for each of us.•<br />
For more information on getting involved in the Local Nature project, please sign up to<br />
OmVed’s newsletter at: www.omvedgardens.com or follow their social media:<br />
@omvedgardens<br />
18 19
VILLAGE PICTURES<br />
TAKE THE PLUNGE<br />
Words by Zoe Bee. Photography by Zoe Norfolk.<br />
21
VILLAGE RAW<br />
VILLAGE PICTURES<br />
Swimming outside is a great way to<br />
reconnect with nature - and with three<br />
ponds so close by, all with lifeguards,<br />
it’s easier than you think to take a dip.<br />
When the air is so gloriously chilly we can see puffs of our breath<br />
in the air, it can seem more tempting to stay cosy indoors than go<br />
for a swim outdoors. But the Ladies’ Pond, Men’s Pond and Mixed<br />
Pond on Hampstead Heath offer welcoming spaces for an outdoor<br />
swim that is sure to get your heart pumping.<br />
“Slow down your breathing. Slower. Breathe in for the count of<br />
four, out for six.” That’s what the lifeguard tells me as I lower myself<br />
very slowly into Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath.<br />
It’s shockingly cold in the water but the lifeguard is right. When<br />
you slow down your breathing anything is possible.<br />
Slowing down the breath stimulates the vagus nerve which is<br />
the ‘healing’ nerve in the body. The word ‘vagus’ means ‘wandering<br />
or roving’ in Latin which accurately represents how the nerve<br />
carries signals around the body and connects our brain to several<br />
important organs. The vagus nerve also influences breathing,<br />
digestive function and heart rate, and stimulating it can lead to<br />
long-term improvements in mood, resilience and wellbeing.<br />
Immersing yourself in cold water is beneficial in many ways,<br />
including the relief of migraines and menopausal symptoms, and<br />
increased libido. And once you’ve got past the initial shock of the<br />
cold, there’s simply the joy of swimming itself.<br />
If you want to swim through the winter it’s helpful to keep going<br />
two or three times a week, so your body gets used to the cold.<br />
While I would love to go regularly, I’ve had lots of gaps over the<br />
past few years. So I have had to reacclimatise many times.<br />
No matter how I’m feeling and whatever the weather, it is<br />
wonderful to go in for a quick dip, enjoying a few laps or floating<br />
among the ducks, herons and hovering dragonflies.<br />
Whatever I have on my mind when I’m heading to the pond just<br />
vanishes. The water is very cold at this time of year - my brain and<br />
body have no choice but to only focus on that and so I feel like I<br />
have had a total reset when I come out. The pond’s wonderful way<br />
of comforting, consoling and entertaining makes me feel calm<br />
and at ease with myself and the world.<br />
22 23
VILLAGE RAW<br />
VILLAGE PICTURES<br />
I love the way the pond brings people together. Sometimes I<br />
join in, other times I just listen as women drying themselves bare<br />
their souls about their health issues, relationships, feelings of<br />
grief and heartbreak, all manner of life’s ups and downs. It makes<br />
me think about what’s important in life and how nature can remind<br />
us all of our inner strength.<br />
A bonus of swimming in the ponds in autumn and winter is that<br />
you don’t need to book, you can just turn up (although the hours<br />
are reduced). Know your limits, be safe and read the guidelines.<br />
Start off slowly, you’ll soon warm up as you start moving. If you<br />
feel cold just get out. Wear a bobble hat in the water. Take a thermos<br />
of hot chocolate or tea for afterwards. Get a friend to come<br />
along so you can motivate each other to go on the colder days.<br />
The lifeguards have seen it all and are on hand for guidance.<br />
I love swimming in the Ladies’ Pond. Small doses of cold water<br />
