First step to running a good STREET PARTY- seek out some elderly pensioners!

When I began planning ‘A Deptford Street Party’, I found that the attitude amongst many people in and around my area with regards to co-ordinating community activities was one of general pessimism. This could perhaps be because many believe that any free community event must inevitably have to come at a cost to someone, and nobody in these ‘hard times’ has money to put towards it. As aside from the financial setbacks many also focus on the apparent lack of any real community to draw upon, particularly in a city like London, wherein there are so many social/ class/ cultural fractures that can stop people from coming together to have a good time. Drawing upon my own experience of co-ordinating a street party in Deptford, I would advise anyone who is has doubts as to whether it is possible to run this sort of community event to go talk to the elderly. Seek out the people who have lived in London when times really were HARD and ask them how they used to put together a party in their community or better still get them to show you how! This is what I did with ‘A Deptford Street Party’, when faced with the prospect of co-ordinating an event for the local community with a budget of £0 the best idea I had was to step into the local elderly centre DAGE (Deptford Action Group for the Elderly) and beg the pensioners inside to help me- and I tell you- without them I don’t think this event would have happened!

The first time I went into DAGE it is fair to say I felt every bit the outsider I – being under the age of 65- essentially am in their world. After sweet talking Harry ('arry) on the door, to permit me to enter their sacred space, I went out to the back tea-room. Suddenly I found myself within the haven of the elderly, wherein the temperature stays hot, the tea and cake are always free and there is life-size cardboard cut-out of Humphrey Bogart is glued to the back of the door. Once I took in the surroundings and started chatting it became clear that I had come to the right place. The DAGE pensioners have plenty of experience in the art of street partying- an activity which apparently was a regular occurrence during the war years. Deptford itself used to be an ideal place to host such an event, back in the good old days when it was much easier to close roads and offer catering without a food hygiene licence- the entire High Street would often get closed off and white topped tables would run it’s length donned with all the usual teatime treats . Once the DAGE pensioners realised I was not trying to force them to do anything on my own terms, but rather asking them to advice me on what they thought I should do, they began to offer such fantastic help that I don’ think anything I can write will truly do them justice- but I will try……..

Once I began making DAGE a regular stop for my post-market cuppa, the ladies of DAGE not only helped me by offering unlimited free cake and wartime Street Party stories they began actually offering me donations. I was particularly touched when on a Wednesday that I failed to make it down because of being called in at work, I had Kitty come to my shop and give me an amazing 1970’s psychedelic maxi for use with the group! Apparently she had it packed under the bed, and was certain there was plenty more up in the loft but I’d have to wait until her son comes down for a visit before she could get them down. Temped though I was to keep it for myself, I took it down to the group later that evening at the Workshop who of course absolutely LOVED IT! Then the following Wednesday, when I popped in after the market I had Betty hand me a bag of old CD’s to put onto the Ta Na Deptford playlist! The last time I was in there I had mentioned how we were looking for tracks that defined Brit Culture to create our street theatre out of. This random selection offered by Betty (about 15 CD’s in total) could not be better, everything from old Music Hall hits, to Wartime sing-a-longs, to Chaz and Dave! Then just to put the icing on the cake, the ladies began an impromptu Tá Na Deptford performance of their own! Knowing that when I head for my cup of tea I have always come straight from market and usually bought a ridiculous costume of some description, it has become a point of habit for them to freely rummage through my bags. On this particular day one of the ladies not only wanted to dive in, but also insisted on putting one of the dresses on (a fluorescent pink sequin number) then began a sing-a-long - ‘The Lambeth Walk’ I believe. Tina not wanting to miss out on all the fun put on an equally hideous bright monstrosity from my bag- Please not in the photo of Tina (below) the newspaper article of Tá Na Deptford which DAGE have not only pinned up on their wall but also bothered to BLOW UP so that I makes easy elderly reading! The day was made even better when Tina came down to our Wednesday Workshop that evening and watched in wild animation our outrageous impulsive acts at the back of the Amersham Arms.

Aside from giving me presents I was equally touched when Kitty invited me to a tea-dance in Blackheath to teach me a thing or two about how to run one at the event (tea-dancing being an activity I was keen to incorporate into the Street Party). Kitty has been a dancer for years, so she really was the best person for me to learn form. However I was not just impressed by her moves, but also her amazing energy and ability to motivate other less able dancers (such as myself) to get up and give it a go. On the day of the Street Party it was thanks to Kitty’s spirit that we were able to make the tea-dance such as success. All it took for me to do was plug the PA system into my laptop of loaded DAGE hits and before I knew it we had dancing in the Deptford Streets! The ladies without a doubt loved having the chance to get up there and show us youngsters how it’s done and I think everyone in the crowd left we a great degree of admiration for their skill, their enthusiasm and their willingness to just get up and do it.

Aside from showing Deptford how to tea-dance, I think the DAGE ladies also taught us a think or two about how to party as Brits. In the run up to the event having had a fair degree of hostility from certain people about running an event on the day of the Wedding- despite my constant repetition of the fact that I am in no way a Royalist but rather someone who will never pass up a good opportunity to throw a party. By heading down to the event dressed up in their red, white and blue and having a good old knees up the DAGE ladies proved that sometimes it’s better to worry less about all the weighty problems and unfairness in the world and try and make the best out of what we got. After all, sitting alone in a darkened room harbouring resentment for a Prince and Princess on their big day because they are never to feel the financial pinch painfully squeezing those of us living in the real world isn’t going to change anything. Better to pull together, turn up the music and show them how to really party by dancing down the Deptford streets!