Village Raw - ISSUE 14

NOVEMBER 2021 TO JANUARY 2022
FREE
VILLAGE RAW
STORIES FROM CROUCH END, EAST FINCHLEY, HIGHGATE, MUSWELL HILL AND SURROUNDING AREAS
The Art of Suspension: Merrill Rauch and Rebecca Harker / And All That Jazz: the music that never
stops evolving / Take the Plunge: Swimming in Hampstead Heath’s ponds / Help Yourself to Seconds: Local
secondhand clothes / Cooking Up a Book: Michael Batoux: International cuisine from a school kitchen.

04
11
12
17
18
CONTENTS
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.
EDITORIAL
Village Raw is about community and culture. Through these, we relate to one another,
we connect, we make partnerships, we develop ideas, we create meaning
and we evolve. Over the last several years we’ve seen major shifts and changes
in our lives and over the coming years there will certainly be more.
Every issue of Village Raw is a community collaboration and the content over
the coming pages is born from chance encounters, suggestions, explorations,
knowledge and hope. From following up a curiosity inspired by a Kinder Egg, to
challenging how we use the roads. From investigating the nature connections that
evolved over the last few years, to connecting with ourselves and others through
the music we play and listen to. From researching and refining recipes to invention
and reinvention through the art we create. From experiencing swimming in cold
water to rethinking how we fill, or empty, our wardrobes. All of these things crisscross
and connect, just as the ripples of our actions impact across the world.
As we take another step forward into the unknown, casting an eye back over
our lived experiences, its important that we keep asking questions about how we
relate to that wellspring of meaning that comes from community and culture.
Luciane and David
hello@villageraw.com / www.villageraw.com
By subscribing you’ll not only be supporting Village Raw,
but the community as well. You’ll also receive the magazine
delivered to your door every three months.
www.villageraw.com
20
26
30
32
36
38
TAKE THE PLUNGE
Connecting with nature through
Hampstead Heath’s ponds.
HELP YOURSELF
TO SECONDS
Some of the local secondhand
clothes solutions.
GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO
Two entrepreneurs reflect on
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.
HIGHGATE WOOD INFO HUT
Nature stories from
Highgate Wood.
EDITORS
Luciane Pisani
David Reeve
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Luciane Pisani for Studio Moe
COPY EDITOR
Julie Tang-Evans
ADVERTISING
hello@villageraw.com
COVER IMAGE
Artwork by Merrill Rauch. Photo by Eti Salpeter.
CONTRIBUTORS
Adam T. Adamis, Zoe Bee, Tom Broadhead, Kate
Brooks, Gareth Brown, Sharon Goldreich, Julia Hines,
Keith Kahn-Harris, Antje Lang, Becky Lima-Matthews,
Marieke Macklon, Maia Magoga, Simon Maxwell,
Victoria Meera, Zoe Norfolk, Ola Nwakodo,
Veronika Pap, Carla Parks, David Reeve, Eti Salpeter,
Elliot Wilcox
THANKS TO:
Michael Batoux, Oli Brown, Bernadette Bryant,
Jonathan Chung, William Dean, Corrie Dick,
Meletios Evdokias, Glasshopper, Jess Gold, Paul
Handley, Rebecca Harker, Tom Helliwell, Highgate
Woods staff, Paul Jeal, Lisa Jones, Claire Jury,
James Kitchman, Sharif Labo, Karen Leason,
Teri McKenzie, Sonia Menouer-Mahmood, The Mossy
Buskers, Sabina Motasem, Merrill Rauch, Georgia
Robinson, Kerry Shearer, Lior Solomons-Wise,
Alessandro (The Source), Terry Yoshinaga
PRINTING
Printed in East Finchley by JG Bryson on chlorine
free paper produced by an EU Ecolabel certified
mill from FSC and PEFC regulated forests.
Village Raw November 2021 to January 2022.
Designed and published by Studio Moe Ltd.
© 2021 Studio Moe Ltd. All rights reserved.
Reproduction of any contents of Village Raw
magazine without prior permission of the
publisher is strictly prohibited.
Tweet us: twitter.com/VillageRawMag
Like us: facebook.com/villageraw
Follow us: instagram.com/villageraw
Contact us: hello@villageraw.com
Support us: villageraw.com/subscribe
SCAN HERE WITH YOUR INSTAGRAM
APP TO FOLLOW US:
03

VILLAGE RAW
ART & CULTURE
THE ART OF SUSPENSION
Suspension in art is nothing new. But it continues
to fascinate artists, audiences and collectors alike.
Words by Becky Lima-Matthews.
PHOTO BY GARETH BROWN.
From the mobiles that dangle over a baby’s cot to the large scale
mobile sculptures originated by Alexander Calder, the continuous
movement of shapes, colour and light captures our curiosity and
invites us to play. We spoke to two local artists - Merrill Rauch and
Rebecca Harker who both create mobile art in very different ways
- about their work and why they work in that medium.
North London artists Merrill Rauch and Rebecca Harker both
create their mobile artworks from home studios. Self taught, multidisciplinary
artist Rauch grew up in New York and has lived in East
Finchley for the past 17 years, where she works surrounded by weird
and wonderful found objects she uses to create her art. Old toys,
pieces of metal, signs, keys and kitchen utensils fill the space. Each
object had a story before and she’s creating new ones through her
art. It’s a theme that recurs as she talks me through some of them
from her studio. “I think there’s a connection to things that are
overlooked or forgotten in what I do,” she says.
Rebecca Harker is Canadian but also spent some time living
in New York before moving to London. Now she is based in Crouch
End, where she makes ceramics including large wall hangings. As
we chat on a September afternoon, she’s just about to open her
doors to welcome visitors as part of Crouch End Open Studios - so
they’ll get to interact with her ceramic hangings up close. Something
that’s brought her closer to the local creative community
post lockdown, having moved to the area from west London.
“I hadn’t really met anybody here so it was a year and a half of
just being alone. So it’s only in the last couple of weeks, and people
sort of getting together to assemble this show that I’ve got to
know a few people. But it’s quite exciting to know that there are
people around the corner who are really creative and talented.”
The two artists’ styles and experiences are completely different,
yet there are interesting points of connection in how they
ended up making hanging art. Both take inspiration from their
surroundings and, of course, creating such intricate pieces requires
a lot of patience.
For Merrill Rauch, the pieces can’t be planned - she has to
seek out objects and then lay them out to decide how to put them
together. And for Harker, creating one of her large scale wall hangings
takes around three months.
And coincidentally, both found inspiration on the streets of
New York City. Rauch cites her time spent as a prop maker as leading
her to make the work she’s known for and has collected. She
got into it by chance, at university helping out backstage on theatre
productions.
“They couldn’t get anyone to do the props for some reason
and the set guy said: ‘Could you do them?’ And I just loved it. I had
to be very resourceful, I got my own little room on the side and
they would give me a list of what they needed, and I would put it
together because everything was on a low budget. I worked on
Little Shop of Horrors too - as a prop runner.”
That curiosity and resourcefulness started even earlier. As a
child she helped out her teacher mother by making things for her
to use in her classes. Seeing things differently, seeking out interesting
things and creating has always been part of who she is. And
- like many creatives - Rauch’s creative life is not one of linear progression.
It’s about working with what you’ve got, wherever you are.
Prop making isn’t always the easiest way to pay the rent. Tired
of couch surfing and pet sitting, Rauch did a master’s in education
and became a teacher for a few years. But the bug for making
things from discarded objects stayed with her, and she began
making things from stuff schools didn’t want anymore.
“I started taking whatever they were throwing out. That started
my art. I said: ‘I want to put these colours and objects together...’
So I worked with the colour and balance of how they fit together.”
The streets and shops of her Brooklyn neighbourhood were full
of thrifted treasures, including a few items she still has in her collection.
But Rauch eventually swapped the flea markets and found
items of New York for the leafy streets of north London, with her
husband and young kids - where she’s been based ever since.
4 5

