Momentum : Keeping things moving.

I was included in an invite for an HR Curry last Tuesday, adeptly organised by the very kind Nick Court. Nick is a lovely guy to be around, and he I chatted over dinner about momentum, after I explained I am feeling refocused and currently being more proactive. Nick talked about moving forward, not always in a hurry, not always in huge strides, but moving. He likened this to how certain species of shark need to keep moving forward in order to keep breathing and stay alive. I’m no shark - but the point was well made.

When it comes to keeping things moving I’m noticing changes both in spotting and responding to opportunities for work. I’m trying to figure out what good productive labour looks like, and for me - increasingly it needs to have community at the heart.

Pre covid I traveled quite a lot for work. I enjoyed it and it takes a toll, and it’s environmentally unstable too. Post covid - much of my work has a more local flavour, and while I remain open to the possibilities of traveling further to do good work - that’s significantly less of a motivating factor for me now. So it came to pass that I’ve had 2 more interviews for work projects this week, 1 didn’t go any further, and 1 did. Let’s get the unsuccessful attempt out of the way first.

Interviews

Last year I studied at The Art Academy - and I really enjoyed it, so when they advertised for someone to manage their portfolio of short course - I applied and was invited for an interview. Had this developed, it would have marked a significant shift for me workwise - as the role is full time five days a week in London. My excellent friend Meg Peppin met me at Terry’s Cafe (a superb place to eat) before the interview and we chatted usefully about how things might unfold. The Art Academy had sent me some data which they’d asked me to consider and discuss how I might use it to make changes. I liked this approach. I enjoyed chatting with Meg about this - and I enjoyed talking some ideas and questions through with the people interviewing me. They chose not to go any further with me but they got some excellent free consulting, and that’s fine. Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve become quite glad this didn’t proceed.

That second interview I mentioned also went well and this one will see me doing some work with a local charity, Sutton African Caribbean Cultural Organisation. I am really excited about this work - it will expose me to aspects of local culture in our borough that I am keen to know much more about, and my skills are an excellent match for the work the charity needs help with, so I’m confident this is going to be a great fit for both of us. Things are developing nicely - but what else is going on?

Supporting Sutton Community Farm

I’ve had a relationship with our fantastic local farm since it opened in 2010, a blend of work and volunteering. I’m lending a hand for a few weeks with delivery driving - while a regular driver is away. This sees me carefully packing a van full of lovely veggies, bread, eggs, etc - and tootling off to Catford, Blackheath, Lee, and Lewisham. It amazes me that a tiny urban farm in Wallington has customers right into London. I like this work because there’s a lot of customer interaction - people pleased to see me - and I like being a public face of the farm. It’s tempting to badge this kind of work as ‘menial’, but I think that’s unfair. In the case of Sutton Community Farm - they make me feel like I’m part of the team - doing important work. I think a lot of us could learn from their approach.

Grants

I’m the Programme Manager for a local arts charity, Arts Network Sutton, and we closed the application window on our 2025 grants programme on Friday. This is important work for us - supporting local artists to design and deliver creative work that bring real benefit to resident in our Borough. It’s tough work too - carefulyl and fairly assessing everyone’s good ideas - knowing we won’t be able to fund all of them. We’ll get stuck into the job of assessing applications very soon - I can’t wait to see what people have proposed this time around.

Wandering

With everything else going on I’m a little surprised I’ve walked on average, just over 11.5km a day for the past week. Being outdoors is vital for me. Time in nature is never a waste and I appreciate giving myself time to think too. Out and about this week I had a feeling I was being watched…

Little Owl on an ash tree along Telegraph Track

After this wonderful sighting I got home and wrestled a poem of sorts onto paper.

Looking At You

I live in the ash tree

Down the end of the lane

And on a fine day

If you approach just right

Look carefully

Wait patiently

You might find me

Sunning myself

Scanning the hedgerows

Just like you’re scanning my tree

I was lookin' back to see

If you were lookin' back at me

To see me lookin' back at you
(with apologies to Massive Attack)

Time To Go

It would be remiss of me not to mark the passing of one of punk’s true pioneers. Brian James - founder of The Damned, died last week aged 70. His time with the band was brief but iconic - James wrote pretty much all of the first two albums before leaving the band to pursue other musical interests. I didn’t see him perform with the band in that first incarnation - but I did get to a reunion gig in 2022 where the original line up played together for a short tour.

Brian James featured in a piece of art I made for ‘Cut, Spray and Pray’, a stencil art exhibition in Peterborough. Each artist submitted up to three pieces and I chose the theme of Identity for my work. All three pieces were sprayed onto old vinyl LPs and I chose a version of The Damned’s first album cover as one of my submissions.

Weeknote 25/01/03

Laughing Down The Lane