‘therapy’ cast a lovely warm glow on the rest of my life.•<br />
MORE INFORMATION<br />
Hampstead Heath Swimming Ponds<br />
https://www.hampsteadheath.net/swimming-ponds<br />
Cold Water Swimming Guidelines<br />
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/greenspaces/hampstead-heath/activities-at-hampsteadheath/swimming-at-hampstead-heath/cold-waterswimming-guidelines<br />
24 25
VILLAGE RAW<br />
FOOD & DRINK<br />
HELP YOURSELF TO SECONDS<br />
<strong>Village</strong> <strong>Raw</strong> hunts down some local solutions for those<br />
seeking to dress more sustainably.<br />
Words by Carla Parks.<br />
When it comes to waste we often think about food being chucked<br />
in the bin. But what about waste created by the fashion industry?<br />
Only between five and seven percent of resaleable clothes are<br />
currently sold on platforms such as eBay or Depop, with about<br />
£30bn worth of clothes sitting in UK wardrobes unused. Many of<br />
these items will eventually end up in landfill.<br />
This comes as no surprise to Oli Brown, the founder of ReThread,<br />
a platform that aims to take the hard work out of reselling clothes.<br />
“We want to make selling as easy - or almost as easy - as chucking<br />
things in the bin,” he says. Oli believes many people are put off<br />
by photographing items, writing descriptions and dealing with the<br />
postage - a process that is time consuming. ReThread does it all.<br />
The company acts like an online consignment store. New customers<br />
can request a seller’s kit that includes prepaid postage.<br />
The rule of thumb is that ReThread will take good quality items that<br />
are of Zara quality and above. Brands that fall below this threshold<br />
generally do better in charity shops. “There’s an enormous glut of<br />
supply for those brands compared to demand,” Oli tells me. Pricing<br />
is determined by an algorithm developed inhouse, with sellers<br />
getting 40 to 70% of an item’s value. The higher the selling price,<br />
the higher the cut.<br />
A former investment banker specialising in the circular economy,<br />
Oli became convinced that acting sustainably could be profitable<br />
for a business. He spotted a gap in the market for ReThread<br />
which falls somewhere between luxury resale and charity shop.<br />
It’s a market that’s growing. A US competitor researched the resale<br />
market and found that it is projected to double in the next<br />
five years, reaching a value of $77bn.<br />
While just over a year old, ReThread has already grown too big<br />
for its former premises in Tottenham. Today it operates out of an<br />
industrial park in Hornsey that has room for growth. Seven part<br />
time staff, most of them local university students, help catalogue<br />
the items for sale. On the day I visit, a master’s student sits at a<br />
large desk processing some of the recent arrivals. The warehouse<br />
contains rails of clothes and one back wall lit for photography. The<br />
business has so far worked with about a thousand sellers and has<br />
around 3,000 items available online - a number that keeps growing.<br />
“You have to get creative with the software to handle thousands<br />
of unique items and track them,” Oli explains. He plugged<br />
existing platforms together to create a bespoke software system<br />
that he’s still tweaking. It’s more complex, he adds, than a standard<br />
ecommerce business in which you might buy 10,000 units of<br />
one product and make just one listing.<br />
A short walk away, Georgia Robinson is outside Come Swap &<br />
Shop, the resale business she opened with her sister Teri three years<br />
ago. Georgia has always loved clothes but it was a visit to a shop in<br />
Stoke Newington that ignited her entrepreneurial spirit. She’d spotted<br />
a pair of vintage Valentino sunglasses for £50 and wondered<br />
whether she could swap her own Prada sunglasses of roughly equal<br />
