A conversation, in the glasshouse of Myatts Fields between Laura Khan Mitchison (oral historian) Robert (stylophone orchestra performer, healthcare worker), Jennifer (creative practitioner, mother) Olenka (Ukrainian journalist) and a person who wishes to remain anonymous. Each of these narrators have contributed to the area's history and cultural life. Anonymous has a long history of contributing to life drawing classes and making soup for the Myatts Fields lunch club. Olenka is the newest arrival and is a member of a Ukranian woman's group which meets in Longfield Hall. Robert knew Brixton very well as a young person and his family owned a shop on Norwood Road. Jennifer's mother developed youth opportunities in the Park and in Tulse Hill in the '70s and '80s.
Anon:
"The Park depo building was originally a place for the people who worked the land to have their meals and then go out and work more. So it's really good now that the community can use the depo. We did these art classes with nude models. We had to block off all the windows in case everybody in the cars outside peered in!"
I would also like to talk about a lady who was 80 when I met her. And she used to be a teacher and she lives in one of the flats, very high. And I used to try and encourage her to come to the lunch club in the Park because she was so interesting. She was an artist and she's been deaf since birth. And so if you ring her up, it's very much like one of those comedy sketches where Rowan Atkinson's got a light on the end of a a pole to tell him when the phone is ringing and then he picks it up and he goes, 'hello,' but he can't hear it. So I hope she's okay.
So Zena had to get down the stairs of stone, and there were no lifts in her flat. I used to think, what will it be like when I am 80? Let me learn from other people like Zena. And Zena always had very good-looking young men waiting to help her the stairs. She was very, very good at befriending people and they would bring her down to the park and take her back home."
Olenka:
“I'm Ukrainian, so I came here because of the Russian invasion into Ukraine and Lambeth Council organize a women’s club here in the Longfield Hall. Yes. So they do, women's club, because the men are not allowed to leave the country. They host a vast array of activities for us. And one of the first activities we actually did, we were just walking around the park and we were just making pictures of flowers and plants. So that's why this park looks bit magical to me. And I really like the fact that there is a Little Cat Cafe. This is very cute. "
Laura:
"Yes there's a strong feminine energy in this Park - it was landscaped in the 19th C by Fanny Wilkinson, who was the first ever female professional gardener and a suffragette."
Jennifer Walker:
“I remember coming when I was a child to Myatts Fields Park; everybody was getting along there, and so it felt very familiar to me and comfortable. I remember the very first day because the youth club was set in a small blue hut, it had space for a pool table and a tuck shop, but that was it really. So most of the time, children played outside in the green.
I noticed today that all the children play with each other and make up games together and chase each other around, which was really nice. I watched this as I was growing up as well. I come from a place called Tulse Hill, and it was so multicultural. Other bits of Lambeth were less multicultural, but when you came back up this side it was multicultural again.
Now it feels more segregated, but when I was growing up, it didn't feel that way, maybe we were all poor and that's why it was okay. Money wasn't spoken about. No one spoke about if you didn't have a Dad or you did have a Dad. We're allowed to be children.”
Robert:
The last time I came to the Park was June, 2016, and it was for a friend’s leaving party. (2016. Yes, David Cameron was prime minister then, it was just after the Brexit vote. I was just thinking about the amount of prime ministers that we’ve got through in the seven years since then!) That day 2016 was a beautiful day. It was also hard to find this park. Even though I grew up near Brockwell Park, I didn’t know this part of Lambeth until my friend hired out the glasshouse to hold a party here.
I grew up in Tulse Hill, my parents had a shop on Norwood Road, which linked Brixton to Tulse Hill. I remember the real sense of community there where children could be free and play on the streets, although a lot of shops had bars on the windows to prevent robbery.
Brixton’s become quite a foodie place, but I feel the sense of community I grew up with isn't there any more. I might take risk in saying this, and apologies in advance of people might have a response to this, but a colleague who lives in Brixton said to me, 'it's black by day, white by night.' And I've noticed a lot of people might talk about Brixton as being very diverse, but I don't know how much integration there actually is.”