VILLAGE RAW
Opening page: Merrill Rauch in her studio. Above and opposite page:
Merrill Rauch artworks.
But she wasn’t the only one to find inspiration lurking in the
five boroughs. Rebecca Harker studied visual art at Cooper Union
in New York and later did an MA in art and architectural history at
The Courtauld in London. But it was outside art school that she
was drawn towards working with ceramics and creating hanging
art, as she explains.
“I was in New York and I saw this crazy ceramic hanging in this
window, at this really cool place in Brooklyn, and I was like ‘that is
so cool, I would love to make something like that!’ So I basically
went and got an hour’s tutorial from somebody a few years ago
because I actually hadn’t used clay in art school, even though you
do every medium.”
Perhaps finding that ceramic mobile art was fate or pure luck
- but it still related back to Harker’s love of space and how art
connects to it. “I was trying to find a way to have an alternative
for rooms other than, like, pictures - two-dimensional things.” In a
different part of town, she found some inspiration far away from
contemporary art.
“I lived quite north in New York and I used to go to The Cloisters,
and they have these amazing medieval tapestries. And I
think that that also has been in my head, like the way that those
tapestries basically were big and added warmth to spaces in the
past. We don’t really have anything like that now.”
To a certain extent all artists, makers and creative people
take elements of the past and connect them to the present. But
this is evident in both artists’ work, and the way they arrived at
working in the medium of suspended art.
There’s a theatrical nature to some of Rauch’s work, with
touches of vaudeville and surrealism at play. And Harker’s road
to creating hers also involved some interesting jobs. Having
worked in equipment-heavy mediums like photography, design
and screenprinting, she wanted to make work by hand, something
she got the chance to do at work.
“I used to work at the V&A, helping in the furniture and textile
departments. And I ended up helping downstairs in the basement,
creating these little models. I found that hands on work is better
for me, and clay is the medium that I found that is most like that.”
Both artists seek out discarded objects, as well as looking for
materials with different textures. Rauch goes to car boot sales,
picks up street finds and collects items found by the river too.
Recently, she’s got more into working with old wood and has a
growing collection of wall-mounted wooden pieces.
Harker cites inspiration for her work as coming from the tension
between living a busy urban life and feeling a deep need for
balance. Something she finds in Haringey’s green spaces, as she
explains: “I get a lot of stimulation being in London and being able
PHOTOS BY ETI SALPETER.
6

VILLAGE RAW
ART & CULTURE
Opposite page: Rebecca Harker in front of the wall hanging Carapace, holding Amorphic Wall Art I. This page: Ceramic
wall hangings by Rebecca Harker: Pictogram (left) and a section of Triptych (right).
PHOTOS BY VERONIKA PAP (OPPOSITE PAGE) AND SIMON MAXWELL (THIS PAGE).
to go to museums and galleries. But it’s also noisy, very vibrating
and intense … and I need a lot of quiet to work, so I love to go
to Queen’s Wood in the mornings, and I’ve been swimming at the
Ladies’ pond on the Heath.”
Finding quiet isn’t always easy, especially with three young
kids at home. But a lot of Harker’s practice starts with inspiration
found in nature. It’s a connection I see in her work too, such as the
piece White to Black, which looks a bit like rainfall.
“I think that’s a really beautiful sort of image to put on top
of the bead hangings. Some things are more directly connected
- like the Amorphic Wall pieces which were influenced by a trip
to Wales I took with my family a few months ago. It was nice to
see the sea and sketch the water over the rocks, and just look at
amazing things like the shape of water in rock pools.”
Although both artists create in media other than suspended
art and are experimenting with new wall art pieces as I type, their
mobile hangings have a particular way of transforming a space.
Both mentioned that they look good against brick - and they do.
But it’s not just about the aesthetic - they are tactile pieces, inviting
us to look closer, touch, and think about how they interact
with the space they’re in.
“When people come and see my work they say it brings up
memories for them, and stories or dreams - or maybe one of
the objects will remind them of childhood or something they
had,”Rauch tells me.
As I wrap up my conversations with both artists, I ask them
what advice they might give to emerging artists.
“I think at a certain point, you just have to do it alone and find
your own way. You have to be brave and know that maybe it’ll take
a really long time. But keep on plugging away, and basically try to
tune out the noise and just trust your own voice,” says Harker.
“My advice is to do what’s true to you. There is no way - how
could you not? So I continue to feel strongly about that, um, but
it’s hard to make it in the art world - so do what you have to do,
and a lot is down to luck. But understand who you are and follow
your eye,” Rauch says.
So there you have it: two unique artists who draw on their different
backgrounds and varied influences but are connected by
their love of suspended art.•
For more information on Merrill Rauch, or to arrange a visit to her studio go to:
www.merrillrauch.com. To find out more about Rebecca Harker, or visit her studio:
www.rebeccaharker.com / @rebeccaharkeruk
8 9

