DIY? Yes!

“We Can Do It!” is an American wartime propaganda poster produced by J. Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric as an inspirational image to boost worker morale. The poster was seen very little during World War II. It was rediscovered in the early 1980s and widely reproduced in many forms, often called “We Can Do It!” but also called “Rosie the Riveter” after the iconic figure of a strong female war production worker.

This is Rosie. Rosie the Riveter, for those of you who don’t know her. She is a widely recognised image in American cultural and feminist circles; the poster girl for self-empowerment and self-reliance.

I stared at this poster for the better part of three years. It was hung in a classroom in which I often taught British Literature by the History teacher whose space I shared. She was a staunch feminist. I, in comparison, was a mouse.

But that soon changed. As the role demanded more of me, I met it and became an outspoken champion of whatever needed championing. And it felt good. To help someone out, to shout loudly about something that was ignored, to participate in the human debate. And I’ve been that way ever since. Looking at Rosie every day, I felt solidarity with that idea. Yes, of course, I could do it!

I also lived on my own then, and that meant doing whatever needed doing–fixing an in-sink disposal unit, changing the headlamp on my car, paying the bills, wiping and reimaging my PC. I did it myself. I didn’t even think of asking for help.

And then I got married. And left Rosie on another continent. For a while, I still carried on doing my thing, being myself. I pulled up carpets and replaced them. I dug up our entire overgrown back garden and landscaped it. And I enjoyed doing those things as I enjoy working with my hands.

But motherhood and the feeling of depending on another soon took away my hard-earned independence. It wasn’t my husband’s fault. He is an advocate of finding your own solutions to problems and we give each other the space “to work it out” before calling for help. That’s very much why we make good partners.

Nonetheless, I have often felt, since becoming a mother and a wife, that I should just let him take the lead when something needs fixing. Because I am busy doing other things. Because I can’t be bothered. Because it is part of this role of mother and wife to defer these things to your husband. I lapsed into this paradigm in which I take care of the children and he takes care of the house.

Thankfully, our washing machine broke down again the other day and I snapped out of it. Previously, I’ve had electricians and servicemen in. DH has had a turn at fixing it as well. This time around, he tried and couldn’t fix it. Muttered something about not knowing what else he could do. A little voice spoke up in my head. Why couldn’t I try to fix it? What could possibly be so difficult if all these other people had done it? And I realised that I had lost my mojo and that the little voice was calling it back.

And so I Googled the error code, shut off the power at the mains, found the hexagonal spanner, dragged the behemoth out from the cupboard, loosened the bolts on the top panel and had a look. And I saw nothing wrong. [Shit.] But I fiddled with a few wires and Eureka! it was working again.

Of course, it has since relapsed and I’ve had to call my father for advice on how to fix it properly, but hey. At least it feels like I am back in the saddle again. And Rosie and I have found each other once again. I have put her (a postcard) on the fridge as a reminder. And as a good example for my little girls who will see Mom and Dad using both spatulas and hammers equally.

Making East London Home through Furniture Re-Use

The Quakers have always been full of great ideas. For one, they invented chocolate.

I could just stop there, couldn’t I?

Quaker Social Action has been at work for 145 years in East London, under the moniker, “Working for a Just World Where People Put People First.”

And this is just the message East Londoners need to hear. Often. This is a high-density corner of the world. Some of us have lots of stuff, while others can’t afford it. But we all live next to each other. And the amount of ‘stuff’ that some of us have can cause problems–flytipping for one. We need people with great ideas to keep things running smoothly.

Enter QSA’s Homestore, which celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year. The furniture re-use charity project collects quality new or used furniture donations from businesses and private individuals and sells it on at a low cost to low-income East Londoners, our neighbours. Everything someone would need to fit out a decent family home is on offer at the Homestore Warehouse, at prices that rival even those of charity shops.

I used QSA’s Homestore a few years ago when I moved in with DH. He had a few items from his bachelor days that ahem needed a new home. So I sent a home office desk and a tv console their way. I called Homestore again recently as we’re renovating and have a dining table and sofas that are too small for our growing family. And I became intrigued.

