AUTUMN 2017 pioneer press

THE NEWSLETTER FOR TENANTS AND RESIDENTS OF WOMEN’S PIONEER HOUSING

Fire safety review: Inside this issue your top concerns 2 HELP TO FIND WORK Sign up to these ClementJames and our response Centre courses for free 3 WPRA NEWS Fire safety has understandably become a big issue for you, New chair Lizzie Spring calls on and it is foremost in our minds too. Estate services manager women to make themselves heard Jamie Beckwith sets out improved plans for your safekeeping 4,5 THE OLD WHITE CITY Tenant Jacqueline Shaw goes back 1 Our thoughts continue to be with all was a fear that you might not hear an in time to a marvellous display of of you affected by the awful tragedy alarm. Some of you also worried you Franco-British collaboration at . The fire has rightly might not be able to move quickly raised a lot of questions about fire enough to get out of the building if a 4 KEEPING A JOURNAL safety in our housing sector and the fire broke out. formal enquiry will, we hope, lead to Please see below for what we can Keeping a record of life’s lessons some much needed changes. do to address these two concerns. Many of you have since contacted 6 HERITAGE RESEARCH Under scrutiny us to say how much you appreciated Volunteers wanted to help with Since the fire, we have put our own the meetings and to tell us you do our suffrage history project fire safety precautions under the notice that we regularly check and microscope to make absolutely sure test fire equipment in your buildings. 6,7 PIONEERING WOMEN we are doing all we can to keep you A reminder that the safety of safe from the risk of fire. everyone in your building needs your Pioneer Press interviews amazing One priority for us was finding out cooperation. Our rules exist for your new centenarian Mary Search your concerns. We held two Meet safety. All follow the advice of fire the managers forums for you in July. safety experts who have learnt about 8, 9 HOUSING NEWS The point of the forums was to fire risks the hard way. New staff, Meet the Managers and explain measures already in place and Thank you for helping us to keep and rethinking tenant engagement our ideas for strengthening them, you and your home safe. and to listen to any worries you had. 9 FIRE SAFETY contd Not surprisingly, a lot of you turned u See page 9 for more on our up. One of your biggest concerns tougher fire safety measures Keeping you safe at home

