Prefab Museum - opening times to end September 2014

The Prefab Museum is set in the heart of the UK's largest surviving prefab estate - in a prefab - in Lewisham.  Described as Catford's only Museum by the Evening Standard it is organised and curated by photographer Elisabeth Blanchet, whose obsession with prefabs knows no bounds, and this fascinating slice of 20th century social history, domestic life, hopes and dreams is a show case for artists', photographers' and videographers' work, memorabilia and artefacts. 

The museum has been so successful it has been extended to the end of the summer, so there is still plenty of time to visit, to go on tours of the estate, attend talks and to come to our archive tea parties. Bleeding London, an initiative by the Royal Photographic Society to record every street in London, met at the Prefab Museum for their launch. 

From 7 June the museum will open on Saturdays from 11am - 5pm, at other times by appointment - please contact Elisabeth if you would like to book a group visit or a place on the next estate tour on 21 June. The museum is also included in this year's London Open House on 20-21 September. Please follow @Prefabs_UK on Twitter and Prefabs - Palaces for the People on Facebook, for the latest news and events, and take a look at the Prefab Museum website. 

Please donate when you visit, to support the museum. The museum currently receives no funding and is supported entirely by volunteers and donations. Our thanks go to the visitors who have donated so generously (and told us their fascinating stories!). We are looking for sponsorship, funding and financial support. If you can help, please contact us.

Donation 'teapot' and prefab map of the UK

I confess to being one of the artists, having taken photographs of all 187 individual prefabs for the Community Voices project, funded by the Media Trust, in 2011. These photographs were displayed in their entirety in the sports hall at the nearby Goldsmiths Community Centre, and I discovered them still boxed up just before last Christmas. Not all of them remain, but the ones that do are for the residents, current and ex, to take away with them if they wish. Please, if you take one, leave a memory of your prefab on the wall behind! If you would like to know more about the Community Voices project and the history of the Excalibur prefabs please visit the Hubbub website.

Memories of 33 Persant Road

All 187 prefabs displayed in the Sports Hall, April 2011, at Goldsmiths Community Centre

Mr Eddie O'Mahoney, in front of the prefab display, who moved into his prefab in 1946 after being de-mobbed

Only room for 95 on the prefab wall - there are more in the cupboard 
- just ask!

Eddie (dapper as ever) with Elisabeth, at the Prefab Museum

Joan from Persant Road is the first to take her framed prefab photo home

17 Meliot Road, London SE6 1RY!

How to get to the museum - map by Alexia Lozano

The Prefab Museum is a short walk from the 124 bus stop in: 
Baudwin Road (follow the road around past the prefab church and the Meliot Road family centre)
Boundfield Road (through the alleyway opposite Hexal Road)
or the 336 on Whitefoot Lane (via Longhill and Battersby Roads). 

Entry is free, but a donation is very much appreciated. Funding for the Museum ended in March and we are now relying on donations to support it including the Excalibur Tenants Management Organisation who have kindly opened the prefab for the museum, and supplied marshalls. When you visit, why not pick up a souvenir of your visit - there are postcards, DVDs, books and magazines to buy.

Books, DVDs, zines and postcards

Please scroll through this blog post to see examples of participating artists' work and links to their websites and blogs, a short film of the launch and reviews by local and national newspapers.

The exhibition features the work of photographers, film-makers, writers and artists – Jo Cooper, Nick Davis, Nadège Druskowski, Cath Dupuy, Anne-Marie Glasheen, Sarah Gregory, Jane Hearn (me), Harriet McDougall, Rob Pickard, Alex Pink, Pat Posner, Lizzy Rose, Keara Stewart, Lucia Tambini, Melanie Titmuss, David Young. 