Last week, I brought the girls along for a browse in the warehouse and to meet Jane Williams, who heads up Fundraising and Communications for QSA and Homestore Manager Jim Carling. It’s tucked away in a Stratford industrial estate, quite near to the wonderful new Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, one of our favourite new spots to visit. Inside, the Homestore is a cheery, bright place, welcoming for families looking for things to make their homes nicer. It’s not long before the little ones ‘ask’ if they can bounce on the settees.

Jim explains that for every £1 in donation, the Homestore needs to fundraise £2. It is a grand-scale furniture recycling scheme staffed by full-time employees and volunteers. Homestore’s fleet of lorries shuttle between pickup points in seven East London boroughs and back to the warehouse several times a day. Donors are asked to contact Homestore about their donations and these will be pre-qualified before a driver is committed to picking up: It’s essential that any donated items are in compliance with fire and child safety regulations, and the Homestore staff will determine the suitability of your items over the phone or by email.

At the warehouse, furniture is given a quick scrubbing up, and put on sale. Customers of the Homestore must show proof of low income in order to shop here. Donors can give their items in a safe, reliable, and convenient way. And if you’re a Freecycler or EBayer, like we are, you know what this means.

Theresa is a teacher in Hackney. She enjoys a home with a lovely view out to the park from picture windows. When she was expecting her baby last year, she needed to move furniture out of her spare room to create a nursery. She chose Homestore to donate her very smart coffee table and a beautiful jumbo cord-covered sofa.

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Become a Donor

In order to make its next 25 years a success, QSA is appealing for donations of more good quality furnishings from East London homes. So, instead of Freecycle or eBay, consider donating your furnishings to Homestore.

Donation guidelines are viewable and  downloadable here.

Unfortunately, some childrens’ and baby furniture cannot be donated as the safety compliance cannot be verified. Donated items can have normal wear and tear, so don’t worry about the odd scratch.

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Mumsnet Local serves all of the boroughs in which Homestore collects donations. Listings can be found in the following categories–Community Organisations, Eco Services, Removals and Storage–or by clicking directly on the links below.

• Mumsnet Redbridge
• Mumsnet Waltham Forest
• Mumsnet Islington
• Mumsnet Barking and Dagenham
• Mumsnet Hackney
• Mumsnet Newham
• Mumsnet Tower Hamlets

Summer-Born Campaign Reports Positive first meeting with Chairman of the Education Select Committee

An update signalling progress from the Summer-Born Children campaigners!

summerbornchildren

On Tuesday 13th May 2014, summer born campaigners Michelle Melson, Pauline Hull and Stefan Richter, together with Annette Brooke MP, met with Graham Stuart, Chairman of the Education Select Committee in his Parliament office.

The following is a summary of this meeting:

*Having already forwarded our January 2014 summer born report via email, we summarised the very serious problems being experienced by parents of summer born children, both during attempts to enrol their child in school at compulsory school age and later in their education when forced to skip an academic year, and we outlined our growing concerns about how the Department for Education is handling the situation.

*Mr. Stuart was very shocked by some of the cases we described, and expressed some surprise at the opposition to allowing admissions flexibility for summer born children; he was already aware of research showing disadvantages for some summer born children, and suggested that allowing…

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#BringBackOurGirls. Bring Back Our Empathy

They have been gone for a long time. 23 days on the calendar. A lifetime if one of the girls is your family.

The story is finally on the front pages of the news daily and dominating the World’s political agenda, but those who care have criticised the media for their slow uptake of this story. Reticence? Low public appetite for these types of stories? These voices also have criticised the Nigerian government for their slow or ineffective actions thus far. Endemic corruption? Incompetence? These voices criticised world governments and agencies for not jumping in sooner. We have since learned that at least some of these bodies were ready to act on the first notice of the missing girls.

