Love Clapham has just launched a new, better, easier to use online community to help our mission of bringing everyone in Clapham together using this site.  Whether you just want to see who’s in the area or voice a concern about Clapham issues, please join to talk and meet other people in your area. We have a new community events section and an improved directory on the way soon as part of the community. Together we are better connected, better informed and a stronger voice.

Join the Clapham Community!

Yes, you’re right. That is the most amazing picture you have ever seen in your life. As if a man in a wet suit breaking through the ice of a Clapham Common pond wasn’t brilliant enough, a goose decided to honk along and make the picture approximately 1 MILLION TIMES more amazing. Taken on Clapham Common in the winter, John Forbath who runs the Big Squid Dive Centre, donned his wetsuit, cracked open the ice and had a little paddle. Bonkers! This can definitely be filed under ‘don’t try this at home kids’ and ‘only for experts’. John Forbath is one of the nominees for our Clapper of the Year award in the Clapham Awards 2009. More photos in the rest of the post.

What a lovely day for a snorkel on Clapham Common!

Not only do you need to be fully equipped from head to toe, you have to be a professional to do this.

The London Paper is reporting that two men were shot on Wandsworth Road in Clapham. The website says a 25 year old man “was treated for his injuries at a nearby hospital. Some time later, another man arrived at a south London hospital with gunshot wounds. Both men are in a stable condition and their injuries are not thought to be life threatening.” If you have any info, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. UPDATE: @ursulafuchs corrected us to say the shooting happened on Monday night.

Two very exciting things happened to us at the same time this week. Before your imaginations run wild (they’re already running wild aren’t they?) the two things were: 1. going into a cinema projector room 2. meeting someone that has been on The Apprentice. This was accomplished by meeting Clapham Picture House manager and guest star of the 2008 Apprentice series, Mike Matthews, who took the time to speak to Love Clapham about the cinema’s history, its renaissance and its future moves into digital and 3D.

Clapham Picture House is a legend in its own right. Its trendy film-buff feel works well with the unashamed casual blockbuster showings to make it the ideal venue for any film lover. Throw in wine and beer to take in with you and we’re in movie heaven. As Mike goes on to say later, the cinema is as much shaped by the wants of the local Clapham community as anything else, and that’s what makes the cinema a Clapham icon.

A film reel being put together in the Clapham Picture House projector room. It may not look much, but there was something fantastic about it.

Clapham Picture House is one of Clapham’s best known living landmarks and business, but can you share some of the cinema’s history?

The history of the cinema goes way back. The building actually took up the whole of Venn Street and started at Londis. That used to be the front door of the cinema and it used to go right round, literally to the end. This was before the war, and as times changed it had all sorts of different purposes. Then fifteen years ago when Picture House took it over, it was a snooker hall.

We originally opened it as a three screened cinema, two screens downstairs, one upstairs and a small bar. Eight years ago, we bought the building next to us and expanded down, extending the bar, opening the restaurant next door and building the fourth screen above it. It gave us a lot more foot space and more seats. I arrived in Clapham as the general manager about five years ago, but I’ve been with the company for fourteen years at other cinemas around the country.

I jigged things up to get it going again because obviously after fifteen years it needed a push. At the end of 2007 we started the refurb of the entire site, taking twelve weeks, opening the bar up more, putting in new screens, soundproofing, new projectors. Big changes – which is what you can see now.

Cinema in general is performing really well at the moment, why do you think that is?

People have batted around terms like “recession proof” and to me that’s silly to say, we’re all working very hard at the moment to keep the cinema busy. As long as I’ve been a cinema manager there’s been something against cinema, if it hasn’t been videos it’s DVDs. One of the things I’ve done as manager over the years is to change the cinema from being a spur of the moment thing, to more of a night out.

People plan their evenings to go to the cinema now, and what we’ve tried to do as a company is cater for that, hence why we have bars and food. You can have your whole night at the cinema; sit down, have something to eat, drink, take the drink into the cinema while you watch the movie. It gives you the whole night out, which is what people look for, particularly in a recession when disposable income is shrinking, they’re looking for good value for money. I think cinema provides that good value for money.

It’s about escapism really. You can go for a meal out and it costs you £20 – 30 a head, you come to the cinema on a Monday and it costs you £6.50 a head. If you’re a member of the Picture House we give £2 off, so that’s only £4.50. People get two hours of pure escapism, a good film and you’re happy. We try to steady the ship, like every business we’re looking where we can tighten more budgets but we feel confident that we’ll ride the storm out which is great.

