Leabank Square Re-Cycle Centre

For the past few weeks - some residents (& our friends the fly-tippers) have been dumping household junk around the Leabank Square Re-Cycle Centre.

This has led to it being overrun with rats & assorted other vermin. And it has been such a horrible sight for everyone to see.

The Hackney Council Re-Cycle truck then refused to return the bins back to their rightful place - and when I spoke to them last week - they said that they wouldn't until it was all cleared up.

I cleared & swept up today - and it looks a whole heap better - so hopefully we will have a regular service from now on.

But please could we all put any re-cycling actually inside the bins from now on. All the aluminium take-out boxes & cans were still caked in food (hence the vermin) - and there was loads of stuff that are not actually re-cyclable.

And then - of course there was all the fly-tipped stuff as well. For that we just have to be a bit more vigilant. If you ever see any of these vans dumping stuff anywhere in our square - see if you can snap a pic. If we put evidence up here on the blog - maybe a bit of naming & shaming might do the trick.

Thanks.

Berkshire Road re-Surface

A we all know - our road is getting a make-over. The council is being very busy re-surfacing Berkshire Road to make it a smoother more pleasant cycle along.

But - it is also in preparation for the Controlled Parking Zone which will be marked out when the asphalting has finished.

Remember the survey back in January? http://leabanksquare.blogspot.com/2009/01/hackney-wick-controlled-parking-zone.html - well this is the result.

The whole of Berkshire Road - and it's extensions - Osborne & Wallis Roads - are to be yellow lined with residents parking spaces. This is to make sure that none of the Olympic workers will use our neighbourhood to park in.

One of the outcomes - is that they start using Leabank Square to park in. So we all need to be more vigilant and take details of anyone abusing our own car park.

Anyhow - I speak as a cyclist - and I for one will enjoy a smoother ride to & from work each day - so thank you Hackney Council.

Room to Rent in Leabank Square

This blog gets requests all the time from people all over London - looking to move into our lovely square. Well this time - we have an appeal from the square - looking for a new neighbour.

Two of our lovely residents are looking for a 3rd female to share one of the flats in block 34-45.

It's a double room - and they're looking for a creative type as they're creative as well.

Please see: http://www.flatmaterooms.co.uk/room-to-let/hackney-wick-leabank-square for more info - and if you're interested - come & have a look.

Together we will all populate Leabank Square with the loveliest people!

Leabank Square Festive Lights Look Stunning!!!

Pic: Z

Pic: Z

Pic: Z

A MASSIVE thanks to 'Z' for bringing loads of festive cheer into Leabank Square again!!

At around this time every year 'Z' treats the rest of us to a stunning Xmas display. Each & every year she outdoes herself - and makes our winter celebrations that much more special!

See also:
http://leabanksquare.blogspot.com/2008/12/annual-leabank-square-xmas-lights.html

Winter Wonderland in Leabank Square!

Wasn't November crazy?! Warm balmy days in the beginning helped us do some late year gardening - and in these last few days - sub-zero temps with an early snowfall!!

CRAZZZEEEEEEE!

Still it makes Leabank Square look really clean & beautiful - doesn't it?

Tour Hackney Wicks Art Galleries & Studios Sat 27 Nov

Would you love a chance to tour some of the most amazing Art Gallery's in Hackney Wick?! Well here's your chance!!

The Arts Council - together with Art Licks have put together an incredible tour of the Wicks most innovative & creative studios. I know the £10 is a bit steep - so make the most of it by really chatting to the artists you meet up with. Ask them more about the whole Hackney Wick area - and what an incredible place they find it.

For a short flavour of what you'll see:
http://hackneywick.blogspot.com/2009/08/hackney-wicked-fantastic.html
http://leabanksquare.blogspot.com/2009/08/hackney-wicked-completes-leabank-square.html


Saturday 27 November, 2.30-4.30pm: HACKNEY WICK

Meet at Hackney Wick Station, 2.30pm

You will visit:

Mother Studios
Schwartz Gallery
Artists' Studios
STOUR SPACE
L.I.U, Legacy 1

To book a place - visit:
http://www.artsjobs.org.uk/index.php?id=25&ne_post_id=52719


Please come on down to Hackney Wick - this place is already kicking - imagine what it's going to be like when London's Silicone Valley starts up after the Olympics?!

Stour Space Christmas Market Sat 11th December

Dreading the thought of pounding busy pavements for xmas gifts? Looking for original, local, transport free shopping?!!

Then get down to Stour Space for an alternative, friendly and creative shopping experience.

Lea River Voted 4th Worst!

The Lea River has just been voted the 4th Worst River in England & Wales by the members of the RSPB. It is no surprise that the aspect commented most about - is the pollution.

