June 15, 2025 • 30 mins
A group of local volunteers at St Matthias Community Centre who meet each week to prepare food for those in need. "The Disconnect is a big, big word today, within families, within communities, between the young and the old... It's about connecting, we have to do things to connect people". #otherlivesareavailable #podcast #eastlondon #volunteers
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
You were talking just now, didn't want to.
Interrupt. How are you?
You're right. I'm preparing bags for the food
bank. We've got a stock in the room
around the back. We get donations.
Donations from where? Like supermarkets or
(00:23):
individuals? Individuals, church,
supermarkets, some big companies.
Every now and again, they'll give us a big donation.
And and you're laying them out at the table.
Yeah. And then I've got, I'll get my
bags and I'll put 8 or 9 items in each bag, usually a couple of
tins, like a tin of soup, a tin of beans or peas or something,
(00:48):
pasta, some rice. It really depends what we've
got. And then on a Tuesday morning,
from about half 10, although some people come earlier, people
will come in one at a time and see Sister Christine.
And she'll? Sister Christine is in charge of
this community centre. She's.
She's in charge of the project, what we call the project, and
(01:09):
the project is the food bank andthe meals that they go the the
people, the peelers prepare eachweek and they're delivered on a
Wednesday, on a Sunday. It was a project that came up at
the beginning of COVID and we thought it was just going to be
for about 3 months. And here you are, how many years
(01:31):
later? It was five, yeah, five years
later. Lorraine and I and a few of the
others have been here more or less from the beginning.
Some people come and go, you know, it depends what their life
arrangements are. And Leslie, why do you do this?
I worked for 40 odd years in public service in local
government. So I suppose public services in
(01:54):
my bones. When I retired 10 years ago, I
didn't want to sit around doing nothing.
And I, I worked for five years in a an animal rescue sanctuary.
When that came to a finish, a friend of mine, Susan, told me
about this project that was starting up and I've.
Yeah, so that's what I'm here for.
(02:14):
And like a lot of volunteers, I probably get a lot more out of
it than I give. That's what people, that's what
all volunteers say. We get a lot more out of it.
The other thing to say is most of us are locals.
We've all been brought up in this area, so it's about doing
something for our community. As well I'm going.
(02:38):
To get the sound of what's goingon here.
So this is peeling potatoes. It is indeed peeling potatoes.
Do it every Tuesday and Friday It's.
Early in the morning, it's like just past 9:00 in the morning
and you're peeling already. Yeah, and start earlier on
Fridays at 8:30, because they'vegot the elderly people come in
(03:03):
afterwards, after us. You've got a big tray.
Big. Well, you've got 3 trays of
potatoes to peel. You've done a fair few already.
How do you pace yourself? I do it slowly, steady, and then
someone else is going to come and chop them all up in.
I think it's roast. It's either roast or mashed
(03:25):
potatoes and that I think. Roast the mash that's going to
be cooked on site here. It is in the kitchen now.
They do it on a Wednesday and Sunday.
And as you're peeling this morning, what's on your mind?
I just come here to relax and have a cup of tea with the
ladies. I've been doing it for about a
year and a half now. I stopped working about a year
(03:50):
and a half ago and I needed something to do to get up for in
the mornings. So my friend introduced me here
and I've come every every week. I love it.
I meet people that I wouldn't normally talk to in my everyday
life and things and that, so I really enjoy it.
Tell me about the kind of chat you have here.
(04:11):
What do you talk about? How do you pass the time of day?
Is it anything and everything? We talk about anything, anything
in life that's happened or sometimes it's politics,
anything, everyday life, what's going on in people's different
lives and things. And that I've I'll just had a
little grandson recently. So congratulations.
(04:32):
Thank you. So I have him three days a week
look after him and that my daughter's gone back to work.
So I've talked about him. I've shown my photos to the
people of. Course you do.
Of course you do, every time youcome.
He's just learning to walk at the moment as well, so he's done
15 steps. So we're.
Every step he's celebrated. We are.
(04:53):
We're getting there slowly. Oh.
Fantastic. Is he your first?
He is my first, yeah, he's my little star.
And I bet you spoiling rotten. Of course, of course I do.
That's what nannies are for. And Lucy, what else is going on
in your life? Not much really at the moment I
(05:19):
just. You've got the grandson to look
after, you've got the peeling todo twice a week.
That gives you a structure to the week.
Routine. A lot like a bit of routine.
What was your routine before? We used to work in a school
before, so I was up at 6:00 every morning and come home at
six in the evening and things and that.
So it's a long day. Did.
(05:39):
You miss it. Not really.
I miss the children. I miss the little children used
to work with. And that.
Yeah, so I do. I do have another little job
that I do, but it's not every day.
It's as or when required which which seats me to the ground.
And this room we're sitting in, I can hear the sound of joyful
(06:01):
children from over a partition. Is there a little nursery
attached to there? It is.
There's a little nursery here, it's called St.
Fire's Nursery, so they start at8:00 in the morning, I think
till 6:00 in the evening, so that's a long day.
So in this, I mean, there's a division so we can't see the
kids and they're obviously doingtheir own thing, but it's all a
shared space. Everyone can hear everyone else.
(06:23):
It's kind of nice to have that crossover.
Isn't it? Yeah.
It's nice to hear little children and also you can see
the big pile of books over thereas well.
Oh yeah, yeah. We've now got a cupboard over
there in the corner which we're going to start doing a community
book cupboard outside, so peoplejust come and help themselves
(06:43):
to. Books like a like a book swap
thing. Yes, yeah, just they don't have
to bring one back. So keep it in the porch so it's
there all the time. It was.
Is that the point? It's.
Going to be outside, yeah. So it's a metal cupboard, so it
should be fine in the rain and things and that.
And you say we, so you obviouslyfeel that we means you're part
of this. Yeah, all of us.