Mike Matthews, manager of Clapham Picture House (and star of The Apprentice!)

And there’s a great line-up of films this summer to help…

Yeah, obviously this weekend it’s Transformers, then Public Enemies, Bruno, Harry Potter and at the end of the year from September onwards it’s the Cannes films, the high end, high brow films.

As a local cinema, you have more flexibility, what sets Clapham Picture House apart?

We do completely different things, we obviously show the blockbusters because that’s what the majority of people want to see but we mix it up with events like wine tasting, Q&A sessions, film quiz nights, kids clubs on Saturday mornings, silver screen for over 65’s on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons and then we do mums and babies on a Thursday morning. We do lots of different events to try and keep the community involved in the cinema.

That monster of a machine is what powers one of Clapham Picture House's digital projectors. Forget your DVD player at home, this is the real deal.

Is digital projection making an impact at Clapham Picture House?

We’ve got four screens and three are digital already – screen 1, 2 and 4 – with plans to make screen 3 digital as well, going completely digital. This is great because for a hundred years or so film hasn’t changed. Sound has, with mono to digital surround sound but the actual film hasn’t really until this new digital generation arrived in late 2007.

Now, the quality is unbelievable; I’d never seen anything like it before. Film stock is great when it first comes – and I love film stock, it’s what I grew up with – but the problem is that the more times you show a film it runs through machinery and degrades resulting in black spots. With digital, it’s the same quality ten years later and people notice how crystal clear the colours are. It makes the experience different.

Are you looking into the new 3D phenomenon?

Yes, we’re trialling it in the Ritzy cinema in Brixton, starting with Monsters vs Aliens and soon Ice Age 3D. Plus we’re looking at putting it into screen 2 in Clapham Picture House. The film everyone’s looking for is Avatar at the end of the year, James Cameron’s new title. Kids’ films are great, but you can’t judge the appeal for the majority of people and whether they want to see films in 3D. Avatar is different and will allow us to judge, so hopefully we’ll have 3D in for that.

It’s interesting how 3D has taken off recently…

Have you seen anything in it?

Yes, we saw Monsters vs Aliens and it did add a lot to film

Well, it needed to because the film isn’t great! I’m still sitting on the fence because I haven’t seen anything that’s blown me away, but visually it does add the wow factor. I really want a film to match that, and a film like Star Trek would have leant itself to 3D, it would have been unreal. That’s why everyone’s looking forward to Avatar with its setting in space and it’s great use of 3D, that will be the one to watch out for. Then you’ll see more and more films for adults in 3D and that’s when more cinemas will take it on board.

You're looking at a piece of Clapham history right here, the last of Clapham Picture House's traditional film stock projectors. There's a film being shown on it in the picture and those massive reels on the left hold the film.

You mentioned events earlier, are there groups people can get involved in?

There’s a monthly film group that comes along, but it’s a lady who runs it off her own back, nothing to do with us. They come, watch a film and have a discussion afterwards which is really lovely. We have a lot of different groups, like the mums and babies on a Thursday – they don’t even know what we’re showing, they just come and enjoy the social event.

The same is true with the silver screen on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. Something we try hard to do is to be part of the local community and that is our main priority. If people ask me how we see the Clapham Picture House, I do see it as an integral part of the community because we service the community. Yes we’re a business, but we’re here to provide a service that the community wants and that’s why we always try to tailor what we offer to what people expect. A lot of cinemas don’t do that.

You can come to us and the majority of the staff want to be in the film industry, they’re actors and screenwriters who have a real interest in films. You can come in and hold a real conversation with them about your favourite film. That’s the way to stand out.

Upcoming events at Clapham Picture House

A massive thanks to Mike for taking the time to talk to Love Clapham and for the behind the scenes tour . Visit the Clapham Picture House website for more info and to book tickets.

Like sports? Live in or near Clapham? Then you really have no excuse not to get off your backside and get involved in some Clapham sports. It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that Clapham has a huge common and guess what, local residents definitely make the most of it. You can walk, run, cycle and skate around it and the many local parks for free, but if you fancy a bit of group or one-on-one action, this page lists some of Clapham’s sport clubs. Clubs and teams range from football, frisbee and lacrosse all the way to canoeing. Yeah, canoeing. Believe it!

