Following the successful Open House Weekend last year (see last year’s blog) people flocked again to take the Open House weekend walks led by The Peckham Society on Saturday and Sunday 20th and 21st September 2008 (see photos). This time there were around 100 on two walks. Again everyone enjoyed the magnificent views of Peckham and central London from the roof of the Bussey building. They enjoyed the refreshments in the CLF Arts Café and the Peckham Vision exhibition of the latest information about the tram & tram depot plans, and the ideas for that central area of Peckham town centre if the tram depot is not located there. The new images and plans for the emerging Copeland Cultural Quarter were included in the displays. They heard how the huge size and good solid condition of the historic Bussey building is providing spaces for new creative arts and music businesses.

The tours also looked at

• the behind-the-scenes preparation for the next twice monthly exhibition at the new (since last year) innovative Hannah Barry Gallery which is next door to the Bussey building. This demonstrates the scope for creative development of the whole business site which would otherwise be demolished for the proposed tram depot;
• the historic gems of Holdron’s Victorian arcades which, currently hidden by shop fittings, might be restored for commercial town centre use;
• the way all that would complement the opening up of the piazza in front of the fabulous gem of Peckham Rye station (listed finally this year to protect it for the future).

The Chronic Art Foundation, the CLF (Chronic Love Foundation), the Hannah Barry Gallery, and Peckham Vision, this week burst out into the public arena from their bases in and around the historic Bussey Building behind 133 Rye Lane. They are making a major contribution in many forms of art, music, architecture and urban planning in the ‘I Love Peckham Festival’.

All of this could be wiped out by TfL’s (Transport for London) plans to demolish the Bussey Building and the 7 acre site around it for the Cross River Tram Depot. TfL promised to do a thorough review and exploration of other sites for the several depots needed across the whole proposed network from Camden to Peckham & Brixton. But they have said nothing for two years. Meanwhile, in spite of the blight this has caused, the site they declared incorrectly as ‘derelict’ continues to go from strength to strength contributing magnificently to Peckham’s cultural, economic and social renaissance.

Art, Culture & Planning Burst Out From The Bussey Building Site

Modern Music & Art blends with Historic Peckham.

Dates for the diary during the I Love Peckham Festival this week: a visible expression of the burgeoning cultural creativity in and around the historic Bussey Building behind 133 Rye Lane.

• Monday 14th  to Sunday 20th July, daily 1pm to 5pm: art, architecture, & town centre plans. Chronic Art Foundation exhibitions, 1st & 3rd floors, Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane entrance.
• Monday 14th to Sunday 20th July, daily midday to 6pm: monumental outdoor sculpture. Hannah Barry Gallery, outdoor exhibition 10th Floor Multi-Storey Car Park. [note: this roof is an excellent place to see the decorative architectural side of the Bussey Building, that faces the railway line, and the car park.]
• Wednesday 16th July, meet 6.30pm at Peckham Town Square. town centre architectural walk including historic Bussey Building & newly listed station.
• Saturday 19th July, 2pm  Public Debate: Peckham’s cultural renaissance. live with South City Radio, 3rd floor in Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane entrance.
• Saturday 19th to Sunday 20th July, 11am - 7pm, CLF Weekender (Chronic Love Foundation) I Love Peckham Live Music Finale, several stages across town centre.>
• Sunday 20th July, 8pm to midnight, Closing Live Music Celebration of Festival. 1st floor Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane entrance.

Further information & details about these events

Queries: Peckham Residents’ Network <PRN@nutbrook.demon.co.uk>
Information about the overall Festival: www.southwark.gov.uk/ilovepeckham

Details of events

Exhibitions: MONDAY 14th JULY to SUNDAY 20th JULY:
Monday to Sunday 1pm-5pm daily.
Chronic Art Foundation Exhibition:
Venue: Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane entrance.
1st floor art gallery - paintings, sculpture, print, drawing …
3rd floor  Peckham Futures - visions and ideas for developments in central Rye Lane in and around Bussey building and adjacent sites.

www.chronicartfoundation.org
www.peckhamvision.org

Exhibition: MONDAY 14th JULY to SUNDAY 20th JULY:
Monday to Sunday midday to 6pm daily.
Hannah Barry Gallery: [the Gallery is in warehouse next to Bussey Building]
Venue for the outdoor exhibition: 10th Floor Multi-Storey Car Park, behind Multiplex Cinema: lift to Level 6. Follow signs to Level 10.
monumental outdoor sculpture specially made for the show ‘Bold Tendencies’.

