We’ve had a wet, then hot week.
No piped water and cool spaces
On Monday, with a twist of irony after torrential rain, we and the rest of the area were without piped water. With no guaranteed flushing toilets or hand-washing facilities, we reluctantly took the decision to close, having first checked in with Merton Council’s Civic Contingencies officer. See their emergency plan. We shared our decision with news outlets. See: Hundreds of South London homes left without water as Thames Water issues update and on our social media, as well as on this website, and helped to make sure as many people as possible were checking the Thames Water website for updates. Fortunately, we were able to re-open on Tuesday.
At quick reminder that we are a registered cool space. You can find these spaces across London here. We always have free drinking water, somewhere to sit that is cooler than outside, often snacks including fruit, device recharging, and as often as possible, access to an air-conditioned hall. When we can’t offer the hall, we are using large floor fans. Our mighty fitness customers have attended their classes as usual, with air conditioning, but even so, a big hat-tip to SinFit and Liz’s Aerobics groups for sticking with it.
Work experience
We’ve had a work experience student with us all week. She leaves her home at 7.30am every morning to reach us on time as she lives in the Roehampton area. Despite having to turn around and go home again on Monday and being unwell on Thursday, she has done some great work for us, putting together ideas for a ‘welcome pack’ for visitors to the Centre. With this talent and determination, she will go far and we wish her all the best. There seems to have been some chaos with work experience placements across several boroughs this year, and we are hosting a total of 15 students from Years 10 and 12 from schools and colleges in Croydon, Merton, Wandsworth, Sutton and Lambeth this summer. We are asking Merton Council and South London Partnership what happened this year as work experience can be a really key part of a young person’s development in helping them prepare for the world of work and take career decisions. See the South London Careers Hub for more information.
Andrea’s craft items for sale
Meanwhile, despite the heat, volunteer Andrea has completed some more delightful craft items. Andrea created the very popular lavender vases that were sold at the Mayor of Merton’s 12th June Pollards Hill celebration in our Centre.
Make us an offer if you would like to purchase any of her latest range!
Volunteers – the garden plot and a summer art project
Volunteers Chris and Muhammad continue to water the garden plot and we’ve managed to keep most things alive. Muhammad comes three times a week on the No. 60 bus first thing in the morning. We are very grateful to him and Chris for their efforts, especially since the outside tap has broken (again) and they rely on filling up watering cans and walking around the side of the Centre to the plot to water things. On Thursday, Chris shared a very fresh and delicious cucumber and some peppery nasturtium flowers with volunteers Alice and Eric. Alice and Eric are both epileptic and it was too hot for them to do any gardening so we stayed inside with Chris’s snacks and some colouring. The colouring is the start of a summer art project and will refresh the designs on the wall in the Craft Room at the New Horizon Centre.
Chris has harvested garlic tops and beans as well this week. The green beans have gone into the vegetarian Gujarati meals prepared by Sunrise Daycare for older people at the Centre, and we will try out the garlic tops that he assures us can be lightly steamed and are a popular dish in parts of China. We checked this piece of information out as we were a bit sceptical and discovered they are called ‘garlic scapes’ and can, indeed be used in recipes where garlic is required or eaten as a green side-dish.
Also surviving in the plot we have some glorious gladioli in deep purple and red, tomatoes coming along, a sunflower and some more cucumber. The cucumber seedlings were donated by a very supportive member of staff in Merton’s Public Health team – thank you very much! The taste of a cucumber picked and washed just minutes ago is so very different to one that has been transported to a shop or supermarket. Almost a different vegetable.
There is still plenty of mint for all and it certainly helps keep up our liquid intake in the hot weather!
Keep cool!
Stay in the shade, stay cool if you can, stay hydrated!