HEARING A FIRE ALARM GETTING OUTSIDE QUICKLY 10 FITTING BLINDS If you are worried you may not hear If your concern is about getting Getting to grips with rollers a fire alarm please contact your outside quickly, please tell your housing officer, estate services officer housing officer so we can help. As a 11 THE LIGHTER SIDE or scheme manager. We will then see general rule we say if you regularly Autumn quiz, and a fail-safe what we can do to make you feel leave the building you should be able recipe for vegetarian friends safer. For example we could give you to get outside in a reasonable time a pillow that vibrates when an alarm should a fire break out.The important 12 FREE EVENTS is sounded and/or install highly visible thing is to leave the building safely alert panels. rather than quickly. contracts, if they’re in paid work at all. Helping hand for jobseekers SUPPORT & These are just the recent changes. WORKSHOPS In the 1980s it became more FREE acceptable for fathers to cite liberation Free employment Women’s voices: and dance off to pastures new, leaving the women to raise children alone. skills workshop getting ourselves heard We didn’t have professional job shares or free childcare. We helped each New WPRA chair Lizzie Spring explains why she believes other and got on as best we could. Our children are now adults, some EMPLOYMENT SKILLS If you’re trying and struggling to find work we’d like to invite that an effective residents association benefits all of you still in their childhood box rooms as WORKSHOP 26 OCTOBER free employment skills workshop 2pm to there is no other affordable housing. you to a from FROM 2PM TO 4PM 4pm 26 October ClementJames Centre Hi everyone. I have become chair of WPH’s services, costs and value for The growth in opportunities built up on at the Find your way back to work our residents’ association (RA) after money, disability and ageing-related over four generations has stalled, as Penny’s excellent two years in the issues and transparent, meaningful have our choices about housing. At the workshop you’ll get practical Its six-week women’s empowerment INTOWORK PROGRAMME role. All tenants and leaseholders scrutiny. What happened to the social advice designed to give you the best programme gives local women a safe will find a warm welcome at the RA. In this piece I’d like to share my contract where tenants rent homes One to one advice and support opportunities to find your way back space to build up their confidence Our aim is better communication, so personal view as an older tenant, to for life, and are respected as we into the workplace. and develop personal goals. To book a place on the workshop, residents’ voices are fully heard and explain why an effective residents contribute to society through work, or discuss the IntoWork programme, represented. In July we focused on association is so important. volunteering, parenting and caring? Solid track record All programmes are free of charge. please call ClementJames Centre on People in ‘social’ housing are The ClementJames Centre has been q020 7221 8810 or email Howard NASTY DE MING PIC: stigmatised on all sides now and it is 2 See right for who to contact or call giving advice, guidance, and education Taylor: [email protected] so hard to challenge. 3 Women’s Pioneer housing inclusion and employment support to local Short tenancies have become manager Aidan McCarthy on q 020 people for over 15 years. It will take WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT normalised. To get and keep a home 8749 7112 or email info@ an all-round pastoral approach to PROGRAMME you must demonstrate ‘vulnerability’ womenspioneer.co.uk your personal development. Women as if this is a permanent characteristic, Six-week plan to help you build getting ClementJames also has a range of not just part of human life whatever confidence and develop your goals heard: other support programmes that ClementJames Centre your housing tenure. Is this infantilising Lizzie, right, might interest you. IntoWork offers 95 Sirdar Road, W11 4EQ For more information on the and friends system accepted because so many q more in-depth one-to-one advice 020 7221 8810 women’s empowerment programme on a bus en tenants, of all ages, are women? and support. You’ll be invited to sign www.clementjames.org please contact Maeve Slattery on route to Like many of my neighbours, I’ve up to this at the workshop. [email protected] Greenham always worked in the voluntary and Common public sectors. My colleagues have in 1983 mostly been women, a high proportion renting from housing associations. Tenant scrutiny panel Despite our diverse experience and Women tenants over 60 are unlikely university, then headed back to lovely expertise, where tenants’ voices are Kasia Kwilecka is to take over to be able to choose to move out of scruffy, slummy 1970s , chair hands over the reins heard at all it is not as decision as TSP chair. Marcia says: rented housing because, on average, renting a room for £1.09p a week. makers. Can we change this? It’s Marcia Davies ‘Kasia is an excellent choice we’ve earned much less than men, TSP chair is standing down after over a year partly up to the WPH team to let us in and I’m sure the panel will go have maybe been lone parents or Revolution through more doors, I suppose, and in the ‘hot seat’. She reflects on what the panel has achieved from strength to strength with unpaid carers, live with disabilities or A compellingly optimistic feminist partly up to us tenants to walk through her in the hot seat.‘ have limited savings – in other words wave flowed across west in that time and why she thinks it is making a difference them. Please, let’s! we’re often poor. then. We would start a revolution, I enjoyed my time as chair of the very encouraged by how engaged We still need new members on the But we’re also tough! Our foremothers have equality and fun, save womankind tenant scrutiny panel very much. you all were when we reviewed the panel and I would encourage anyone were tough too. In 1920, when from patriarchy, smash racism and DATES FOR YOUR DIARY women got the vote and WPH was change the world. I’ll concede 45 It was definitely a challenge, a level of service charge process. who is interested to get in touch with St Peter’s Church, Park formed, my grandmother was 30. She years on: that plan didn’t go too well. responsibility I hadn’t had before. But We are due to present our report Matthew Wicks. Road, Notting Hill, 6.30-8.45pm had gone into service in Chelsea at In 2011, the concept of gender it was a great pleasure to take the on how WPH manages empty flats ✱ 16 November If you are interested in joining the 13 as a scullery maid. Her generation’s equality was used to delay to age 66 role on, and I hope I managed it okay. at the November board meeting. ✱ 8 December Christmas party Though the TSP is fairly new, we Although I’m stepping down as tenant scrutiny panel, or finding out legacy was the determination that pensions for women in our late 50s, more, please call housing manager their children’s lives would be better. despite our lifetime of unequal low have achieved really positive things chair I will remain on the panel. From TO GET IN TOUCH WITH WPRA so far. I’m particularly pleased with my point of view, it’s a very positive Matthew Wicks for a chat about Most girls of my 1950s generation pay. We have also borne the brunt of the new complaints process. It has and constructive way to make a how the panel works and the work left school at 15 and went into shops, austerity - those were nearly all Call Maggie on q020 7229 8471 been made more straightforward difference to how Women’s Pioneer involved on q020 8749 7112 or factories, offices, childcare or health. ‘women’s jobs’ that were cut. Many or email womenspioneerresidents@ since we reported on it, and I was Housing works. email [email protected] I was one of the minority that went to older women now have zero-hour gmail.com Lessons for life: HISTORY SPOT remember the best Farmer’s market advice by keeping