(07:03):
Indeed. There's Lorraine over there.
She's part of the book celebration as well.
So yeah, we're all doing it together.
It's a community. I'm.
Going to go and have a quick chat with Lorraine.
OK, Leave it to your peeling, doyou?
Want a coffee or tea or something?
I'm good, thank you. I'm.
I'm all right. Thanks.
Yeah, well, once, once the kettle goes on, I'll join in.
(07:24):
All right, so Lorraine, you've got you've got a bunch of cards.
Are you writing birthday cards? What is this?
Everybody that gets a lunch on on this project or anybody that
gets any help or support, if sister can get their names and
dates of birth, they go in her diary.
Oh, lovely. You are actually writing
(07:45):
birthday. Cards.
We make sure they all get birthday cards because for some
of them, especially the very elderly, it's the only card they
get. And for you, Lorraine, do you
live local? I live local.
I live on the early dogs. Yeah, yeah.
And how long have you been involved with this?
I've been involved with this since the summer of 2020 as
(08:10):
COVID. Yet as the project sort of
started up, I retired from work.I was assistant head in local
primary school and I retired and.
So, so, so Lucy over there also was in a school that's two of
you from education. Yeah, yeah.
We worked in the same school, Ohto GA in the same school.
(08:32):
I've known Lucy. So you've known each other a
long time. Yeah, yeah.
Sister Christine was actually one of my teachers in our last
year at secondary school. Oh.
My. Goodness, I've known.
This is all connected. Yeah.
Yeah. So this proper community.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Yeah. That's the way she why she can
(08:54):
talk to me the way she does. So if you went to school locally
and one of the other people, Sister Christine, used to be one
of your teachers, you've seen this area through decades of
time, decades of change. Absolutely, absolutely.
(09:15):
The whole community's changed. I mean, it's just the area's
changed. I mean, I've got no reward now.
You know, the businesses and that that were there.
My husband actually worked in the docks back in the day when
there were docks there. So which there no longer are,
yeah. No, there no longer are.
So we go over there now and havea have a drink or a a meal in a
(09:38):
restaurant which was actually part of the docks.
There he worked. So it's completely changed
physically as well as the population, yeah.
Yeah, definitely. And there are sort of I, my
personal views, there are two separate communities here
because you've got Canary Wolf in the very affable area, all
(09:58):
the money. And then you've got people that
have around here that are, you know, really searching for jobs
and struggling find that, you know, you can tell from the food
bank if you go outside in about half an hour, there'll be about
10 anything between 1020 people queuing up for the food bank.
(10:19):
When you're walking here in the mornings, coming here, what are
you thinking? How are you feeling?
What are you looking forward to looking?
Forward to coming here. This for me was a last.
I was going to retire. I've always worked, was ready to
retire, no doubt about that. That was also terrifying.
(10:42):
And what on earth am I convincing myself all day?
My husband had retired. He's quite happy at home.
I'm not. It's interesting.
I mean, terrified is quite a strong word.
You were kind of like I'm. Panic.
What on earth am I going to do myself all day?
I just need something to do. And it was people to talk to.
(11:03):
And over the years I've made newfriends.
We've got a social group, we often go out socially, a group
of us from here. We've done all sorts of things
and sister will have a little get together every so often and.
And will turn out. It's, it's interesting how you
need something like this to meetpeople.
(11:28):
You can't just go up to strangers in the street and just
say, can I have a chat? Yeah.
That's true. You need to in a simple sense
that you're doing something. Right, so the doing is also part
of. It and sometimes I feel it's,
it's a selfish part of it because I, I feel sometimes I
get more out of this than that what I actually did because, you
(11:51):
know, for five years now I've had somewhere to come.
I've had people to talk to. I've had a bit of therapy myself
in, in being able to talk, you know, known and grown to talk to
people like you do. So this and I'm peeling a few
potatoes is only a small bar really.
It's what we do for each other when we're here as well.
(12:21):
Sisters being family, she is, I said.
We've got no potatoes, so she'd put to go and dig up the field.
Why not? Have you got time?
Yeah, Yeah. Lovely.
Thank you. Mercy knows me really well, Eva.
(12:49):
Hello, Eva. So.
So what's your name? My name's Sue.
Sue Blindman. Hello there.
That is my granddaughter. She's been involved in it for a
number of years. So every half term she comes
here either Saturday, either Tuesday morning or Friday
morning. She's done a.
Come over here, Eva. She's probably got things to do.
She's probably got busy things. Exactly, Yeah, Yeah.
(13:11):
So she comes over here, you've done, you've done feeling,
you've done lots and lots of stuff.
So it makes me happy that you see young children getting
involved from an early age. She isn't the youngest now.
There's lots of children youngerthat will come to you in the
half term. So, yeah.
But apart from being with my granddaughter today with just
(13:33):
with nice people, we all come from different backgrounds,
different expectations, different there, but you know,
just get on with it and it's wonderful.
Do you know everyone where you live is is it open doors?
Does everyone kind of like keep an eye on each other or not?
I am very, very fortunate. I've got my own house and I'm in
(13:55):
a tiny row of 6 houses off of, well, it's just off of Eastern
Deer, Doctor Hood. So of them six houses.
Yeah, we all know each other because I've lived there.
Oh gosh, over 40 years. My neighbor moved in a year
after I did. The people at the end.
(14:15):
The mum has died now, but the son still lives there.
So that little band there that you do know each other and then
Eva will say to me when we go up.
Chris St. Nanny do you know everybody in
Poplar? Because you're saying good
morning left, right and. Centre, yeah.
So from that point of view, yeah, I mean I most of my
(14:35):
friends have done what they callis the white flight either out
to Essex or Kent. So just.
Explain that to people listening.
You don't understand it. You don't know anything.