value. Despite driving a hard bargain, Georgia left empty handed.<br />
That evening she came home and told her sister they needed to<br />
open a shop that allowed people to swap clothes and accessories.<br />
They poured their enthusiasm into their boutique on Hornsey<br />
High Street. Customers need to be members to swap clothes<br />
but anyone can come in, browse and buy something at low cost.<br />
The business initially thrived, buoyed up by a stream of community<br />
events and their enterprising ideas. But then the pandemic<br />
struck. “We didn’t know if we were going to survive,” admits Georgia,<br />
speaking over the traffic noise. “A lot of shops around here<br />
didn’t reopen,” agreesTeri.<br />
It might have been easier to give up but the sisters used a<br />
grant to pay the rent and called on their fighting spirit. Having<br />
grown up in the Caribbean community, they have battled the stigma<br />
associated with buying secondhand clothes. In their culture,<br />
trading in used clothes is considered undesirable and unclean.<br />
“You get looked down on and frowned upon,” says Teri. “So we<br />
wanted to push back against those barriers, push against class<br />
and culture and show everyone that this is actually okay.”<br />
PHOTO COURTESY GREEN ANCESTORS.<br />
26 27
VILLAGE RAW<br />
FOOD & DRINK<br />
Previous page: The back of an upcycled children’s cashmere cardigan from Green Ancestors.<br />
This page: Georgia (left) and Teri (right) inside Come Swap & Shop on Hornsey High Street.<br />
Once the sisters learned more about fast fashion and sweatshops<br />
they became vocal advocates of living more sustainably,<br />
even talking to local students before lockdown. After several<br />
months of being closed, the pair decided to expand their concept<br />
and are maximising the space by using it as a gallery in the evenings<br />
- launching a series of community events to entice more people<br />
in. Georgia is a sculptor and Teri is a writer so they liked the idea<br />
of supporting other local artists and creatives in the community<br />
struggling to get exposure, or who are at the start of their careers.<br />
Sonia Menouer-Mahmood who lives in Muswell Hill, is just at<br />
the start of her entrepreneurial journey. She founded Green Ancestors<br />
earlier this year, a business that takes discarded fabrics<br />
and refashions them into beautiful designs for children. She has<br />
partly been inspired by her mother in France who worked as a<br />
seamstress on striking clothes for special events. “I think my<br />
business is part of her that’s living in me,” says Sonia.<br />
Her designs, Sonia explains, are influenced by her continental<br />
roots. She blends this with the playfulness of London where<br />
anything goes. The designer adds appliqués to the textiles, a<br />
28<br />
technique that has become part of her signature style. “To me,<br />
fashion means something unique and tailored to someone - it’s<br />
about the feel of the fabric and the art of sewing.” Sonia is now<br />
expanding into upcycling womenswear: “I think it’s important to<br />
give fabrics a purpose to live again.”<br />
ReThread’s founder agrees. Oli believes people should ask<br />
themselves whether someone else will value your item more, reuse<br />
the materials and extend its lifetime. “Being sustainable can<br />
be a really clear triple win for the profitability of the business, the<br />
customer and the environment,” he argues. Over at Come Swap &<br />
Shop, Teri and Georgia are even allowing people to swap art when<br />
they have it in stock. As Teri says: “We can’t solve all the world’s<br />
problems but we can play our little part.”•<br />
Come Swap & Shop: comeswapandshop.com / @comeswapandshop<br />
ReThread: rethread.uk / @rethreaduk<br />
Green Ancestors: etsy.com/uk/shop/GreenAncestors / @greenancestors<br />
PHOTO COURTESY COME SWAP & SHOP.
