Emmaus South Lambeth

Hello again;

As yet another week hits the wastepaper bin of time, I was asked today if I’d decided where I would go for my week’s holiday. “Oh, it’s not for ages yet, mid-October…”. Ah! Actually, just a couple of weeks’ time, really, so I’d better put my Thinking Hat on! It took this Bear of Little Brain about 5 minutes for the implication to filter through… If I’m due another holiday then, it’s now almost a year since we moved here. Unbelievable, it’s gone like a shot.

Our latest Newsletter hit the streets this week; if you haven’t seen it yet, do call in for a copy – it’s splendid. If you live anywhere within a mile, your Friendly Local Emmaus Companions have or will be putting one through your letterbox any day now!
 
Today I had the joyful news that the Allotments have got their own funds, at last. You see, at the time that the accommodation block was sufficiently beyond the twinkle of the Trustees eyes that they had to sit and mull and cogitate, then drink some more tea and peruse and guess and research and finally draw up a budget, the idea of allotments wasn’t even a twinkle of a gleam of aspiration – so they didn’t account for it, quite reasonably enough. Until we got one – and then got another bigger one at the start of this month, of course.

Mercifully the Leisure Fund wasn’t greatly used until the sudden recent surge of Companions, so that covered the rent, and I bought the onion sets and seed potatoes – but I was getting somewhat concerned that the initial allotment will need quite a lot of topsoil and nutrients … which costs. And come the Spring, the two sites will need seed quite beyond my means… and there’s awkward items like canes and netting and so on… However, we have had a generous and unexpected donation, and so some of it is being put to good use starting the Allotment Fund; Thank You, Serendipity!

All merit to the Trustees who drew up the initial budget though – and please very kindly could we have allotments included next year please, pretty please, nice smile…?

We are holding a Book Sale at the house on Saturday (tomorrow, as I write), so the end of the dining room looks like a catastrophe at the minute as tables are being assembled and books rearranged. And as from next week, the shop that used to be for furniture is going to become “Emmaus Electrics on the Hill” – dedicated to lamps, tv’s, fridges, freezers, radios/dvd players etc. Mike had a great time designing a poster for it – until Deputy Chris and I got our (non-existent in my case) critical eye on it and asked what a car had to do with ‘electrics’…. It turned out what we saw as a car was in fact a clip-art radio-cassette. Ooops! Have you ever had the irritation of getting things looking pretty good then giving it just one more tweak to see if … and you lose the altogether more preferable original? Mercifully Mike was able to retrieve the version he tried with blue lettering – the aubergine one was just… not so nice!

Well, my exclamation finger is at risk of RSI, so I guess it’s time to end for this week.

Take care, Elizabeth

Hello again

First of all I must end the cliff-hanger I left you with in my last piece, regarding the Horticultural Show. Unfortunately I did not get time to do the Bakewell Pie, and West Norwood Matrons produced a dozen other Walnut Tea Loaves, so no go there; similar fortune met with the herbs, which ended up with 5 other competitors.

However, the onions “as grown” got FIRST PRIZE, to my astonishment and joy!

Another Companion and I spent a few hours on Sunday afternoon on the allotment, returning with rhubarb, apples, baby tomatoes, a few onions that escaped the box when they were collected – and heap loads of spinach – so the onion-spinach pizza and apple and rhubarb crumble on Monday night were very low in food miles! We also returned with enough mud on our shoes to give them the bestest, softest complexion for weeks to come!

It’s been a busy week: one of our Founding Companions, Jamie, returned on Monday, which was very much welcomed. By a quirk, four of the initial Companions are now united on the Rota, being in alphabetical sequence : Elizabeth, Filipe, Harry and Jamie.

We had a Trustee from Glasgow stay with us for a couple of nights at the beginning of the week, and on Tuesday there was the Trustees AGM, for which I made a sponge cake, scones and loadsa sandwiches. It was nice to see Nick Kittoe again – he was Chair when we first arrived, but now lives in Carlisle, so he doesn’t come down too often these days. However, he is still involved in the new warehouse project, and gave the meeting a rundown on the issues involved now that the planning consent has been granted. It is all rather complex, and I wish the Trustees well in their discussions and decisions.

One day last week, Deputy Chris raised a Very Delicate Issue with me. “It’s your birthday next week, isn’t it?” I mumbled assent, ungraciously. “What would you like to do for it?” “Nothing – forget it’s happening.!”

Well, I got my first wish granted : the Community gave me the day off! The second hope, however – not a chance! Not only was “Birthday : Day Off” there for all to see on the rota – but in addition to the Community £10, Mike gave me a box of chocolates and a pack of cigarettes, Deputy Chris gave me a lovely bunch of flowers – and the Companions presented me with a lovely pack of bath smellies. Altogether a wonderful and very touching surprise, and thank you everyone.