But it felt, for a long, long time in the last 23 days, that these girls had been abandoned to their fate. That the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, started by Nigerian activist Oby Ezekwesili, was shouting through Twitter and Facebook to a largely empty world, getting echoes back from only those of us who made it our business to find out what happened and to care about hundreds of frightened girls and their families: preaching to the choir.

I speak for myself. I was terrified, angry, sad, wanted to take some action. Something. Anything, other than just feeling helpless. I am still terrified, angry, and sad. But I have taken some action. And I am an ordinary person, raising two little girls nowhere near Nigeria. And I would want them to know that I would fight for these girls, as I would fight for them.

Wole Soyinka, the Nobel Prize winning Nigerian writer, stated so much in a CNN interview:

“It’s one of those rather child-like situations that if you shut your eyes, if you don’t exhibit the tactile evidence of the missing humanity here, that somehow the problem will go away.”

It is not just “a Nigerian problem,” he said.

“I’m calling for the international community, the United Nations – this is a problem. This is a global problem. And a foothold is being very deeply entrenched in West Africa.”

We cannot fail our children. And we are doing just that by ignoring our own humanity. We need to care.

Thing is, lots of people in the “international community” just don’t care. Apathy, indifference, racism. We have gotten used to waiting for the celebrity or politician to come along and say something for us–and they have, in droves. Michelle Obama’s expression of empathy in a photo she Tweeted stands out especially. And she’s gotten a lot more people to care now. If we rely on the celebrity or even political validation of a cause before WE act, we increase the risk of inaction. Empathy is not a democratic process. WE should not wait for others to make us care. WE must speak up for ourselves, expend the energy to care, to weep, to feel angered, to take up some call to action. Or these crimes against children will continue to happen.

Here’s the truth. Some people simply cannot tolerate other peoples’ suffering. I know lots of these kinds of people. Some of these people even have children of their own, whom they put to bed each night and expect that they will be there in the morning. Would be utterly outraged if the police or their government did not jump into action to find them, and would feel betrayed if those around them didn’t care.

But somehow, their empathy switch for these hundreds of girls in a remote part of Nigeria did not switch ‘on’. Or maybe they looked at the news story or their friend’s Facebook update or heard about it and said ‘too bad’, shook their head, and went back to doing what they were doing before.

And that’s wrong. It’s not okay to sit still about this.

And no, we can’t all even realistically help as individuals. But we can and should show that we are affected by something that the Universe itself–if it spoke–would say was just plain wrong.

I am reminded of a movie that I find difficult to watch, A Time to Kill, based on the John Grisham novel. The father, played by Samuel Jackson, killed his little girl’s rapists and abductors. Liam Neeson’s character did the same in Taken. These stories had relatively happy endings. These dads got their girls back and they were reunited, able to rebuild their lives. WE like the way those stories end. Maybe WE are afraid of the way this story will end, because these kinds of stories often end badly. But they don’t have to.

On behalf of these hundreds of girls in Nigeria and children (girls and boys) everywhere else in the world who are abducted, raped, sold into slavery, tortured, killed, and everything else in between, WE are not as outraged as the men in these movies. Perhaps some of us genuinely don’t care, but I have to believe this is a tiny minority and I also must believe that these people must have a biological lack of mental or emphatic faculty.

#BringBackOurGirls is a powerful, direct message to Boko Haram from the International Community: YOU, terrorists, bring back OUR girls. WE, the people who care, their mothers and fathers, sisters brothers, friends, and strangers the world over who want them safely home again. It doesn’t have to end badly. And if it does, we can work like hell to make sure that it happens fewer times and to fewer children.

As Malala Yousafzai has said, using the same WE: “If we remain silent then this will spread, this will happen more and more and more.”

We cannot fail our children. Here’s what WE can do:

 

 

Local Business Chat with Vicki of Victoria’s Sponge

This busy mum of two is making strides in her baking business, creating beautiful and delicious works of art for families celebrating special occasions all over London.

We pinned her down for a moment to ask some not-so-pointed questions.

Er, please read the interview before scrolling down to look at the cakes. . .

Q: How long have you been baking? 