VILLAGE RAW<br />
PARTNER CONTENT<br />
La Gent, an ecommerce shop that sells a range of hard-tosource<br />
gifts and lifestyle items from all over the world.<br />
GROWING UP<br />
IS HARD TO DO<br />
Businesses don’t become successes<br />
overnight. Two entrepreneurs<br />
reflect on scale-up support<br />
they received from the British<br />
Library.<br />
Words by Carla Parks.<br />
It has been a tricky couple of years for entrepreneur Sabina Motasem<br />
– but she feels that some good has come out of adversity.<br />
After many months of adapting her business to survive the pandemic,<br />
the bridal designer is throwing herself into ideas she put on<br />
hold. Among them is launching a vegan and sustainable range of<br />
ready-to-wear bridal gowns using ethical fabrics.<br />
Before the pandemic, Sabina was already reassessing what was<br />
important to her as a small business owner. She believes the last<br />
18 months have raised even more awareness of how our lifestyle<br />
choices affect our fragile ecosystems.<br />
“Every business will need to evolve and adapt to have sustainability<br />
at its heart, and every consumer will be expecting this too<br />
- from every brand in the future,” she says. The designer is even<br />
donating some of the offcuts from her bridal dresses to a women’s<br />
refuge, thus reducing waste.<br />
When Sabina launched her bridal gown business in 2007, the company<br />
grew quickly through word of mouth. She opened a boutique in<br />
Islington and was stocked internationally. But as the business experienced<br />
growth, running it became considerably more complex.<br />
Without business training to fall back on the designer sought to<br />
surround herself with others in a similar position. She came across<br />
the British Library’s vast resources at the Business & IP Centre<br />
(BIPC) where she attended talks for entrepreneurs just like her. She<br />
remembers being “blown away” when she heard Anita Roddick talk<br />
about her journey with The Body Shop.<br />
In 2012 she discovered the Innovating for Growth Programme,<br />
designed to help small businesses looking to scale up. It’s an experience<br />
she calls “life-changing”. “When you have an idea for a<br />
thriving business in the beginning,” she says, “it’s not easy to turn<br />
that idea into a reality.” She was even lucky enough to receive a<br />
mentoring session with Roddick.<br />
The BIPC’s three-month programme is free for those who<br />
qualify and has a particularly good track record of working with<br />
under-represented groups and female founders. It gives £10,000<br />
of specialist support, mentoring and one-to-one advice to London-based<br />
businesses with a minimum turnover of £100,000; plus<br />
it gives you access to a large network of peers.<br />
The modules are led by experts and cover challenges facing<br />
many companies, including protecting your intellectual property,<br />
financial planning and putting in place a bespoke growth strategy.<br />
These modules are currently online because of Covid-19 but some<br />
in-person elements are being slowly reintroduced.<br />
Since it was established in 2012, the Innovating for Growth<br />
scale-up programme has supported over 540 small businesses.<br />
Among these are a vegan beauty brand, a social enterprise that<br />
trains homeless people to be baristas, and a business making innovative<br />
products for cyclists (now operating in 16 countries).<br />
Sharif Labo, who lives in Bowes Park, is one of Innovating for<br />
Growth’s most recent alumni. He’s the founder of La Gent, an ecommerce<br />
shop that sells a range of hard-to-source gifts and lifestyle<br />
items from all over the world. “We pride ourselves on the curation<br />
of the products we sell,” he tells <strong>Village</strong> <strong>Raw</strong>. A smaller range of La<br />
Gent’s products is also stocked in an independent shop in Muswell<br />
Hill called Rakha.<br />
For Sharif, Covid-19 had an unexpected upside. His online business<br />
- founded six years ago - experienced accelerated growth.<br />
With people stuck at home during lockdowns, many sought to make<br />
PHOTO COURTESY LA GENT.<br />
PHOTO BY ELLIOTT WILCOX.<br />
Designer Sabina Motasem, who launched a business producing a vegan and sustainable range of ready-to-wear bridal gowns<br />
using ethical fabrics.<br />
their homes more comfortable and stylish. Some treated themselves<br />