Elisabeth Blanchet's website:Prefab Museum / Opening 08-03-2014
On Zealous: http://blog.zealous.co/blog/insights/zealous-story-elizabeth-blanchet-prefab-museum/

Artists' websites and blogs:
Rob Pickard
Jo Cooper
Harriet McDougall
Keara Stewart
Nick Davis
Cath Dupuy
Melanie Titmuss
Anne-Marie Glasheen
Lucia Tambini

Follow developments on:
Facebook Prefabs - Palaces for the People
Twitter: @Prefabs_UK
Watch it on ITV local news
Read all about it in 
East London Lines
News Shopper
The Independent

Participating artists

Photographs by Rob Pickard

Photographs by Elizabeth Blanchet, drawings by Keara Stewart

'What is a dwelling?' installation by Jo Cooper

Photograph by Cath Dupuy

Line drawings by Keara Stewart who has made an
Excalibur Estate comic/zine  to accompany the exhibition 
(£1.00 or free to Excalibur residents)

Drawing by Melanie Titmuss

Photographs by Anne-Marie Glasheen, Rob Pickard and Nick Davis

Photographs by Cath Dupuy, drawings by Melanie Titmuss 
and installation by Jo Cooper

A special mention for Harriet McDougall, who was unable to be with us for this event. Harriet and I met in 2011 when she was an undergraduate at Goldsmiths College. Her project on, and beautiful line drawings of, the prefabs on the Excalibur Estate, were coloured by children from Forster Park school nearby. Harriet was kind enough to permit me to display copies of her line drawings at the prefab museum.

Fifty prefabs, by Harriet McDougall

Harriet's line drawing of 28 Persant Road, 
coloured by a child at Forster Park School

Life in the Broome Park prefab village, stories by Pat Posner, illustrations by David Young for People's Friend.

Lucia, Keara, Rob, Elisabeth, Jo, Jane and Nick at the launch on 8 March 2014

Photo courtesy of the News Shopper

Christmas Bazaar at Goldsmiths Community Centre

Come and enjoy some festive celebrations at Goldsmiths Community Centre. If you are able to offer help in the form of donations for raffle and tombola prizes or volunteer help with stalls and serving tea or helping setup on the day please contact the centre on 020 8698 3741

Merry Christmas!!

Whitefoot Assembly 21 November 2013

Local assemblies are open meetings where you and others who live, work and study in your ward decide how to improve your area. Could you make a difference, by getting involved?

 

The next meeting is on Thursday 21 November from 7-9pm at St John's Church Hall, see details below.

 

Whitefoot and Downham Community Food + Project

Whitefoot and Downham Community Food + Project is a voluntary community based project to support people or families who are experiencing hardship and issues relating to poverty. There is a growing need for the provision due to the welfare reform act, increase in food and fuel prices. The project is available to local residents and can provide a level of food provision, housing support, health advice, employment advice, debt advice, family support, early years support and access to a Local Councillor.

The founders are six local churches from three different denominations, a social enterprise, public health and Local Councillor. They are the Catford (Southend) and Downham Parish. Brook Lane Community Church. Whitefoot Lane Christian Church, Pastor David Brown from LWCC, Eco Communities and Janet Daby the Local Councillor for Whitefoot Ward. The main partners are Public Health, Phoenix Community Housing, Parent Support Group (PSG), Downderry Nursery Services, Local Health Centre and Eco Communities. The partnership continues to grow and develop.

The project takes place every Thursday from 7pm - 8.30pm at  Whitefoot Lane Christian Centre. There are approximately 50 volunteers who enjoy serving and offering their support to the community.
 
How you can help

 
We need ongoing support with donations of food. If you feel you can help in some way feel free to contact the chair of the project Local Councillor Janet Daby at  janet.daby@lewisham.gov.uk

Keep the Lights burning at Goldsmiths Community Centre

Our lovely old community centre (75 years young next year!) in Downham needs your help and support. The community centre was the largest in London when it was constructed, with funds from the Goldsmiths Company, in 1939. It has seen many parties, events and activities, and generations of families have used it in its long history. To learn more about its history visit the community centre website.

 

The community centre needs some serious tender loving care, and we have embarked on a programme of upgrading the electrical infrastructure and improvements. This work has already started thanks to a generous donation of over £18,000 from the Goldsmiths Company Charity, but we still have a long way to go and are fundraising towards the target of over £100,000.