ART & CULTURE
THE BABEL MESSAGE
R E N A I S S A N C E
In a celebration of linguistic diversity, author Keith Kahn-Harris used the
lockdown to investigate the warning messages found inside Kinder Surprise eggs.
Words by Keith Kahn-Harris. Photo by David Reeve.
Visit Our
Showrooms
R E N A I S S A N C E
81 Myddleton Road
Bowes Park, N22 8NE
020 3773 1115
info@renaissancemusic.co.uk
L E S A L D R I C H M U S I C
98 Fortis Green Rd
Muswell Hill, N10 3HN
020 8883 5631
YAMAHA
BECHSTEIN
STEINWAY & MORE
Renaissance is the place to go
for beautifully restored and brand new pianos.
With two specialist piano showrooms in North London -
you will find a vast selection for all needs and budgets.
Renaissance offers so much for local music,
with it's onsite Music Tuition centre and Café.
Come and visit our showrooms or shop online today!
SHOP NOW
www.renaissancemusic.co.uk
When I was younger and imagined what my life would look like in the
weeks leading up to my 50th birthday, I didn’t envisage celebrating
the publication of a book I’d written on the warning messages
inside Kinder Surprise eggs. But then, I also didn’t imagine that
the final years of my forties would be spent under the shadow of a
global pandemic.
Like many others, I responded to the pandemic by searching for
new distractions. Work and my daily constitutional around Alexandra
Palace were simply not enough. While my wife made use of her
sourdough starter, I searched for a more quixotic project. I found
it by revisiting a talk I had given in 2017 at the Boring Conference
which I later recorded for the BBC Boring Talks podcast series.
My talk celebrated the tiny piece of paper found inside Kinder
eggs on which the warning not to give the toy to children under
three (as “small parts might be swallowed or inhaled”) is translated
into 34 languages. I’ve always loved this Lilliputian linguistic treasury
that showcases such rarely seen delights as Georgian and Albanian.
In my talk though, I pointed out what wasn’t on the sheet
and showed off translations of the warning message in tongues as
varied as Irish and Biblical Hebrew.
In the spring of 2020, I escaped the confines of my home by
reaching out to translators around the world. Soon the translat-
ed warning messages started flooding in - from Afrikaans to Zulu,
from Basque to Braille. Each and every one was a miniature delight.
Initially, I had commissioned the translations with no particular
aim in mind. But over time I began to see a book in it. My last two
books – on denial and on antisemitism – were pretty heavy in tone
and subject matter. I wanted to write something joyful and celebratory.
And the diversity of human language is indeed something
to celebrate.
I guess the biggest surprise was that my agent found a publisher
who felt the same way. I wrote The Babel Message: A Love
Letter to Language during the dark days of the winter lockdown. It
will be in the shops soon – delivery problems
permitting in these uncertain times.
Yet while I hope my book will find readers,
to some extent its purpose has already
been fulfilled: finding a source of obsession,
wonder and hope during one of the
bleakest periods of my life. •
The Babel Message: A Love Letter to Language is
published by Icon Books.
12

VILLAGE RAW
VILLAGE SOUNDS
Jazz. The music that
never stops evolving.
From 1920s America to
worldwide popularity.
How and where is this
distinctive style of
music available for
you to enjoy in your
local area?
Words by Kate Brooks.
AND
ALL
THAT
JAZZ
PHOTO BY MARIEKE MACKLON, COURTESY GLASSHOPPER.
12 13

VILLAGE RAW
VILLAGE SOUNDS
Opening pages: Jonathan
Chung, Corrie Dick and
James Kitchman (left to
right) of Glasshopper.
Left: The Mossy Buskers.
Right: Crossover Jazz
Room in Crouch End.
“Complete freedom of expression and liberty. I get to articulate
better with the instrument than I do with words. A lot of what I think
I can’t really say. I can do it better with an instrument.”
Jonathan Chung, Muswell Hill based saxophonist and lead of
trio band Glasshopper, opens our conversation with a description
of his definition of jazz. Originally from Glasgow and a non musical
family, Jonathan got curious about the saxophone from around age
13 and proceeded to buy records, learning the instrument that way.
“It was a random decision. I saw someone playing it on the street
and thought: that’s what I want to do.”
Falling in love with music and jazz records, influences such as
John Coltrane and Miles Davies pulled him in. A rebellious streak led
Jonathan to fall into the web of jazz music. Corrie Dick, the drummer,
also from Glasgow met Jonathan on the music scene and
introduced him to James Kitchman who plays guitar. Jamming together,
Jonathan started writing for that line up and the band grew
from there. With the same ideologies and similar personalities they
all clicked and in 2012 the trio became Glasshopper. Rooted in jazz
but influenced by rock and folk music, it is hard to define Glasshopper’s
unique sound. Leaving the audience pleasantly surprised,
the heavily improvised traditional styles of jazz are often most effective
when you let loose and get creative. Jonathan elaborates:
“There’s an architecture that we have rehearsed and learnt from
but we then can take liberties built from the trust we have for each
other, which allow us to deviate and just have fun.”
The band don’t rehearse together as much as before, instead
tending to let it grow at gigs which keeps it free and loose. Develop-
ing their sound and bridging other genres, the band started playing
at The Royal Albert pub in Deptford, at a night called Good Evening
which hosts up and coming jazz bands.
At the moment gigs are sporadic and unfortunately the band
weren’t able to tour with the release of their debut album in 2020
due to lockdown. The album Fortune Rules, a live recording over
five days, has been well received and the band continue to focus
on the jazz music overlaps of distinctive rhythms, harmonic
sophistication and melodies that improvisation and playing live
music have to offer.
With the London Jazz festival at the Green Note in Camden in
November, the band have an upcoming opportunity to showcase
their unique and distinctive sound: “It’s not saxophone led, it’s a
trio.” Although Jonathan is the composer he makes it clear that the
music is: ”a melt of us all together.” I finally asked Jonathan what
jazz music means to him. “Having a great time,” he replied with an
obvious passion. “I really enjoy a connection with people. It’s wonderful
to connect. Decisions are made on the spot with both the
audience and the band reacting to it. There is a whole language going
on that people don’t realise everyone is contributing to in some
way. I like the surprise. It’s an absolute thrill. It’s good.”
If you are seeking the thrill of live music, look no further than The
Crossover Jazz Room in Crouch End. Created in 2016, Bernadette
Bryant, organiser of the event, elaborates on the name. “It was
born out of an idea that I had where jazz would be the foundation.
However, by calling it The Crossover Jazz Room, it would mean the
event would cover other genres of music too.” Starting at Crouch
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MOSSY BUSKERS.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CROSSOVER JAZZ ROOM.
End Picturehouse, Bernadette ran the night voluntarily each Friday.
Outgrowing the venue in terms of capacity, the live evenings soon
moved to the North Middlesex Cricket Club, Park Road. However, the
enforced closure due to lockdown left regulars devastated. “It became
part of their lives - a type of community event. The feedback
is that there is no other place like The Crossover. The atmosphere,
the vibes, so friendly.”
Now up and running again due to popular demand, a new name
has been given to the evenings. Encouraging expression and originality,
Singers and Performers, held every Thursday at Kiss The Sky
in Crouch End, has picked up the musical gauntlet and continues to
thrive. The Crossover Jazz Room is looking to return to a larger venue,
to accommodate its growing popularity: “The plan is to take it
to another level in terms of venue and performers when we reopen.
There are no limits that this music can be taken to. We are looking
at another venue for next year but nothing has been confirmed as
yet,” says Bernadette. Described by one valued customer as “a gift
to Crouch End”, it can’t be soon enough.
Another place to find your jazz fix is in St. James Square,
Muswell Hill. Outside Planet Organic you can frequently find a collective
of young musicians known as The Mossy Buskers. With an
age range of 16-18, the seven members of the group met while
jamming in garden sheds, through Haringey Young Musicians and
Guildhall’s Saturday Jazz School. With a sound that mixes jazz
fusion and funk with traditional jazz, they can be found playing
both jazz standards and blues as well as more modern covers by
artists such as Drake or Childish Gambino.
Member Lior Solomons-Wise explains further: ”We also love
to play completely improvised tunes, building off an initial idea
from one musician.” All playing and performing independently
from each other, they are quite the impressive bunch. Between
them they have a repertoire of studies including The Brit School,
Junior Royal Academy and The Guildhall School of Music. With singles
available to stream and a performance at The Roundhouse
to boot, Nathalie, Nate, Lior, Hugo, Jess, Zac and George - AKA The
Mossy Buskers- are a group of young musicians hoping to let you
hear and feel their music. Lior spells out their hopes: “To continue
to bring joy to people in the local area, while having a wonderful
time playing ourselves.”
While all music can take us elsewhere, helping us let go and
feel, I have learnt that jazz with its dynamic freedom to improvise
and merge genres, gives both the musician and listener a certain
sense of surprise and creative freedom. As Lior sums up: “Playing
jazz is truly joyful. The spontaneity that it offers is liberating and
so exciting.”
A host of other local venues offer up space to jazz. A wealth
of world class talent can be seen at The Woodman, Archway Road
- and the nearby Pavilion Cafe in Highgate Woods often has live
alfresco jazz in the warmer months. The in-house cafe and music
venue of Renaissance, Myddleton Road hosts weekly music, including
the Renaissance Jazz Club and singer/songwriter nights. •
You can find out more: @glasshoppermusic / @themossybuskers / @crossoverjazzroom
/ @the_woodmanhighgate / @renaissancen22 / @pavilion.highgatewoods
14 15