to small luxuries - an audience to which La Gent caters.<br />
Like many new business owners, Sharif got to a stage where<br />
he’d had a few years of growth and had become uncertain of what<br />
strategies he should next implement to capitalise on it. “It’s easy<br />
to stagnate and not know where to take the company next, so the<br />
programme was quite valuable in helping me to gain some traction<br />
and take the next step.”<br />
He particularly valued the sessions on finance, marketing and<br />
strategy. The latter, Sharif explains, helped him focus on attracting<br />
new customers and using metrics. “It was really good to sit down<br />
with someone who was knowledgeable in business. I would say that<br />
was one of the most valuable conversations I had.”<br />
Sharif admits that being an entrepreneur can be lonely, one of<br />
the reasons he applied for the programme. “You never really get to<br />
question your assumptions. You can speak to your partner but it’s<br />
quite nice to have a network of people who have been through the<br />
same thing, so that you can say: ’Hey, what do you do when you<br />
have this problem?’.”<br />
Sabina echoes his thoughts, explaining that you can be too<br />
close to your business to be objective. Innovating for Growth<br />
taught her the value of detaching yourself and gaining perspective.<br />
During the first lockdown she made the painful decision to close<br />
her bridal shop in Islington - but she believes it was the right thing<br />
to do. Her boutique is now fully online, becoming one of the first<br />
bridal brands in the country to pivot in this direction.<br />
She still pays meticulous attention to detail and offers her<br />
clients hour-long virtual appointments. Sabina is fortunate to be<br />
busy, with many of her clients now going ahead with weddings that<br />
had been cancelled. Even her own wedding was cancelled more<br />
than once.<br />
The designer’s latest project is working on a range of day dresses<br />
in jewelled colours that can be worn through to evening. Sabina<br />
wants the new line to recapture a bit of the glamour we lost during<br />
the pandemic and to make us feel good about ourselves again.<br />
She’s hoping, as things recover, we will reconnect with the ones we<br />
love. And yes, she did get to have her wedding in the end.•<br />
Innovating for Growth’s scale-up programme is taking applications for the next cohort:<br />
bl.uk/grow<br />
If you’re not quite ready to scale up, you can also find support to get your business<br />
off the ground: bl.uk/startup<br />
30 31
VILLAGE RAW<br />
FOOD & DRINK<br />
COOKING UP A BOOK<br />
Michael Batoux: International Cuisine from a School Kitchen<br />
Words by Sharon Goldreich<br />
Chef Michael Batoux’s untimely death last year left our school<br />
community heartbroken. Following a career working in fine dining<br />
establishments around the world, Michael had fostered an exciting<br />
food culture at Highgate Primary School and Blanche Nevile Primary<br />
School for Deaf Children. He established a varied international<br />
school dinner menu, ran popular children’s cookery clubs and organised<br />
regionally themed supper clubs for parents and staff. He<br />
thoughtfully prepared surprise treats for the children on special<br />
occasions such as Christmas and Halloween and loved to use the<br />
produce grown in the school playground and allotment, concocting<br />
exotic combinations such as cardoon and lychee for the annual<br />
RHS Big Soup Share. Culinary talents aside, Michael was a hardworking,<br />
generous and humorous man who chatted to the “kiddos”<br />
(as he fondly called them) while serving them lunch. He hung a map<br />
of the world in the dining centre and would point out the origin of<br />
their daily menu, explaining with great elan which ingredients and<br />
spices he’d used. The children truly loved him.<br />
The impetus to commemorate Michael and his legacy came<br />
from my daughter’s lament for him as well as the dishes she will<br />
forever associate him with: his tomato soup and hummus (that<br />
were always superior to mine), maple and miso baked salmon,<br />
Swedish meatballs, chicken tagine, poutine, and Noufi cinnamon<br />
buns - the last two originating from his native Canada. Speaking<br />
to other parents, it was clear their children were similarly affected.<br />
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY HIGHGATE PRIMARY (THIS PAGE). PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM T. ADAMIS AND STYLING BY SHARON GOLDREICH (OPPOSITE PAGE).<br />
