The COVID-19 pandemic has been a tragedy for communities throughout Britain and beyond.
There have been tales of huge personal loss, sacrifice and hardship. But there have also been some incredible examples of communities pulling together and none more so than here in Elephant and Castle.
We couldn’t possibly do justice to everything that local people have done in this one article, and there are bound to be lots more stories that come to the fore in future, but here’s a brief look at just a few examples.
Local business
Although facing a loss of income and great difficulties, themselves, many local businesses rallied to do what they could to help the local community.
Mercato Metropolitano, the popular food market on Newington Causeway had already been hit by a downturn in trade before the lockdown came fully into force. But it wasn’t long before Mercato adapted to the situation. Their main grocery and deli stayed open and soon they were also delivering hot food and groceries to locals.
The market also teamed up with Peabody, local charity, Pembroke House and Lendlease to donate and distribute food bags and other essentials to vulnerable people in the neighbourhood. They even continued their popular cookery classes, online – perfect for a locked-down nation cooking and baking like never before.
Nearby, at Elephant Park, Beza, the Ethiopian vegan restaurant, started a crowdfunding appeal to deliver hot meals to hospitals as a thank you and show of support to NHS staff. Meanwhile, Tasty Jerk Caribbean turned their hand to cooking for the temporary homeless shelter that was established at the Rest Up hostel, on New Kent Road, as part of the Government’s initiative to work with local authorities to ensure all rough sleepers had accommodation.
Other neighbourhood outlets adapted their business models, where possible while also contributing to the charitable efforts of the local community.
Scandi café and coffee roasters, Hej donated supplies of coffee and hot chocolate to The Outside Project, while popular Walworth café, Louis Louis turned its hand to takeaways and groceries while also setting up the Neighbours in Need initiative. Working with their own neighbours, such as St Peter’s church, Bayroot Lebanese and others, they raised funds to provide free meals to vulnerable and elderly people in the neighbourhood.
Local arts and heritage
Theatre and the arts have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic.
This has been especially tough on Elephant and Castle, a neighbourhood with a strong reputation for its vibrant cultural scene. Nonetheless, most of these scene setters have come through adversity in the past and it was going to take more than a lockdown to stop them from exploring innovative ways to reach out to the community.
Southwark Playhouse, a theatre that has had to reinvent itself more than once over the past 27 years, transformed itself into the Southwark “Stayhouse” and began streaming a range of past performances on it’s website alongside a brand new selection of monologues.
Drawing Room, the one-of-a-kind gallery and library on Rodney Road that’s dedicated to the art of drawing created lockdown art activity sheets for local children. Now the results of all that pent-up activity have been transformed into an online exhibition, called Rock Paper Scissors.
Nearby, the Community Hub, based in the shopping centre, also found itself turning to the internet to continue delivering its unique mix of fitness, crafts, music and dance, online. At the start of lockdown, they quickly converted their website into a virtual community centre offering a range of free activities to keep local families fit and entertained throughout the weeks spent at home.
Meanwhile, local history and community group, the Walworth Society, hosted Virtually Walworth, a series of events and activities online. These ranged from book clubs to bingo and quizzes through to virtual tours of the neighbourhood’s parks and greenspaces. They’ve also been at the forefront of documenting Walworth’s experience of the lockdown to create a record for future historians.
For the Elephant’s renowned, Imperial War Museum London, the pandemic came at a particularly bad time. Not only was the museum about to mount a major exhibition by acclaimed Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, but plans to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day on 8 May had to be cancelled.
Nonetheless, the museum pulled out all the stops to ensure VE Day did not pass by unmarked. After all, this celebration of triumph over adversity was now all the more poignant. The museum dug deep into the archive and produced an online commemoration for VE Day including a new soundscape recalling the spirit of 1945, entitled Voices of War.
Southwark’s Local History Archive and Heritage Service – which is due to open a new library and heritage centre on Walworth Road – stepped up too, contributing a special Southwark themed VE Day section to the council’s new Stay at Home Library that’s keeping thousands entertained and educated until the libraries can reopen.
Local community
Community Project, Elephant Says Hi wants to hear about those individuals and groups who became local heroes during this crisis. You can find out more and vote for your local hero on their website.
Elephant Says Hi got up and running last year with the intention of bringing people together and helping to tackle loneliness in the neighbourhood. That became a lot trickier in the midst of a lockdown. Nonetheless, the team worked with their growing network of local businesses and neighbours to see what they could do to help. This led to them reorienting their website. Originally designed to signpost people to physical places where they’d find a warm welcome, the website became a portal which sign-posted the local community to places where they could find COVID-19 support and resources.
Elephant and Castle’s two big regeneration developers pitched in too. Utilising their respective supply chains and connections both Lendlease and Delancey were able to donate thousands of pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the collective COVID response effort coordinated by Southwark Council.
The Southwark Construction Skills Centre, based at Lendlease’s Elephant Park, became a collection and distribution point during the crisis and Delancey were able to offer 70 shopping centre parking spaces to the NHS as well as vacant retail space at the centre for emergency storage.
Elsewhere, local Mutual Aid Groups sprang-up and a number of Elephant-based charities extended and adapted their regular work to rise to the immense challenge presented by the pandemic.
Dads House, a charity for single fathers, mothers and families, based in the shopping centre, has been running a food bank to ensure that vulnerable local residents, including many who have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, can get the essentials they need. Southwark Council has been supplying the charity’s foodbank, alongside others, and Dads House has been supporting more than 500 familes per week.
Long-established, Walworth charity, Pembroke House raised tens of thousands of pounds to support the community. It turned itself into a food distribution centre, bringing volunteers together to get vital food packages and supplies to those most in need in the surrounding area. At one point it was delivering six tonnes of food per week.
It also turned its hand to creating an online community centre, the Virtual Walworth Living Room and launched a new Info SE17 Website to share important, up-to-date information about services, activities and opportunities in the neighbourhood.
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