About this term it it is. The majority of white people
from the East End of London havemoved away, including my
brothers. I've got three brothers and we
were all brought up in Poplar. One lives in and one lives in
(14:59):
Boreham and one lives in Burnhamin Essex.
Are you going to leave? Are you going to stay?
No, I'm not going to leave. I'm I'm, I'm staying here now.
I'm around here two or three times a week.
And if ever you're not going to do Sister Christine, I'll get
you involved in it. You know it's.
So you'd you'd actually miss thesense of Community 100.
Percent, 100%, yeah. And that's what keeps.
(15:22):
You 100%. I love it, you know, and I
wouldn't have any other way. I can see the downside of it.
Of course I can, but then probably I'm quite fortunate
that I worked for Tow Hamlets Council for 30 odd years until I
retired. I've got a nice house.
My husband had when he retired last year, he was younger than
(15:44):
me. So you know, we've got a nice
house. I'm not lining up for a food
bank. You know, how lucky am I?
I can afford a caravan, I can afford, you know, bits and
pieces. So the poverty when you see
people coming in and out for thefood bank is it's quite
upsetting, you know it, the need, but from what you see on
(16:04):
telly, it's not just this area that needs the food bank.
I think it's like that, a general consensus that what's
going on at the moment, people are in desperate need of a food
bank. When you were younger, let's say
when you were a kid in this area, would you have seen the
same poverty? Wouldn't it still have been
there? Well, the difference nowadays
(16:27):
there is poverty, but we were all in the same thing together,
weren't? We like so so were you talking
about a a situation where everyone had less money and
therefore everyone was equal? And it's and it, and the
property that's here now is justshown up by the fact that some
people. Have more 100% I mean, my dad
had a good job. He was a stevedore and in terms
(16:49):
of like hierarchical, what was that?
It was a stevedore. It was a he worked in the docks.
He had the dockers and the stevedores were.
Were they the loaders? The next, they were like the
crane drivers, the loaders, yeah, crane drivers, they were
like the next level up. So yeah, we were quite fortunate
even in that same structure thatwe were all in.
(17:12):
What about the argument that some people make which is change
happens in cities? London is a city that is
dynamic. There's always changes in every
area. East London historically has
always been an area of. Change.
Yeah, the Irish, we had the. Yeah.
(17:32):
And you can't stop change happening.
Yeah, and you can't try and preserve what was.
Do you agree with that? Do you?
Do you think you just have to roll with it, or do you think
there's things you have to hold onto?
I think I like to think I can still adapt to change, still
like to see change sometimes subconsciously when I want to
(17:54):
think of something, I think, hold on, like, you know, don't
keep asking back to the old daysor days when this happened or
that happened. So, yeah, I'd like to think
whatever change could come, you've got to just try and
embrace it, haven't you? You can't.
Well, from my point of view, youknow, things aren't going to say
(18:15):
the same if and they should change as well, shouldn't they?
You know it's, it's what it. You know it is what it is.
Who are you after now? Anyone you?
OK. When you have a moment.
OK, yeah, OK. Get me over.
(18:36):
I'm done with. Six Sister Christine.
Yeah, OK. I don't know what happened to my
team. So how does it run?
What? What is this?
Was this set up by people locally, as a part of a network?
As a council. Thing people like me and coming
together when this building was fake.
This building was vacated in 1975 by the Anglican Community,
(19:00):
who had taken it over from from the East India Company, who
actually built it in 1654. Plumbing is it that?
I know it is. Look at the coat of arms up
there. No, I didn't see that.
So on on the ceiling, there's there's an embossed coat of arms
and that's the East. India company.
Yeah, the first multinational, which is great fun because you
(19:22):
look across the road at today's multinationals and they haven't
given us much more than that multinational gave us.
So how interesting, yeah. So history is repeating itself.
We haven't learnt anything from history I would say.
Yeah. Anyhow, so the Anglican
community left here in 1975 because there were so many
(19:43):
Anglican communities around and also the demographics of the
area has changed dramatically. We are now, I'd say we're
probably more Bengali from Cilet.
All from Cilet. Is that a place?
It's a place, it's an area in Bangladesh, and the largest
number of Bengali communities anywhere in the world outside of
(20:06):
Bangladesh is entire Hamlets. Is that so?
That is so, yeah. And a huge concentration around
here because probably because ofhousing and yeah, and, and
various other things. I would like to think community
friendliness has played a part. I, I, I think it has actually.
(20:28):
And then all sorts of things have happened.
I mean, we had Derek Beacon standing first BNP councillor in
the country. The British National Party so
that that is an anti immigrant. Anti immigrant, absolutely.
And like at that point you had the Bengali community going
around and I, you could see in their eyes scared and kind of
(20:49):
looking at me and people like meand saying are you with them?
And thankfully, I mean, one of the things I am proud of is
that, is that the right word? But we got together with the
Anglican community on the Isle of Dogs with mostly females, got
together and organised mini buses.
(21:10):
I, I did workshops telling people how to vote, not who to
vote for, but the process. So we got down there, got a lot
of ladies down there, got a lot of people to vote who would
never have voted before and got very beaking out.
So that was, you know, and it was mostly done by the females.
(21:31):
Why? Why the women?
Because women care about community and we're around and
we need each other probably morethan the men do.
The men think they're they run the the the show, but they
don't. Actually, it's the women who run
the show. Going back to 19, the mid 70s,
when you took this church on, itwas a derelict building.
(21:53):
What were you doing here? Why were you here?
What was I doing here? Well, I'm I'm a community
activist, I suppose. Not that I set out to be and
have no training whatsoever, butbecause I live locally.
Oh, so so you grew up in this area?
No, I didn't. I grew up in Irelands, but I, I,
(22:14):
I left there when I was 17. So I've spent very little time
there. But the The thing is.
What but what What motivated youat the beginning?
Why did you first start getting involved in community events?
Community mobilisation? What?