32 33
VILLAGE RAW<br />
FOOD & DRINK<br />
NETTLE SOUP<br />
DON YOUR GLOVES AND GET FORAGING! 7 min 30 mins Serves 4<br />
INGREDIENTS<br />
400g nettle tips (the delicate leaves<br />
at the very top of the nettle plants;<br />
make sure you wear protective gloves<br />
and long sleeves when picking and<br />
handling nettles)<br />
1 vegetable stock cube<br />
2 celery stalks, finely chopped<br />
1 medium potato, diced small<br />
1 medium onion, finely chopped<br />
3 garlic cloves, crushed<br />
2 tablespoons olive oil<br />
2 tablespoons vegetable oil<br />
salt & pepper<br />
To serve:<br />
2 tablespoons<br />
extra virgin olive oil<br />
METHOD<br />
1. With gloved hands, carefully and<br />
thoroughly wash the nettles and<br />
set them aside.<br />
2. Dissolve the stock cube in 500ml<br />
of boiling water.<br />
3. In a heavy-based saucepan, preheat<br />
the oils over a medium-high heat.<br />
Add the chopped onion and cook while<br />
stirring for about 5 minutes, until it<br />
starts to soften, but doesn’t brown.<br />
Add the garlic, potato, celery and a<br />
pinch of salt, and fry for 5 minutes<br />
until the vegetables begin to soften.<br />
4. Add the hot stock to the vegetables,<br />
bring to the boil, then turn down the<br />
heat and simmer for 20 minutes.<br />
5. Add the nettle tips, stir through for no<br />
longer than a minute and blitz the soup<br />
with a hand blender until very smooth.<br />
6. Serve with extra virgin olive oil drizzled<br />
on top.<br />
TOP TIP!<br />
Add hot water to the soup at the end if a<br />
thinner consistency is desired; or reduce<br />
the water quantity to begin with for a<br />
thicker soup. Serve with crusty bread or<br />
cheesy croutons.<br />
PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM T. ADAMIS AND STYLING BY SHARON GOLDREICH.<br />
PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHEW HAGUE AND STYLING JEMIMA HETHERINGTON (TOP). BOOK COVER BY NUALA SHARKEY (BOTTOM).<br />
Noodles with Edamame and Mushrooms<br />
I approached our headteacher, William Dean last October to enquire<br />
if Michael had left any recipes and, if so, whether we could<br />
collate them into an international cookbook. The proceeds could<br />
fund cookery classes at the school - a cause Michael cared about<br />
deeply. William was immediately in favour.<br />
Shortly after this brief chat at the school gate, I found myself<br />
in possession of numerous ‘recipes’ (downloaded from Michael’s<br />
school computer) and a green folder with similar pages, courtesy<br />
of Michael’s friend and former sous chef, Otmane. My expectations<br />
were thwarted, however, when these documents turned out to be<br />
costing sheets - not actual recipes. Every dish had a list of ingredients<br />
for hundreds of covers and very scant or no preparation<br />
guidelines. Michael was dyslexic and didn’t leave a written record<br />
of most of his recipes, other than a few from the cookery clubs<br />
he’d taught. We later learnt that he had planned to compile a recipe<br />
book for children and families - news that further encouraged us to<br />
pursue this rather daunting undertaking. The next challenge was to<br />
reduce and tweak measurements to a family-sized scale and attempt<br />
to work out the instructions. The priority was to retain the<br />
authenticity of the dishes which would have to pass muster with<br />
our critical young connoisseurs who were most familiar with them.<br />
Following some weeks of research, reconstruction and consultation<br />
with Otmane and hit-and-miss attempts at cooking some<br />
of the dishes, it was clear that we’d need more hands on deck and<br />
would only succeed if this became a community project. There was<br />
a plethora of activities to navigate: private and corporate fundraising,<br />
food research and experimentation, the complex organisation<br />
of photoshoots and baking - and all this during the pandemic with<br />
the various obstacles it presented. A call for help to the school<br />
community via our trusted class reps resulted in the establishment<br />
of the Cookbook Team, comprising several professional<br />
cuisiniers, food enthusiasts, a graphic designer, Michael’s friends<br />
and colleagues and PSA stalwarts - all like-minded volunteers who<br />
admired Michael and wanted to see this project through. Months<br />