sets up stalls at a personal journal White City’s glory: old BBC site WEDNESDAY MARKET Keeping a daily journal, writes a celebration of property & estate services support For those of you who’d rather officer Cameron Robertson, is a get your food from a farm than a good way to recall lessons learnt early inventions supermarket, a farmers’ market and friendly advice that could will shortly be trading in the prove useful later in your life Many things may come to mind when you think of White City. grounds of the BBC Media Village, set back from Wood I was reminded of this recently when I Gorgeous probably isn’t one of them. But as Pioneer Way Lane. More details to follow. looked through a journal of my travels tenant Jacqueline Shaw found, it used to be spectacular as a 19-year-old in South-east Asia. White City gets its name from the countries. It took a further five years In the lagoons, I recorded one page every day and, WHITE CITY AFTER THE while some would say this a little self- Great White City exhibition grounds for talks to start with the French. above, visitors rode swan boats or the GREAT EXHIBITION indulgent, the result is a book full – white palaces, lagoons, waterways, That year Britain was also invited electric launches. of anecdotes and a snapshot of my amusement rides and gardens built to stage Olympic Games originally for the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition. scheduled for Rome. A stadium was Exhibitions continued annually 4 personal history. A dizzying view of 5 built into the complex and a marathon the 1908 exhbition until WWI. They were followed Daily debrief Right royal welcome was run over the Olympic course, as seen from the by British industries fairs until Each day I had to reflect on what had The 140-acre site, formerly farmland, starting at Windsor Castle and ‘flip-flap’. Each of its 1937. During both world wars, happened, digest the events and stretched from Uxbridge Road to ending at Shepherd’s Bush Stadium. two 150-foot arms the exhibition halls were used by convey them to the pages in a way modern-day Du Cane Road. It was First prize initially went to an swung 48 passengers the Department of War, with that made sense. opened in pouring rain on 14 May by Italian, but he was disqualified for past each other in parachutes made here in WWII. mid-air The process was like a daily debrief. Prince George V and the Princess of being helped to stand after falling and helped keep my mind in order Wales, in the Court of Honour. over in the stadium. An American In 1949, the BBC bought 13 acres through some fairly turbulent Eight years earlier the Prince of instead got the £100 prize. Britain’s in Wood Lane, transmitting its experiences. Wales (Edward VII from 1901-1910) team managed 56 gold medals that decorated in fancy plaster mouldings economy, agriculture, horticulture, first televised programme from As well as having a purpose then, had visited the Paris Exhibition. He’d year, well ahead of the USA at 23. and painted white to protect against fine arts and textiles. here in 1960. the journal is now a source of ideas been impressed by its buildings, the The task of creating the exhibition the weather. Gardens were laid out Pavilions built for the governments and motivation. The lessons I learned, Eiffel Tower and a display of industry went to Hungarian Imre Kiralfy, who and trees planted along the avenues. of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Before the stadium was knocked and recorded in it have a bearing on and products from around the world. had been involved with the successful Visiting royals relaxed in their own India and others are remembered down in 1984 it was put to varied how I compose myself today. Back in London he discussed it Earl’s Court Exhibition. Another 13 pavilion, furnished in Louis XV and today in local street names, like uses, like greyhound racing and I’d especially recommend keeping a with MPs and others, saying a British architects helped design the halls. Georgian styles, with a sunken South Africa Road and Canada Way. horse shows. Hammersmith journal if you take a trip. You may find exhibition could display French, British The halls were about 70 feet wide bandstand and specially commissioned The Senegalese and Ballymaclinton Council bought the land and built re-reading it later more personal and and Empire products and promote by 400 feet, built of steel frame and waltz, Round the Exhibition. Irish villages were not to be missed. the flats and houses now there. pleasing than looking through photos. the Entente Cordial between the two concrete to be fire-proof, then Visitors had use of both a bank and And a mile-long mountain railway, a post office, where they could send running at up to 50mph, passed every Wood Lane Station was used telegraphs or exhibition postcards. style of scenery. until the 1950s then replaced TOP TIPS ✿ Of more than 100 buildings, the ✿ Entrance for adults was one : KEEPING A JOURNAL The well-to-do lunched in the There was a Canadian toboggan, by White City underground. largest was the Machinery Hall, shilling (roughly £5.50 today), drawing rooms or ladies’ boudoirs of built in the style of a switchback, a If you decide to keep a journal, where electricity was generated and sixpence for children. the Garden Club. Membership of this scale model of London before the The BBC’s overseas service, you may find these tips useful. to light up the exhibition. ✿ A children’s day in September ✿ club included any-time admission to Great Fire, a realistic recreation of once broadcast from buildings Be disciplined: write every day The Court of Honour alone saw 1,141 schools issued with the exhibition for two guineas (£276 the 1889 Johnstown flood, in which across the road from Women’s but don’t limit your style or used 160,000 light bulbs. 50,000 admission tickets. Pupils today) for women and three for men. 5,000 drowned, and one depicting Pioneer’s Wood Lane offices, is creativity. ✿ Construction went on day and spent a morning at the exhibition ✿ J Lyons & Co, which held general the peaceful town a day earlier. being replaced by a new campus Note down any thoughts and night, with an estimated 12,000 and the afternoon doing sports, catering rights, served 10,000 people At the Daily Mail pavilion, visitors and student flats for Imperial feelings, snippets of advice you workers employed at the peak. followed by a swimming gala. daily – coffee at 46p in today’s money could see a newspaper in production. College. We’ll tell you more about were given or inspiring ✿ Nearby trains, trams and buses ✿ There were 5000 permanent or whisky for 92p. Firework displays took place right up new facilities planned for the comments or compliments. could between them bring to the staff when the exhibition ✿ The exhibition halls were many and until the final evening. campus that will be open to the Draw things if you feel like it or exhibition 80,000 people hourly. opened, with 1000 remaining on varied. The British sections included Nearly 8.5 million people visited public in the next Pioneer Press. even just doodle. ✿ Judging all the 16,000 exhibits site at night. ✿ liberal arts, nutriment, education and these popular amusements, with the Make it special, make it yours. took 10 days. science. The French covered social exhibition raising £420,000 in total. Easter I was like a plucked chicken and in a queer way’. ‘You didn’t go about Given a choice of career what had to learn to walk again.’ Mary had thinking perhaps I’ll be bombed.’ would she have done? ‘I wanted to be Women’s work: Remarkable women picked up multiple infections. ‘Every VE Day was, of course, huge cause a surgeon. When I was six I had a tiny call out to join conceivable complaint bar diptheria.’ for celebration. Invited by her oak armchair that I’d sit in by the fire Mary Search: 100 She never did go back to school, teacher neighbour Florence to join in winter, using two pieces of wood our history instead taking a job at a medical the merry-making, the young women from the bundle for the fire to carve practice that employed, at a smaller headed into town. ‘We didn’t know up my doll. I couldn’t bear dolls.’ research project years a Londoner branch, a GP who, in turn, employed anybody but everyone joined in - Denied the chance to swap kindling her mother as caretaker. soldiers, sailors, every nationality. for scalpels, Mary instead became a Earlier this year a group of U3A THE PIONEER PRESS INTERVIEW ‘I probably didn’t want to go back hospital clerk. ‘I enjoyed working and volunteers helped us carry out a to school but took myself to evening National celebration those were the happiest days. I had four-month pilot study into Pioneer Press classes and got shorthand and typing.’ ‘You just walked about and joked and to decide whether [people] saw the Women’s Pioneer’s early history. By the time reaches you, Avenue When World War II broke out I still can’t believe I did it. Four medical or surgical casualty officer. As many of you know, we were tenant Mary Search will have celebrated her 100th birthday. Mary signed up for the WRENS. But soldiers scooped us up and took us I don’t think I made many mistakes.’ set up by women suffragists in her childhood illnesses had taken their to dinner. It was all very pleasant and Since retiring Mary has travelled 1920. With that sort of heritage, Lisa Thompson met Mary shortly before the big day toll - she failed the medical. we came home with the milk train. extensively with younger friends Joan we were sure we’d come across In outer London’s Hayes, where ‘It was quite a day. We didn’t come and Margaret Collings, who she met Mary and her mother lived, there across any unpleasantness. They’d at the National Trust for Scotland’s some very interesting stories. Mary has perfect recall of the day she asked my mother if she’d like a cup of was little direct enemy action but it hug you and give you a kiss but that London members’ centre. first saw the flat she would make tea. Then she came back and said, We asked our group to find out did come too close for comfort one was it. You didn’t feel uncomfortable.’ Together they’ve been abroad and home for the next 39 years. Her old “You can’t have one. Milk’s gone off”.’ who’d lived in your homes in the evening. ‘In the evenings the teacher Shortly after the war, Mary found around the UK, including many trips flat in Highgate was for single working As Mary tells it, this rather set the interwar years. Using old electoral in the flat upstairs would come down work at University College Hospital. to stately homes and repeat visits to women but, with her 60th birthday tone. ‘She was a very good mother registers, they identified over and we’d knit socks for the soldiers ‘I can still remember my first lunch a Devon donkey sanctuary. 6 just weeks away, Mary would soon but there was no affection. I think 7 1200 tenants, including some very around the kitchen table. hour.’ At her table, she was the only As her 100th birthday approaches, join the ranks of retirees. I was in my 40s before we ‘gelled’. unexpected surprises. They also ‘One night, and I don’t remember one who hadn’t seen active service. Mary wishes she’d made better use ‘It was a Thursday afternoon and I was well trained and always nicely found some exciting information it, I suddenly shouted ‘DUCK!’ and a ‘It was very uncomfortable because of her legs when they were still there were two already on the steps. dressed but she was terribly strict.’ about our early founders. landmine fell, not far from us, but all they didn’t know the circumstances.’ reliable. ‘London’s a very interesting We duly waited until Sue [Hockett] Mary’s father rarely came home, that happened was a clock came, not Two years later in 1948, the NHS place. I wish I could still go around it. We are now in the final stages of brought us in. It was vast but there posted overseas by the navy after off the shelf but right to the edge.’ arrived. ‘I’ll never forget the day. The I’m alright with a stick but not preparing a funding bid for a much was no light so you didn’t know what the war. ‘I saw him about four times They were hard years but Mary world and his wife came - from China, confident. I need someone with me.’ more ambitious project, using the bathroom was like. in my life so never missed him.’ recalls ‘a certain excitement in London, Poland, you name it.’ Her ideal birthday, she says, would archive documents found in our ‘One woman, very nicely dressed, be a few days in a hotel in her own safe. We also want to said, ‘I couldn’t possibly live in here’. Inside Big Ben favourite destination - St Andrews in properly research new material Another said, ‘I couldn’t live here On a more cheerful note, she recalls Fife. But she adds: ‘Joan and her sister that we think indicates that either. All that noise!’. I thought ‘keep a favourite uncle, her mother’s have got something up their sleeves. Women’s Pioneer deserves a going!’ because there were five of us. younger brother Signa, whose wife Phillip called I haven’t a clue what!’ much more prominent place in ‘I’d been paying a monthly rent so Annie was a chef at the Palace of feminist and housing history. something across. asked Sue how much it would be. She Westminster. ‘My uncle took me and I can only think it was Do you fancy joining our history told me and wrote my name down my mother to visit her when I was cheeky because he’d All of us at Women’s Pioneer send research team? There are so on the back of an envelope. five and I was taken up part of Big quite a dirty laugh. Mary our warmest congratulations many tasks to do and we’re sure ‘On the way back to the hospital I Ben.’ To this day, she says, people for her 100th birthday and hope you’ll find the work as gripping as thought, when she gets back to the think she’s imagining it. Mary on meeting the she enjoyed the treat laid on for our U3A team did. The project is office that envelope will go in the bin. Uncle Signa also took her to Hyde Queen and Prince Phillip her by Joan and Margaret. likely to start in January and will I was having kittens.’ There was an Park and Mary recalls with delight an agonising wait before a letter arrived elderly man who had trained sparrows carry on throughout the year. RUN-INS WITH ROYALTY telling Mary she’d got the flat. to fly to the railings when he called If you’d like to know more about It is a happier tale than some of each bird’s number. ‘People believe Mary has been totting up encounters with royalty, the first with Princess Alexandra volunteering for our history Mary’s earlier memories. An only that with a pinch of salt,’ she says. at the official opening of her old Highgate project, email researcher Lisa child, her parents had married in School, she says, was best left flat. ‘They were the first built for the YWCA and very nice.’ Thompson at thompsonstwo@ 1916. Father William, an officers’ forgotten. ‘It was very bare and there The conversation was brief. ‘She said, “And what is your colour icloud.com or leave your details steward then on HMS Dido, missed was nothing to fire you to really want scheme?”. I said I hadn’t got one. I’d got all my mother’s stuff.’ Queen Duke of Edinburgh with us on q020 8749 7112. her birth. Instead, her mother to learn more.’ At 14, girls of Mary’s More recently she met the and , Dorothy booked herself into the class would change school for training courtesy of the 60th anniversary of her church being restored after bomb damage in World War II. As the oldest mobile Our researchers were all retired women-run Clapham Maternity in domestic service or ‘the clerical’. parishioner, Mary was pushed to the front pew but isn’t sure members of the University of the Hospital in Stockwell, founded by Mary was told she’d get clerical but what the queen said (‘she spoke very quietly’). She’s sure Philip Third Age, recruited through pioneering doctor Dr Annie McCall. fate had other plans. ‘On 22 December was less than reverent. ‘He called something across. I can only Royal Holloway’s Citizens project. Mary arrived in the small hours. I went to the fever hospital with ‘It was very very hot and the nurse scarlet fever. When I came out at think it was cheeky because he’d quite a dirty laugh.’ NEWS FROM OUR TEAMS u continued from page 1 SAFE ESCAPE ROUTES: ❉ Meet the why halls, landings, managers Fire safety review: your top stairs and cupboards New faces in our property concerns and our response have to be kept clear Is there anything services and finance teams Among the many horrifying stories you’d like to get about Grenfell were those from BETTER FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS residents who did manage to escape. off your chest? ROGER JARMAN SANGEETA KAKATI They described the thick, choking HEAD OF GOVERNANCE FINANCE MANAGER All but three of our buildings have The lesson of Grenfell is that we smoke that filled the halls and stairs, alarm systems covering the parts need the alarm to ring if a fire making it impossible to see a way MARY SMITH COURT shared with your Women’s Pioneer breaks out inside one of your flats. out. Most had to feel the way forward 17-21 TREBOVIR ROAD neighbours. We have been fitting Our plan, therefore, is to fit an with their hands, while also trying EARL’S COURT, SW5 9NF these since 2009, when doing our alarm in each flat’s hallway and link not to breathe in the noxious fumes. 3PM TO 6PM 25 OCTOBER planned ‘cyclical’ building repairs. it to the fire panel.That way the fire This is why we do not let you keep Of the other three buildings, one alarm will be triggered if a fire anything in the parts of the buildings Our next Meet the managers event had already been scheduled to have breaks out anywhere in the building. you share. All possible routes out of will be on 25 October. As always a system fitted this year and we If we did the cyclical maintenance the building must be kept clear. Just we’d be delighted to see you for a have fast-tracked the other two. for your building this year or last, one obstacle could cause a fatal delay. chat over a cup of tea and a biscuit. I joined in late July on a one-year I’m Sangeeta and I am your new and there wasn’t a fire alarm system It also adds to the fire risk – almost Our middle management team will contract to review how Women’s finance manager. I’ve audited lots of What does the system do? already installed, you will now have anything can catch fire. That is why 8 all be there between 3pm and 6pm. Pioneer is governed. I will be looking housing associations as well as other Fire detectors fitted all through the the new ‘integrated alarm’ system. we don’t let you store anything in 9 They are: housing manager Matthew at the way the board works with the organisations and this is my first shared parts of the building link to Budgets allowing, we will have cupboards in the shared parts. Wicks, finance manager Sangeeta executive team to see how we can permanent role outside of audit. a fire panel. This triggers an alarm these improved systems installed Kakati, estate services manager Jamie further improve your services. I’m really excited to get the most to alert everyone in the building in for all of you in 2018. We’ll tell you Our health and safety checks Beckwith, corporate services I am also looking at how we can we can from the resources available the unlikely event of a fire starting more about our plans in the regularly find both rules being manager Susan Bernard, asset gear up for a new regulatory regime to us, to deliver you the best service in any common area. Christmas issue of Pioneer Press. broken after repeated warnings. manager Roger Barton and housing as the business grows. I have worked possible in the most efficient and inclusion manager Aidan McCarthy. in housing for over 35 years and am resident-friendly way possible. We cannot ignore this risk. If we looking forward to helping Women's In my spare time, I like vlogging Health and safety inspections Practice evacuation drills find anything left in any shared part We suggest you book ahead to Pioneer take its next steps. about history shows (like The Crown We have since 2013 had a target of We have been carrying out random of the building we will take it away: make sure you get to speak to the I love living in London and spend and Victoria). I also like writing stories giving every property a full health fire drills in all our buildings. We don’t that means bikes, pushchairs, shopping managers you most want to talk most weekends exploring its parks, and learning French. and safety inspection every month. know who is at home when we trolleys, scooters, clothes – anything. to. To book a slot, please email us museums and galleries, dining out, In practice 99% of your buildings get trigger the alarm but think it highly You have 28 days to claim them back. on [email protected] reading, going to exhibitions and a full inspection done every week, unlikely that no one will be home. If you don’t, we will get rid of them. or call us on q020 8749 7112. engaging in current cultural affairs. either by an estate services officer It is therefore very worrying that at (ESO) or sheltered scheme manager. some buildings no one has left any of All but 10 buildings are served by the flats. Please always play safe. Starting a real an ESO. By next January we hope to If you hear the alarm, do not assume conversation OUR NEW CLEANERS: have the service extended to all of it is a test. It may be the real thing. DIANA GALVIS, right, & you. We will shortly consult those of Leave the building until you are We have invited tenant engagement WANDERLEIA DA SILVA you not now served by an ESO. absolutely sure there isn’t a fire. experts Tpas, who we worked with to set up the tenant scrutiny panel, Trained to spot risks Cutting the risk to help us refresh our approach to engaging with all of you. We want All ESOs, scheme managers and To make your homes safer, we are: to move beyond using letters and Wanderleia: I am Portuguese and Diana: I have worked for Women’s housing officers are to get extra ❉ replacing older cork noticeboards noticeboards to communicate with joined Women’s Pioneer in May as a Pioneer since March this year and am training in detecting and cutting with new lockable, fire-retardant you, instead starting what we hope cleaner in Notting Hill. I really enjoy really happy to be working here. safety risks. This will mean we more noticeboards will be a two-way conversation. As working here. I am delighted to have I enjoy spending my spare time with than meet all legal standards for fire ❉ replacing wire basket or wooden part of this new approach, we will found a role at Women’s Pioneer and my family and I am very active with safety. Technical officer Jo Edwards letter boxes with metal letter soon carry out phone surveys with hope to contribute to the value of my local church. From October I will and I will be trained to the government boxes Bulky rubbish like blinds should not go some of you. We would be very our services. My interests outside be taking on new properties and HHSRS (housing health and safety ❉ putting locks on bin sheds so no in your bins and is a fire risk. Your grateful if you could give your caller work are enjoying the times with my increasing my hours, which I am rating system) standard. one can dump bulky rubbish council’s bin service will not take bulky as much time as you can spare. two kids, cinema, dinner with peers, looking forward to. I want to provide ❉ making sure all locks in common items. Please call the council if you travelling and reading. the best service to the tenants. parts are of the same standard. need any large items collected. FITTING THE BRACKETS GOING UNDERGROUND: McCARTHY’S AUTUMN QUIZ Put the control bracket on the side you want to use to raise or lower the blind. Push the point of the bradawl More awkward questions to test your general knowledge. roller blinds hard through the screw holes in the Housing inclusion manager Aidan McCarthy trawls the tunnels bracket. Hold the bracket in place and drill a screw into each of the little for obscure London Underground trivia holes left by the bradawl.