WELLBEING
BARNET
AND BIKING
East Finchley currently has the
only segregated cycle lane in
the borough of Barnet - but even
that is only a trial.
Words by Julia Hines. Photo by David Reeve.
If we want to keep living life as we know it, we need to change.
That’s true on a global scale with climate change - but it is just as
true locally. The new cycle lane, heading north up the A1000 from
East Finchley, is a perfect illustration.
The cycle lane - the only segregated one in the borough of Barnet
- was installed with a funding grant from TfL in October 2020.
The timing matters. Lockdown saw many people recognising the
difference less traffic makes - to clean air, to street safety, to
noise - and to discovering the sense of community that comes
from walking or cycling. People cycled, children learned to cycle - all
because the streets felt safe. It has also been a time when people
became worried about their jobs and businesses, so any change to
traffic or parking is met with anxiety.
Actually, the impact on parking stress has been minimal and,
although there have been some issues with traffic moving to rat
runs and with congestion at the bridge over the North Circular, congestion
is not that different to before.
Jess Gold, chair of Better Streets for Barnet, a campaign group
that promotes walking and cycling, argues that it takes time for
people to switch transportation. They talk to lots of people who say
they need to be confident that the lane will stay in place before
they invest in a bicycle or e-bike.
As she says: “Barnet Council is committed in its transport strategy
to building cycling infrastructure to enable citizens to sometimes
leave their cars at home and to travel actively with zero carbon. Removing
Barnet’s only segregated lane would be a very expensive
shot in the foot, and a great disappointment to current cyclists, as
well as would-be cyclists who need to feel safe to venture out.”
Charlotte French, who runs group cycling for women as a volunteer
for Breeze Barnet, disagrees with people who think the cycle
lane is not used. Numbers are growing but people also need to
recognise that cyclists take up significantly less space than cars.
Another local cycling group that has sprung up is Lymore Ladies
club which meets at Martin Primary School, next to the lane.
Somayeh Caesar who runs the group says: “I started my cycling
journey last March during lockdown. It was a brilliant choice for my
physical and mental health. I couldn’t find any local groups that
were relatable, that ‘looked like me’. So I started Lymore Ladies
cycling club because I wanted to build a safe, diverse and social
space for women to cycle together without judgement. The cycle
lanes on the high road have been a brilliant addition to East Finchley
as a lot of the ladies I ride with were not road confident. They
would not have started cycling if they were not in place.”
If people think removing the lane will keep things as they were,
they are mistaken. Barnet plans to build 36,000 homes in the next
few years. There will not be space for all those extra cars. Buses
and tubes will be significantly more crowded, with people unable
to get onto trains - unless we change. The obvious change - the
healthiest, greenest and the best for our high streets - is to grow
our cycling infrastructure.•
You can find Better Streets for Barnet at: @betterst4barnet. Lymore Ladies Cycling
Club: @lymoreladies_cyclingclub. If you support the A1000 cycle lane please let
Barnet councillors know.
18

VILLAGE RAW
PARTNER CONTENT
“A hibernation is a covert
preparation for a more overt
action” Ralph Ellison
LOCAL NATURE
Words by Antje Lang. Photo by Tom Broadhead.
Illustration by Maia Magoga.
I write this at the tail end of my first trip to mainland Europe in two
years. It was an unassuming trip - to a research centre for training
for work - but it was exhilarating all the same. The feeling of moving
through a space that has not yet defined some part of you and
which you have not yet defined, is an experience that perhaps we
don’t consciously seek but - for me at least - it strikes awe and
expansiveness. To stare out of the Deutsche Bahn window at the
whimsical forests passing by, a good album in my ears, surrounded
by people with whom I will likely only share a moment in time, is a
common yet often unappreciated gift.
This trip was the closest I feel I’ve come to the ‘before’ times.
It’s not that I haven’t already engaged with people and places and
activities that were a hallmark of my pre-pandemic lifestyle but a
work trip really did feel like the final step (and I do recognise there
is no post pandemic here). It made me realise that, in retrospect, I
see the many months of lockdown as a kind of hibernation. It was
a forced interlude between ‘doing’ and the inability to during the
strictest parts of the lockdowns. We found ourselves invited to ‘be’
in a way that was discomfiting. That’s not to say the experience
was a vacation or that there was no doing to be done, but the isolation
from our ‘normal’ lives provided time for reassessment. For
me, and for many others, that reassessment hangs as a flashbulb
question mark in the air. What now?
I investigated this question - and the relationship between
hibernation and action - as part of a research engagement in
partnership with OmVed Gardens in Highgate. Through our project
- Local Nature - we surveyed and interviewed over 60 people
about their experience of place during the pandemic. We sought
to investigate what the experience had been like in the local community.
Had it taught us anything about ourselves, our community
or our locality?
By nature of the research we did and the tools available to us,
the participants were self selecting and more or less representative
of a particular location and population at a very particular time
- and yet it was a true honour to hold space for the stories and
perspectives shared with me as our participants reflected on their
time between March 2020 and March 2021.
The final outcome of the research is an illustrated booklet
which centres around the key themes of the interviews and, in late
August, we held a roundtable discussion about the final outcome
of the work. Both the booklet and the roundtable underscored this
question mark - this ‘What now?’ Many people did have the time
to reassess, to reprioritise, to question some actions they’d previously
habituated. And yet, many felt unsure of what it all meant
or how to put into action some of these reflections as the world
inched back towards the ‘before,’ albeit with the assurances of
rebuilding better - whatever that might mean. Most people didn’t
want to go back to their pre-pandemic lives exactly but weren’t yet
sure how to change course.
There were no clear takeaways from this roundtable but I would
like to stress the value of that. We’re used to the concept of ‘action’
meaning ‘to dos’ that can be crossed off a list - but what if action is
coming together in a community to make space and time to listen
to one another? What if action doesn’t actually look a whole lot like
doing anything at all?
Going forward, OmVed will continue to create space for the local
community to answer these questions throughout the Local Nature
project. We will centre this work physically at OmVed Gardens, situating
ourselves as integrated, natural beings within the landscape,
to provide space intellectually and spiritually to explore how the
experience of lockdown has changed us and how it will continue to
shape us. As author and healer Brenda Salgado noted: “the frenetic
pace of doing, doing, doing without being present with each other
and the season we are in, what is happening around us, is unnatural
and counter to life.” Let’s work more to be - less to constantly do -
so that we can consider what action means for each of us.•
For more information on getting involved in the Local Nature project, please sign up to
OmVed’s newsletter at: www.omvedgardens.com or follow their social media:
@omvedgardens
18 19

