Free ✱ bi-monthly ✱ in-house news & events ✱ November 2020 ✱ Issue No 5

Islington lad, national hero: Dickie Bull wins Goldfinger: it’s a first national award for for Robin in ‘lifetime contribution’ News came in just before the last Barnsbury News went to print in Bloom Awards of former caretaker Dickie Bull’s well- deserved scoop in the national Housing Heroes Awards. Dickie’s 43 years of unbroken service to Barnsbury HA tenants, many of you also his neighbours, saw him walk off with the award for tenant lifetime contribution in the competition run by ’s Chartered Institute of Housing. It’s a fitting tribute to a man whose team of caretakers got a 97% satisfaction rating in our tenants’ survey last year. Dickie also single-handedly ran the emergency repairs service until his retirement in March, aged 73. Dickie is a local lad and life-long Islington resident. He was born in Drayton Park and has been a BHA tenant since 1977. Dickie lives on Morland Mews with wife Jean, who worked for us for 38 years.

Robin takes gold! This lush balcony, nurtured by Morland Mews artist Robin Don, deservedly won gold for best container garden in the Islington in Bloom Awards in October. Robin, pictured, was photographed showing how he managed to keep his coffee mornings going during lockdown. In spring we’ll be launching our own competition for those of you with green (or gold) fingers. Look out for details

PICTURE CREDIT: FRANCK LEBOUC-MAZE PICTURE in Barnsbury News early next year.

✱ barnsbury.org 1 ✱ November 2020 Can we call you? Football pitch at top site Parking/storage arrears Morland Mews news Tenants & Residents Association Rubbish and recycling closed for lockdown members have been invited along Do we have your phone number? At the last resident panel meeting Garage conversions with other residents who have told Islington council is reviewing our If you have changed your phone We have closed the football we discussed the problem of us they are interested in taking planning bid for better rubbish and We will on 18 November hold number recently please let us pitch and it will stay closed until tenants who owe us rent for their part. If we haven’t invited you recycling services on the estate. the first meeting with residents know in case we need to get in the lockdown is lifted. We are storage and/or parking spaces. and you would like to be involved, One that can go ahead now is to appoint a tenant steering touch. If we don’t have your email however letting Thornhill Primary The panel supported our taking a contact Dean. We’ll make sure all converting a garage into a committee to oversee consultation address, that too may prove very use the pitch for PE lessons. much tougher stance so we will of you know meeting outcomes bespoke recycling facility. with residents over the garage helpful. Call q020 7704 2324 or We are also keeping the play be doubling our efforts to collect and topics, and when meetings All going to plan, this will be conversion works. email E [email protected] area on the top site open. arrears in the coming weeks. take place (all are online for now). installed in December.