What made you an activist? I'm a Christian and that's the
gospel. The gospel is to get involved,
is to care about other people, is to get yourself out there and
(22:38):
get yourself involved. It's not to say and keep the
message to yourself. I mean, it is definitely, I
mean, that's what we're going tobe judged by by I'm not going to
be judged by whether I got an A A level or PhD or whatever or
got kids through because I used to teach in the comprehensive
school. I'm not going to be judged by
that. I'm going to be judged by
whether I cared or not. That's the only thing that when
(23:00):
I come to the end, which isn't that far off.
I'm sure you've got decades ahead of you.
No, I'm 88, so I haven't. Oh my.
Lord, yeah, my goodness, I wouldnever have thought.
Yeah, well, there you are. See.
That's be all that community work keeping you young.
Probably. But anyway, like yeah, I mean,
so it is all about caring, loving, whatever you word you
(23:25):
want to use. But it is about that.
It's not about building walls, it's about building bridges.
That's what it's all about. I'm very privileged because I
live on Will folks estate so allmy neighbors are Bengali there.
So are you, are you talking about one of the estates nearby
here next door? Next door, yeah.
And when we got this place, of course the local white community
(23:48):
was saying we know what you'll be up to now.
This will be opened as as a mosque.
You wait and see. You wait and see.
Oh, really? So there was a there was a lot
of pushback. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Look, there still is. I mean, you know, they you can
make a rule or a law about racism and all the rest of it,
but that doesn't change people'shearts.
(24:09):
They just shut up and they express it in some other way.
And that's really dangerous. So it's, it's about the more,
the more we share together, havea cup of tea together, talk to
each other, you realise, hey, they're the same as me.
What's, what's the big problem? What's the, what is it?
And then you realise God, how people are stuck because maybe
(24:30):
they have no language or they'rein overcrowded homes.
Overcrowded homes are just despicable.
And it's, it's, it's just so wrong in this city.
And we're just talking to that little group there telling them
to get themselves to this consultation in Chris Street
Market at the weekend because Chris Street Market would have
(24:53):
become a no go area to people like us.
I mean, I'm, I'm one of us working class, not working
class, but the workers, the people who do the caring, the
people who are under 0 hour contracts, the people just
trying to get by, the people whocome to to food banks, I'm one
(25:16):
of them. And I'm thinking if Quit Street
Market is redeveloped so that the homes are gentrified and
outside of our pockets, where dowe go and live?
And yet this city depends on us.This city depends on us to keep
the, the roads clean, to wipe people's bums and look after
them when they're disabled and frail and need a carer to do all
(25:40):
the sorts of jobs that nobody wants to do.
And then we, we have the, the audacity to complain when our
carer is Bengali and can't speakEnglish.
That is because none of us want to do those jobs, you know, So
I, I get really cross, we, we, we do have things a bit upside
(26:00):
down, you know, that we're supposed to be the metropolitan
city and show off to the world how to behave.
We don't, you know, we had somebody come from Canary Wharf.
He was a a Sunday, Sunday Times journalist.
And he said like coming across the glass bridge to this side
was dark. The difference between this side
(26:22):
and that side and that side. Because now it's too too
concerned about building its ownlittle city within the City of
London, where you can work, liveand play and you don't need the
rest of us. So you're talking about an A
city which is becoming increasingly socially
(26:43):
disconnected. The disconnect is a big, big
word today, within families, within communities, within
within cultural groups. The disconnect between the young
and the old within, say, Bengalior African communities and
families. Disconnect.
I would think that's the biggestword.
(27:04):
It's about connecting. We have to do things to connect
people. I could hear the emotion in your
voice earlier on when you were talking about the changes that
you've seen and the lies that people lead.
You feel very passionately aboutthis.
You referenced earlier on when you started here a time of deep
(27:25):
division between the Bengali community and the British
National Party. But you're, you're kind of
talking about the fact that there's a different kind of
division now, but it's as strongand that is a wealth division
rather than a, a racial division, wealth.
And opportunity, you know, it isabout opportunity.
(27:46):
I was teaching the comprehensiveschool in the 70s here and most
of the kids, their dads, their granddads, their brothers had a
job associated with the docks. All of that stopped and suddenly
glass towers go up and totally different kind of employment.
Was any research done to say like they did with mining
(28:08):
villages to see what the repercussions would be?
Economically and unemployment, no, something needs to be done,
but investment has to be made. I've been to a few things with
the council and they're talking about bringing people together
and you know, we have all this blurb and then who will actually
(28:31):
deliver it? No, they'll set up their own
people. So take them three months to
find out how we actually take instead of saying that little
group there, they work Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
They've got a a club, they do whatever knitting or sewing
gives them some money. Ask them to do something to
widen their thing to make it more inclusive.
(28:53):
So use the groups that are in existence that already have the
connections instead of recreating the wheel.
Reinventing people, big money, you know, these consultants who
are paid fortunes. So like we have, like I was just
saying to Lucy, tomorrow we're hoping to take some young people
across the road to Canary Wharf,made a contact with Serena in
(29:15):
Canary Wharf because you know, they're building the largest
life science laboratory in Europe across the road from us
here in Canary Wharf in North North Key.
OK, no, I was unaware of that. I want, and I say to people
before I'm 90, before I'm 100, Iwant to see people from here in
there in good jobs. I don't want to see them
(29:35):
cleaning. Yeah, cleaning has to be done,
but I don't want that. I want to see you in good jobs.
You have the same intelligence, people from Bristol and Russia
or wherever who come in every day to do these jobs.
For God's sake, why aren't you doing them?
So it's opening the doors. So tomorrow we're getting a few
people in. Any opportunity we can to get
people in the door. We did the job fair here
(29:57):
recently and at 12 good companies, nearly 200 people
came through. So I don't know how many got a
job. I mean, that's the whole, you
know, if we'd more money, we'd follow that kind of thing up.