VILLAGE PICTURES
TAKE THE PLUNGE
Words by Zoe Bee. Photography by Zoe Norfolk.
21

VILLAGE RAW
VILLAGE PICTURES
Swimming outside is a great way to
reconnect with nature - and with three
ponds so close by, all with lifeguards,
it’s easier than you think to take a dip.
When the air is so gloriously chilly we can see puffs of our breath
in the air, it can seem more tempting to stay cosy indoors than go
for a swim outdoors. But the Ladies’ Pond, Men’s Pond and Mixed
Pond on Hampstead Heath offer welcoming spaces for an outdoor
swim that is sure to get your heart pumping.
“Slow down your breathing. Slower. Breathe in for the count of
four, out for six.” That’s what the lifeguard tells me as I lower myself
very slowly into Kenwood Ladies’ Pond on Hampstead Heath.
It’s shockingly cold in the water but the lifeguard is right. When
you slow down your breathing anything is possible.
Slowing down the breath stimulates the vagus nerve which is
the ‘healing’ nerve in the body. The word ‘vagus’ means ‘wandering
or roving’ in Latin which accurately represents how the nerve
carries signals around the body and connects our brain to several
important organs. The vagus nerve also influences breathing,
digestive function and heart rate, and stimulating it can lead to
long-term improvements in mood, resilience and wellbeing.
Immersing yourself in cold water is beneficial in many ways,
including the relief of migraines and menopausal symptoms, and
increased libido. And once you’ve got past the initial shock of the
cold, there’s simply the joy of swimming itself.
If you want to swim through the winter it’s helpful to keep going
two or three times a week, so your body gets used to the cold.
While I would love to go regularly, I’ve had lots of gaps over the
past few years. So I have had to reacclimatise many times.
No matter how I’m feeling and whatever the weather, it is
wonderful to go in for a quick dip, enjoying a few laps or floating
among the ducks, herons and hovering dragonflies.
Whatever I have on my mind when I’m heading to the pond just
vanishes. The water is very cold at this time of year - my brain and
body have no choice but to only focus on that and so I feel like I
have had a total reset when I come out. The pond’s wonderful way
of comforting, consoling and entertaining makes me feel calm
and at ease with myself and the world.
22 23

VILLAGE RAW
VILLAGE PICTURES
I love the way the pond brings people together. Sometimes I
join in, other times I just listen as women drying themselves bare
their souls about their health issues, relationships, feelings of
grief and heartbreak, all manner of life’s ups and downs. It makes
me think about what’s important in life and how nature can remind
us all of our inner strength.
A bonus of swimming in the ponds in autumn and winter is that
you don’t need to book, you can just turn up (although the hours
are reduced). Know your limits, be safe and read the guidelines.
Start off slowly, you’ll soon warm up as you start moving. If you
feel cold just get out. Wear a bobble hat in the water. Take a thermos
of hot chocolate or tea for afterwards. Get a friend to come
along so you can motivate each other to go on the colder days.
The lifeguards have seen it all and are on hand for guidance.
I love swimming in the Ladies’ Pond. Small doses of cold water
‘therapy’ cast a lovely warm glow on the rest of my life.•
MORE INFORMATION
Hampstead Heath Swimming Ponds
https://www.hampsteadheath.net/swimming-ponds
Cold Water Swimming Guidelines
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/greenspaces/hampstead-heath/activities-at-hampsteadheath/swimming-at-hampstead-heath/cold-waterswimming-guidelines
24 25

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
HELP YOURSELF TO SECONDS
Village Raw hunts down some local solutions for those
seeking to dress more sustainably.
Words by Carla Parks.
When it comes to waste we often think about food being chucked
in the bin. But what about waste created by the fashion industry?
Only between five and seven percent of resaleable clothes are
currently sold on platforms such as eBay or Depop, with about
£30bn worth of clothes sitting in UK wardrobes unused. Many of
these items will eventually end up in landfill.
This comes as no surprise to Oli Brown, the founder of ReThread,
a platform that aims to take the hard work out of reselling clothes.
“We want to make selling as easy - or almost as easy - as chucking
things in the bin,” he says. Oli believes many people are put off
by photographing items, writing descriptions and dealing with the
postage - a process that is time consuming. ReThread does it all.
The company acts like an online consignment store. New customers
can request a seller’s kit that includes prepaid postage.
The rule of thumb is that ReThread will take good quality items that
are of Zara quality and above. Brands that fall below this threshold
generally do better in charity shops. “There’s an enormous glut of
supply for those brands compared to demand,” Oli tells me. Pricing
is determined by an algorithm developed inhouse, with sellers
getting 40 to 70% of an item’s value. The higher the selling price,
the higher the cut.
A former investment banker specialising in the circular economy,
Oli became convinced that acting sustainably could be profitable
for a business. He spotted a gap in the market for ReThread
which falls somewhere between luxury resale and charity shop.
It’s a market that’s growing. A US competitor researched the resale
market and found that it is projected to double in the next
five years, reaching a value of $77bn.
While just over a year old, ReThread has already grown too big
for its former premises in Tottenham. Today it operates out of an
industrial park in Hornsey that has room for growth. Seven part
time staff, most of them local university students, help catalogue
the items for sale. On the day I visit, a master’s student sits at a
large desk processing some of the recent arrivals. The warehouse
contains rails of clothes and one back wall lit for photography. The
business has so far worked with about a thousand sellers and has
around 3,000 items available online - a number that keeps growing.
“You have to get creative with the software to handle thousands
of unique items and track them,” Oli explains. He plugged
existing platforms together to create a bespoke software system
that he’s still tweaking. It’s more complex, he adds, than a standard
ecommerce business in which you might buy 10,000 units of
one product and make just one listing.
A short walk away, Georgia Robinson is outside Come Swap &
Shop, the resale business she opened with her sister Teri three years
ago. Georgia has always loved clothes but it was a visit to a shop in
Stoke Newington that ignited her entrepreneurial spirit. She’d spotted
a pair of vintage Valentino sunglasses for £50 and wondered
whether she could swap her own Prada sunglasses of roughly equal
value. Despite driving a hard bargain, Georgia left empty handed.
That evening she came home and told her sister they needed to
open a shop that allowed people to swap clothes and accessories.
They poured their enthusiasm into their boutique on Hornsey
High Street. Customers need to be members to swap clothes
but anyone can come in, browse and buy something at low cost.
The business initially thrived, buoyed up by a stream of community
events and their enterprising ideas. But then the pandemic
struck. “We didn’t know if we were going to survive,” admits Georgia,
speaking over the traffic noise. “A lot of shops around here
didn’t reopen,” agreesTeri.
It might have been easier to give up but the sisters used a
grant to pay the rent and called on their fighting spirit. Having
grown up in the Caribbean community, they have battled the stigma
associated with buying secondhand clothes. In their culture,
trading in used clothes is considered undesirable and unclean.
“You get looked down on and frowned upon,” says Teri. “So we
wanted to push back against those barriers, push against class
and culture and show everyone that this is actually okay.”
PHOTO COURTESY GREEN ANCESTORS.
26 27