I’ve been baking for 3 years but only taking orders for the last six months- It’s always been a hobby and a hit with my family and friends who have pushed me to take it up as a business.

Q: Which is your favourite cake, speaking, ahem, professionally of course? 

I know this is going to sound boring but my absolute favourite and speciality is my Victoria sponge. I do love making and eating this!

I also really enjoy making the tiered cakes–because at the end you stand back and have an instant WOW factor. I’ve made some huge cakes: one was 24 inches tall and the bottom tier was 20 inches in diameter. It fed 400!!

Q: What made you want to go into the baking business?

I started this as a hobby when I was quoted ridiculous amount of money for a cake I wanted and thought that I could do it myself. Ever since then I have found a passion for cake making and believe we shouldn’t be ripped off my some of these cake shops! ! My family and friends have pushed me and given me the confidence to do this as a living.

Very admirable. And we couldn’t agree more about not wanting to be ripped off. So it’s been a smooth journey in business then?

Oh no. I do have some funny stories. A bridal customer took her finished cake and promptly dropped it. I’ve burnt cakes, broken cakes, forgot to put ingredients in cakes, worked through the night because we had a power cut in the day. But it’s all part of the
fun and there’s nothing better when you see your client’s happy face!

It’s also nice when they send in their pictures celebrating their most precious moments with one of my cakes!

Oh my. You are really very dedicated to your craft and your customers. And we are happy this is all turning out so nicely for you and you really seem to be enjoying what you do. Just one last question that we can’t resist asking: Do you believe you can have your cake and eat it too?

I will take this as can a cake look good, taste good and not cost the earth- yes, you absolutely can!

And on that note, feast your eyes on some of Victoria’s beautiful and lovingly made creations.

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Victoria’s Sponge is based locally, but she serves customers in the Greater London area. You can find her business listing on Mumsnet Local – Redbridge.

Off to See Matisse’s Colourful Cut-Outs

The Snail, 1953

The famous shapes of Matisse’s Cut-Outs are at the Tate Modern! This is the largest collection of them shown to date, in fact, with 120 or so of the Cut-Outs to enjoy.

The vibrant colours and shapes should really be engaging for children, so we’re thinking it’s definitely worth a visit. The folks at the Tate are expecting this and have prepared some material for the wee ones’ visits: read the The Tate Kids Blog here. Already, some enthusiastic young fans have sent in photos of their own Matisse-inspired creations to the blog.

We are learning to use scissors carefully around here, so the transition to home should be a good and useful one. Cutting, sticking, and positioning paper into sought-after shapes seems like something we could all get happily stuck into.

This will be my first trip to the Tate with children. I’m thinking of starting at St. Paul’s Cathedral and taking a walk across the Millenium Bridge on the way to the museum.  I’ve always liked that journey.

Matisse, the Cut-Outs runs from 17 April – 7 September 2014

Adult £18 (without donation £16.30)
Concession £16 (without donation £14.50)
Help Tate by including the voluntary donation to enable Gift Aid
Additional booking fee of £1.75 (£2 via telephone) per transaction applies
Under 12s go free (up to four per parent or guardian)

Shopping for School Shoes

I love shopping for my daughters. Now it’s time for school shoes. . . and I’m feeling a little nostalgic.

Am I wrong? Or do these just eek ‘nostalgia’?

Follow my Pinterest board as I search for a black leather school shoe. . . and inevitably get distracted.

Making Time to Play

Capturing the twinkle twinkles of childhood can sometimes seem a low priority in the grand scheme of parenting. But often, it’s that magical element of play, introduced at the right moment, that can elevate a sad or grumpy mood or stop a brewing tantrum, even encourage a penchant for creativity or a lifelong love of the arts. But we can forget all of that with the stress of parenting, working, living, and the many many other things that occupy our mental space. We grown ups can–and do–forget how to play.

I recall a moment in one of my favourite films, Finding Neverland. J.M. Barrie, played by the most wonderful Johnny Depp, sits in the theatre among the patrons watching the premiere of his latest play. They are displeased. And he reminds them that it is a play. It’s a profound moment in its simplicity: stop overthinking and overexpecting and just enjoy what’s in front of you.

