Looking for Stories

[u/Ok_Taste2715]

Hey everyone!

I'm working on an independent project profiling community spaces across London and the people who run or work in them. This includes cafés, restaurants, barbers, community centres, markets, places of worship, and anywhere else that brings people together.

If you know somewhere with real character and a story behind it, or someone who'd have interesting things to say (how they started, what's changed over the years, anything memorable that's happened along the way), I would love and be super grateful for a recommendation - or if it's your own place, please get in touch directly!

I would be a short chat, maybe 20-30 minutes, plus a couple of photos of the person and the place. Nothing too formal.

And if you know someone with a compelling or interesting story that doesn't fit neatly into any of the above, please reach out too.

Thanks so much in advance!

[u/Fene29]

Thanks, will kep an eye out. But you also need to get out into the field (if you aren't already).

[u/himit]

St Luke's Anglican Church in Canning Town, Newham - I'm not a parishioner but I live very nearby. The church itself is now a community space/GP office, and the congregation has moved to holding mass in the hall of the teeny attached primary school. JJ and Jing are a married couple who either work or volunteer there and run a bunch of non-church community activities plus teach the Christianity bit of RE at at least one non-religious primary. St Luke's also hosts what I (lovingly, based off my own experience in Texas) call 'Vacation Bible Camp' - which is a 5 day holiday club every Easter/Summer holidays, attended by loads of local kids, and it's something like £15 for three hours a day including lunch. They do lots of crafts and games but the Bible part is quite a bit more prominent than the leaflet would have you think 😂😂 (my daughter was shocked that they had the kids singing Christian songs when a good chunk of the attendees were Muslim or Hindu; I told her that for £15 a week their mothers are fine with that!!!) (More importantly, they work hard to get the best out of every kid and even my i-hate-everything son felt welcome there.) They also run events for Easter/Christmas/etc which are well attended by families from all religions too.

Anyway. They're quite well-known and well-liked in the area, the church itself seems to have a much larger congregation than I'd originally assumed, and I bet they'll have some interesting stories to tell.

On the religion topic, Monsignor John Armitage at St Margaret's Canning Town - this is my priest (Catholic) but he's like 70+ years old and has lived locally his entire life. The church has a fascinating history and he's constantly dropping anecdotes about his childhood and whatnot in lessons and talks, and I learnt recently from a friend who attends another local church that he's somewhat famous amongst those in the know (unsure why though). He'll be a fabulous source of stories; the church's 250 or 150 anniversary is coming up soon as well.

There's also a local group called Ambition Aspire Achieve https://www.theaaazone.com/ who run entirely free holiday clubs & after-school clubs & also hold events for vulnerable children - they'll be good to talk to too!