Deptford Stories Is a Celebration of a Local Community and Performers Evocatively Recreate Scenes from the Past
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Friday 7th July 2006 The Story Deptford - the name to me meant unimaginable squalor… Act 2 The Show Welcome to Deptford in the late nineteenth century. A cast of over 100 present stories based on historical ...unhealthy rooms, impure language and deeds, research and interviews with local people about their drunkenness, blasphemy and vice … memories of Deptford and The Albany. The show opens with a scene about families living in cramped and squalid Lord Tarletons observations about life in Deptford at conditions in Albury Street at the turn of the nineteenth the turn of the last century. He went on to help set up century. A re-enactment of A Masque of Life, which was the Deptford Fund, which later became the Albany. first performed at the old Albany in 1907, follows as the Deptford Stories is a celebration of a local community and performers evocatively recreate scenes from the past. its changing fortunes since the time of Queen Victorias A 1930s ballroom, a party in the late 1950s and a Rock reign. At the heart of the story is the development of the Against Racism event are the backdrops for a performance old Albany, which was established as a response to the that tells the story of a centre that has supported its local extreme poverty and hardship experienced by the community for over a century. inhabitants of Deptford. ...The Albany is a beacon in South East London. Act 1 - The Promenade The Guardian newspaper, 1972 Ghostly figures from the past come alive in the back Deptford Stories is an arts and heritage project that celebrates streets of Deptford to tell the story of a time rife with Deptfords community over the last 100 years. It has been organised by Art unemployment and poverty. The Gut Girls, Edgar Wallace, of Regeneration in collaboration with The Albany. author of King Kong, and Keir Hardie, the founder of the Labour Party all have a tale to tell. The History The Albany was originally established in 1894 as the alternative career opportunities through the Albany Deptford Fund. The Founders wanted to improve the plight Institutes School of Domestic Economy. The school opened of Deptfords community, many of whom suffered from in 1899 and provided training in the skills of domestic deprivation and the adverse effects of unemployment as a science - such as cooking, sewing, laundry - to enable young result of the closure of the docks in 1869. girls to move from the slaughterhouse into domestic service for a local family. In 1889 the foundation stone of the Deptford Funds purpose built building, the Albany Institute, was laid and in As the twentieth century gathered pace, the range and 1899 the building, on the corner of Lamerton Street, Albury extent of the Albany Institutes activities flourished. By the Street and Creek Road, was officially opened by its patron, 1930s there were classes and workshops for grandmothers, the Duchess of Albany. grandfathers and married mothers, a Poor Mans Lawyers Service, Happy Evenings for children, a nursery, a Babies The Deptford Funds first major project was a Sick Hospital which provided care for poorly babies, and a gym Kitchen in Creek Road for the convalescent poor. The for unemployed men. Kitchen provided simple meals at a penny each of meat with vegetables, fish with rice, milk puddings and beef As one of Deptfords main community buildings, the or veal tea. Albany Institute served multiple functions throughout World War II. It served meals through the London Meals Much of the Albany Institutes early efforts were directed Service, the basement and gym became an air raid shelter at improving the lives and opportunities for the Gut Girls, women who, from the age of 14, were employed to work in in 1939, and the building was also used as a third line rest the Foreign Cattle Market, a slaughterhouse for imported centre, providing overnight accommodation for people meat, which opened in 1871 following the closure of the whose houses has been destroyed during the Blitz. Given docks. The Duchess of Albany successfully lobbied for the the degree of wartime destruction to Deptford, the Albany prohibition of the Gut Girls work and then provided Institute was fortunate to emerge from the war unscathed. After the war the Albany Institute continued much of its One of the many campaigns that the Albany supported in pre-war activities, with clubs and outings for mothers and the 1970s was Rock Against Racism RAR, a national anti- grandparents. There was a growth in recreational activities racism campaign, which brought black and white musicians for children, with the basement becoming an efficiently run together in a series of concerts across the country. During boxing club for young boys in 1942 