If you run a Clapham sport club that isn’t listed here, please send us an email and we will add it.

Clapham area football clubs

Balham Blazers: a youth football club based in South London with age group teams who play in the Tandridge League and the London

Clapham Rovers: local football team that is part of the Senior Sunday Sportsman League.

Wandsworth Borough Football Club:  a friendly club run on traditional values of sportsmanship and good discipline now celebrating their 75th anniversary. They currently run three senior sides and a vets side.

Clapham area rugby clubs

Battersea Ironsides: a small, friendly social rugby club, renowned for its hard rugby. Located in Earlsfield, just 7 miles from the centre of London.

Clapham area running clubs

Clapham Chasers: based at Cannons Gym (Battersea) this is a very social and friendly running club that welcomes everyone of all abilities.

Other Clapham sports clubs

Clapham Canoe Club: established in 1990, this club has been running for a long time with some hardcore members but it is also very welcome to newcomers.

Clapham Ladies Lacrosse Club: meets Tuesday nights in the summer and the winter with matches usually held on Sundays during the summer.

Clapham Ultimate: the local frisbee team. With matches played, this is far more serious than throwing a frisbee around your back garden!

Softball Sundays: held on Clapham Common, this is softball for people new to the sport and people who have played before.

Supernova Korfball Club: formed on the Common eleven summers ago, Supernova play indoors and do still play outdoor games by the Windmill. Indoors games take place at the Latchmere Leisure Centre down the road.

The Wandsworth Demons: Australian Rules Football Club, established in 1990 and based on Clapham Common.  Played in the Summer and actively recruiting all year (but obviously the lead-up to the season is the most important time). Anyone is welcome to come down, from the seasoned veteran, to the Aussie guys who love the game but never really played, to the English/Irish/European etc who are keen to be taught the game.

Local Twitterer (is that a proper noun yet?) Jason Cobb caught up with our on and offline social networking Mayor of Lambeth for an interview that you can listen to in the rest of this post. We’ve noticed the Mayor, Christopher Wellbelove, has been using the likes of Twitter and Facebook to full effect, encouraging more and more people to interact with Lambeth Council in loads of different ways. It’s a refreshing change that we hope spreads throughout other local authorities.

Listen to Jason’s interview below, you’ll learn how to address a Mayor properly (something LoveClapham didn’t do when we interviewed him – slapped wrists for us). This comes in the same week that Mr Mayor has been in the local press for befriending California’s Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, on Twitter.

Here’s a cool thing, this month the sixth MSF Clapham Treasure Hunt takes place to help raise money for MSF, a charity that supplies medical aid around the world to people who might otherwise not receive it. It gets better because it’s held in Clapham, organised by local resident Sarah Turtle and you can support it by taking part and donating.

The MSF Clapham Treasure Hunt is exactly that and manages to also double up as a “pub crawl with a conscience.” It is in its 6th year and takes place on the afternoon of Saturday the 20th of June 2009. Love Clapham will be taking part because raising money for charidee, working out clues and enjoying a tipple are three of our favourite things. Combining them into one event is just genius!

Teams of no more than 4 adults must make a combined donation on www.justgiving.com/msf_hunt_vi of at least £40 to participate. Average age is late twenties – for details of times, start location and to register please see the MSF Clapham Treasure Hunt website. Even if you don’t take part, you can still donate on the Just Giving website above.

In an email to Love Clapham, organiser Sarah Turtle said, “Over the past 5 years I have raised over 23,000 for MSF a charity I respect for their aim to provide pure humanitarian aid where it is needed – particularly in places and situations which don’t make the news.” We’re looking forward to it and meeting other participants in a couple of weeks!

It may look gloomy but it’s a lovely Saturday out there in Clapham and it’s all going off as Clappers far and wide are making the most of the weather to make Clapham feel as villagey as possible. We heard a trumpet on Clapham High Street then lo and behold, a trio were outside Boots playing catchy tunes. We aren’t 100% sure why they were there but assume it’s to celebrate the shop’s first weekend. Then, just up the road Lambeth College is holding its Sixth Form open day with cheer leaders and all sorts of funky goings on. We Love Clapham!