We see this every day. All day long there is flotsam & jetsam flowing by Leabank Square. Of course, we have always notified British Waterways whenever there has been a particularly bad pollution spill - but we can do our bit too. Whenever we are up in the Purple Garden on the riverbank - if you see anything floating by close to the bank - please safely retrieve it - and bin it.

It might seem a small insignificant floating pop bottle - but it all adds up.

In the meanwhile - I wonder what the Olympic Delivery Authority feel about hosting the 2012 games along the 4th worst river in England & Wales?

Mmmmmmm......



See:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/264550-revealed-the-best-and-worst-rivers-in-england-and-wales

http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/news/8668655.River_Lea_voted_fourth_worst_in_England_and_Wales/?ref=rss

http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/river_lea_voted_fourth_worst_river_1_729181

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/waleshistory/2010/11/sir_hugh_middleton_drinking_water_river_thames.html

Eid Mubarak!!

Lea Canal Olympic Closure

Following on from last weeks ding dong over our sunrise being knicked by the Olympics (http://leabanksquare.blogspot.com/2010/11/olympics-have-stolen-our-sunrise.html) - we now have more to worry about.

Although - supposedly - nothing has yet been decided - there are rumours flying around that the Lea is going to be closed off for a couple of months over the actual games times. This includes the towpath - and could possibly include the Purple Recycled Garden!!

The police are using 'a potential terrorist threat' as the security-creep into making us not going about our daily business of living alongside the Olympic Park. Many of us use the towpath to cycle along (myself - at least 10 times a week - and on most weekends as well), walk our dogs, fish, ramble, forage - and of course - we have our rowing boat as well.

Well - it seems as though we going to be considered a terrorist threat if we carry on doing these things around games times!

Let's just re-cap here: We have all being living here long before the games were even suggested for Hackney Wick. We then had Arena Fields stolen from us by an Act of Parliament in order to build the games on top of. - that's a massive green field that now has concrete all on top of. We then have had to put up with years of disruption, noise, dust, wolf whistles, overlooking cranes, etc in order to build the games. We have thousands of CCTV cameras sucking up our images each time we walk along their/our perimeter. We have electric fences stuck directly in front of us.

And now - we are not even aloud to carry on living normally along our own river?!

If the threat of us not being able to garden in the Purple Recycled Garden comes true - then we are not even going to be able to get any of our crops of salads, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, cabbage, onions, brassicas, berries, figs, carrots, beetroot, etc. Remember everyone - this is the height of summer - this is the most important time of the year for any gardener - but more so for an edible garden.

So - what are we going to do?

Well - please write to all of our councillors to tell them how you feel about the Lea closure. Please also write to Meg Hillier and the appropriate ministers in the ConDem government.

This is more than just our usual noise, dust & disruption argument with the Scientolympic brainwashed representatives. These are our civil liberties we are talking about. Our right to live freely & happily as everyone else does.

See also:
http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/river_row_over_olympic_security_fears_1_719545

Remember, Remember.........

Throw, Pitch, Hurl, Toss, Drop...Seed Bombs in the Wick

Seed Bombs + Guerrilla Gardeners = Springtime Explosion!!

Today a fantastic bunch of locals got together to embark on a Hackney Wick seed bombing walk! The route started at Mabley Boulder and ended at the A12 pedestrian bridge. All along the way, we deposited our magical bombs which will transform our chosen path into a corridor of colour by next summer!

A few weeks ago our good friend Andreas Lang from Public Works suggested that the Leabank Square gardeners and Abbey Gardens collaborate on a seed bombing project which would follow the sunflower avenue project from a few years back.

So a bunch us got to together to create a big, stylish pile of seed bombs, mainly with the aid of Andreas’s specially designed moulds and magical seed press.

The seeds were harvested from Abbey Gardens in Stratford, Mabley Green Meadow and Leabank Square Meadow, making this a truly collaborative effort! Some of the flowers included in the seed bomb mix were poppies, cornflowers, campion and phacelia. All native wildflowers, which the bees will simply adore next summer!

As we walked, tossed, hurled and surreptitiously placed our seed bombs all over the Wick, we had great fun finding new places to leave our seed packages. So keep your eyes peeled next spring and you may just spot our trail!

If seed bombing wasn’t enough, we also ventured in fixing up the dilapidated planter on the corner of Prince Edward Road. We sawed and screwed, weeded and planted until we felt we had done our bit in mending a broken friend. So if you ever find yourself passing by the planter, please show a bit of love and water or even plant in something nice for all of us to enjoy.

An enormous thank you to everyone who joined us today and helped re-establish a natural link between Mabley Green and Victoria Park. And an especially big thank you to our young Guerilla Gardeners, Rhea, Tilly, Saul, Safiri, Ava and Shanthi!!