To celebrate, our General Manager James organised a Benefit Night for us with no fewer than four acts in Brixton on Saturday night, which was great.

As if that wasn’t enough - I was marking the end of my work at South Lambeth, for after a week’s holiday I move to Emmaus Village Carlton.

As regular readers will know, I have had the privilege of meeting a great many lovely people here and making a great many good friends, so it will be hard to leave them behind.  However, I hope they  - and YOU, dear reader! - will come to visit me deep in the Bedfordshire countryside.  I am naturally very glad to report that the allotment here will be in good hands, and I am very much looking forward to working on the vegetable patch in Village Carlton of course!

With the new warehouse I know South Lambeth is on course for a very successful future.

So, farewell, and thanks for reading.

My best wishes,

Elizabeth

Companion Andy and I had a lovely weekend at Emmaus Village Carlton last week, when they held a Music Festival.  As well as a splendid local school choir, there was a broad range of performers and fairground stalls - and even a group of Vikings giving battle displays!  Leaving nothing to chance,  the highly efficient organisers had applied for and received an extension to the Indian Summer weather, so everyone highly enjoyed themselves.

Back home, the new warehouse is nearing completion so soon it will be all hands to the pump painting and decorating, with the move taking place at the end of the month;  all very exciting.  Fortunately we have the additional help of a number of new Companions;  welcome to David, Bob, James, Nick and Frank.  We have also had Harry, one of our First Companions here, staying for a week, and it’s been great catching up with news.

The allotment is definintely feeling autumnal - the leeks, brussels and cabbage have all doubled as the nights have got cooler!

Take care and keep warm,
Elizabeth

Well, a busy couple of weeks have passed since the Assembly which admittedly seems five minutes ago!

For once, it’s culure vulturing that’s keeping me busy;  next week, Companion Andy and I are off to the Music Festival at Emmaus Carlton, but last weekend I had a wonderful treat :  my son and daughter in law took me to Belfast to see James Galway perform at Proms in the Park in the magnificent grounds of Hillsborough Castle.  We stayed with their friends who were not only delightful but generous, taking us on tours  round Belfast City Centre and, on the Sunday, the Giant’s Causeway.

Before that, however, we had a picnic whilst listening to glorious music under a vast cedar tree in wonderful weather, a totally delightful evening, with James Galway and his wife Jane playing duets, later joined by 7 other flautists! 

Our wonderful hostess brought her two young boys (8 and 5) on the trip to the Giant’s Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and it was lovely to watch such unfettered fun and energy clambering the rocks.  When discussing arrangements for the trip, I had been warned only to take tiny bottles of liquid toiletries for flight restrictions - so when it came to the suntan cream I had thought “Hmm, no need to trouble with that in Northern Ireland in mid-September!”  I returned to South Lambeth knowing the meaning of ‘Redneck’ and can only wish the same temperatures for next week.

I returned in time to join a tour of the new Warehouse, which is on course to complete next month and it seems vast - particularly in view of the fact that we will be decorating it ourselves! 

The allotment is still yielding a good supply of tomatoes and the winter greens are coming on nicely.   Summer is, however, turning to conker-heaven autumn rather too rapidly for my taste - particularly regarding the shortening of the daylight.  Oh well, I suppose we’re over half-way between midsummer and the shortest day now..

Take care,

Elizabeth

Andy and I were outnumbered by South Lambeth Trustees at this year’s Annual Assembly, so we enjoyed it four times as much to make up for it!

Unfortunately I was smitten with my ‘Out of the M25 Allergy’ and began sneezing as we passed St Albans and stopped when we reached Leicester on the return, but I put most of the shivering down to nerves at being co-presenter of a workshop on Saturday on the subject of Allotments.  I need not have worried - my fellow presenter Mike from the Burnley Group did a marvellous job, thank you again.

Terry Waite’s ‘Welcome’ speech was inspirational as ever and the keynote speaker this year was John Bird, co-founder of Big Issue, who was strident, witty and moving in turns.