“Why do escalators feel like they’re still moving when they’re stationary?” One of the questions whirring around my head when I got on the tube at Clapham North this morning and one I am sure I’ll find the answer to on the internet. If not, then the Clapham North ‘thought of the day’ board will probably explain soon. A month since Love Clapham went live and the amount of questions I’ve had answered about my home town is incredible, thanks to the internet and the local people that use it.

It was a great start to the site meeting Christopher Wellbelove, Lambeth Mayor

As soon as I started looking for fellow Clappers online, I stumbled upon a decent little network of friendly, helpful people from the local community. It’s been great fun meeting new people and getting to know them but I bet it’s something most people living in London wouldn’t think to do. Which is bad. One of the reasons I enjoy living in Clapham is for its community that can be lacking in other areas I’ve lived in like Putney and Hammersmith. My upstairs neighbours (from down-under) are the prime example of friendliness – something I’m sure is largely unheard of in London neighbours.

It almost feels like Love Clapham has been around longer than it has with so much going on. It’s amazing what can happen in a month. Since this site launched Clapham seems to have deflected the global disaster threat of Swine Flu, MPs have been exposed for outrageous expense claims, Susan Boyle became an unlikely global megastar, we interviewed the Mayor of Lambeth, a major development was approved for Clapham High Street, another was rejected for Clapham Junction and Love Clapham secured our tickets to see Lady Gaga live at Brixton Academy.

If you’ve visited this site since its launch, you might be left wondering why this blog popped up out of nowhere full of random postings about “Clappers” and ramblings about Susan Boyle. Well, since I was a teen in my bedroom I’ve always used websites to help communities communicate. And that’s my single motivation behind Love Clapham, to offer a website where any person living or interested in Clapham can come to exchange and share information with each other. It doesn’t have to be about Clapham, in fact I’d rather talk about who you think will win Britain’s Got Talent (obviously because I keep banging on about Susan Boyle). 

I hope Love Clapham can be used as a facilitator for building the local community in some small way. Whether it’s the Mayor of Lambeth, staff at Lambeth College or the owners of local shops and restaurants, if you’d have asked me even six weeks ago if I’d be speaking to them I wouldn’t have suspected that actually, I would. Everyone I’ve met has been very passionate about the local area and supportive of this website, which I’m very glad about because I’ve created it for them. It’s nice to know that there is a network of support out there for all sorts of issues, even if you don’t have regular contact with them. And they’re right on your doorstep. 

If you’d like to find out more about the people in your area, or suggest something for this website, why not start or take part in a conversation on our community forum? Starting with Britain’s Got Talent. While the smart money is on Susan Boyle, I suspect it could be a closer race than you think…

Jack Wallington
Editor, Love Clapham

If you’ve read Part 1 of our interview with Christopher Wellbelove, Mayor of Lambeth and councillor to the Clapham Town Ward, you’ll be familiar with his background. In part 2 he explains the importance of young people’s voices being heard, upcoming plans for Clapham and things he enjoys in his spare time.

Particularly for younger people that may not initially be interested – why should they stay up-to-date with what you and the local council are doing?

What would you like on Clapham High Street?

Lots of young people like going to pubs, and there are a lot of people meeting with the council who don’t like the fact – and Clapham’s a good example – that there are so many pubs on the High Street. If younger people don’t start talking to their councillors, all the councillors will hear are the people complaining about the nightlife in Clapham. That will be putting pressure on to try and reduce it.

For instance, at the moment there is a call for a saturation zone on the High Street which would mean that no new bars would be able to open. Younger people don’t get involved in that conversation, the council only hear one point of view. Licensing committees very often have somebody come to the council trying to extend a licence. It might be somewhere a younger person likes to go out a bit later to, and all the committee will have at that meeting are people who are against that. I think that’s a good, concrete example of the importance of sharing your point of view. Whilst I do not advocate more venues on the high street, and have supported those who have objected to them, I do think that those on all sides of the argument should have their views heard.

It’s also about where money is spent. The council has a billion pound budget and goes out constantly to consult on where it’s spent, for instance with the leisure centre. If visitors to your website aren’t going to councils, aren’t going to those consultation events, they won’t shape services that they are going to want to use.

Regarding the Mayoralty it doesn’t really matter what I’m actually doing, what matters for people is that they can discover the huge number of groups that exist and it may be that they’re actually interested in some of their activities.