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
Previous page: The back of an upcycled children’s cashmere cardigan from Green Ancestors.
This page: Georgia (left) and Teri (right) inside Come Swap & Shop on Hornsey High Street.
Once the sisters learned more about fast fashion and sweatshops
they became vocal advocates of living more sustainably,
even talking to local students before lockdown. After several
months of being closed, the pair decided to expand their concept
and are maximising the space by using it as a gallery in the evenings
- launching a series of community events to entice more people
in. Georgia is a sculptor and Teri is a writer so they liked the idea
of supporting other local artists and creatives in the community
struggling to get exposure, or who are at the start of their careers.
Sonia Menouer-Mahmood who lives in Muswell Hill, is just at
the start of her entrepreneurial journey. She founded Green Ancestors
earlier this year, a business that takes discarded fabrics
and refashions them into beautiful designs for children. She has
partly been inspired by her mother in France who worked as a
seamstress on striking clothes for special events. “I think my
business is part of her that’s living in me,” says Sonia.
Her designs, Sonia explains, are influenced by her continental
roots. She blends this with the playfulness of London where
anything goes. The designer adds appliqués to the textiles, a
28
technique that has become part of her signature style. “To me,
fashion means something unique and tailored to someone - it’s
about the feel of the fabric and the art of sewing.” Sonia is now
expanding into upcycling womenswear: “I think it’s important to
give fabrics a purpose to live again.”
ReThread’s founder agrees. Oli believes people should ask
themselves whether someone else will value your item more, reuse
the materials and extend its lifetime. “Being sustainable can
be a really clear triple win for the profitability of the business, the
customer and the environment,” he argues. Over at Come Swap &
Shop, Teri and Georgia are even allowing people to swap art when
they have it in stock. As Teri says: “We can’t solve all the world’s
problems but we can play our little part.”•
Come Swap & Shop: comeswapandshop.com / @comeswapandshop
ReThread: rethread.uk / @rethreaduk
Green Ancestors: etsy.com/uk/shop/GreenAncestors / @greenancestors
PHOTO COURTESY COME SWAP & SHOP.

VILLAGE RAW
PARTNER CONTENT
La Gent, an ecommerce shop that sells a range of hard-tosource
gifts and lifestyle items from all over the world.
GROWING UP
IS HARD TO DO
Businesses don’t become successes
overnight. Two entrepreneurs
reflect on scale-up support
they received from the British
Library.
Words by Carla Parks.
It has been a tricky couple of years for entrepreneur Sabina Motasem
– but she feels that some good has come out of adversity.
After many months of adapting her business to survive the pandemic,
the bridal designer is throwing herself into ideas she put on
hold. Among them is launching a vegan and sustainable range of
ready-to-wear bridal gowns using ethical fabrics.
Before the pandemic, Sabina was already reassessing what was
important to her as a small business owner. She believes the last
18 months have raised even more awareness of how our lifestyle
choices affect our fragile ecosystems.
“Every business will need to evolve and adapt to have sustainability
at its heart, and every consumer will be expecting this too
- from every brand in the future,” she says. The designer is even
donating some of the offcuts from her bridal dresses to a women’s
refuge, thus reducing waste.
When Sabina launched her bridal gown business in 2007, the company
grew quickly through word of mouth. She opened a boutique in
Islington and was stocked internationally. But as the business experienced
growth, running it became considerably more complex.
Without business training to fall back on the designer sought to
surround herself with others in a similar position. She came across
the British Library’s vast resources at the Business & IP Centre
(BIPC) where she attended talks for entrepreneurs just like her. She
remembers being “blown away” when she heard Anita Roddick talk
about her journey with The Body Shop.
In 2012 she discovered the Innovating for Growth Programme,
designed to help small businesses looking to scale up. It’s an experience
she calls “life-changing”. “When you have an idea for a
thriving business in the beginning,” she says, “it’s not easy to turn
that idea into a reality.” She was even lucky enough to receive a
mentoring session with Roddick.
The BIPC’s three-month programme is free for those who
qualify and has a particularly good track record of working with
under-represented groups and female founders. It gives £10,000
of specialist support, mentoring and one-to-one advice to London-based
businesses with a minimum turnover of £100,000; plus
it gives you access to a large network of peers.
The modules are led by experts and cover challenges facing
many companies, including protecting your intellectual property,
financial planning and putting in place a bespoke growth strategy.
These modules are currently online because of Covid-19 but some
in-person elements are being slowly reintroduced.
Since it was established in 2012, the Innovating for Growth
scale-up programme has supported over 540 small businesses.
Among these are a vegan beauty brand, a social enterprise that
trains homeless people to be baristas, and a business making innovative
products for cyclists (now operating in 16 countries).
Sharif Labo, who lives in Bowes Park, is one of Innovating for
Growth’s most recent alumni. He’s the founder of La Gent, an ecommerce
shop that sells a range of hard-to-source gifts and lifestyle
items from all over the world. “We pride ourselves on the curation
of the products we sell,” he tells Village Raw. A smaller range of La
Gent’s products is also stocked in an independent shop in Muswell
Hill called Rakha.
For Sharif, Covid-19 had an unexpected upside. His online business
- founded six years ago - experienced accelerated growth.
With people stuck at home during lockdowns, many sought to make
PHOTO COURTESY LA GENT.
PHOTO BY ELLIOTT WILCOX.
Designer Sabina Motasem, who launched a business producing a vegan and sustainable range of ready-to-wear bridal gowns
using ethical fabrics.
their homes more comfortable and stylish. Some treated themselves
to small luxuries - an audience to which La Gent caters.
Like many new business owners, Sharif got to a stage where
he’d had a few years of growth and had become uncertain of what
strategies he should next implement to capitalise on it. “It’s easy
to stagnate and not know where to take the company next, so the
programme was quite valuable in helping me to gain some traction
and take the next step.”
He particularly valued the sessions on finance, marketing and
strategy. The latter, Sharif explains, helped him focus on attracting
new customers and using metrics. “It was really good to sit down
with someone who was knowledgeable in business. I would say that
was one of the most valuable conversations I had.”
Sharif admits that being an entrepreneur can be lonely, one of
the reasons he applied for the programme. “You never really get to
question your assumptions. You can speak to your partner but it’s
quite nice to have a network of people who have been through the
same thing, so that you can say: ’Hey, what do you do when you
have this problem?’.”
Sabina echoes his thoughts, explaining that you can be too
close to your business to be objective. Innovating for Growth
taught her the value of detaching yourself and gaining perspective.
During the first lockdown she made the painful decision to close
her bridal shop in Islington - but she believes it was the right thing
to do. Her boutique is now fully online, becoming one of the first
bridal brands in the country to pivot in this direction.
She still pays meticulous attention to detail and offers her
clients hour-long virtual appointments. Sabina is fortunate to be
busy, with many of her clients now going ahead with weddings that
had been cancelled. Even her own wedding was cancelled more
than once.
The designer’s latest project is working on a range of day dresses
in jewelled colours that can be worn through to evening. Sabina
wants the new line to recapture a bit of the glamour we lost during
the pandemic and to make us feel good about ourselves again.
She’s hoping, as things recover, we will reconnect with the ones we
love. And yes, she did get to have her wedding in the end.•
Innovating for Growth’s scale-up programme is taking applications for the next cohort:
bl.uk/grow
If you’re not quite ready to scale up, you can also find support to get your business
off the ground: bl.uk/startup
30 31

