A selection of photos from the first snow fall of 2012. This time we seemed well prepared
Have had a little break from the Oval Partnership blog as I’ve been studying…still am in fact. I’ve also been hoping that switching the comments facility on the blog off for two months will discourage those who try to promote their businesses with time wasting e-mails. These can be far more invasive than junk mail and companies which adopt such business practices are, in my view, unethical. The sad thing is that some of those businesses won’t realise that internet marketing companies are doing this on their behalf. There are better ways to promote a business on the internet than this.
Today the Vauxhall Society were holding their final event for the Vauxhall Memories history project- Christmas dinner and entertainment for a elderly local residents group although there were plenty of younger family and friends attending as well.
Those attended were treated to period jazz music, a young violinist, the Beiroes Ballroom group dancers, an Irish band and DJ -plenty for everyone. here are a selection of photos from the day.
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- Beiroes Ballroom Group dancers at Vauxhall Memories Christmas event
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- Filming Beiroes Ballroom Group dancers at Vauxhall Memories Christmas event
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- Irish band at Vauxhall Memories Christmas event
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- Pimped wheelchair at Vauxhall Memories Christmas event
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- Vauxhall memories Christmas dinner
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- Vauxhall Memories Christmas dinner waiters
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- Vauxhall memories Christmas drinks
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- Vauxhall Memories Christmas tree
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- Vauxhall memories Jazz musician
Today we probably had the busiest stall at the Oval Farmers’ Market.
Lambeth, Stockwell Partnership and ourselves in the Oval Partnership were consulting on the Neighbourhood Enhancement Programme (NEP). If numbers were anything to judge by the consultation this was clearly a success.
Lambeth’s transport strategy aims to
- promote sustainable, healthy travel behaviour
- improve air quality
- reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured in road collisions
- reduce Lambeth’s CO2 emissions.
The NEP aims to make some improvements in support of this strategy. Suggestions include.
- 20mph zones to reduce road danger
- cycle parking
- cycle training
- car clubs
- tree planting and food growing
- removing street clutter such as unnecessary bollards and redundant signs
- introducing disabled parking bays.
Hopefully we wil be able to give some feedback on the consultation probably later in December. Here are a few images from the day.
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- NEP Consultation Day 01
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- NEP Consultation Day 02
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- NEP Consultation Day 03
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- NEP Consultation Day 04
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- NEP Consultation Day 05
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- NEP Consultation Day 06
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- NEP Consultation Day 07
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- NEP Consultation Day 08
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- NEP Consultation Day 09
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- NEP Consultation Day 10
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- NEP Consultation Day 11
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- NEP Consultation Day 12
Approximately 200 cyclists met in the grounds of St Marks Church today. They were setting out on a tour of the ten most dangerous junctions for cyclists tow of whihc are in the area- the Oval Crossing and Vauxhall gyratory
Michael (Oval Partnership) and Laurentiu (Oval FM Manager)
In case you missed them, the Gordon Ramsay film crew were at the Oval Farmers’ Market last Saturday. They kindly donated £50 to the Oval Partnership which will be put towards the St Marks Churchyard and Farmers Market Project. We missed the photo opportunity last week so this is Michael Keane (left) saying thanks to Laurentiu, manager of the market, who collected the donation on behalf of the Oval Partnership.
We look forward to seeing the market on TV at some point.
New ATM at Oval Station
It would be nice to claim some credit for the new ATM at the Oval Station. It was discussed at the Oval Partnership in September, a letter was written and…hey presto.
Presumably some plans were already afoot but let’s not let the facts get in a way of a good story. A cash point is long overdue at the Oval and this particular development can only help local businesses and the community. It’s a pity it wasn’t integrated into the station but this is certainly one of the more useful bits of street furniture.
In case you were wondering, if anyone tries to rob the cash machine special ink will spoil all of the notes. Hopefully no one will try.
Oval Partnership Meeting
The Oval Partnership held its monthly management meeting to day in a brand new venue -10 Clapham Road. This used to be the Oval post office but is now the Ludlow Thompsons conference room. Ludlow Thompsons have supported the community in many ways over the years and it was very kind of them to let us use their excellent facilities.
The agenda was a little busier than normal with presentations on
30 -60 South Lambeth Road
One Nine Elms
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Vauxhall memories event
Vauxhall memories film crew
The neighbourhood is teeming with local history so it was a very pleasant surprise to come across an oral history project in the making organised by the Vauxhall Society. Local elders were invited to share their memories at Spring Gardens (or is that Vauxhall Gardens?) Community Centre. Vauxhall City Farm were giving a presentation complete with animals! The event was being filmed and those attending were invited to talk about their memories particularly of food. That reminds me of an anecdote about a former local resident -Tommy Steele. He claimed to have moved to the area to be near a pie and mash shop. The only problem is there never was one!
Meadow Road police street briefing
Spare wheels
I’ve been to two police street briefings before -one at Midnight Alley and the other at the Oval Farmers’ market. On both occasions I was the only one there – camera in hand as usual. Today made a pleasant change showing the power of a little advertising by local resident groups.
On the way there I saw someone jump about 8ft from the raised walkway on Claylands road and sprint off towards the Triangle Adventure playground carrying a bag. Perhaps he was up to no good or maybe he was a parkour expert getting some practice in.
The issue in the Meadow Road area is large congregations of youths. Today there were far more adults than youths. It is very easy to blame young people for local crime but in my own experience it is mostly adults committing the crimes. Young people may be noisier and block the pavements but adults tend to be more dangerous. I don’t know what the solution is but I suspect part of it is mutual respect.
Just around the corner I couldn’t resist this picture of discarded ‘spare wheels’. There’s probably a sensible explanation but I’m not sure what it is…make up your own.
