Heroes and Heroines in verse

As it's national poetry day (Heroes and Heroines theme) I thought I ought to recognise the local contribution to such

http://www.nationalpoetryday.co.uk/

Here at South End Green local businessman Jonathan Bergman has organised a series of local poets to come along and recite some of their works.

It's a great little slam and attracts a really nice crown - it's been on saturday morning and it just the sort of thing that should be encouraged.

With John Keats' house so close by this sort of thing should be encouraged and having been to a recent poetry slam at hampstead school the effect of this sort of thing is really good on the pupils and young people involved...

Anyone for a poetic platform locally?

Young people to be proud of...

Remembrance Day is always special and it is something I have always been passionate about.

Both my grandfathers were in the Second World War, (my maternal grandfather was very affected by being the only survivor from his boat to Normandy and my paternal grandfather was one of the liberation team at Bergen Belsen).

Going back a bit further, my parent's house is named 'Ashton' after my great aunt's brother who was killed at Mons (IIRC), we had a cousin imprisoned in the first world war who died in Cologne and my Mum has just given me the medals of my Great Uncle Nathan to look after.

Indeed my father was born in Braintree during WW2 as the family had been evacuated out of London.

So, for all these reasons and more recognising the signiicance of this small act of remembrance each year matters. So the Hampstead Cemetary service - co-ordinated by St Lukes - is a great, personal and relevant service for the local community.

Last year we arranged for puils from UCS to lay a wreath and this year we had four pupils from UCS and Hampstead Schools to lay wreaths. It was a very special and quite emotional service - a tribute to those pupils, those schools and very special for many of the older folks who were present to see the next generations playing their part.

Hampstead Cemetary is special because not only does it has the war memorial, but it also has the civillian memorial - (pictured right).

To see any of these pictures closer just double click and they should open up on your screen.

It all confirms my hopes for society and gives confidence in our young people.

So much to be positive about in our schools

This is a bit of a warning shot for those regulars of this blog: I'm a Governor at Hampstead School and it's a great school - this warning is that over the next few weeks I'm going to cover some of the great work that the school does...

I've been to music concerts, art festivals, sixth form open evenings and the atmosphere in the school is so strong and positive.

The most striking thing is the building itself. It's on Westbere Road, West Hampstead, and is right on the Camden Barnet border at the most northerly point of the Borough.

Built that the end of the 19th century it was from 1898 to 1960 the home of Haberdashers' Aske's School before they moved. It seems that the school moved in 1898 but didn't vacate it's former site in Hoxton until 1902.

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/03/haberdasher-askes-foundation-plaque.html

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/02/memories-from-second-world-war.html

From 1961 the school became the comprehensive that is now Hampstead School. The school is just amazing has such vibrancy and range both in subjects and pupils.

So it's watch this space for more coverage of some of these events...

http://474towin.blogspot.com/2008/08/coursework-towards-good-grades.html

The coursework towards good grades...

It's something that I haven't done enough as a School Governor of but at the end of the last School term I managed to get to some of the art shows and displays at Hampstead School to see the pupils' work.


Now I should be very clear at the start - I'm not creatively artistic, I enjoy art, galleries, museums, I can pick out what I like, but I can't do the application of paint to canvass or its' equivalents. Which considering that my Father is a high quality artist and my sister has a really strong creative and artistic streak is all a bit unfair. :-)


But, the work of the pupils was stunning. The bit that struck me was just how provocative and evocative it was.


Hampstead School is just amazing and has a great creative tradition - that combined with the stunning diversity of the pupils and you have a riot of potential. I was totally stunned by just how simple and how effective and essentially chilling this piece were (two pics left) - all it was were a series of envelopes with the addressses cut out. Censorship, dehumanised, de-personalised, annonymous - it was brilliant and awful...


But the good work didn't stop there and there was a real range of displays and work - I always feel slightly awkward flicking through the work book but it is essential to see how the piece of expression came about, where it comes from.


There was another pupil who had some great stuff on Finchley Road and it used the David Hockney technique of taking lots of photo's and then overlaying them to give a greater whole through a formation of collage... Quite simple, inherently difficult to do well and in this instance very successful. The best bit was watching his Mum cooing with pride!


But here are two more pieces (pictured left) that I managed to capture - the cascade of suspended plates and cutlery in different colours was very eye-catching and feel essentially fun and contrasted with the construction of landscape through blocks of minimal features.


It just seemed right that at the time of results I reflected the exhibition I had seen and the coursework that often goes past almost unoticed in the declaration of exam results... Keep up the great work Hampstead School.

Memories from the Second World War

I carry my camera with me almost all the time now with hope of catching sight of just slightly unusual things: this is one of the better ones.

Just inside the main block of Hampstead School, Westbere Road, is this plaque rembering the second world war.

"THIS WING WAS DESTROYED
BY ENEMY ACTION
7TH OCTOBER 1940

REBUILT 1948"

It would seem that this part of London received pretty heavy bombing during the war - thought to be because of the high number of railway lines and junctions - and this plaque is one of the remnants of that history. I have passed this quite a few times (as a Governor at the School) but not paid too much attention to it really.

I think I'm right in saying that this was when the School was still occupied by Haberdasher Askes http://www.oldhabs.com/. I don't think they moved out until 1961.

Anyone out there have any memories of this night of bombing?