Financial Times preview: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7b175bfc-4fb4-11dd-b050-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1
www.hannahbarry.com

Town Centre Walk: WEDNESDAY 16th JULY  6.30pm to 8.30pm.
Walk begins at Peckham Square. Highlights include historic Victorian warehouse factory the Bussey Building & recently listed Peckham Rye station.
Led by local architect Benedict O’Looney.

http://www.peckhamsociety.org.uk/

*****************************************************
SPECIAL EVENT on SATURDAY 19th JULY 2pm:
Chronic Art Foundation with South City Radio (formerly Radio Peckham).
Venue: 3rd floor Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane entrance.
PUBLIC DEBATE live on The Primer radio programme with - ‘How Do We build the Culture Capital of London?’     Afternoon refreshments.
The Peckham Futures exhibition: plans, visions, ideas for exciting, sustainable regeneration in this heart of the town centre, nurturing creative businesses that have taken root in the Bussey Building and surrounding area.

www.chronicartfoundation.org
www.peckhamvision.org
Radio Preview: you can listen to a preview of the debate in the recent special edition of the monthly show ‘The Primer’ -  “Ben and Alice are joined by Benedict O’Looney for a special version of his ‘The Architecture Spot’. Benny looks at the famous Bussey Building and discusses plans for the future of the area …” http://www.southcityradio.org/culturefix/

******************************************************
Music: ALL WEEKEND 19th & 20th JULY:
Saturday 11am to 7pm; Sunday 12 noon to 7pm.
Chronic Love Foundation presents a CLF Weekender:
The I Love Peckham Festival Finale 2008.
Cutting edge Live Music, Food, Art and Life.
Venues: across the heart of Peckham from Peckham Rye station to
Peckham Square and beyond - 2 days, 6 stages of over 250 artists.

www.myspace.com/CLFplanet

Celebration: SUNDAY 20th JULY 8pm to midnight.
Chronic Art Foundation & Chronic Love Foundation present:
Festival Closing Event with live music & refreshments .
Venue: 1st floor, Bussey Building, 133 Rye Lane entrance.

www.myspace.com/CLFplanet
www.chronicartfoundation.org

_____________________________________________
Websites

www.peckhamvision.org
www.chronicartfoundation.org
www.hannahbarry.com
www.myspace.com/CLFplanet
www.southcityradio.org/culturefix
www.southwark.gov.uk/ilovepeckham

What a wonderful weekend in Peckham Central. The sun shone and over 140 people flocked to take the Open House weekend walks led by The Peckham Society on Saturday and Sunday (see photos). Everyone enjoyed the magnificent views of Peckham and central London from the roof of the Bussey building. They enjoyed the refreshments in the CLF Arts Café and the Peckham Vision exhibition of the latest information about the tram & tram depot plans, and the ideas for that central area of Peckham town centre if the tram depot is not located there.

The tours looked at the huge size and good solid condition of the historic Bussey building and how it is already providing spaces for new creative arts and music businesses; the scope for creative development of the whole business site which would otherwise be demolished for the proposed tram depot; the historic gems of Holdron’s Victorian arcades which, currently hidden by shop fittings, could be restored for commercial town centre use; the way all that would complement the opening up of the piazza in front of the station, now agreed as the aim by Southwark Council, the train companies and Southwark’s London Assembly representative; and how Bar Story and the Sassoon Art Gallery in Blenheim Grove behind the station show further signs of the burgeoning creative re-uses of historic architecture in Peckham Central.

See also:
CLF Weekender

Open House Weekend

A letter from Peckham Vision was printed in the 13th September edition of Southwark News.

Important historic buildings in central Peckham will be open to the public during London Open House Weekend on three walks led by the Peckham Society:

• Saturday 15 September 2pm
• Sunday 16 September noon
• Sunday 16 September 4pm

Come and take this rare opportunity to see some usually hidden parts of central Peckham, and how they can provide the basis for a new vision for the heart of the town centre, re-using historic buildings with new architecture, and with the right flexibility for modern uses.

Meet at CLF Arts Cafe, 1st floor CIP House, Bussey Building, through passage way 133 Rye Lane (opposite Blenheim Grove /Peckham Rye station)

The CLF Arts cafe will be open to drop in from 1.30pm on Saturday and noon on Sunday, with musical events on Saturday evening. The Peckham Vision exhibition will be on display showing latest ideas about the tram routes and depot plans, and strategic visions for an integrated town centre.

The weekend walks will take in:

• the Bussey building, the former Victorian cricket bat factory, the magnificent roof view of central London and Peckham, and the new creative uses the building is attracting;
• the old Mill Building off Copeland Road, to be renovated for a new cultural & arts performance centre.
• Holdron’s old department store and the still existing but hidden arcade, a remnant of Rye Lane’s era as the ‘Golden Mile’;
• Peckham Rye station (the grandest example of High Victorian architecture in Peckham which is very visible from the Bussey building roof) and a look inside the closed huge old waiting room, now in its first stage of renovation;

Further information:

Visions for Peckham

and…

http://www.openhouse.org.uk/london/home.html
http://www.londonopenhouse.org/
www.peckhamsociety.org.uk
http://myspace.com/clfplanet

In the September 2007 issue of SAVO News the CLF Weekender was reviewed. This review is available below.

In the September 2007 issue of Living South Magazine (http://www.livingsouth.co.uk) Peckham Vision has been quoted on the proposed tram depot sites.