When I lived in Brixton I found out that there are friendly alms houses for women over fifty just down the road. I had no idea that was there, it was just on my doorstep! I hope through my website and blogging that people will find out about the different groups that can be right on your doorstep.

If people want a say, or want to be heard – what’s the best way of contacting people?

The Lambeth Council website has lots of information and useful contact details

One of the best ways of contacting your councillor, particularly if you’ve got a view, is through surgeries that all councillors from all parties hold. Either that or you can email them or write to them. It’s in their interest to listen to you.

I remember before I was councillor the only time I ever contacted someone was when I had a problem. But it can be “Hi, I’m writing to you because I want you to know that I feel this about Clapham High Street”, “I want to have more of this kind of shop on the High Street”.

A councillor can’t force a company to come in, but at least what we’re hearing is that viewpoint so that again, when other people come to us and say “we only want these types of shop on the High Street,” we have the other view too. For instance, I very often get that people don’t want the chains on the High Street, but I have had one person write to me and say they wished there were more chains because it means they wouldn’t have to go into Clapham Junction.

That’s probably our friend Marcos… Lambeth’s just launched the Check the Label Campaign. How important is it to address the perception of younger people in and around Clapham.

Of course, I’m going to say it’s really important but again from my own experience of living on estates, both estates have large numbers of youths hanging around the entrances. Even for me, walking past them, it makes you feel a bit nervous, but actually when you meet these young people and chat to them they’re some of the nicest kids around. If only people would give them more to do so they don’t just have to hang around.

Christopher Wellbelove and Jack Wallington, editor of Love Clapham

It’s a challenge though because a lot of these views are embedded and what we’re competing with at the council is the TV news. I go along to events to see singing, dancing – hugely talented and some of the politest people on Earth. I’ve said this at a rally once: if only the TV stations would come down to see this, but of course good news isn’t always news. This is where I think websites like yours can actually combat that.

I met SE1 too, who I think has a journalist background and if anything, he’s reporting local news quicker. You can see how the dynamics of reporting is going to change.

Are there any exciting plans for Clapham? 

New provision for leisure, because in Clapham it’s desperately needed but everyone has different views. As a councillor, it’s not easy representing everyone’s views because you have a split on what people want. 

It’s also important to make it affordable because not everyone can afford the gyms on the High Street. We went to a leisure centre in Swiss Cottage and saw the beautiful new building and equipment and we thought, people of Clapham deserve that. Once development is done, hopefully that will help the shops in that part of Clapham too. When the Council moved out of the High Street, that took a lot of money out of the local economy and that part is screaming out for new development.

Exciting ideas exist for improving Clapham Old Town

Old Town has promising little cafes and boutiques opening up and it’s good that some of them are local. One of the most exciting things is to do with the area by the bus station, people are looking to move the busses elsewhere and maybe using that as a market square whereas at the moment it’s quite an ugly area and waiting for a bus there is fairly scary because you wonder where you should stand. Those sorts of developments are exciting.

I would say, what we do need to make sure of on the High Street is that it’s not just about the night time. It must be balanced because at the moment it’s a bit too much of a sway in one direction which is excluding people in the local area. Although I do like going out for a drink, I won’t deny that! Transport links are also important and it’s a shame we won’t get the tram into Brixton. The Underground too, we need to increase capacity. As a commuter I really don’t like having to go four stops in the other direction to get onto a train.

I’m glad you feel our pain! Outside of work when you aren’t wearing your Mayoral hat (or we should say chains) what do you enjoy doing?

 

We said the Love Clapham Eurovision party wouldn't be the only one in Clapham!

One of the challenges of being elected and becoming Mayor is maintaining friendships so this weekend I had my friends over for my Eurovision party. It was great catching up with them and I kept apologising that I can’t always be there but I don’t want to lose those friendships. I enjoy those friendships because we don’t discuss politics and it’s important to maintain that balance in your life.

I’m absolutely mad about technology, which I guess must be quite obvious. I’ve done site development and I worked for BT Global Services doing search engine optimisation and social media marketing so that’s my background. Going out for a drink, eating, cinema – like everyone else, I love Clapham for the variety of restaurants, it’s brilliant. I’m a regular at Fantasia, a brilliant café.

You mentioned Eurovision, we were going to ask how you felt about the Eurovision result, Jade did us proud. Social media you obviously love because you’ve made it a big part of your job. Obama made the likes of Twitter popular in politics, but how are you finding it with your political career?

