Tales on Tape
Today we continued our quest to uncover the stories and
songs of Thames View and uncovered some hidden gems. At Thames View
Infants School, their fantastic Parent Co-ordinator Fi introduced us to a
teacher who has seen three generations of children pass through its gates.
Barking born and bred, she told us tales of relatives who moved onto the
estate when it was first built and how they all felt about it. It was a
fascinating journey - as we were listening to her we realised that she is one
of the few people who understands why and how the estate was designed.
"A lot of the houses on the estate have their kitchens
in what feels like a strange place. It was all planned. The idea
was that mums could be in the kitchen whilst their small children played
together in their little gardens out front. When these children got older
they could open the gate and play together in the square - with all the various
mums watching from their various kitchens." Oh, the 1950's!
Things turned out to be quite different in reality.
But she also told us how Bastable Avenue was a tree-lined feature of the
estate, a pathway into a different world. It made riding out on the EL1
to our next meeting quite a different experience - aware of how the vision of
planners, councillors and architects encapsulated the ideals of the time.
When we jumped off on Ripple Road we were greeted with the sight of a huge machine chomping away at the side of a derelict block.
It immediately reminded me of Verity Jane Keefe's brilliant piece Rooms With AView (2008) http://vimeo.com/9346010 a timelapse of the demolition of The Lintons set to a narrative by local residents which reveals the "voyeuristic brutality" of demolition.
Further into the estate we came across The Hope - an ex-pub which, by the looks of things has been transformed into a mosque.
Further still and we finally got to Studio 3 Arts http://www.studio3arts.org.uk, one of the organisations we have to thank for making this residency possible. Sam and I breathed a sigh of relief when we walked in. People were making things, all sorts of things, and just getting on with it. And in a back room we met Iris and John who have been running the Barking and Dagenham Talking Newspaper for over 25 years.
Hoping to reach blind and partially sited people on the
Thames View Estate - we had the swiftest recording session ever, a one take
wonder presided over by Iris, telling people what we're up to and inviting them
to join us over the next six months. Every week a small team of
volunteers records the news and send off to up to 100 local listeners....and
the best bit, it's all done on cassette.
We left Studio 3 feeling nostalgic for all sorts of things.
Mix tapes, the sound of high speed dubbing...that world where we
literally made tapes for each other rather than playlists with a few clicks of
the mouse that vanish as easily as they appear.
Thanks for showing us your world Iris and John!
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