The Bussey building, the largest building on the proposed tram depot site, was host to one of the most enjoyable events seen in Peckham in many years. Over the weekend of the I Love Peckham festival, the Chronic Love Foundation (CLF) transformed two of the wonderfully large rooms of this late Victorian/Edwardian building into a live music venue, an art gallery and a cinema.

The roof was open to the public, and during the day, people lounged around eating, drinking, looking at fascinating views of the city, and catching the only sun of the summer so far. The mood was reminiscent of the best summer festivals as acoustic acts, poets and rappers performed under a small marquee while the sun set.

As the sky darkened a small cinema was starting in the gallery space on the third floor. Fascinating short films from amateurs and professionals played on a large screen. Around the room some of the artists with studios in the building had displayed examples of their work. On one side three huge photographs highlighting the geometric monotony of unimaginative modern architecture were flanked by superb portraits and other images. As the night descended spotlights were turned on, throwing long shadows across the industrial gallery space, as people wandered in to look at the displays and watch the films.

Peckham Vision had used a large, room sized alcove on this floor to display their visions for an integrated Peckham town centre, a town centre that was both well connected to the centre of London, and featured creative spaces in the very heart of run down Peckham. Computer generated images illustrated the potential realised by opening up the front of the station to make a light vibrant piazza, instead of the dirty and dimly lit enclosed pavements there at the moment. Whilst a plethora of maps showed how Peckham could be opened up by the tram, without destroying its heart by demolishing the building, and many others, we were currently in, just to replace them with a desolate array of railway tracks to house the trams overnight. Lastly there were artistic interpretations of how the Bussey building, and a very large adjacent area, could look, and examples of how it could be used by Peckham creative industries, and for the benefit of the whole community.

Downstairs the first of the night’s bands had started. Although dominated by bass and drums the style was hard to classify. The female singer’s luminous voice danced over the energetic beat, and was occasionally joined by a rapper, on the other side of the performance area. A kaleidoscope of psychedelic visuals projected on to two screens behind the performers announced the arrival of the Chronic Love Foundation to Peckham. The dancing crowd were laid back and friendly. A mixture of locals, artists, and people from around London drawn to the hub of Peckham by an article in that week’s Time Out.

We eventually left in the early hours and after saying good night to the genial security guards, began the short walk home.

See also: CLF Weekender

Here is an email received from Mark Armstrong, from Lexus Security Management, who provided the security team for the CLF Weekender in the Bussey building:

“Another Teenager Killed in Peckham” - This is all too common a headline these days in the national and London news media. The tones and connotations, when I was told that I was to head up a security team at a 3 day music festival in deep Peckham [at the CLF Weekender], were not one of joy and celebration. After all the bad press and media attention of South London’s sinister gang warfare, I was expecting the absolute worst. I was ready for at least one incident to ruin the weekend starting on Friday the 10th August 2007.

Moving forward to midnight on the Sunday the 12th, and my views of the area and the people had been proved wrong. I thought that luck may have played a part in the result of not one incident being reported. Not one hint of trouble. No aggression what so ever. The people that came to the festival over the three days arrived to enjoy themselves as well as the high quality of music on offer. This was a result of good organisation, communication and co-operation within the community. People of all ages, races, and backgrounds came together, in what was not a money making exercise or a PR stunt, but a genuine attempt to raise the profile of the Peckham community by putting on what a lot of people who do not know the area and people, would regard as an insane idea.

Being at the entrance of the venue, I was lucky enough to monitor everyone that came through the doors. A few people said hello, some just smiled. After all the presence of Door Supervisors usually indicate trouble or need to be on a heightened alert. On the way out nearly 98% of the people said good bye and that they had really enjoyed themselves. The most frequent question asked was: When are you guys doing another weekend?

Some People say that class is living in a crime free area with nice houses, cars and high security.
Class is character in the community, coming together to enjoy themselves at a public event, without having to worry about safety. Class is what the people of Peckham have.

It would be nice to read about this type of good news in the media, to show that the majority of areas can work together for the good of the community.”

See also: CLF Weekender

Congratulations to Chronic Love Foundation (CLF), and Mickey Smith its creative director, for the CLF Weekender. Hundreds of people came each day and enjoyed the fabulous quality eclectic music on three floors of the Bussey building over last weekend. The event throughout each day was well patronised by people of all ages, races, and backgrounds - from babes in arms to grannies and everything in between. Wonderful food and refreshments as well. And on the roof, all against the breathtaking views of the whole of London from the middle of Peckham town centre! Click here for some photos.

There were many visitors to the exhibition of work from the artists on site, and also the Peckham Vision exhibition with the latest news about the tram and depot. As one visitor emailed to say:

“I wanted to write and congratulate you on the SUPER-GREAT event at the Bussey building last weekend. What a wonderful thing to have done. I hope there will be more of the same in the not-too-distant future.”

See also: CLF Weekender