RICH WHITE - Wembley Vision Report 07812444612 [email protected] www.counterwork.co.uk Introduction My initial intention was to discover resident’s opinions and thoughts about Wembley, and also what they would change about it. The purpose of this was to generate visual and written material from which I will then develop an artwork. Processes I spent four days (from the 3rd to the 6th December) based at The Coming Soon Club in Cottrell House. I had prepared a questionnaire for visitors to fill in, and also provided paper, pens and pencils for people to leave their drawings and thoughts. In addition to this I also created a slideshow which was continually updated with new texts and images as they occurred. The initial texts and images were created by myself in order to provide visitors with more information and stimulus. The text posed questions and suggestions such as ‘What would you like to Workshop tables at Cottrell House see happen in Wembley?’ and ‘Draw a picture of Wembley in the future’. As the project progressed I added quotes from the questionnaires and from conversations that occurred. The images were photographs I had taken on my mobile phone whilst out and about in Wembley. I would try to take unusual, but still beautiful, images as a way showing residents a side of Wembley they might normally miss due to familiarity. The images were also posted to twitter with the tag #wembleyvision. Images and drawings from attendees were added as the project progressed. As well as being at Cottrell House I also spent time walking around various parts of Wembley observing how people used the different spaces along the ‘Fringe’ area and around the stadium. People were reluctant to spend time talking in the street, not only due to the cold weather, but also a significant hostility towards being approached. I had more luck in the new Civic Centre, which not only provided shelter, it was also a more conducive atmosphere where people were more comfortable being approached. There was a diverse range of people in the Civic Centre. Over the four days a small number of people also came to Cottrell House to see the wider Wembley Vision project information and we were able to have protracted conversations about Wembley which provided excellent information. On the third evening a dinner was held, attended by members of Brent Council, a member of the GLA, local small businesses based at Coming Soon Club, urban planners and cultural providers. The conversation asked what the vision for Wembley should be, how to avoid the mistakes of failed regeneration projects, and also looked at how Wembley had changed. The fourth day saw the Small Business Exhibition being held at the Civic Centre. This provided a good opportunity to talk with many independent businesses based in Wembley. Rich White 07812444612 [email protected] www.counterwork.co.uk 1 of 10 Results I collected 21 questionnaires and had numerous conversations with local residents and businesses, visitors to Cottrell House, members of The Coming Soon Club, and attendees of organised events. Below, in no particular order, are some of the standout responses to the question ‘What would you like to see happen in Wembley?’: - More creative space. - More people talking and sharing. - An event not in the stadium. - A reason to come to Wembley [that isn’t stadium/arena/LDO-based]. - More social spaces. - I would like a quiet library. - I want to grow my own vegetables. - The community to come together... - Food! Fashion! Music! Creation! - Inspire the children of Wembley. - Community, integration. - An end to violence against women/domestic violence. - A city farm. - A proper square. - More art. - A better bus service. - Facelift for Wembley Highroad. - A Speakers’ Corner. - More activities/events at a smaller scale. - Lots of interesting small things, more residents trying things. - Things you can use. Quotes from conversations: - The large statement buildings are Marmite moments. - [The stadium area is] a place in Wembley that doesn’t feel like Wembley. - Do the fountains only go on at night? - Food is a great connector. - The feeling of being stuck in traffic, even as a pedestrian. - Stitching the small with the large. - Recognising the value of what you’ve got. Along with this the longer conversations I had revealed some interesting ideas and histories which could provide starting points for sculptural responses: - Self-suffiiency: A gentleman suggested that he would like to be able to grow his own vegetables, and also proposed the idea of a city farm as he felt the provision for allotments was lacking. Through our conversation we came up with the idea of a space-saving vegetable trough - a stacked series of troughs that allow you to maximise how much land you can plant in if you have limited space. Rich White 07812444612 [email protected] www.counterwork.co.uk 2 of 10 - Speakers’ Corner: A frequent response to the questionnaire pointed out a desire for truly public space and somewhere for the community to come together. A visitor to Coming Soon Club suggested an adaptation of Speakers’ Corner involving a platform that allowed multiple people to stand and speak in turn. - Watkin’s Folly: After being informed of Watkin’s Tower by a number of visitors I did a little research to find out more about Sir Edward Watkin and his tower. From what I found it seems to me that Watkin was directly responsible for Wembley as it is today. Watkin was chairman of the Metropolitan Railway - which later became the Metropolitan Line of the London Underground. In a scheme to attract more passengers onto his railway he developed the idea of building an amusement park just outside of London on a tract of land near a Middlesex hamlet called Wembley. This park would have boating lakes, water features, gardens and areas for playing sport. The centrepiece was to be the Tower, inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris. A design competition was held with the winner being an ambitious eight-legged 366m metal tower containing observation decks, restaurants, Turkish baths, a hotel and an observatory amongst other things. Due to financial difficulties the design was scaled back from the octagonal eight-legged design to a cheaper and more conventional four-legged design. Construction began in 1892. The park was accessible via the Metropolitan Railway and the newly built Wembley Park Station, opened in 1894, with construction of the Tower still underway. The first stage of the Tower was completed in 1895, standing at 47m. Due to the reduction in legs there was increased pressure on each footing, resulting in the structure becoming unstable through subsidence. Work stopped and the construction company went into liquidation. Watkin died in 1901 and the unfinished section was demolished over four years from 1904-07. Despite this the Park itself continued to be a draw for sports and recreation. After WWI Wembley was selected as the site for the British Empire Exhibition in 1924 (a Colonial Exhibition whose aim was “to stimulate trade, strengthen bonds that bind mother Country to her Sister States and Daughters, to bring into closer contact the one with each other, to enable all who owe allegiance to the British flag to meet on common ground and learn to know each other”). The British Empire Exhibition Stadium was built for this occasion, and later became known as Wembley Stadium and the home of the England football team. This leads us to Wembley as it is today. Source: wikipedia.org Rich White 07812444612 [email protected] www.counterwork.co.uk 3 of 10 - The White Horse Bridge: The bridge that crosses - and serves as the access to - Wembley Stadium Station is named after an incident that occurred during the 1923 FA Cup Final. A grey (although appearing white in photo and film) police horse named ‘Billy’ was used to restore order after large numbers of people invaded the pitch before kick-off. In the version of the story I heard the detail of a small child being plucked from the crowd by the mounted policeman was included. I find the naming - or designing - of the bridge unusual in that, apart from being white, there is no point-of-reference to link it to the story or a horse. - Unfinished ramp: A story recounted to me by a resident concerned the construction of the split ramp that leads from Olympic way to the present Stadium. According to the story the west ramp was left without reaching the ground for some time due land ownership rights taking longer to resolve. Photographs and Drawings A selection of photographs I took during walks around Wembley, and drawings made at Cottrell House by, and in response to, visitors. Rich White 07812444612 [email protected] www.counterwork.co.uk 4 of 10 Rich White 07812444612 [email protected] www.counterwork.co.uk 5 of 10 Rich White 07812444612 [email protected] www.counterwork.co.uk 6 of 10 Rich White 07812444612 [email protected] www.counterwork.co.uk 7 of 10 Rich White 07812444612 [email protected] www.counterwork.co.uk 8 of 10 Conclusions A majority of people expressed a desire for more useful public space, and in particular a central hub of activity - a square or European-style plaza - that would provide a reason to stop or meet there. Coupled with this was the idea of enabling a more integrated community. Food was identified as a great way of bridging gaps between people. In my walks around Wembley I noticed that a lot of space which initially looked like public space was actually privately owned, such as the areas around the Stadium and Arena.