re-formed in 1965. the Albanys support of RAR, in July 1978, the Albany Empire, - the name the Combination had given to the Despite its continued use by the local community, by the Albanys theatre - was burnt down. The fire has mid 1960s the Albany Institute was in decline. Fortunately subsequently been attributed to an arson attack by a group the Albany Institutes fortunes were transformed with opposed to Albanys support of RAR and its wider the appointment of a director, Paul Curno in 1966, who commitment to multiculturalism. gave the Albany Institute a new lease of life, focusing on Irrespective of the damage caused by the fire to the social issues of importance to local people. The Albany Albany Empire in 1978, the staff and board of the Albany Institute was renamed the Albany and the Combination, a had long been planning and fundraising for a new building, touring fringe theatre group became the resident theatre accessible and specifically designed to fulfill the needs of a company at the Albany. This was the beginning of a fusion modern Deptford community. At the end of the 1970s the between community work and the arts that still informs old building was demolished to make way for road the Albany today. widening and in 1982 the new Albany was officially opened by its new patron, Diana, Princess of Wales. The Theatre Company In order of appearance Promenade Group One: Gut Girl Maid, Alice, 50s Teenager, Albany Staff Rachel Gibson Narrator Young Soldier , 50s Teenager Bola Bamgboye Gut Girl Maid, Ivy, 50s Teenager, Albany Staff Catherine Shovlin Grey Lady Jane Adams, Gert, 50s Teenager, Albany Staff Pauline Armour Gut Girl Young Girl, Girl in the Blitz Kerry Connolly Grey Lady Rose, 50s Teenager, Albany Staff Alessandra Perotto Royal Visit: Grey Lady Eileen Martine Ferry Princesses Victorian and Modern, 50s Teenager Shennel Brown Documentary Director Kimberly Walker Market Scene: Promenade Group Two: Suffragette Almu Sequra Narrator Combo Actor Nicky Edmett Suffragette Teri Williams Grey Lady Albany Staff Wabriya King Salvation Army Saphire Modre-Finlay Grey Lady Jane Adams/Peggy Claire McRandal Eleanor Marx Louise Drewett Grey Lady Gert, Albany Staff Elaine Carby Soldier Michael Le Documentary Director Brent Ambacher Irish Home Ruler Desron Ryan back streets of Deptford: Irish Home Ruler Damar Markham Mudlark Fred, 50s Teenager, Albany Staff Oliver Petts Lumper Ervis Halill Edgar Wallace Curator, Albany Staff Antonio Ferraria Temperance Society Member Faye Russell Harridan Mistress, Vera, 50s Teenager Heather Gilmore The Shoppers of Today: Kier Hardie Young Asian Woman Palesa Mokoena Butler, Flanigan, 50s Teenager, Boxer Bill, Albany Staff Paul Stephens Goth Nikki Kosegbe Young Edgar Wallace Jess McFarlane Bored Teen Elizabeth Odukoya King Kong Sam Dransfiel Shopaholic 1 Cynthia Wangai Deptford Fund House: Shopaholic 2 Faye Hoyle Lord Tarleton Master, 50s Teenager, Albany Staff Rankin McFarlane Granddaughter Sharnelle Lopez Reverend Sarge, 50s Teenager, Totter Ben Burke Grandma Joanna Babika Local Business Man Bill, 50s Teenager, Totter Patrick Brown Elder Brother Theo Lobe Street Singer Rachael Bennett Rasta Man Tope Cole Arches Foreign Cattle Market: Stalker Carly Gearing Gut Girl Maid, 50s Teenager, Albany Staff Iris Dove Teenage Mum Aieshia Lindsay Inside the Theatre The First Disco at the Albany 50s Teenager / Albany Staff Ebun Culwin Roots of the Albany 50s Teenagers The Company John Stainer Community Primary School Friday The Story of Immigration and Employment in the 1960s Mahmuda Akhtur, Stephany Alleyroux, Fatin Atirah, Ben Austin, Arran Brown, Jurell Campbell, Shaquille Campbell, The Sunshine Grannies Rochelle Green, Toby Hews, Corin Holloway, Fearghal Norma Walker, Dolceta Dauden, Rose Fowler, Avis Hughes, Maryam Iqbal, Daisy Japes-Waatam, Ece Kafur, Lewingson, Nadine Richardson, Gwendolyn Sewell, Barbara Chemra Mason, Habib Obileye, Ethan ODonnell, Absana Watts, Rahman, Danere Riviere, Monique Smith, Shela Tezo, Leon Thompson, Fran Tuitt, Leah Walsh. Rock Against Racism Concerts St Josephs RC Primary School Saturday Deptford Green School Friday Lincey Bitty, Gowani Brzezinski, Marie-Louise Chin, Henry Shennell Arko-Dadzie, Edward Burkin, T-Sian Charles- Conteh, Amy Duong, Celine Erorh, Cyrillia Falana, Jack Graham, Shannan Cornwall-Hird, Amber Cosgrave, Davina Hanson, Stephane Lagbre, Kayne Steven McQuilkin, Jean Dunn, Ashto Jackson Farha Khan, Courtnei Lindo, Anna Luc Mizero, Jessie Natufe, Bony NDri, Toju Neburagho, Ngo, Sola Oduneye, Melissa Otoo, Marcia Owusu-Mfum, Helen Nguyen, Jonathan Nouble, Deji Olusanya, Olga Eunice Oyabambi, Reanne Phillips, Symone Quest, Femi Chinenye Onyenani, Guerschom Onyumbe, Vanessa Owale, Raji, Alex Scott, Kimone Spence, Riann St John, Shakera Shannon Paton, Viet Pham, Peter Sakila-Musungu, Ruby Sutton-Robotham, Princess Thomas Akpan, Sean Wright,