My son and his partner who live in Streatham give me a wonderful supper – their present is tickets for all of us to go to Proms in the Park on Saturday, which has become somewhat of a Family Institution : I go up and save a spot in the queue around midday, reading the paper and snoozing in the sun to the background of sound tests from the stage, then Simon and Helen stagger along under the weight of the picnic before the gates open at 4pm so one of them can hurtle down and save us a good spot.

Poor Deputy Chris was down with a virus and then had holiday, so this is going to end up as a double posting.

The Proms in the Park was really splendid, and the weather managed ‘dull warmth’ which I for one was quite happy to settle for rather than the rain that continued over the previous weeks. We had Bjorn Again, Lesley Garratt and David Garratt entertaining us before the Big Screens linked us to the Albert Hall for the traditional songs – albeit the Sea Shanties bit was in honour of the Vaughan Williams centenary rather than the Hornpipe ensemble.

It was nice to spend a couple of hours on the allotment the next day, really getting to grips with the ‘new’ plot. The previous owner has given us access to the remaining runner beans he planted, and they were delicious, as were/are/will be the apples…. Thursday was spent at the funeral of our family friend, Friday on following up her affairs, so 4 hours gardening on Saturday was much-needed therapy. Then on Sunday, three staff, two spouses and a child joined four companions spent a wonderful morning and afternoon attending Freecycle. This was an event where the North Bank route of the London Marathon from Buckingham Palace to Tower Bridge was closed to traffic, and opened to cyclists; it seems they expected 40,000+, and it sure felt as if they were all there!

The weather was just perfect, and it felt SO right to cycle through red lights whilst the cars were held up for us! It is a relatively new event, but several people had got into the spirit of it, one wearing Full Length Wedding Dress; a trio of ballet dancers wearing pink tutus and fetching pink wellies with strawberry motif – and a chap in very smart dinner jacket and top hat riding – a Penny farthing! There were also a number of extremely seriously expensive velocipedes, as befits a cycling event attended by the Golden Olympian, Chris Hoy!

It was particularly heartening to see a large turnout of youngsters (not counting those riding pillion either on the normal child seat or some very inventive contraptions.)

Sadly, we say farewell to two of our Portuguese contingent this week. Filipe, one of the core companions, is returning to Portugal – and Rui returns to Village Carlton Emmaus after some six months with us. It has been a joy to have them both, and we will miss them greatly.

More news next week, when Chris will be back and ready to post the blog!

Take care,

Elizabeth

Best wishes,
Elizabeth

This week, I regret, has found me as dismal and overcast as the weather. Sadly, a dear friend of the family who had her 90th birthday in June, suffered a stroke and brain haemorrhage last week and now it’s just a matter of time… She was a lovely lady, introduced to the family when I was about 12, and from whom I learned at the time that not everyone over the age of 30 is in their dotage; not only did she know who the Beatles were, she could actually name some of their songs! She had been a F.A.N.Y. during the war, and had some extraordinary tales to tell. My sister and I will miss her enormously.

Due to that, the week has been a bit of a plod, really, relieved only by four of the guys doing a ‘Carpe Diem’ arranging an impromptu game of tennis on Saturday evening after a noteworthy several hours of sunshine. They invited me, and coaxed me to be an umpiring/ball girl by virtue of taking a chair for my umpire’s seat! It was a wonderful evening with the swifts darting back and forth somewhat faster than Yours Truly meandered after over-hit tennis balls.

Today, Sunday, the irony is not lost on me that we are going to get heavily rained on whilst we run a stand at a Green/Climate Change Festival at Brockwell Park – well, I would enjoy it a great deal if the climate DID change – and preferably in the next 20 minutes, if it’s not too much trouble, please.

Hmm, do I detect it is clearing up a little?…
All for now,
Take care,
 Elizabeth

This week, I regret, has found me as dismal and overcast as the weather. Sadly, a dear friend of the family who had her 90th birthday in June, suffered a stroke and brain haemorrhage last week and now it’s just a matter of time… She was a lovely lady, introduced to the family when I was about 12, and from whom I learned at the time that not everyone over the age of 30 is in their dotage; not only did she know who the Beatles were, she could actually name some of their songs! She had been a F.A.N.Y. during the war, and had some extraordinary tales to tell. My sister and I will miss her enormously. 

Due to that, the week has been a bit of a plod, really, relieved only by four of the guys doing a ‘Carpe Diem’ arranging an impromptu game of tennis on Saturday evening after a noteworthy several hours of sunshine. They invited me, and coaxed me to be an umpiring/ball girl by virtue of taking a chair for my umpire’s seat! It was a wonderful evening with the swifts darting back and forth somewhat faster than Yours Truly meandered after over-hit tennis balls.

Today, Sunday, the irony is not lost on me that we are going to get heavily rained on whilst we run a stand at a Green/Climate Change Festival at Brockwell Park – well, I would enjoy it a great deal if the climate DID change – and preferably in the next 20 minutes, if it’s not too much trouble, please.

Hmm, do I detect it is clearing up a little?…

All for now,
Take care, Elizabeth