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
COOKING UP A BOOK
Michael Batoux: International Cuisine from a School Kitchen
Words by Sharon Goldreich
Chef Michael Batoux’s untimely death last year left our school
community heartbroken. Following a career working in fine dining
establishments around the world, Michael had fostered an exciting
food culture at Highgate Primary School and Blanche Nevile Primary
School for Deaf Children. He established a varied international
school dinner menu, ran popular children’s cookery clubs and organised
regionally themed supper clubs for parents and staff. He
thoughtfully prepared surprise treats for the children on special
occasions such as Christmas and Halloween and loved to use the
produce grown in the school playground and allotment, concocting
exotic combinations such as cardoon and lychee for the annual
RHS Big Soup Share. Culinary talents aside, Michael was a hardworking,
generous and humorous man who chatted to the “kiddos”
(as he fondly called them) while serving them lunch. He hung a map
of the world in the dining centre and would point out the origin of
their daily menu, explaining with great elan which ingredients and
spices he’d used. The children truly loved him.
The impetus to commemorate Michael and his legacy came
from my daughter’s lament for him as well as the dishes she will
forever associate him with: his tomato soup and hummus (that
were always superior to mine), maple and miso baked salmon,
Swedish meatballs, chicken tagine, poutine, and Noufi cinnamon
buns - the last two originating from his native Canada. Speaking
to other parents, it was clear their children were similarly affected.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY HIGHGATE PRIMARY (THIS PAGE). PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM T. ADAMIS AND STYLING BY SHARON GOLDREICH (OPPOSITE PAGE).
32 33

VILLAGE RAW
FOOD & DRINK
NETTLE SOUP
DON YOUR GLOVES AND GET FORAGING! 7 min 30 mins Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
400g nettle tips (the delicate leaves
at the very top of the nettle plants;
make sure you wear protective gloves
and long sleeves when picking and
handling nettles)
1 vegetable stock cube
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 medium potato, diced small
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
salt & pepper
To serve:
2 tablespoons
extra virgin olive oil
METHOD
1. With gloved hands, carefully and
thoroughly wash the nettles and
set them aside.
2. Dissolve the stock cube in 500ml
of boiling water.
3. In a heavy-based saucepan, preheat
the oils over a medium-high heat.
Add the chopped onion and cook while
stirring for about 5 minutes, until it
starts to soften, but doesn’t brown.
Add the garlic, potato, celery and a
pinch of salt, and fry for 5 minutes
until the vegetables begin to soften.
4. Add the hot stock to the vegetables,
bring to the boil, then turn down the
heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Add the nettle tips, stir through for no
longer than a minute and blitz the soup
with a hand blender until very smooth.
6. Serve with extra virgin olive oil drizzled
on top.
TOP TIP!
Add hot water to the soup at the end if a
thinner consistency is desired; or reduce
the water quantity to begin with for a
thicker soup. Serve with crusty bread or
cheesy croutons.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM T. ADAMIS AND STYLING BY SHARON GOLDREICH.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHEW HAGUE AND STYLING JEMIMA HETHERINGTON (TOP). BOOK COVER BY NUALA SHARKEY (BOTTOM).
Noodles with Edamame and Mushrooms
I approached our headteacher, William Dean last October to enquire
if Michael had left any recipes and, if so, whether we could
collate them into an international cookbook. The proceeds could
fund cookery classes at the school - a cause Michael cared about
deeply. William was immediately in favour.
Shortly after this brief chat at the school gate, I found myself
in possession of numerous ‘recipes’ (downloaded from Michael’s
school computer) and a green folder with similar pages, courtesy
of Michael’s friend and former sous chef, Otmane. My expectations
were thwarted, however, when these documents turned out to be
costing sheets - not actual recipes. Every dish had a list of ingredients
for hundreds of covers and very scant or no preparation
guidelines. Michael was dyslexic and didn’t leave a written record
of most of his recipes, other than a few from the cookery clubs
he’d taught. We later learnt that he had planned to compile a recipe
book for children and families - news that further encouraged us to
pursue this rather daunting undertaking. The next challenge was to
reduce and tweak measurements to a family-sized scale and attempt
to work out the instructions. The priority was to retain the
authenticity of the dishes which would have to pass muster with
our critical young connoisseurs who were most familiar with them.
Following some weeks of research, reconstruction and consultation
with Otmane and hit-and-miss attempts at cooking some
of the dishes, it was clear that we’d need more hands on deck and
would only succeed if this became a community project. There was
a plethora of activities to navigate: private and corporate fundraising,
food research and experimentation, the complex organisation
of photoshoots and baking - and all this during the pandemic with
the various obstacles it presented. A call for help to the school
community via our trusted class reps resulted in the establishment
of the Cookbook Team, comprising several professional
cuisiniers, food enthusiasts, a graphic designer, Michael’s friends
and colleagues and PSA stalwarts - all like-minded volunteers who
admired Michael and wanted to see this project through. Months
later, when we started meeting in person for the photoshoots, the
atmosphere was one of camaraderie and passion for a joint cause.
The volunteering school kitchen staff shared stories and memories
of Michael and his food - and his presence was almost palpable.
The children too were happy to get involved with the project.
The ‘Michael Batoux Sponsored Egg and Spoon Race’ - for which
they donned chef’s whites or aprons and enthusiastically negotiated
an obstacle course - was one of the most moving highlights
of the book’s production.
We were all blown away by the incredible support offered by individuals
not associated with the school. Five talented professional
photographers and two stylists generously volunteered to take
part in socially distanced photoshoots - some lasting over nine
hours - in the school kitchen/dining hall, the school allotment and
nearby woods, over weekends and school holidays. The last shoot
took place at Citro Restaurant on Swain’s Lane where Chef Nunzio
Citro - who had been so taken by Michael’s story - had agreed to
recreate the famed cookery club recipe of Butternut Squash Ravioli
with Nut-Brown Butter, allowing us to photograph every step of
the preparation to feature in the book. Our international cookbook
project also appealed to chef, restaurateur and food writer Yotam
Ottolenghi who kindly donated a child-friendly recipe. The Shangri-
La at The Shard, where Michael had been executive head chef prior
to joining the school, was also moved by this commemorative project
and donated a voucher which we hid in one of the books as a
‘golden ticket’.
The book, which came out this summer to a rapturous response
from the school community and Michael’s family, will hopefully inspire
children and families to continue cooking his popular international
recipes and remember this remarkable man.•
The book is available to buy from
The Highgate Bookshop, Pickled
Pepper Books in Crouch End and The
Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill.
For further information, please email:
michaelbcookbook@gmail.com
34
35