Our relatively new General Manager James had previous engagements, so decided to go up just for the Friday evening to  meet people and present our Community Update.  Alas he gave Rabbie Burns a chuckle as that plan almost went a-wry when his motorbike (yes, dear Reader, 200+ miles by motorbike…) got a puncture on the way up and he ended up taking seven and a half hours to get there, bolt some food down, make the presentation, meet a handful, then climb on the bike again!  We ran out of brownie points to award his dedication!

It was splendid to meet up with new folk and an ever-growing group of friends and catch up on news of others not attending.

We had a magician to entertain us on Saturday night;  he produced 3 sponge ladybirds, put two in my hand, told me to close my hand and when I opened it again, 3 popped out - then he put those three in my neighbour’s hand, and a dozen spilled out when he opened   :  I wish I knew how to do that with the ladybirds on the allotment!

Back home, the warehouse progresses rapidly and we’re just a month away from moving in, so thoughts turn to the transition.  It’s going to be quite a tight timetable, since the builders will be leaving just a shell which we have to decorate ourselves - so if you’ve ten minutes to spare, please give us a ring and we’ll make sure we have a spare paintbrush to plonk in your hands.

I look forward to chatting with you over the paint pot soon!

Best wishes,
Elizabeth

David made a massive contribution to the Community during the nine months he was here, and was fortunate to find love in Scotland - and his cookery talents enabled him to get a job at a very lucky Old People’s home.   He taught me - and many other Companions - a vast range of useful techniques, and I hope we will be seeing him and his partner visiting us soon.

Having arranged to spend Sunday having a picnic whilst watching village cricket at Dulwich, I wandered over to the shop to see if there were any long-sleeved shirts available so I could avoid sunburn.  No there weren’t - but as I was about to leave, who should breeze into the shop but the World’s Best-Known Victorious Campaigner - who just happened to open our Community last year - Joanna Lumley!  She gave me a lovely kiss before Mike whisked her off for a cup of tea at the house and then a visit round the Warehouse.

The picnic was lovely – some huge and ancient chestnut trees provided fair-skinned me with shade whilst the sun blazed down on the poor cricketers, and our quartet of Companions sporadically stabbed at crosswords and quiz questions as we munched our way through a variety of good food. This cerebral activity paid off when three of us later entered a pub quiz – and WON!

The allotment has come on apace thanks to help from a clutch of Companions and our score of tomato plants are now entrenched. I am up there for two days again this week and can’t wait to see how the strawberries are coming on!

Best wishes,
Elizabeth

Hello again,

I had a very good visit to Winchester, albeit briefer than expected, returning home on Sunday evening.

The building is most attractive, and the landscaping had almost been completed when I arrived. They now have raced up to 14 Companions (out of a possible 25) who gave me a warm welcome.

It was lovely to be reacquainted with the ‘new Companion’s introduction to Emmaus’ : “Our Community is run by Companions forCompanions, with the staff there to facilitate, support and provide administrative and safety cover. The working day begins with everyone doing 15 minutes’ housekeeping before a meeting to discuss issues and then setting off to work.

Having arrived on the Tuesday, I was given Wednesday off to explore Winchester as I was to help with the cafe which only opens Thursdays to Sundays. I took opportunity to walk a mile of the Pilgrim’s Way into Winchester and went on an official tour of the Cathedral, well worth the visit.

As with all Communities, they have a stream of people wanting to visit and many come to share lunch, but it is arranged at least a day in advance so that Companions are formally informed at the meetings to enable them to consent to the visit/s. One volunteer cheerfully informed me that the week before, she had not been able to take up a new Companion’s offer to join them for lunch that day the week before, because the there had not been an opportunity to ask all the Companions first ; even Companions take time to get used to the system!

The cafe had a steady number of customers, but not enough to overwhelm me and the resident Companion, so it was agreed I should return home.

Then on Thursday I visited another new Community – Oxford – for a meeting to organise the Assembly being held in September. They were also preparing the ground beside the house for turfing and have already acquired an allotment and have seedlings on every window.

So now I’m off to the allotment, which has thrived in my absence. Can’t wait to give the weeds a hard time after the torrential rain we had last night!

Best wishes,

Elizabeth

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.