 

Christopher Wellbelove has been instrumental in giving Lambeth Council a voice in social media

It’s the fact that it opens up conversations with people whom you wouldn’t ordinarily engage. There’s Jason Cobb, he’s engaged with me a couple of times on Twitter which has to be a first. He was complaining about the noise coming from an event, I passed that onto one of the organisers during a meeting here and mentioned it. From that point of view more people know my name but more importantly I am able to engage. 

I do wonder how to cope if it becomes too popular. On Twitter, with 200 followers, it’s probably only about 50 people reading the posts. If it became really popular it might be something that the Major’s Office of the future might have to deal with. For instance, emails that come into the Major go to the Major’s Office because I wouldn’t be able to cope with the volume. It will be interesting how that changes in the future. 

Time is also a factor. I do all of the uploading of photos and writing the blog. Recently I got mobile broadband so that I could get in the car and plug it in on the way to an event so that if I’m not doing my day job, I’m also uploading from the car. When you think about it in the future, again it needs to be a function that the council does.

Whether it’s doing anything for my political career… I still don’t really understand the use of ‘political career’, ‘councillor’ or ‘Major’ in terms of a career. I never felt like I needed to be Major in say four years, because I have a day job it’s not my one and only focus but I do love being a councillor. One thing I love about being Mayor is seeing more of the borough, such as recent visits to Waterloo, Southbank and down to Crystal Palace.

Thanks to Christopher Wellbelove for such a frank and informative discussion. Hopefully Love Clapham readers will find it as inspiring as we did!

• Mayor of Lambeth on Twitter – follow for regular updates and photos
• Lambeth Council – visit the website for lots of useful info and links

This week Love Clapham met with Christopher Wellbelove, recently elected as the Mayor of Lambeth and councillor for the Clapham Town Ward since 2006. It was an enlightening and hugely enjoyable discussion about local projects, Twittering for Lambeth and Eurovision – finger on the pulse? More than you’d imagine.

It may have been the end of the day for most people, but the day was only beginning for the Mayor of Lambeth, Christopher Wellbelove, when I met him on Monday at the Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton. That’s not to say he’d had the day off, by day he still has to perform his duties as a councillor for the Clapham Town Ward. He’s an incredibly busy man, yet he managed to squeeze in the below interview to help explain his role in more detail.

Councils, elections, politics – ignore all of that. If there’s one thing I’ve gained from meeting Christopher Wellbelove, it’s not to allow terminology like “politics” from preventing your involvement in the local area and community. Whether it’s his instantly welcoming personality, energy or love of using the internet to communicate, there’s something refreshing and catching about Christopher Wellbelove’s enthusiasm for local community and yes, his love of Clapham.

For people who may not know much about politics or councils, can you explain your role as Major of Lambeth?

 

Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton

I actually have two roles, primarily I’m a Clapham Town councillor, for which I was elected in 2006. I was elected as deputy Major last year, who stands in for the mayor, and then this year I have become Mayor of Lambeth, primarily a civic role. People get very confused because you have the Mayor of London who has administrative power in a similar way to royalty.

As a local Mayor you have the ultimate signature but you do whatever the administration tells you they want to do. You actually sign over most of your power to the administration. One of the primary things is chairing the full local council, which is quite daunting, and there are eight or nine full council meetings a year.

In Lambeth we rotate the chair between the political parties because in my year as Mayor I’m not allowed to take political positions on things as I need to be able to chair the meeting totally non-partisan. Other things I’ll do include going to openings of events. Any organisation can contact me the through the website if they have an event or certificate, for example later today I’m presenting certificates to people.

If royalty were to come to the borough it’s also my job to go along with the chief lieutenant and greet the member of the royal family, or if there are any dignitaries that come from other countries or other cities it would be my job to meet them. 

Traditionally, every London borough has a Mayor, and with quite a few events in the other boroughs it’s a good way of reaching out and sharing experiences while also being a promoter of Lambeth.

How did you first become involved in politics leading to your role as Mayor?

I’ve always been an arm chair politician I guess. I don’t really like the word politician, but I’ve always been a bit of a campaigner and my friends are thankful that I got elected because it’s quietened me down quite a lot!