later, when we started meeting in person for the photoshoots, the<br />
atmosphere was one of camaraderie and passion for a joint cause.<br />
The volunteering school kitchen staff shared stories and memories<br />
of Michael and his food - and his presence was almost palpable.<br />
The children too were happy to get involved with the project.<br />
The ‘Michael Batoux Sponsored Egg and Spoon Race’ - for which<br />
they donned chef’s whites or aprons and enthusiastically negotiated<br />
an obstacle course - was one of the most moving highlights<br />
of the book’s production.<br />
We were all blown away by the incredible support offered by individuals<br />
not associated with the school. Five talented professional<br />
photographers and two stylists generously volunteered to take<br />
part in socially distanced photoshoots - some lasting over nine<br />
hours - in the school kitchen/dining hall, the school allotment and<br />
nearby woods, over weekends and school holidays. The last shoot<br />
took place at Citro Restaurant on Swain’s Lane where Chef Nunzio<br />
Citro - who had been so taken by Michael’s story - had agreed to<br />
recreate the famed cookery club recipe of Butternut Squash Ravioli<br />
with Nut-Brown Butter, allowing us to photograph every step of<br />
the preparation to feature in the book. Our international cookbook<br />
project also appealed to chef, restaurateur and food writer Yotam<br />
Ottolenghi who kindly donated a child-friendly recipe. The Shangri-<br />
La at The Shard, where Michael had been executive head chef prior<br />
to joining the school, was also moved by this commemorative project<br />
and donated a voucher which we hid in one of the books as a<br />
‘golden ticket’.<br />
The book, which came out this summer to a rapturous response<br />
from the school community and Michael’s family, will hopefully inspire<br />
children and families to continue cooking his popular international<br />
recipes and remember this remarkable man.•<br />
The book is available to buy from<br />
The Highgate Bookshop, Pickled<br />
Pepper Books in Crouch End and The<br />
Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill.<br />
For further information, please email:<br />
michaelbcookbook@gmail.com<br />
34<br />
35
VILLAGE RAW<br />
WELLBEING<br />
ASK OLA<br />
Send your questions to<br />
hello@villageraw.com<br />
“I’m a little worried – with winter<br />
coming, Covid likely to rise again,<br />
flu, etc. Is there anything I can do<br />
to boost my immune system?”<br />
“There’s been so much uncertainty<br />
of late I’ve been feeling quite<br />
anxious – is there anything<br />
you’d suggest that could help?”<br />
Words by Ola Nwakodo.<br />
Illustrations by Victoria Meera.<br />
Garlic Honey Recipe<br />
Elderberry Honey Recipe<br />
Elderberry is a popular traditional remedy for colds and viral<br />
bronchitis. Studies show that “elderberries enhance immunostimulatory<br />
cytokines and shorten the duration of influenza<br />
A and B infections by interfering with viral replication”<br />
(Zakay-Rones et al, 2004). Elderflower is often used as a restorative<br />
for sinuses and the mucous membrane.<br />
Ingredients: fresh or dried elderberries, 1 stick of cinnamon,<br />
raw honey.<br />
Method: As with the garlic recipe, fill up a jar with elderberries,<br />
add 1 cinnamon stick and top up with raw honey. I use<br />
several old jam jars. Stir together. Cover tightly with a lid and<br />
put in a warm spot for at least a week, turning and stirring it<br />
once daily.<br />
Put the jar in hot water (not overly hot) to soften the honey,<br />
then strain and remove all ingredients from it. I use this<br />
infused honey on toast, in teas, and some days will just have<br />
a spoonful on its own when I’m feeling congested.<br />
Tea Blends<br />
Echinacea Thyme & Liquorice Tea<br />
Mix ¾ echinacea (I like to mix the root, leaves and flowers together)<br />
with ¼ fresh thyme. Add a little liquorice when drinking<br />
the tea.<br />
Lemon Balm, Cleavers & Lemon Tea<br />
Mix equal parts of lemon balm and cleavers. Add slices of<br />
fresh lemon as needed when drinking the tea.<br />
Elderflower & Chamomile Tea<br />
Mix equal parts of elderflower and chamomile and drink regularly.<br />
Elderberry & Cinnamon Tea<br />
Mix ¾ part elderberries and ¼ part of cinnamon and drink regularly.<br />
Rosemary, Ginger & Liquorice Tea<br />
Mix ¾ part elderberries and ¼ part of cinnamon/liquorice and<br />
drink regularly.<br />
