Found this on Youtube this morning:
Valentines Day Ball at the Heygate
Mostly old folks gathered in a community hall - I"m guessing the hall behind what used to be the doctor's office, now the office for the Heygate Tennant's Association. Probably the last time people got together like this on the estate.
It says a lot that in the six or seven months I lived on the Heygate, I was hardly aware that this older, white working class still existed. The faces I saw were mainly those of immigrants - Africans, South Americans, East Euros. This, I"m sure, had a lot to do with the fact I was an immigrant myself, albeit of a different kind. But it does say a lot about the alienating power of the estate, when you can't even get a sense of the people who live around you.
Where are these folks now, I wonder?
Saturday 24 October 2009
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2 comments:
Just walked by the back of the Heygate today on my way to work --- they're boarding up the bball court behind the estate (by Wansey St) - I asked the workmen why - and they said, well that's going to be the office site as the building is coming down. Closer and closer to demolition we go...perhaps?
Yeah, I think they'll tear the building down no matter what. According a report I saw today in London SE1, a deal has not been signed with Lend Lease, and their exclusivity agreement is due to expire at the end of this month.
So we shall see . . .
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