Gay Camberwell

by Layla

My main purpose in blogging today is that a variety of people have recently e-mailed me about interesting Camberwell participatory happenings and I thought I'd promote them. Enjoy!

First, the Volunteer Centre Southwark is holding a series of free events to promote community engagement in Camberwell in March and April. The workshops are Art in Camberwell, Volunteering with Young People, Speak Up in Camberwell, Better the Camberwell Environment, Work Experience through Volunteering, and How to Become a Magistrate. Something for everyone. The details are on their flyer here:

Next up is a new community gardening project, known as the Secret Garden. They are having two days on 25th and 27th March when they are asking those who pine for a garden to come and help them dig and plant this one. They provide refreshments and gardening equipment. They have received a nice £25,000 grant for this project, so they want to share the opportunity with all interested Camberwell residents. All the information is on their website here.

Third is Cooltan Arts, the arty mental health wellbeing charity based on the Walworth Road. As well as their monthly 'Largactyl Shuffle' walks, they are offering free workshops to all Southwark residents on a first come first serve basis. Come fast though, as some have already started and some are about to. The courses include machine sewing, creative writing, local history, basic IT, podcasting, photoshop, portrait drawing, batik and screen printing. All for free. Hooray! Details here.

I've just heard a new Facebook page to campaign for train stations in Camberwell and Walworth has started up. Join here if you fancy. And look forward to the East London Line in 2012 (here, link pilfered from Camberwell Online Blog).

Finally, the Camberwell Village Hall campaign continues - keep up to date here, and here, including downloading their new poster to distribute. 

Oh, and don't forget to come to our Sunday gay films here.

by Layla

Househunting in Camberwell at the moment is a tad disappointing - not many properties on the market, and at massive cost. I suppose the latter is encouraging - it means that Camberwell is on the up - and we were very happy to see our lovely gay neighbours featured in a recent newspaper housing supplement singing the joys of SE5 (though we were jealous of the interior of their flat)... and so scouring the pages of Rightmove has become a new hobby and we plan to spend today visiting various properties. Last week, curious about one of them, I cycled past and stood by my bike, peering nosily at it. Soon a man, who in other settings would deservedly have been described as 'a dodgy character' sidled up to me. 


"Wot you lookin' at, love?"
"That house that's for sale"
"You should buy it - it'll be worth more than a few bob in a couple of years. This part of Camberwell's up and coming. On account of that new school development, see."
"Yes... but I think it looks a bit like a prison..."
"Naw, it's not a prison. Look at that, wot you call it, terrace. Proper nice, that'll be in the summer. Here, did you hear about that chap that died? The house programme chap. You know, the gay one?"
"Er, no, what happened?"
"They dunno. He was only about 30. They're investigatin' the death. Maybe it was on account of him bein' gay."
"In what way?"
"Eh I dunno. Don't think there's a gay disease or nuthin'... maybe he was gay bashed, eh? I hope not - it's shocking what goes on. These people should be put away."
"What the gay people?"
"Naw, don't be stupid. The gay bashers."
At that moment the owner of the house we'd both been gazing at turned up and opened the gate, which was made of iron bars and closed with a clang.
"Eh, you're right love. It does look a bit like a prison."
And with that he strolled off.

We're going to see that property today. Maybe it'll be fate...


Speaking of up and coming, Roz and I climbed up the hill last Sunday to Hoopers Bar. We'd heard much of this bar, which claims an SE5 postcode yet perches atop a hill in the posh triangle where Camberwell meets East Dulwich in an enclave of large and beautiful houses. They have several music events, and comedy on the last Sunday of the month. A curious bar. We'll put up a review soon. It feels like a proper local bar, like the one in the village in Scotland where I grew up, but incongruously full of rather posh people. The comedy was quite good, though they did make the error of putting the best comedian on first. However it was free and they had a nice range of beers, so frankly we were grateful anyway. We strolled home afterwards past the big houses and wondered why we can only afford to buy a prison-like property...