IN YOUR TOOLKIT POSITION THE BRACKETS FIX THE BLIND Which is the only How many stations are What is the name of the 1 Underground line to cross 5 there on the Waterloo 9 1992 artwork by Simon You’ll need a measuring tape, pencil, Work out where the brackets to hold Slot the blind into the two brackets the Thames four times? and City line? Patterson which features drill, bradawl, spirit level, hammer and the blind have to go and mark the and test that it works freely. a map of the Underground – if the blind needs cutting to size – position of the upper corners with a Name either of the two Which station on the with the station names a small hacksaw and sharp scissors. pencil. Use the spirit level to make SAFETY WARNING 2 Underground stations to 6 Central line shares its replaced by the names sure they're not squint. If you have young children in your contain all five vowels in name with a television of famous people? WILL IT FIT? flat, please take care to keep all their name (a bonus point programme set in a CUTTING A BLIND TO SIZE Measure your window before you buy loops and chains well out of their if you can manage both). secondary school? What do the following a blind to make sure it will fit. If you If your blind is too large for the space, reach. Young children have been 10 Underground stations want it to fit inside the window frame, do a little research. Both John Lewis strangled by blinds. You can buy Which three District line What is the name of the have in common: and not on top, you will need a little and B&Q offer video tutorials online useful safety devices. For advice 3 stations have the word 7 designer of the iconic British Museum, York on blind safety from John Lewis ‘green’ in their names? London Underground map? Road, Down Street, 10 space on either side. Some blinds can and you can also find some fairly clear 11 be cut to fit. instructions on the internet. see http://tinyurl.com/y6v7jcoc Brompton Road? The shortest distance The film An American IS IT SAFE TO DRILL FITTING THE SIDE BITS 4 between two stations on 8 Werewolf in London INTO THE WALL? FIND OUT MORE ABOUT the Underground is 0.3km features a sequence Fit the ‘side control’ (chain winder) into FITTING BLINDS – can you name them? filmed in which central Always check before you drill into the end of the blind on the side you London tube station? anything. If there are any hidden pipes want to open and close the blind from From B&Q or wires you could seriously hurt and push the dummy pin into the http://tinyurl.com/ya8n53ge vegetarian yourself and damage our property. other end. Press them against a hard From John Lewis into the kitchen at fork-point If you aren’t sure - don’t do it. surface or tap gently with a hammer. http://tinyurl.com/yc5cuo9j