There's a whole lot of things weshould be doing that we're not
doing right. You've had enough.
Thank you very much indeed for your time.
I'll let you get on with your day.
Thank you.
You were talking just now, didn't want to.
Interrupt. How are you?
You're right. I'm preparing bags for the food
bank. We've got a stock in the room
around the back. We get donations.
Donations from where? Like supermarkets or
(00:23):
individuals? Individuals, church,
supermarkets, some big companies.
Every now and again, they'll give us a big donation.
And and you're laying them out at the table.
Yeah. And then I've got, I'll get my
bags and I'll put 8 or 9 items in each bag, usually a couple of
tins, like a tin of soup, a tin of beans or peas or something,
(00:48):
pasta, some rice. It really depends what we've
got. And then on a Tuesday morning,
from about half 10, although some people come earlier, people
will come in one at a time and see Sister Christine.
And she'll? Sister Christine is in charge of
this community centre. She's.
She's in charge of the project, what we call the project, and
(01:09):
the project is the food bank andthe meals that they go the the
people, the peelers prepare eachweek and they're delivered on a
Wednesday, on a Sunday. It was a project that came up at
the beginning of COVID and we thought it was just going to be
for about 3 months. And here you are, how many years
(01:31):
later? It was five, yeah, five years
later. Lorraine and I and a few of the
others have been here more or less from the beginning.
Some people come and go, you know, it depends what their life
arrangements are. And Leslie, why do you do this?
I worked for 40 odd years in public service in local
government. So I suppose public services in
(01:54):
my bones. When I retired 10 years ago, I
didn't want to sit around doing nothing.
And I, I worked for five years in a an animal rescue sanctuary.
When that came to a finish, a friend of mine, Susan, told me
about this project that was starting up and I've.
Yeah, so that's what I'm here for.
(02:14):
And like a lot of volunteers, I probably get a lot more out of
it than I give. That's what people, that's what
all volunteers say. We get a lot more out of it.
The other thing to say is most of us are locals.
We've all been brought up in this area, so it's about doing
something for our community. As well I'm going.
(02:38):
To get the sound of what's goingon here.
So this is peeling potatoes. It is indeed peeling potatoes.
Do it every Tuesday and Friday It's.
Early in the morning, it's like just past 9:00 in the morning
and you're peeling already. Yeah, and start earlier on
Fridays at 8:30, because they'vegot the elderly people come in
(03:03):
afterwards, after us. You've got a big tray.
Big. Well, you've got 3 trays of
potatoes to peel. You've done a fair few already.
How do you pace yourself? I do it slowly, steady, and then
someone else is going to come and chop them all up in.
I think it's roast. It's either roast or mashed
(03:25):
potatoes and that I think. Roast the mash that's going to
be cooked on site here. It is in the kitchen now.
They do it on a Wednesday and Sunday.
And as you're peeling this morning, what's on your mind?
I just come here to relax and have a cup of tea with the
ladies. I've been doing it for about a
year and a half now. I stopped working about a year
(03:50):
and a half ago and I needed something to do to get up for in
the mornings. So my friend introduced me here
and I've come every every week. I love it.
I meet people that I wouldn't normally talk to in my everyday
life and things and that, so I really enjoy it.
Tell me about the kind of chat you have here.
(04:11):
What do you talk about? How do you pass the time of day?
Is it anything and everything? We talk about anything, anything
in life that's happened or sometimes it's politics,
anything, everyday life, what's going on in people's different
lives and things. And that I've I'll just had a
little grandson recently. So congratulations.
(04:32):
Thank you. So I have him three days a week
look after him and that my daughter's gone back to work.
So I've talked about him. I've shown my photos to the
people of. Course you do.
Of course you do, every time youcome.
He's just learning to walk at the moment as well, so he's done
15 steps. So we're.
Every step he's celebrated. We are.
(04:53):
We're getting there slowly. Oh.
Fantastic. Is he your first?
He is my first, yeah, he's my little star.
And I bet you spoiling rotten. Of course, of course I do.
That's what nannies are for. And Lucy, what else is going on
in your life? Not much really at the moment I
(05:19):
just. You've got the grandson to look
after, you've got the peeling todo twice a week.
That gives you a structure to the week.
Routine. A lot like a bit of routine.
What was your routine before? We used to work in a school
before, so I was up at 6:00 every morning and come home at
six in the evening and things and that.
So it's a long day. Did.
(05:39):
You miss it. Not really.
I miss the children. I miss the little children used
to work with. And that.
Yeah, so I do. I do have another little job
that I do, but it's not every day.
It's as or when required which which seats me to the ground.
And this room we're sitting in, I can hear the sound of joyful
(06:01):
children from over a partition. Is there a little nursery
attached to there? It is.
There's a little nursery here, it's called St.
Fire's Nursery, so they start at8:00 in the morning, I think
till 6:00 in the evening, so that's a long day.
So in this, I mean, there's a division so we can't see the
kids and they're obviously doingtheir own thing, but it's all a
shared space. Everyone can hear everyone else.
(06:23):
It's kind of nice to have that crossover.
Isn't it? Yeah.
It's nice to hear little children and also you can see
the big pile of books over thereas well.
Oh yeah, yeah. We've now got a cupboard over
there in the corner which we're going to start doing a community
book cupboard outside, so peoplejust come and help themselves
(06:43):
to. Books like a like a book swap
thing. Yes, yeah, just they don't have
to bring one back. So keep it in the porch so it's
there all the time. It was.
Is that the point? It's.
Going to be outside, yeah. So it's a metal cupboard, so it
should be fine in the rain and things and that.
And you say we, so you obviouslyfeel that we means you're part
of this. Yeah, all of us.
(07:03):
Indeed. There's Lorraine over there.
She's part of the book celebration as well.
So yeah, we're all doing it together.
It's a community. I'm.