I lived on Heather Close estate by Wandsworth Road and I was on their tenants and residents association. I got it into my head “why do I need to go through a councillor to get things fixed, why don’t I try to get elected?” I only joined the Labour party in 2004 and then decided to stand – you first need your Ward’s Labour party members to select you as a candidate – and I was elected in 2006. That was quite interesting because while everywhere else the votes were swinging conservative, Clapham Town went from being Conservative to all Labour.

Tim Sargeant, Mayor of Lambeth 2003 - 2004

Tim Sargeant, who sadly died, I met before becoming a councillor and I was very cynical because he was talking about how wonderful it was to be Mayor and I was thinking, “what’s the point? You can’t vote on things, you can’t campaign for your party during that year,” and it was his enthusiasm for the role that made me think “hang on, that’s something that I could do”.

I used to live across the road in Brixton and I never knew there was a Mayor of Lambeth. I began to feel that there were lots of people like me, that unless you’re involved with the council, you’d have absolutely no idea. Because I know about technology, I thought what a brilliant opportunity to one become Mayor and two promote the job of the Major and all of the organisations that I visit through the internet.

It seems that Christopher Wellbelove’s time on his local estate’s resident association has served him well…

 

One of Clapham's estates

Since becoming a councillor my main focus has been on housing issues, that’s one of the things that is helped by me living on an estate – I’ve moved from Heather Close and now live on Notre Dame estate – in the heart of Clapham. It’s good to have someone that lives on an estate in the council so that when people say things about estates I can actually speak about them.

I sit on a couple of boards and I remember being on one board that was doing some research and they were saying that they weren’t going to go onto the estates because they wouldn’t be safe. I was able to stand up and say “look, that’s absolutely ridiculous, some streets are less safe than an estate.” It’s about beating that prejudice.

Are you enjoying it so far?

It’s funny, the last Mayor was very patient with me because I was almost pulling the chains off of her because I couldn’t wait to start! I joked that after my year I’d be locking myself in the Mayor’s parlour.

It’s great, it’s tiring. I work fulltime and then I have this too. For instance I have meetings now, then there are presentations and then I go home to catch-up on work. Since I’ve been Major I’ve had a mouth infection a really bad back, both times on quite heavy pain killers and in the car I’d be thinking, I’m actually really exhausted. Then I’d get out the car and smile because people look forward to you coming so you have to forget your issues and just get on with it. But seriously, I absolutely adore it!

What’s at the top of your in tray?

One of the lucky things about it being a non-partisan role is that if anything does come through to me, my job is to pass it on to a cabinet member. It really is important for me during the year that I do keep away from issues that could be politically sensitive. Then, when I do go out to events, it doesn’t matter what party you are I am still your representative.

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Young people in Lambeth are asking local residents to reconsider their opinions of kids and teens in the area. Apparently fewer than 3% of young people get involved in offenses and actually, there are groups of local young people wanting to help the Lambeth area including a Youth Council. There’s more information about the campaign and tonnes of other resources on the Young Lambeth website. Loving the posters.

If you’re anything like Love Clapham, elections can seem like a whole load of gobbledygook that only serious people take part in. No more! A year or so ago Love Clapham got serious about having a say in where our tax is spent and we’re going to help steer you through the upcoming European election in plain English. 

We’ll have more information in the future but right now the facts are:

• European Parliamentary Election day, the day you vote, is on 4 June 2009.
• If you are 18 and over, you can and should vote.
• This election lets you have a say in who represents the UK in European Parliament.
• You must be registered to vote and you only register once for all elections.
• Voting is easy.

Simple so far. Admittedly, while the actual process of registering and voting is easy as pie, deciding who to vote for is a bit trickier because you have to do some research into what each candidate offers. 

We won’t go into any more details in this post, but if you’ve recieved one of the white and black pieces of card like the one in the picture above, you’re already registered. If you haven’t, go to the About My Vote website to register now and for more helpful, easy to understand information.

If you have any strong views, tips or other pieces of advice, join in the discussion on our Clapham Community Forum where people are already discussing this and the imminent General Election.

Today Love Clapham HQ received a handy little leaflet updating us on the activities of the Clapham Town police force. Love Clapham has a particularly good view of the Clapham police force after they came to our aid on a couple of occasions in the past. In their leaflet the Clapham police highlight the priority to reduce anti-social behaviour in key areas of Clapham and the need to avoid illegal taxi touts.