EMERGENCY REPAIRS OUT OF HOURS DON'T LOOK NOW: Field mushroom tortilla serves two ANSWERS TO OUR created by housing administrator John Palmer If you have a genuine emergency when our office is closed please call SUMMER QUIZ the number below for the type of repair you need. Please let us know when our office reopens if you needed help in an emergency. INGREDIENTS METHOD

Plumbing, electrics, or Heating and hot water system

They are all disused. all are They other problems that need to for all flats in your property: 10 20g butter 1 Cut the potatoes into small cubes

be dealt with by a builder: S&S Burners q020 8330 7992 The Great Bear Great The 9 2 tablespoons olive oil and par-boil for 10 minutes. Drain.

Just 24/7 q020 8979 2220

Gas fires and boilers that 3 potatoes 2 Heat the butter and olive oil in an

Tottenham Court Road Court Tottenham

Broken windows or if you're we have installed in your flat: 8 200g mushrooms (any type will do) ovenproof frying pan, add the potatoes

Harry Beck Harry

locked out or have lost keys Daynight q07860 234 899 7 1 garlic clove, crushed and brown on all sides.

(you will have to pay for this): Hill Grange 3 Faulty fire alarm in a shared part 6 125g spinach Add the mushrooms and cook on

Just 24/7 q020 8979 2220 4 eggs both sides for 5 minutes. of your building: Chameleon Two

Power cut to the whole house: q01757 244 511. Leave your 5 ½ cup milk 4 Sprinkle in the garlic and add the

UK Power Network q0800 056 name, address and phone number, line) (Piccadilly Garden Sea salt and black pepper spinach.

Leicester Square and Covent Covent and Square Leicester

6341 or n0333 32 32 105 and a brief description of the 4 5 Mix the eggs and milk together, problem. The duty engineer will Green Stepney and Green season and pour into the pan. Cover

Gas leak – if you smell gas Tasting menu:

call you back at once. Turnham Green, Parsons 3 and cook gently for 5 minutes.

or suspect a gas leak: busker Andrew

q 6 Preheat the grill to medium-high. Mansion House, South Ealing South House, Mansion National Grid 0 8 0 0 111 999 2 Costa tucks

TV aerials and entry phones: 7 Grill the tortilla for 6-8 minutes,

into John’s Jubilee line Jubilee Lift breakdown: 21st Century Lifts this is not an emergency situation 1 until golden on top. Check that the q020 8676 5700 and can wait until we reopen. tortilla egg has set, then serve hot or cold. free events October to December