These two questions seem to go hand in hand as they touch<br />
on our resources for protection and strength. My approach is<br />
to support the body with tonics - focusing on the circulatory,<br />
lymphatic, respiratory, nervous and immune systems.<br />
Herbs and various foods can nourish the body and help it<br />
to fight colds and flu and stay healthy. I have several remedies<br />
I make to see me through the dark months. Remedies that<br />
I’m making right now include: Garlic Honey; Elderberry Honey;<br />
Rosemary, Ginger & Liquorice Syrup; and White Pine Vinegar.<br />
There are also herb tea blends that I find to be great tonics<br />
during the winter season: Echinacea; Thyme & Ginger Tea;<br />
Lemon Balm, Cleavers & Lemon Tea; Elderflower & Chamomile<br />
Tea; Elderberry & Cinnamon Tea; and Eucalyptus & Thyme<br />
Mouthwash also.<br />
They are all easy to make and ready for use really quickly<br />
to help ward off winter colds and infections.<br />
Garlic is one of my most essential herbs for an autumn/winter<br />
natural medicine chest. It acts as an exceptional respiratory<br />
disinfectant and can help prevent infections and boost<br />
the immune system. It contains hundreds of constituents -<br />
some with antibacterial and viral properties.<br />
Ingredients: organic garlic cloves (peeled or unpeeled), a<br />
couple of small onions, a few sprigs of oregano, thyme and<br />
rosemary and raw honey.<br />
Method: Place the garlic and onions in a jar with a good lid.<br />
Pour raw honey all over them, making sure to cover them all.<br />
Add the herbs, Stir well and poke the honey down into the<br />
garlic. Cover tightly with a lid. Store in a cool dark place. It<br />
darkens as the recipe ages and keeps perfectly safe. Both<br />
honey and garlic are delicious to eat, and medicinal.<br />
Eucalyptus & Thyme<br />
Mouthwash & Gargle<br />
Oils and constituents in both these herbs demonstrate strong<br />
antimicrobial activity. Mix equal parts of both herbs. I make<br />
a tea or infusion and use it as a mouthwash or gargle a few<br />
times a week. These keep in the fridge for a couple of days.<br />
I also recommend supplementing with high strength vitamins<br />
C and D and Zinc, alongside a quality multivitamin. Studies<br />
show that adequate levels of such vitamins can aid the<br />
proper functioning of the body’s immune system.<br />
Of all the herbs that can get clients through stressful<br />
times, I find the Ginseng family, Withania (both adaptogenic<br />
in action) and Californian Poppy to be really useful in winter.<br />
They can be supportive of the body and mind when dealing<br />
with stress and recovery.<br />
When I am distracted by worries, I often play meditations<br />
in the background while working, cooking, walking, exercising,<br />
and sleeping. They help to ground me and create a space between<br />
thoughts and the present.•<br />
Ola Nwakodo, Medical herbalist, Saint&Smith. For enquiries contact:<br />
ola@saint&smith.com / www.saintandsmith.com / 07971193396<br />
36<br />
37
VILLAGE GREEN<br />
HIGHGATE WOOD INFO HUT<br />
Photo by David Reeve.<br />
We love the stories of the wood revealed on the Highgate<br />
Wood info hut noticeboard. You can find out about<br />
the ‘grunts’ of courting hedgehogs; how female robins<br />
defend winter territories through song; theories about<br />
why the woodpeckers are drumming early; large flocks<br />
of wood pigeons; reports of a buzzard over the wood;<br />
2<br />
the important role of spindle shank mushrooms which<br />
feed on dying or decaying tree roots; the flowering<br />
bramble which is providing nectar for many bee species<br />
- including Bombus pratorum which were there in<br />
abundance; a family of mistle thrushes in full song; a<br />
firecrest in a mixed feeding flock; nest building jays;<br />
willow warblers; a passing cuckoo; flocks of redwings<br />
which dash across the sky like arrows; and how both<br />
male and female holly trees produce flowers but only<br />
the female trees produce the fruit. These trees, like<br />
yews, willows and poplars, are dioecious while other<br />
tree species such as oaks and hornbeams are monoecious<br />
- meaning male and female flowers are on the<br />
same tree. The info board is updated every one to two<br />
months and is definitely worth keeping an eye on.<br />
38 High Street N8 7NX<br />
Info@IntrepidBakers.Uk<br />
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