Emmaus South Lambeth

Hello again

It don’t seem a minute since I last wrote, yet here we are, a summer-filled two weeks later!

I had a lovely long weekend – Friday and Saturday visiting a convent estate near Norwich which the Norfolk Group Trustees may take over for an Emmaus Community. Nuns still reside in a smaller building, but are looking for a good cause that the larger Convent buildings could go to – and Emmaus may fit the bill! It is a stunning setting (a mere 47 acres of setting, I may say!) and lovely buildings, which seem to exude tranquillity and harmony – but my immediate sinking feeling was : However much must it cost to heat the 20′+ high rooms?!

This  (and possibly the narrow road approach road, though that could be relatively easily sorted)  was absolutely the only negative, particularly for a small gardener like me!  Anyway, the Norfolk Trustees have ‘interesting times’ ahead, and I am sure they will choose well.

Then I went to old friends for a Significant Birthday party for one of them (yes, 21 again.. and again… and almost again!) and it was lovely to see lots of old, old friends. My eldest son got a year older this week too, so age has been rather highly in mind recently.

Poor Mike – his arm got infected, so he has been in a lot of pain while it gets sorted out.

On a positive note, the peace is positively shattered here now by the sound of a lesser-spotted Emmaus Warehouse being built at long last! Every time the pile driver seems to hammer in my head, I keep telling myself it’s in the best of causes! Our presence at the newly-designated Recycling Centre has been very well received and successful.

The remainder of my holiday is being spent, surprise surprise, on the allotment, where I swear I can hearstrawberries getting fatter and broad beans broadening and ah, yes, hoots of laughter at the sight of my attempts to mow the common pathways, spectacularly squiffy but in line with the lumps and bumps and uphill, really. And anyway I wouldn’t have had to but one of our Companions who came up with me had done a twist in lifting stuff at the warehouse the day before and got a bad back right in the middle of the potato trench so he had to go home and lie down.

At the end of next week I am off to the new Hampshire Emmaus in Winchester ‘on loan’ for a spell, replacing  two South Lambeth Companions who have spent April down there helping them set up, so you will be spared blogs from me for the duration of the visit. However, there will be postings from other Companions in the interim, so keep watching this space!

Best wishes,

Elizabeth

So our Fun Day came and went in a flash and whirl of activity; cakes were made, a superb Treasure Island and ‘Bat-the-Rat’ was built, the local shopkeepers provided very generous gifts for the tombola and raffle, tea-urns, tables and chairs were collected – and now it’s all over. Thanks again to the Organising Committee, who performed spectacularly well, and provided a very high level of fun. We had an excellent range of live music, with MOBO-Award winner Yolanda Brown topping the bill of various guitarists – Pete the Street, Al ‘n’ Dave and Jason. Top prize for humour was unintentional – eight chaps erecting the pint-sized marquee and ensuring it was secure without being able to peg it into the  tarmac carpark! We had a lovely time, and there’s even a few cakes and other goodies to last us over the no-cooking holiday – when we’ve finished the Easter Egg which arrived at everyone’s door this morning!

The day was preceded by a new arrival on Wednesday – a new Companion with six wheels (including steering wheel and spare!) and a tail-lift, in the shape of a new Luton van. It has a very sensitive alarm system, as we found out when it went off intermittently on first being left alone! Fortunately we mastered the trick quite quickly.

It was also overshadowed by accident-prone Mike jarring his arm so badly cutting pizza crust on Thursday (cooked by Yours Truly, I regret to say) that he ended up going to hospital. It turned out he had chipped a piece of his elbow and I was relieved to learn that it was an ‘old’ injury merely triggered by the jolt – probably acquired when he slid on the carpet in a hurry to attend to the fire alarm 2 or 3 weeks ago. Alas he was a Wounded Soldier for the festivity, and will remain plastered for another couple of weeks. Those who know him will not be surprised to learn that even that did not prevent him from getting into a pink Easter Bunny costume and wandering the streets to drum up attendance!

To return to the subject of tents, Kye (a Companion visiting from Colchester) and I made two wig-wams for the beans to climb up at the allotment in due course. We will be hiving a couple of Companions to work at Vale Street from next week, so it is possible we may not be able to spare anyone for allotment duty for a while, so this was the ideal opportunity whilst there were other bodies there. Philip, meanwhile, ensured that the fruit cage was thoroughly shorn of weeds, which has made a marvellous difference to the view there.   The peas I sowed about 4 weeks ago finally appeared (almost within minutes of my deciding to give them up as a bad job and plough the area over when next I got the chance) and they are now all of an inch high. Strawberries are chasing raspberries in the newest plot as to which fruit first – and we’re running out of oxygen for the amount of seedlings down at the house awaiting transplantation ‘ooup t’allotment’!  Next week we are heading for our first crop of the year from our huge rhubarb bed.

I will end on a warm fuzzy-furry story of Easter Goodwill. We overlook a carpark which is shared with parkers from 20 or so flats; some drivers park their Chelsea Tractors in a manner to make the exit of our van(s) awkward; others rev or idle their engines, or arrive and leave with loud music late at night, to disturb people going to sleep; other residents call for taxis which idle for 40 minutes plus before their client arrives. Yet others – the few – lead blameless lives and bring the family down on Easter morning to visit Granny and – find their battery is flat.

So it was on Easter Sunday; fortunately, Emmaus is at hand, and I go to Community Leader Mike, fetch the van keys, the Companion driver takes the van across, the flat battery is jump-started, and the family is able to have their Easter lunch with the elders – thanks to Emmaus Companions being their companionable selves…

Next week’s blog-time will see me travelling the country, so look out for a bumper bundle at the end of April.

Hope you have a good time in my absence, Elizabeth.

Well, come to think of it two local Civic events occupied part of it;  on Monday evening Andy and I attended a presentation of the regeneration plan by courtesy of ‘Forward Norwood’, somewhat of a tongue-twister!  There are divisive plans for a nearby Community Hall to be developed into a Health/Sports/Council satellite services centre, which is all-dependent on funding.  It could be quite exciting if it goes ahead.

On Thursday evening we were joined by Deputy John and his wife at a meeting of Norwood Forum which had invited several amenity associations to come and meet one another, so much networking was done with particular reference to our Fun Day on 11th April - 11am to 5pm, cakes, plants, lots of childrens games, special deals in the shops and an auction in the warehouse, and YolanDa Brown, a Mobo-winning jazz saxophonist will be playing at 3pm and drawing the raffle.  Oh, and did I mention a 6′2″ white-and-pink rabbit…?  Yes, old-timers, you are correct :  Mike’s been at it again!

Here I would like to pay a tribute to the four Event Planners, the hard-working Companions who have put it all together - and for the generosity of local businesses who have donated all sorts to make the day go well.

We officially took over the fourth quarter of our allotment on Wednesday, and joy of joys, we have inherited some handsome raspberry canes and 3 blackcurrant bushes, yum yum!
It now has a deep trench awaiting another 3 deep trenches to be dug on Thursday for the pre-Good Friday planting of our spuds!  I will be up to my elbows in cake-mix on Friday, needless to say!

Then Friday was extra-special :  a Certain Person who may or may not be disguised as an Easter Bunny next week had a birthday, so he got a very chocolatey cake to celebrate baked in secret on Thursday! 

Well I hope you enjoy your week, and do come and visit me on the refreshment stall if you’re at a loose end on the 11th.

Best wishes
Elizabeth