VILLAGE RAW
WELLBEING
ASK OLA
Send your questions to
hello@villageraw.com
“I’m a little worried – with winter
coming, Covid likely to rise again,
flu, etc. Is there anything I can do
to boost my immune system?”
“There’s been so much uncertainty
of late I’ve been feeling quite
anxious – is there anything
you’d suggest that could help?”
Words by Ola Nwakodo.
Illustrations by Victoria Meera.
Garlic Honey Recipe
Elderberry Honey Recipe
Elderberry is a popular traditional remedy for colds and viral
bronchitis. Studies show that “elderberries enhance immunostimulatory
cytokines and shorten the duration of influenza
A and B infections by interfering with viral replication”
(Zakay-Rones et al, 2004). Elderflower is often used as a restorative
for sinuses and the mucous membrane.
Ingredients: fresh or dried elderberries, 1 stick of cinnamon,
raw honey.
Method: As with the garlic recipe, fill up a jar with elderberries,
add 1 cinnamon stick and top up with raw honey. I use
several old jam jars. Stir together. Cover tightly with a lid and
put in a warm spot for at least a week, turning and stirring it
once daily.
Put the jar in hot water (not overly hot) to soften the honey,
then strain and remove all ingredients from it. I use this
infused honey on toast, in teas, and some days will just have
a spoonful on its own when I’m feeling congested.
Tea Blends
Echinacea Thyme & Liquorice Tea
Mix ¾ echinacea (I like to mix the root, leaves and flowers together)
with ¼ fresh thyme. Add a little liquorice when drinking
the tea.
Lemon Balm, Cleavers & Lemon Tea
Mix equal parts of lemon balm and cleavers. Add slices of
fresh lemon as needed when drinking the tea.
Elderflower & Chamomile Tea
Mix equal parts of elderflower and chamomile and drink regularly.
Elderberry & Cinnamon Tea
Mix ¾ part elderberries and ¼ part of cinnamon and drink regularly.
Rosemary, Ginger & Liquorice Tea
Mix ¾ part elderberries and ¼ part of cinnamon/liquorice and
drink regularly.
These two questions seem to go hand in hand as they touch
on our resources for protection and strength. My approach is
to support the body with tonics - focusing on the circulatory,
lymphatic, respiratory, nervous and immune systems.
Herbs and various foods can nourish the body and help it
to fight colds and flu and stay healthy. I have several remedies
I make to see me through the dark months. Remedies that
I’m making right now include: Garlic Honey; Elderberry Honey;
Rosemary, Ginger & Liquorice Syrup; and White Pine Vinegar.
There are also herb tea blends that I find to be great tonics
during the winter season: Echinacea; Thyme & Ginger Tea;
Lemon Balm, Cleavers & Lemon Tea; Elderflower & Chamomile
Tea; Elderberry & Cinnamon Tea; and Eucalyptus & Thyme
Mouthwash also.
They are all easy to make and ready for use really quickly
to help ward off winter colds and infections.
Garlic is one of my most essential herbs for an autumn/winter
natural medicine chest. It acts as an exceptional respiratory
disinfectant and can help prevent infections and boost
the immune system. It contains hundreds of constituents -
some with antibacterial and viral properties.
Ingredients: organic garlic cloves (peeled or unpeeled), a
couple of small onions, a few sprigs of oregano, thyme and
rosemary and raw honey.
Method: Place the garlic and onions in a jar with a good lid.
Pour raw honey all over them, making sure to cover them all.
Add the herbs, Stir well and poke the honey down into the
garlic. Cover tightly with a lid. Store in a cool dark place. It
darkens as the recipe ages and keeps perfectly safe. Both
honey and garlic are delicious to eat, and medicinal.
Eucalyptus & Thyme
Mouthwash & Gargle
Oils and constituents in both these herbs demonstrate strong
antimicrobial activity. Mix equal parts of both herbs. I make
a tea or infusion and use it as a mouthwash or gargle a few
times a week. These keep in the fridge for a couple of days.
I also recommend supplementing with high strength vitamins
C and D and Zinc, alongside a quality multivitamin. Studies
show that adequate levels of such vitamins can aid the
proper functioning of the body’s immune system.
Of all the herbs that can get clients through stressful
times, I find the Ginseng family, Withania (both adaptogenic
in action) and Californian Poppy to be really useful in winter.
They can be supportive of the body and mind when dealing
with stress and recovery.
When I am distracted by worries, I often play meditations
in the background while working, cooking, walking, exercising,
and sleeping. They help to ground me and create a space between
thoughts and the present.•
Ola Nwakodo, Medical herbalist, Saint&Smith. For enquiries contact:
ola@saint&smith.com / www.saintandsmith.com / 07971193396
36
37

VILLAGE GREEN
HIGHGATE WOOD INFO HUT
Photo by David Reeve.
We love the stories of the wood revealed on the Highgate
Wood info hut noticeboard. You can find out about
the ‘grunts’ of courting hedgehogs; how female robins
defend winter territories through song; theories about
why the woodpeckers are drumming early; large flocks
of wood pigeons; reports of a buzzard over the wood;
2
the important role of spindle shank mushrooms which
feed on dying or decaying tree roots; the flowering
bramble which is providing nectar for many bee species
- including Bombus pratorum which were there in
abundance; a family of mistle thrushes in full song; a
firecrest in a mixed feeding flock; nest building jays;
willow warblers; a passing cuckoo; flocks of redwings
which dash across the sky like arrows; and how both
male and female holly trees produce flowers but only
the female trees produce the fruit. These trees, like
yews, willows and poplars, are dioecious while other
tree species such as oaks and hornbeams are monoecious
- meaning male and female flowers are on the
same tree. The info board is updated every one to two
months and is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
38 High Street N8 7NX
Info@IntrepidBakers.Uk
HAPPY intrepid YEAR
Pre-Order Your Hamper
Use Code VR10 For 10% Discount