The leaflet rightly states that “Clapham with its numerous bars and clubs is a target for taxi-touts; where unauthorised cab drivers target late-night party goers outside entertainment venues.” Given that most people hire illegal taxis when they’re not in the best state after a good night out (we’ve all been there), it’s all the more important to keep the message going that illegal taxis can be dangerous. 

Without getting too preachy, Love Clapham has had friends who went through rather nasty incidents by getting into taxi tout cars – and that doesn’t even take into account drivers without proper licenses. Always ask your venue to book you a taxi if you don’t have a number on you, alternatively make sure it’s a London black cab, visit one of the taxi firm shops on the High Streets or near Clapham South tube.

Finally, the best advice to avoid any bad situations: save the number 60835 into your phone and text HOME to it if you’re stuck. You’ll receive a bunch of numbers to call to order a taxi then and there.

The leaflet offers a few other tid bits of advice for a safer neigbourhood. In London it’s easy to ignore life outside of your own home, but Clapham ain’t like no other part of London. Get involved keeping Clapham safe by visiting the Police’s Safer Neighbourhoods website.

A 3,000 home social housing project in Clapham Park between Brixton, Streatham, Balham and Clapham has been given a siginificant amount of extra funding.

This comes after the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) London Board, chaired by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, agreed to invest over £16 million in two projects from its programme to ‘kick start’ developments in London that have been affected by the economic downturn.

£13 million of this money is for the Clapham Park project. ”This is good news for those who will benefit from the new homes being built and for the many jobs in the construction sector that these projects will sustain,” said the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

“Despite the economic downturn, it is vital that we keep investing in our city and improving our infrastructure.  Investment like this will support and help our economy grow so that London is fighting fit to compete in the global market place when the upturn comes.”

What does this mean to the Clapham area of Lambeth? Well, it does mean more business for local construction companies and offer families better social housing, as Boris says. This comes just weeks after Clapham One and other developments around the Clapham High Street area were approved.

Things are definitely changing in the Clapham area, and hopefully for the better. Do you think this is a good thing for local residents? Share your view below or in our community forum.

• For more information visit: The Clapham Park Project Masterplan

Source: £13 million HCA bailout for Clapham Park scheme

Despite the sensationalist headline and the truth behind it, there isn’t as much to be concerned about as the press are making us believe just yet. Although it is true that the piggy germs are getting closer with a few children from Dolphin School in Battersea being tested positive for Swine Flu on top of a few other cases in neighbouring areas like Dulwich.

There is reason for cautious concern but not for panic. Sir Liam Donaldson, England’s chief medical officer, is stating that “flu viruses can change their character very rapidly as they move through populations.” So while there have been no deaths of people that have contracted the virus in the UK, it is possible that this could change. 

However, the fact remains that currently it isn’t as dangerous in the UK and for other European nations. The virus is also being contained wherever possible with vaccinations being given to people that may have come into contact almost immediately. Dolphin School being a prime example with lots of little piggies going wee wee wee all the way home for a week or so.

The advice at the moment is to be aware and avoid contact with someone that has, or may have, Swine Flu but also remain calm. For more information follow the below links:

• NHS Direct – for a comprehensive and factual guide to Swine Flu. If you read one article about Swine Flu, read this one.
• BBC News – sensationalist, if interesting, article with map of confirmed cases so far.

It’s a double Clapper this week that helps show why Clapham is so amazing. The sun comes out and everyone heads to Clapham Common to start sunning their ankles. While the lady with her feet in the air is making a good attempt at Clapper of the week, the real prize has to go to the lady in the background who we spotted performing a range of very controlled stretches bordering on acrobatics. From head stands to raising her body up on its side using only her hands, she proved that Clapham is all about fun in the sun.

Spring is well and truly upon us and the joggers are out in force to make the most of Clapham Common in the sun. This lady shot past at the speed of light. Gotta love that row of trees.

Obviously Clapham is full of trend setters. We know this. It still came as a surprise however, when Clapham Common was overrun with three wheeled bikes from the future racing past the Windmill pub. If this was you on sunny Saturday 20 April, please get in touch, we want a go!

We’ve suspected it for a while now, and this week it was proven that Clapham is one of the trendiest places in London to be. The other day we spotted this Clapper sporting an amazing pink mohawk. If this is you, please get in touch. Have you spotted any other amazingness around town?