The connection? Well, sometimes, I need to remind myself to play with my children or to let them play and not worry so much. Among the many many words of advice I received when I became a mother was the very simple “enjoy your children” from a dear friend. This week, I made the connection a literal one.

Enter Acting Bugs, run by actress Samantha Seager. Originally from Manchester, Sam has been a Wanstead local for many years now; she started Acting Bugs (for preschoolers) and Diddy Bugs (more sensory-based and for under threes) in 2012.

Sam has acted for grown-ups and for kids, most notably on Coronation Street and CBeebies. She created the classes to encourage active storytelling in family life: a worthy cause. During the class, parents and children are meant to interact, given the dramatic prompts by Sam. These include verbal prompts to imitate animals, or a runner bean, or play pat-a-cake. These also include physical prompts like puppets or a giant canopy / magic carpet. So there’s a lot of hopping, jumping, whisker-twitching, body hugging–playing, essentially, and acting, as Sam might say, like “silly sausages” for the better part of an hour. If you’re going to be reserved about it and not play along, you might miss the whole point. And all of the fun.

As this was a one-off for us, I asked a parent who’s been coming for a while. For Bella’s mum, Acting Bugs is helping her daughter to have confidence in herself, something we all wish for our children when entering the world. Though the class uses some props, Sam mainly relies on the parents and children to use their voices and bodies to express ideas. This focus on the body and all it can do is perfect for confidence-building in children. My outgoing three-year old engaged with the activities instantly and my very shy two-year old was happy to do a little here and there. I thought the Spring Chicken song and dance were really fun. Apparently, I was caught doing that in the garden this afternoon.

The class takes place in the hall of Wanstead’s beautiful Christ Church, which has a charming garden. The hall is roomy (lots of space to run around and play) and has loads of stimulating natural light. An amazing venue for an afternoon of imaginative fun.

In addition to the classes, which are offered in Redbridge as well as nearby in North and East London, Sam offers inspiring and imaginative nursery and library sessions and story-based parties for children aged 2-7.

Mumsnet Local – Redbridge is happy to provide further information about Acting Bugs. Click on the link or find it under Things To Do > Classes > Preschool Classes > Drama.

We also list drama club and acting classes for children of school age and by other providers, so please contact us if you can’t find what you’re looking for!

If You Went Down in the Woods Today. . .

. . .yes, you would have seen bears (carved ones, of Yogi and Boo-Boo Bear). On this, the first ever Easter Egg Trail in Hainault Forest, organised by the Woodland Trust, we also saw a panoply of beasts and birds carved into the woods.

The North-western end of Hainault Forest has a one-mile long walking trail which is home to the Trust’s annual Halloween ‘Monster’ Trail and, now, a delightful Easter trail for families. The trail is accessible for buggies and most wheeled vehicles. There are some narrow bridges, but detours are available.

Bunnies in the woods

The Hunt was free to anyone who requested a ticket; the Trust asked only for donations. And thanks to Derek Wright of the Trust for organising a ticket for us at the very last minute.

Enjoy the photos and play along to see if you can spot some of the carved creatures, done by local chainsaw carvers and willow bark sculptors.

 

 

 

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Happy Easter, from Yogi, Boo Boo, Emelia and Liesl

Off to Tend to His Workshop

I wept this morning upon reading that Gabriel Garcia Marquez has died. I cannot explain why except to say that this man’s writing and life captured many essential things for me. Throughout my life, in the Americas and now in Europe, he has travelled with me, living on my bookshelves and in my thoughts. A constant. They have carved a space in the world for old-fashioned things like play and dreaming. Unlike any other writer, for me, Gabo’s writing resonates with uncompromising truth and expresses the true rhythms of life and history in the Americas in its so-called ‘magical realist’ style. To me, it just seemed like reality.

Rest in peace, Gabo. I will visit you often among the shelves.