 

We are holding a Christmas Bazaar on Saturday 30 November at 12 noon and would love you to come and join us to help us raise money and have a good time. If you can help on the day or donate goods to aid our fundraising efforts even better!

Please come and support us!

Goldsmiths Summer Festival update - more photos!

Thanks very much to Donald Daby for these great photos from 2o July. Please come along to the Goldsmiths Community Association Annual General Meeting on 21 September from 3-6pm where more local talent awaits to entertain you. Will it be a BBQ, or pizzas from the Earth Oven? Watch this space...

MC Janet Daby

Manuela sings Suzie Quattro, with Goldsmiths Dance Academy

Queue for the face painting

Gospel Choir

Gospel Choir

Heidi Alexander MP announces the raffle prizes

Tim busy at the bbq with Chris taking the orders - and the money!

BB Queue - they were very good

Brunel Bannister on guitar

Chris plays rock guitar

Cllr Mark Ingleby plays jazz piano

Joshua and friend (and another little friend)

Last but not least DJ Granty G, the rapping plasterer, with DJ Cobra and Stevie G

Lloyds TSB volunteer day at Goldsmiths Community Centre 26 July 2013

For the second year running a team from Lloyds TSB volunteered at Goldsmiths Community Centre for the Our Day to Make a Difference programme. Arranged through Employee Volunteering, 35 volunteers from the Loan Credit Risk team were tasked with painting and decorating, weeding, digging and pruning! Many thanks to Kristen Keith, Project Manager at Employee Volunteering, for visiting the centre, communicating so clearly and sending us these photographs from the day, and to Jo Thomas the supervisor and all the volunteers for working so hard and cheerfully on the tasks. We hope they will come back next year - there is always plenty to do!

What did we ask them to help us with? 

Painting and decorating - before and after

One of the main tasks we asked the team to do was to redecorate the two corridors with magnolia paint. I think you'll agree it was very effective!

Remedial work in the corridors - painting over the eggy yellow!

Afterwards - what a difference

Light, bright and airy - and all the same colour

A splendid job, well done

The Gardens - before and after

At just under an acre, the community centre grounds need a lot of tender loving care to keep them looking nice. We have a static community payback team that comes every Sunday to help keep the grounds under control, but even in the space of a week the brambles and bindweed take hold again! We asked the team to dig out the brambles once and for all and prune the pyracantha behind the sports cage, a very prickly job. Some of the brambles have been there for 40 years, and their roots go deep.

Getting ready to tackle the brambles

A clear path created behind the sports cage

In the George Green Hall gardens, the team were asked to prune and weed, and sand and paint the benches. The gardens here are divided into separate plots; there is a Forest School, an allotment garden, and the main garden which is used for outdoor events such as the Goldsmiths Summer Festival,  outdoor play and private functions like weddings and parties.

Pruning and shaping the rose arch

Before and after photos of the allotment garden

Painting the outdoor benches, with a smile!

Roundtable discussion with team members

Four Lloyds TSB team members kindly agreed to join a roundtable discussion about the community centre. Like many voluntary organisations in the current economic climate, the Goldsmiths Community Association is struggling to meet rising costs and falling revenues for this venerable and very large (over 16000 sq ft) building. The utility bills for the centre alone can reach £20,000 per year, particularly in a cold and prolonged winter. It is harder to 'square the circle' as the Association aims to keep the cost of activities affordable so that local people are able to participate regardless of income.

The team were full of ideas for investment into the centre, marketing and activities that we hadn't thought to offer and gave us much food for thought. We had a very productive session, then let them get back to work! These ideas and plans will be shared with our new members, and the general public, at the Association's Annual General Meeting on Saturday 21 September.

Lloyds TSB, you are welcome at the centre any time and our grateful thanks go to you for all your hard work - it was indeed a day to make a difference.

Lloyds TSB volunteers in a roundtable discussion about the community centre