And here’s some good Getting your homes news: first, how very Time to dust down Our services over lockdown shipshape for winter wonderful you are! Estate caretaking How to contact us to avoid call-outs the Barnsbury spirit To make sure all our estates Emails sent to info@barnsbury. We were blown away by the stay in good order, caretaker org are checked throughout We’re doing our best to get all goodwill and kindness towards of goodwill again Spencer will be staying on the day and sent on to the best your homes winter-ready and neighbours shown by so many normal duty during lockdown. person to deal with the matter. catch up with the repairs backlog. of you in the earlier lockdown. Our contractors are calling on Phone between We hope more of you will feel able This is our second chance to stop the virus circulating. Our offices 9.30am-1pm those of you who need a repair Our offices are still closed and and one of us will to help out if needed over the next 2-5.30pm and doing gas and electrical Please stick to the rules. They are there to save lives. and staff are working from pick up your call. We will transfer few months. Even little gestures safety checks where needed. other sites, mainly their home. your call or take a message if can make others feel less lonely. And breaking them could lead to a very stiff fine They are wearing full PPE and You can contact us in working the member of our team picking keeping a safe distance for your hours by phone or email. up the phone cannot deal with q safety and their own. A very worrying 92.8% of north Household bubbles your query. 020 7704 2324 Londoners, most from Islington, broke social distancing rules Bubbles are a welcome Winter repairs leaflet Please read the winter repairs during the first lockdown. change from the first lockdown NEWS IN BRIEF leaflet we distributed to all homes. These findings, published in but come with rules. Make We don’t want any of you left September, followed research by sure you understand them. Food, vouchers and one- We want to know how you felt without power, coping with a flood Metropolitan University. Bubbles can only be between off grants to help you about the way we responded, or burst pipe or finding the heating We hope that won’t be the case the same two households. through hard times whether we were able to resolve won’t work. It’s stressful for you this time. So here’s a refresher. the issue for you, how helpful we and emergency call-outs run Support bubble With London under lockdown One household can form a were, and much more. some risk of spreading Covid-19. again, unemployment rising and The rules support bubble with one other The survey is part of a wider ✱ No indoor meetings with any some of you again furloughed, adult, if the adult lives alone ✱ review we’re carrying out to see Don’t forget to tell us if you people not from your own we know finances are strained. what we could do to better haven’t had your boiler checked household, unless it is the one But between us, the council, Childcare bubble respond to complaints. If you since the start of 2020. This is an other adult in your ‘bubble’. The lets you share child care government grants and charities haven’t had a survey form and extremely important inspection ✱ Keep a 2m distance from anyone with one other adult living on like the Cripplegate Foundation want to add your views, please and it has to be done every year from another home. their own, for a child of 13 or and Pillion Trust Foodbank, there email for your own safety. ✱ You are encouraged to go out younger. It is an informal deal are ways to help you get through [email protected] to exercise, with others from - no one gets paid ✱ the next few months. PICTURE CREDITS: JEANETTA POZNIAK JEANETTA CREDITS: PICTURE your own home or with one See page 7 for some of the ✱ To report a repair other adult from another Rules on support bubbles: options. If nothing seems to fit www.gov.uk/guidance/making- Enjoy the autumn sights household, at a safe distance. your situation and you are To report a repair or tell us if you have not had the If you aren’t able to go for long a-support-bubble-with- ✱ You should otherwise only go struggling, give us a call and gas appliances in your home checked this year, call walks, pop over to another-household and www. Thornhill out for essential journeys. we’ll do our best to help. us on q020 7704 2324 or log your repair using our , where Janice and other gov.uk/guidance/local-covid- Gardens ✱ Wear a face covering in public. website www.barnsbury.org volunteers toiled over spring and alert-level-high#childcare ✱ Wash your hands regularly, and Antisocial behaviour: summer to gorgeous effect. To report an emergency out of hours for at least 20 seconds. did our response help? , where Heath For emergencies only when our staff are off duty: Jeanetta from Gissing Walk took We’ve sent out a survey to all of If you or anyone else in your home (or your support bubble) has Mon-Thurs 5:30pm to 9:30am q 0772 530 2389 these stunning pictures, may be you who in the last couple of Covid-19 symptoms or has been told to self isolate you must stay Weekends, 5:30pm on Friday to 9:30am on too far for now, with non-essential years have made a complaint to at home. You should only leave home if you have been told to get Monday q 0300 131 7300 travel banned. So see page 5 for us about antisocial behaviour a test. To book a test call q119 or use the NHS app. another lovely local alternative. in or around your neighbourhood.

✱ barnsbury.org 2 ✱ November 2020 ✱ barnsbury.org 3 ✱ November 2020 Thornhill Gardens: an easy walk and lovely destination New River Walk: Islington’s secret Thornhill Gardens now has volunteers ran a street sale noticeboard. Look out for It’s not a natural river, nor is it entrance by the Myddleton its autumn colours and in front of her house, raising regular information and new, but it is a lovely walk full Arms in Road, magnificent bare trees, a magnificent £450, which updates posted there. of bridges, ponds and trees. opposite Canonbury Gardens. writes Janice, and by spring we’ve spent on the gardens. Please come along to The New River was built 400 It emerges on St Paul’s Road. it will be absolutely glorious Another who loves being relax and enjoy the space. years ago by labourers paid by To find out more and maybe as we have planted about in the garden but is unable With lockdown back upon New River Sir Hugh Myddleton, to carry plot a longer walk, see www. Thornhill £300 worth of bulbs. to do hands-on work, has us, the beautiful garden Walk during the water into London from the londongardenstrust.org/ Gardens One of our new given £200 for our new can refresh and delight. first lockdown Lea Valley. You can find one features/NewRiver.htm PICTURE CREDITS: JEANETTA POZNIAK JEANETTA CREDITS: PICTURE BOTH PICTURES © LOCAL HISTORY Voice of wisdom:

tenants officially Here we go again! CHARLIE ROUND-TURNER back on board How Barnsbury’s Our special tree in the garden has blossomed, grown green then red and now has bare boughs. And we’re roads got named Janice Walsh and Chris Bell are now officially members of in lockdown again! Dot Gibson reports In the late 1960s Islington Council had thought the our board of management. Janice, a retired teacher and Barnsbury Street buildings so dilapidated they were Since we View residents We are guests at the friendly Barnsbury News regular, was are mainly older people, we are ‘Big Sunday Lunch’ put on by the ready to pull them down, writes Janice Walsh. one of our very first tenants. being especially careful, but I am residents of Highbury Mews and Chris works in housing for a Local architect Ken Pring, with friends and associates, sure we are smiling at each other also at their Christmas event, both Pugin Court council. underneath the mask! with great food, drink and music. fought to keep them and the germ of an idea for Some of us came to Highbury Barnsbury Housing Association began And so to the new names. In their own words View when we were comparatively In the February issue of Don’t be a stranger One result of the pandemic is we young pensioners (in our 70s!) and The Lofting Road Barnsbury News we will ask Morland Mews have had no chance to properly now we are older and keen The area behind Barnsbury Street, Some were already named. estate owes its name to celebrated Janice and Christ to say, in meet our new neighbours. So let’s to properly meet the new young on Lofting Road, was a municipal had been named artist George Morland who their own words, why their Lofting Road take this opportunity to say a big pensioners who have moved in. dump so Pring & Associates were after Dutch merchant John Lofting, ‘Imbibed deeply of alcoholic being on our board makes for hello to all of them and explain We’re sure you will be able to able to restore much of Barnsbury born around 1695. After settling in refreshments’. George generally better decisions for all of you. what we’d do in normal times. help us all spread our wings and Street. They also sent plans to the London he manufactured fire- lived in inns around rural Islington. We would meet to elect the suggest new things to do. council to grow ‘social properties’, engines but then turned to making Born in 1763, he died in 1804. chair, secretary and treasurer of Already there are thoughts of an now our homes. thimbles with Prince Rupert brass. Named after famous our residents’ association. outdoor table tennis table and/or The new Lofting Road homes It earned him a fortune and made Pugin Court Thornhill Road now Gothic revivalist Augustus Pugin, We have morning coffee on exercise equipment. We also want won a government award for good for many new jobs in Barnsbury. a French immigrant architect safer for children Tuesdays and afternoon tea on to encourage the young front-line housing in 1977. They were judged , once a drove and right-hand man to John Nash. Thursdays in the bungalow and workers living here to take part ‘possibly the most important road, was named after Robert His even more famous son of the If you haven’t already noticed, we celebrate our birthdays. and get to know us better. housing development of the 1970s’. Banks Jenkinson 1770-1828, same name worked with local Thornhill Road is now a ‘school We also have our annual party in But Ken and his associates now prime minister from 1812-1827 architect Sir Charles Barry, who street’, open only to cyclists our lovely garden with lots of food, So lots to look forward to and had to name their new streets. and the Earl of Liverpool. designed Cloudesley Church and and pedestrians during school drink and music for all residents news of the vaccine means we had been named Milner Square the Palace of . Pugin opening and closing times. and their families. are moving nearer to the light at after the ground landlord of the was an exceptional designer and This temporary road block We have at least one spring/ the end of the tunnel and our square - Thomas Milner Gibson. his designs have long been is to make the road safer for summer outing, a Christmas party special tree will blossom again. Of course the adjoining square repeated and revered, notably by children and cut pollution and and a visit to a pantomime. In the meantime, take care. was Gibson Square. Fancy that! the Arts and Crafts movement. congestion. It’s an experiment George [Morland] was a by the council, which plans to precocious and fluent worker Gissing Walk Named after author review how well it’s working SHARE YOUR GOOD NEWS and produced a huge amount George Gissing, born in the USA after the first 18 months. of work, in spite of leading a in 1857. Gissing later moved to In grim times we all need a spot of cheering news. Let us know Not all vehicles are banned. dissolute life and often being Islington where he wrote the first your own bright spots to help us lighten up . If you live or work on Thornhill Barnsbury News drunk, in hiding from his of 14 novels describing the Maybe someone in your home has passed a tough exam (or more Road you can register for a creditors, or in prison. degradation caused by poverty. School Street permit. Also than ones) or you’ve finally passed your driving test or welcomed a New Grub Street was set in exempt are Blue Badge holders. new member to your family (pets or children!). No matter how trivial, The Oxford Dictionary of Art and . A close friend of Morland Mews we’d love to hear from you! Contact [email protected] Artists (Oxford University Press) author HG Wells, he died in 1903.