Going to go and have a quick chat with Lorraine.
OK, Leave it to your peeling, doyou?
Want a coffee or tea or something?
I'm good, thank you. I'm.
I'm all right. Thanks.
Yeah, well, once, once the kettle goes on, I'll join in.
(07:24):
All right, so Lorraine, you've got you've got a bunch of cards.
Are you writing birthday cards? What is this?
Everybody that gets a lunch on on this project or anybody that
gets any help or support, if sister can get their names and
dates of birth, they go in her diary.
Oh, lovely. You are actually writing
(07:45):
birthday. Cards.
We make sure they all get birthday cards because for some
of them, especially the very elderly, it's the only card they
get. And for you, Lorraine, do you
live local? I live local.
I live on the early dogs. Yeah, yeah.
And how long have you been involved with this?
I've been involved with this since the summer of 2020 as
(08:10):
COVID. Yet as the project sort of
started up, I retired from work.I was assistant head in local
primary school and I retired and.
So, so, so Lucy over there also was in a school that's two of
you from education. Yeah, yeah.
We worked in the same school, Ohto GA in the same school.
(08:32):
I've known Lucy. So you've known each other a
long time. Yeah, yeah.
Sister Christine was actually one of my teachers in our last
year at secondary school. Oh.
My. Goodness, I've known.
This is all connected. Yeah.
Yeah. So this proper community.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Yeah. That's the way she why she can
(08:54):
talk to me the way she does. So if you went to school locally
and one of the other people, Sister Christine, used to be one
of your teachers, you've seen this area through decades of
time, decades of change. Absolutely, absolutely.
(09:15):
The whole community's changed. I mean, it's just the area's
changed. I mean, I've got no reward now.
You know, the businesses and that that were there.
My husband actually worked in the docks back in the day when
there were docks there. So which there no longer are,
yeah. No, there no longer are.
So we go over there now and havea have a drink or a a meal in a
(09:38):
restaurant which was actually part of the docks.
There he worked. So it's completely changed
physically as well as the population, yeah.
Yeah, definitely. And there are sort of I, my
personal views, there are two separate communities here
because you've got Canary Wolf in the very affable area, all
(09:58):
the money. And then you've got people that
have around here that are, you know, really searching for jobs
and struggling find that, you know, you can tell from the food
bank if you go outside in about half an hour, there'll be about
10 anything between 1020 people queuing up for the food bank.
(10:19):
When you're walking here in the mornings, coming here, what are
you thinking? How are you feeling?
What are you looking forward to looking?
Forward to coming here. This for me was a last.
I was going to retire. I've always worked, was ready to
retire, no doubt about that. That was also terrifying.
(10:42):
And what on earth am I convincing myself all day?
My husband had retired. He's quite happy at home.
I'm not. It's interesting.
I mean, terrified is quite a strong word.
You were kind of like I'm. Panic.
What on earth am I going to do myself all day?
I just need something to do. And it was people to talk to.
(11:03):
And over the years I've made newfriends.
We've got a social group, we often go out socially, a group
of us from here. We've done all sorts of things
and sister will have a little get together every so often and.
And will turn out. It's, it's interesting how you
need something like this to meetpeople.
(11:28):
You can't just go up to strangers in the street and just
say, can I have a chat? Yeah.
That's true. You need to in a simple sense
that you're doing something. Right, so the doing is also part
of. It and sometimes I feel it's,
it's a selfish part of it because I, I feel sometimes I
get more out of this than that what I actually did because, you
(11:51):
know, for five years now I've had somewhere to come.
I've had people to talk to. I've had a bit of therapy myself
in, in being able to talk, you know, known and grown to talk to
people like you do. So this and I'm peeling a few
potatoes is only a small bar really.
It's what we do for each other when we're here as well.
(12:21):
Sisters being family, she is, I said.
We've got no potatoes, so she'd put to go and dig up the field.
Why not? Have you got time?
Yeah, Yeah. Lovely.
Thank you. Mercy knows me really well, Eva.
(12:49):
Hello, Eva. So.
So what's your name? My name's Sue.
Sue Blindman. Hello there.
That is my granddaughter. She's been involved in it for a
number of years. So every half term she comes
here either Saturday, either Tuesday morning or Friday
morning. She's done a.
Come over here, Eva. She's probably got things to do.
She's probably got busy things. Exactly, Yeah, Yeah.
(13:11):
So she comes over here, you've done, you've done feeling,
you've done lots and lots of stuff.
So it makes me happy that you see young children getting
involved from an early age. She isn't the youngest now.
There's lots of children youngerthat will come to you in the
half term. So, yeah.
But apart from being with my granddaughter today with just
(13:33):
with nice people, we all come from different backgrounds,
different expectations, different there, but you know,
just get on with it and it's wonderful.
Do you know everyone where you live is is it open doors?
Does everyone kind of like keep an eye on each other or not?
I am very, very fortunate. I've got my own house and I'm in
(13:55):
a tiny row of 6 houses off of, well, it's just off of Eastern
Deer, Doctor Hood. So of them six houses.
Yeah, we all know each other because I've lived there.
Oh gosh, over 40 years. My neighbor moved in a year
after I did. The people at the end.
(14:15):
The mum has died now, but the son still lives there.
So that little band there that you do know each other and then
Eva will say to me when we go up.
Chris St. Nanny do you know everybody in
Poplar? Because you're saying good
morning left, right and. Centre, yeah.
So from that point of view, yeah, I mean I most of my
(14:35):
friends have done what they callis the white flight either out
to Essex or Kent. So just.
Explain that to people listening.
You don't understand it. You don't know anything.
About this term it it is. The majority of white people
from the East End of London havemoved away, including my
brothers. I've got three brothers and we
were all brought up in Poplar. One lives in and one lives in
(14:59):
Boreham and one lives in Burnhamin Essex.
Are you going to leave? Are you going to stay?