Saturday 7 October Thursday 19 to Sat 21 October Until Friday 17 November WELLBEING DAY LONDON SURF/FILM FESTIVAL UNCONSCIOUS ARCHIVES // At Centre 151, 151 Whiston Road, E2. At Regent Street Cinema, 309 Regent EMOTION + THE TECH(NO)BODY From 10am to 5pm. Food, workshops, St, W1B. International surf/ film/art/ At the Austrian Cultural Forum, SW7. performances, arts and crafts, massage. culture, with music, talks, pop-ups etc. From 6-9pm. Sound art, experimental www.londonsurffilmfestival.com film, software programming, laboratory Tuesday 10 to Sat 21 October culture, sculpture, radio, ephemeral art, 2017 RENAISSANCE Friday 20 to Sat 21 October instrument building, post internet art. PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE BEEFSY: A STUDY IN SAUSAGE At Getty Images Gallery, 46 Eastcastle At 15 Bateman Street, London W1D. Until Saturday 18 November Street, W1. From Mon-Fri 10am to From 9am to 6pm. Re-creating in meat WHAT’S YOURS IS MINE 5.30pm, Saturday from 12 to 5.30pm. art works from the likes of Tracy Emin At Bartha Contemporary, 25 Margaret Outstanding work from emerging and and Andy Warhol. Plus original works Street, W1. Tues to Friday from 11am established photographers. Fundraiser by some of our most promising artists. to 6pm, Sat from 12-4pm. Jill Baroff and for young women with breast cancer. Stefana McClure’s first joint exhibition. Thursday 26 October Saturday 14 October HOW TO SPOT A Sunday 19 November 5X15 TALKS: WOMEN ROMAN EMPEROR AUTUMN GARDEN ART IN MILITARY HISTORY At Museum of London, EC2. Family day at Keats House, 10 Keats 12 At the National Army Museum, From 6pm. Lecture by Mary Beard, Grove, NW3. From 1-4pm. Gather Royal Hospital Road, SW3. From 1-5pm. Cambridge professor of classics, on foliage, ferns and beech leaves to create Research by female academics identifying images of Roman emperors. autumn art to brighten up grey days. specialising in military history topics. Sunday 12 November Fri 24 to Sat 25 November Sunday 15 October AFTERNOON POEMS: BYRON, SKILLS LONDON 2017 DIWALI IN LONDON THE SHELLEYS & FRANKENSTEIN At the east entrance, ExCeL London, At Trafalgar Square from 1-7pm. At Keats House, 10 Keats Grove, NW3. One Western Gateway Royal Victoria Celebrate the Hindu, Sikh and Jain From 2-3pm. Poetry and prose explore Dock, E16. From 9.30am to 4pm. festival of lights. Lively music and dance, the darker side of romanticism, the London’s biggest jobs and careers authentic street food market, craft Gothic and macabre. Best to book event for young people aged 15-24. stalls, yoga and much more. http://keatsevents.eventbrite.co.uk Saturday 2 December Weds 18 to Sunday 22 October Tues 14 to Sat 17 November WINTER ARTS FESTIVAL BLOOMSBURY FESTIVAL RUNNING CLUB REGENT’S PARK At the Half Moon Theatre, 43 White Bloomsbury, WC1N, all day. Most free. Meet at tennis court coffee shop from Horse Road, E1. From 10am to 5pm. Bumper programme of arts, science, 6.30-7.30pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays, An affordable arts and crafts fair literature, talks, outdoor arts and family for a free taster session to improve featuring local artists and children’s events. www.bloomsburyfestival.org.uk your running style, speed and stamina. book illustrators.

POOR SERVICE OR Ordering repairs Contact us UNFAIR TREATMENT? Our Wood Lane offices are If you think we have treated you Call the team direct on Monday to Friday between 9.30am and open from Monday to Friday, unfairly or one of our services has 5.30pm: q 020 8743 4422 from 9.30am to 5.30pm. been below an acceptable standard, Email: repairsresponseteam@ please call us to ask for a complaints womenspioneer.co.uk Call in or write to: 227 Wood form or to make an appointment so Lane, London W12 0EX we can discuss the matter. For a serious risk to health and Phone us: q 020 8749 7112 q 020 8749 7112 safety or to our property out of h [email protected] hours, see page 10 for numbers Contact us by email or internet: to call in an emergency. [email protected] If you would like independent advice contact your MP or councillors or These numbers are only to be www.womenspioneer.co.uk call the Housing Ombudsman Service used for a situation that cannot Repairs: q 020 8743 4422 on q0300 111 3000. wait until our office reopens. www.housing-ombudsman.co.uk

EDITED AND DESIGNED BY L THOMPSON. PRINTED BY COLOURSET ON CYCLUS OFFSET: 100% RECYCLED PAPER