✱ barnsbury.org 4 ✱ November 2020 ✱ barnsbury.org 5 ✱ November 2020 q FREE ADVICE: DO YOU QUALIFY FOR THE WARM HOMES DISCOUNT? SOLACE IN ISLINGTON Reports of domestic abuse Call 020 3795 5070 or email have risen by over 66% this advocacy@solacewomensaid. Green Doctors can tell you To book a time to talk to DOMESTIC ABUSE: year. If you need help because org, Mon to Fri, 9am to 5pm. Have you tried calling Green if you qualify for the warmer Green Doctors, at absolutely no NEED HELP NOW? of domestic abuse, contact Doctors for free help and advice homes discount, which could cost to you, in person or over Solace in Islington for free, IF YOU ARE IN DANGER that could cut your power bills save you up to £140 a year. the phone, call q0300 365 003 CALL THE LONDON FREEPHONE confidential support. E NOW CALL THE POLICE but still keep your home warm They can also help you apply or email greendoctorsLDN@ q Solace helps men and women and cosy in winter? for this government discount. groundwork.org.uk 0808 802 5565 affected by domestic abuse. q999

HOW AND WHERE TO GET HELP New to the staff team Taking Barnsbury HA Food and hygiene - Michael Bunker items from Pillion Track and trace payment If you have to leave home for one tiny step closer to if you have to self-isolate your safety, Islington Council Trust Foodbank may be able to help with a If you have been told to self- crisis isolate by NHS Test and Trace payment for vital items for any zero-carbon homes with you. Get in touch A lot of you have now been or you have tested positive for children with Felicity for details. helped by the Pillion Trust Covid-19 you may qualify for a Foodbank, the last still running one-off £500 grant. It comes Funding pots set up A recent calculation by home energy experts Enhabit in Islington. So we’re pleased with conditions, like having a low by Barnsbury HA to have been able to help it in has estimated that your homes and our services send income and being unable to work Michael Bunker, pictured, return, with a £500 donation. at home. The grant scheme is run BHA tenant hardship fund if the has joined us as our new around 625 tonnes of greenhouse gases into the air The foodbank stocks food locally by Islington Council. pandemic has cut your income asset manager. Michael is every year. And 97% of that comes from your homes We set up a new fund to help any and hygiene items for anyone responsible for making sure Apply via the council’s website of you struggling with costs due who needs them. You can find our homes and estates are at www.islington.gov.uk or, if to Covid-19. It could help pay for it at the Ringcross Centre on well maintained and that our By 2030 all our homes will have you find this difficult, call We fuel bills, white goods (like a fridge Lough Road, open Monday to ANNUAL staff and contractors work to to be much more energy efficient Are Islington q020 7527 8222 or cooker if yours has broken) or Friday, from 12 noon to 4pm. GREENHOUSE the highest standards. than they are now to meet a tough an essential piece of furniture. ✱ You can call in for food and GAS EMISSIONS Michael is now also in new government standard. Claiming extreme BHA bursary award scheme for hygiene items twice a week, charge of the work we are CO2 ■ FROM hardship support further education or training but not two days running. planning to make your homes In for the long haul YOUR HOMES Our bursary award scheme can ✱ You are not limited to one Over time we want to bring all of The council may be able to help if: cheaper to heat by improving 606.25 TONNES help you with the cost of gaining parcel or pre-packed bag. your homes up to a higher standard 625 ✱ you’re on a low income and their energy efficiency. new skills that could lead to your ✱ No referral needed but if it’s of energy efficiency, making them TONNES ■ FROM struggling financially getting a well paid and rewarding your first visit please bring more liveable and more affordable OUR SERVICES ✱ you need a vital household item job. The bursary can be used to proof you live in Islington. to heat.But it won’t be a quick fix. 18.75 TONNES ✱ a housing benefit or income cut cover the cost of school, college Fire safety works and Most people would probably is making it hard to pay your rent. or university fees, books needed also do the hardest work last. But clearing your gutters To apply, email the RSS team at for courses, for other learning that would mean leaving those of Enhabit has given us a very clear the council (ResidentSupportTeam materials, and educational trips. Over the next few weeks you may you in the hardest homes to heat idea of the scale of work needed @islington.gov.uk) or contact our find workers outside your building paying the highest bills for longer. to all your homes and the likely Struggling to pay your housing manager Felicity. clearing leaves and other debris So that’s where we plan to start. costs. If we move quickly we may rent or now in arrears? from the to And if we can make our Barnsbury qualify for government grants to Crisis grant gutters and drains If you are in arrears or struggling avoid problems with rain water. Street homes models of energy help cover our costs. Levels of violent and controlling to pay your rent, please get in Work at Highbury View to bring efficiency then your other homes It sounds good on paper behaviour were horrifying even touch with Felicity. We can offer all flats up to the will be a walk in the park. but real life is more complex. highest fire before the first lockdown. It then advice on welfare support and is now underway. We will shortly start work on an For some of you it will mean some safety standard got worse. Please get help if you maybe able to help in other ways. New or upgraded front doors will empty flat in Barnsbury Street to or even a lot of disruption. And of need it. See above for details of Please don’t ignore the problem offer the best protection against transform it into a warm, cosy and course we have the pandemic. Solace in Islington. as it will likely get worse. smoke and flames, and carbon quiet home. You will all be able to We will shortly begin talks with A Morland Mews tenant monoxide and smoke detectors visit it to see the proof yourself. those of you living on Barnsbury who ripped off fire-safe doors are being fitted throughout. Helping us with this work are Street to talk through our ideas If you’re confused by the many different possible options, and you without our consent, then A reminder to all not to store two of the UK’s leading home and discuss the challenges of certainly won’t be alone, or nothing seems to fit your circumstances dumped them on the estate, items or leave rubbish in shared energy specialists, Sarah making your homes energy but you’re struggling to get by, please get in touch with housing can expect our bill for getting areas in your building. If a fire Wigglesworth Architects and efficient. All things going to plan, manager Felicity for advice or a friendly steer in the right direction. the doors refitted to the flat. broke out this could be deadly. consultants Enhabit. work should start in spring. E [email protected] ❙ q 020 7704 2324 ❙ www.barnsbury.org

