200 year old building survives The Pennington Street Warehouse, built between 1804-1806, is the only substantial building to survive from the former London Dock, the first enclosed commercial dock in the capital. see below Support for artists Bow Arts was established in 1955 as an educational arts charity and supports a community of more than 400 artists. www.bowarts.org News Volunteers keeping it clean – and green BY STEFAN SWIFT VOLUNTEERS have been cleaning up waterways and a new public square as part of a Keep Britain Tidy event. A group recruited by the council’s Clean and Green team took part in a canal clean-up by Lark Row Community Garden in Bethnal Green. After meeting at Old Ford Lock, they travelled by boat to Lark Row, where they were able to clear litter from the canalside and cut back huge amounts of vegetation – mainly consisting of overgrown buddleia bushes. The shrubbery had started to grow over the Lark Row railings that border the waterway and clearing it proved hard work for the volunteers. Canal and River Trust group leaders Paul Crowhurst and Chris Read led the clean-up. WITH the start of spring and the duckling hatching season, a waterways charity is encouraging Londoners to make changes to how they feed the ducks. The Canal & River Trust says six million loaves of bread are thrown into canals and rivers every year, potentially polluting the water and damaging thousands of ducks’ homes. Throwing bread into a canal or river can create overcrowding of bird populations, as they will flock to the same location in search of the starchy treat. This in turn can stress the birds and lead to their habitats being damaged as well as creating excessive amounts of smelly and slippery bird waste which can affect water quality and create harmful algae. Chantal Dave, ecologist for Clean-up volunteers Khadija, Emdad, Ankur, Gemma, Christine and Chris Meanwhile, around 30 volunteers from McDonalds were joined by eight community volunteers and another eight recruited by the council’s waste contractors,Veolia, to clean up Fleet Street Hill in Shoreditch. The new community space is being led by a group called 1Love Community who have A duck family photographed by Oliver Lynton the trust, urged residents to swap bread for healthier and more natural treats such as oats, corn or defrosted frozen peas. been given the area on a temporary basis before developers start work on the site. It will become a garden that will hold community events and the group will also grow produce on raised beds so when they move from the site they can distribute them around the borough. The charity has created a free booklet with tips on the right food to feed the ducks and activities for children. To receive a booklet and free To find out more about cleaner, greener volunteering call 7364 6696 or email cgv@tower hamlets.gov.uk If you would like to take part in future regular towpath cleanups or would be willing to take part in other volunteering, visit http://canalrivertrust.org. uk/volunteering duck treats pouch, text DUCKS to 70060. For more information visit www.canalrivertrust.org.uk /duck News in brief Travelling the world TWO residents will between them travel to five countries across three continents after they were awarded travelling fellowships to carry out a range of projects abroad. Adjoa Anyimadu, an events co-ordinator, and Ione Maria Rojas, the founder and manager of a project to combat social isolation in older people, received grants from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Ione, who runs Furry Tales which provides animalassisted activities from Stepney City Farm, will be visiting related projects in Israel, Palestine and the USA with the aim of discovering best practice. And Adjoa will be travelling to Germany, the Netherlands and the USA to explore the future of museums, with a focus on museums as cultural and community hubs. Visit www.wcmt.org.uk for more details. Gated community A GROUP of loyal people in Whitechapel has raised £4,000 for a gate in an alleyway near their homes. Residents of Coopers Close have been campaigning for four years to have a gate put up in Cleveland Way Alley to help prevent violent crime, drug dealing, prostitution and antisocial behaviour. It follows plans by the council to erect gates in Five Bells Alley under a Public Spaces Protection Order. A planning application for the gate has been submitted to the council supported by the area’s neighbourhood police team. Charity bargains HOMELESSNESS charity Crisis is continuing to run a pop-up shop at its Crisis Skylight Café, 64 Commercial Street, Spitalfields. It will be open on Sundays, April 12 & 26 and May 10 when clothes on sale will include men’s and women’s coats and jackets, tops, jumpers, scarves, gloves, hats and bags. Details at www.crisis. org.uk Plans for an art studio AN educational arts charity is seeking to develop studios for emerging artists in the historic former News International building in Wapping. And it is encouraging residents to get behind a campaign to create affordable work spaces for the young designers. To mark its 20th anniversary this year, Bow Arts plans to open 90 new artist studios in the grade II listed Pennington Street Warehouse that was used by the newspaper company for offices and storage. The charity is asking for donations that will give artists in the early stages of their careers, the support and opportunities they need to grow their ideas. A spokesman for Bow Arts said: “We provide artists with studios, charging affordable rather than commercial rents and the rental income directly supports a nationally recognised education programme for 70 schools across the city. “This is an amazing opportunity to grow and develop a new community of artists’ studios in London.” Visit www.bowarts.org New app to help walkers A SERIES of mini walking tours has been developed into a mobile app so that others in the borough can follow their trail. Sixteen people, aged 15 to 96, went on the walks during which they wove together personal stories and reminiscences with broader social history. The app, called In My Footsteps, is available for free on the Apple App store. It was developed by arts and cultural organisation Manifesta working with several organisations such as Tate Britain and Tower Hamlets History library. For further information visit www.manifesta.org.uk/ourwork/ in-my-footsteps.html See history page 13 6 – 12 APRIL 2015 N E W S F R OM TOWER HAMLETS COUNCIL AND YOUR COMMUNITY 11
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