No, I'm not going to leave. I'm I'm, I'm staying here now.
I'm around here two or three times a week.
And if ever you're not going to do Sister Christine, I'll get
you involved in it. You know it's.
So you'd you'd actually miss thesense of Community 100.
Percent, 100%, yeah. And that's what keeps.
(15:22):
You 100%. I love it, you know, and I
wouldn't have any other way. I can see the downside of it.
Of course I can, but then probably I'm quite fortunate
that I worked for Tow Hamlets Council for 30 odd years until I
retired. I've got a nice house.
My husband had when he retired last year, he was younger than
(15:44):
me. So you know, we've got a nice
house. I'm not lining up for a food
bank. You know, how lucky am I?
I can afford a caravan, I can afford, you know, bits and
pieces. So the poverty when you see
people coming in and out for thefood bank is it's quite
upsetting, you know it, the need, but from what you see on
(16:04):
telly, it's not just this area that needs the food bank.
I think it's like that, a general consensus that what's
going on at the moment, people are in desperate need of a food
bank. When you were younger, let's say
when you were a kid in this area, would you have seen the
same poverty? Wouldn't it still have been
there? Well, the difference nowadays
(16:27):
there is poverty, but we were all in the same thing together,
weren't? We like so so were you talking
about a a situation where everyone had less money and
therefore everyone was equal? And it's and it, and the
property that's here now is justshown up by the fact that some
people. Have more 100% I mean, my dad
had a good job. He was a stevedore and in terms
(16:49):
of like hierarchical, what was that?
It was a stevedore. It was a he worked in the docks.
He had the dockers and the stevedores were.
Were they the loaders? The next, they were like the
crane drivers, the loaders, yeah, crane drivers, they were
like the next level up. So yeah, we were quite fortunate
even in that same structure thatwe were all in.
(17:12):
What about the argument that some people make which is change
happens in cities? London is a city that is
dynamic. There's always changes in every
area. East London historically has
always been an area of. Change.
Yeah, the Irish, we had the. Yeah.
(17:32):
And you can't stop change happening.
Yeah, and you can't try and preserve what was.
Do you agree with that? Do you?
Do you think you just have to roll with it, or do you think
there's things you have to hold onto?
I think I like to think I can still adapt to change, still
like to see change sometimes subconsciously when I want to
(17:54):
think of something, I think, hold on, like, you know, don't
keep asking back to the old daysor days when this happened or
that happened. So, yeah, I'd like to think
whatever change could come, you've got to just try and
embrace it, haven't you? You can't.
Well, from my point of view, youknow, things aren't going to say
(18:15):
the same if and they should change as well, shouldn't they?
You know it's, it's what it. You know it is what it is.
Who are you after now? Anyone you?
OK. When you have a moment.
OK, yeah, OK. Get me over.
(18:36):
I'm done with. Six Sister Christine.
Yeah, OK. I don't know what happened to my
team. So how does it run?
What? What is this?
Was this set up by people locally, as a part of a network?
As a council. Thing people like me and coming
together when this building was fake.
This building was vacated in 1975 by the Anglican Community,
(19:00):
who had taken it over from from the East India Company, who
actually built it in 1654. Plumbing is it that?
I know it is. Look at the coat of arms up
there. No, I didn't see that.
So on on the ceiling, there's there's an embossed coat of arms
and that's the East. India company.
Yeah, the first multinational, which is great fun because you
(19:22):
look across the road at today's multinationals and they haven't
given us much more than that multinational gave us.
So how interesting, yeah. So history is repeating itself.
We haven't learnt anything from history I would say.
Yeah. Anyhow, so the Anglican
community left here in 1975 because there were so many
(19:43):
Anglican communities around and also the demographics of the
area has changed dramatically. We are now, I'd say we're
probably more Bengali from Cilet.
All from Cilet. Is that a place?
It's a place, it's an area in Bangladesh, and the largest
number of Bengali communities anywhere in the world outside of
(20:06):
Bangladesh is entire Hamlets. Is that so?
That is so, yeah. And a huge concentration around
here because probably because ofhousing and yeah, and, and
various other things. I would like to think community
friendliness has played a part. I, I, I think it has actually.
(20:28):
And then all sorts of things have happened.
I mean, we had Derek Beacon standing first BNP councillor in
the country. The British National Party so
that that is an anti immigrant. Anti immigrant, absolutely.
And like at that point you had the Bengali community going
around and I, you could see in their eyes scared and kind of
(20:49):
looking at me and people like meand saying are you with them?
And thankfully, I mean, one of the things I am proud of is
that, is that the right word? But we got together with the
Anglican community on the Isle of Dogs with mostly females, got
together and organised mini buses.
(21:10):
I, I did workshops telling people how to vote, not who to
vote for, but the process. So we got down there, got a lot
of ladies down there, got a lot of people to vote who would
never have voted before and got very beaking out.
So that was, you know, and it was mostly done by the females.
(21:31):
Why? Why the women?
Because women care about community and we're around and
we need each other probably morethan the men do.
The men think they're they run the the the show, but they
don't. Actually, it's the women who run
the show. Going back to 19, the mid 70s,
when you took this church on, itwas a derelict building.
(21:53):
What were you doing here? Why were you here?
What was I doing here? Well, I'm I'm a community
activist, I suppose. Not that I set out to be and
have no training whatsoever, butbecause I live locally.
Oh, so so you grew up in this area?
No, I didn't. I grew up in Irelands, but I, I,
(22:14):
I left there when I was 17. So I've spent very little time
there. But the The thing is.
What but what What motivated youat the beginning?
Why did you first start getting involved in community events?
Community mobilisation? What?