✱ barnsbury.org 6 ✱ November 2020 ✱ barnsbury.org 7 ✱ November 2020 ABOUT BARNSBURY ews n 9 8 6 2 5 7 1 3 4 2 5 4 8 1 3 9 7 6 Editor: Dean McGlynn Your contributions welcome 1 7 3 9 6 4 5 8 2 If you or a group of you would like To contact us or contribute write 3 9 7 4 8 6 2 5 1 16b Cloudesley Street, N1 OHU, to write an opinion piece or share to 5 6 2 7 3 1 8 4 9 email [email protected] or call good news (or bad!) or just ask 8 4 1 5 9 2 7 6 3 q020 7704 2324. We have limited what others think, send it in. 6 3 8 1 7 9 4 2 5 space so may edit contributions. We’d also love your photos or We will not print anything cruel, pictures. Please send them to 7 2 9 6 4 5 3 1 8 SEPT ISSUE SUDOKU 4 1 5 3 2 8 6 9 7 libellous or defamatory. Dean formatted as large jpg files. ✱

REVEAL YOUR Tenant board member Janice It reminded us of a 1977 poem in Walsh found this poem by 18th then highly esteemed publication POETIC SIDE - century satirist William Hone that News of the Mews, crafted by THEN STRIDE suggests he had a softer spot for Morland Mews tenant Byron Lord, Barnsbury than he did for British whom some of you might know. AWAY WITH £20 politicians at the time. We’re sure more of you have a talent for iambic pentameter or From William Hone’s Table just ribald limericks. Send in your , written around 1827 Book poems to [email protected] “You who are anxious for and we’ll reward the best with a country seat, the usual Amazon voucher. Pure air, green meadows For your inspiration, a sample and suburban views, AM ER from Byron Lord’s masterpiece AZON VOUCH Rooms snug and light ...... not over large but neat. “There was a room full of people, And gardens water’d bodies heaving about with refreshing dews, A voice from the back says his We’re pleased to declare Dean May find a spot adapted boiler’s gone out winner of of Barnsbury Street to your taste, Someone’s heating’s gone off, the fiendishly tough quiz by Near Barnsbury Park, another’s toilet won’t flush Janice in the last Barnsbury or rather Barnsbury Town And it looks the mews could do . Definitely no relation to News Where everything looks with a brush. [email protected]! elegant and chaste [ I resent the insinuation! - Ed] And wealth reposes on a bed of down. ¢

SUDOKU Are you grieving, 4 6 8 7 isolated or lonely? 7 1 This year has been hard. Many of you have been isolated, 1 7 8 6 unwell and some are grieving. Support is available. We Are 4 6 1 To solve the puzzle, Islington is run by the council each 3x by 3x box and with local charities. If it cannot 7 4 5 2 each column going help you it will direct you to an across and down must agency it thinks suitable. 3 7 9 have all the numbers 1 If you are 50 or older, Age UK to 9, with no number may also offer you support. 5 4 6 8 used twice. The sum total of each box = 45. We Are Islington q020 7527 8222 7 4 Answers to this sudoku will be given in the next issue Age UK Islington q 3 5 2 1 of Barnsbury News. 020 7281 6018

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✱ barnsbury.org 8 ✱ November 2020