What made you an activist? I'm a Christian and that's the
gospel. The gospel is to get involved,
is to care about other people, is to get yourself out there and
(22:38):
get yourself involved. It's not to say and keep the
message to yourself. I mean, it is definitely, I
mean, that's what we're going tobe judged by by I'm not going to
be judged by whether I got an A A level or PhD or whatever or
got kids through because I used to teach in the comprehensive
school. I'm not going to be judged by
that. I'm going to be judged by
whether I cared or not. That's the only thing that when
(23:00):
I come to the end, which isn't that far off.
I'm sure you've got decades ahead of you.
No, I'm 88, so I haven't. Oh my.
Lord, yeah, my goodness, I wouldnever have thought.
Yeah, well, there you are. See.
That's be all that community work keeping you young.
Probably. But anyway, like yeah, I mean,
so it is all about caring, loving, whatever you word you
(23:25):
want to use. But it is about that.
It's not about building walls, it's about building bridges.
That's what it's all about. I'm very privileged because I
live on Will folks estate so allmy neighbors are Bengali there.
So are you, are you talking about one of the estates nearby
here next door? Next door, yeah.
And when we got this place, of course the local white community
(23:48):
was saying we know what you'll be up to now.
This will be opened as as a mosque.
You wait and see. You wait and see.
Oh, really? So there was a there was a lot
of pushback. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Look, there still is. I mean, you know, they you can
make a rule or a law about racism and all the rest of it,
but that doesn't change people'shearts.
(24:09):
They just shut up and they express it in some other way.
And that's really dangerous. So it's, it's about the more,
the more we share together, havea cup of tea together, talk to
each other, you realise, hey, they're the same as me.
What's, what's the big problem? What's the, what is it?
And then you realise God, how people are stuck because maybe
(24:30):
they have no language or they'rein overcrowded homes.
Overcrowded homes are just despicable.
And it's, it's, it's just so wrong in this city.
And we're just talking to that little group there telling them
to get themselves to this consultation in Chris Street
Market at the weekend because Chris Street Market would have
(24:53):
become a no go area to people like us.
I mean, I'm, I'm one of us working class, not working
class, but the workers, the people who do the caring, the
people who are under 0 hour contracts, the people just
trying to get by, the people whocome to to food banks, I'm one
(25:16):
of them. And I'm thinking if Quit Street
Market is redeveloped so that the homes are gentrified and
outside of our pockets, where dowe go and live?
And yet this city depends on us.This city depends on us to keep
the, the roads clean, to wipe people's bums and look after
them when they're disabled and frail and need a carer to do all
(25:40):
the sorts of jobs that nobody wants to do.
And then we, we have the, the audacity to complain when our
carer is Bengali and can't speakEnglish.
That is because none of us want to do those jobs, you know, So
I, I get really cross, we, we, we do have things a bit upside
(26:00):
down, you know, that we're supposed to be the metropolitan
city and show off to the world how to behave.
We don't, you know, we had somebody come from Canary Wharf.
He was a a Sunday, Sunday Times journalist.
And he said like coming across the glass bridge to this side
was dark. The difference between this side
(26:22):
and that side and that side. Because now it's too too
concerned about building its ownlittle city within the City of
London, where you can work, liveand play and you don't need the
rest of us. So you're talking about an A
city which is becoming increasingly socially
(26:43):
disconnected. The disconnect is a big, big
word today, within families, within communities, within
within cultural groups. The disconnect between the young
and the old within, say, Bengalior African communities and
families. Disconnect.
I would think that's the biggestword.
(27:04):
It's about connecting. We have to do things to connect
people. I could hear the emotion in your
voice earlier on when you were talking about the changes that
you've seen and the lies that people lead.
You feel very passionately aboutthis.
You referenced earlier on when you started here a time of deep
(27:25):
division between the Bengali community and the British
National Party. But you're, you're kind of
talking about the fact that there's a different kind of
division now, but it's as strongand that is a wealth division
rather than a, a racial division, wealth.
And opportunity, you know, it isabout opportunity.
(27:46):
I was teaching the comprehensiveschool in the 70s here and most
of the kids, their dads, their granddads, their brothers had a
job associated with the docks. All of that stopped and suddenly
glass towers go up and totally different kind of employment.
Was any research done to say like they did with mining
(28:08):
villages to see what the repercussions would be?
Economically and unemployment, no, something needs to be done,
but investment has to be made. I've been to a few things with
the council and they're talking about bringing people together
and you know, we have all this blurb and then who will actually
(28:31):
deliver it? No, they'll set up their own
people. So take them three months to
find out how we actually take instead of saying that little
group there, they work Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
They've got a a club, they do whatever knitting or sewing
gives them some money. Ask them to do something to
widen their thing to make it more inclusive.
(28:53):
So use the groups that are in existence that already have the
connections instead of recreating the wheel.
Reinventing people, big money, you know, these consultants who
are paid fortunes. So like we have, like I was just
saying to Lucy, tomorrow we're hoping to take some young people
across the road to Canary Wharf,made a contact with Serena in
(29:15):
Canary Wharf because you know, they're building the largest
life science laboratory in Europe across the road from us
here in Canary Wharf in North North Key.
OK, no, I was unaware of that. I want, and I say to people
before I'm 90, before I'm 100, Iwant to see people from here in
there in good jobs. I don't want to see them
(29:35):
cleaning. Yeah, cleaning has to be done,
but I don't want that. I want to see you in good jobs.
You have the same intelligence, people from Bristol and Russia
or wherever who come in every day to do these jobs.
For God's sake, why aren't you doing them?
So it's opening the doors. So tomorrow we're getting a few
people in. Any opportunity we can to get
people in the door. We did the job fair here
(29:57):
recently and at 12 good companies, nearly 200 people
came through. So I don't know how many got a
job. I mean, that's the whole, you
know, if we'd more money, we'd follow that kind of thing up.
There's a whole lot of things weshould be doing that we're not
doing right. You've had enough.
Thank you very much indeed for your time.
I'll let you get on with your day.
Thank you.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.