Pick of the Day

An absolute joy to meet and shoot was Damari, we could print all his pictures, and after finishing he picked up his mums shopping bags and walked them to the bus stop-what a trooper.

Sean Patel

‘If you can visualise it will materialise’

‘Thinkers’ spend years coming up with this stuff, but to a man who’s truly made it happen, it was a slip of the tongue.

Sean Patel, owner and general friend of the neighbourhood is someone who really did see something and made it happen.

Born in Zambia to Indian parents, he moved to Peckham in 1989 after deciding a move to Canada wasn’t right for him or his future. ‘Peckham was really rough in those days’ he laughs, and I realise this is a stigma Peckham still has, holding it back from it’s real potential to shine as a  great community.

Following the move to Peckham in the eighties, Sean and his brother excelled in making a living in the painting and decorating trade, something neither of them had any experience in, but with patience and an eye for perfection they managed to save £26,000 in the their first year of trade keeping overheads to a minimum sharing one small  room.

They didn’t stop there, for some people the promise of that kind of money would have been enough  but Sean and brother could see further than that, and so with a huge cut to his pay check, Sean  worked for 8 months on £2 an hour in the local newsagent.  It was learning the ins and outs that was more valuable than the money ever could be, Sean went onto borrow money from the bank to buy his first shop, the very shop he’d made £2 an hour in.

Fast forwarding 18 years, Sean now has a small Peckham based business empire including Money Gram and Café World. His friendly and open minded approach to business has attracted a longstanding group of regulars as well as people like me, who will venture up to the café for Peckhams finest Cappuccino (he also installed an internet café due to popular demand from the locals). With an inclusive approach to business Sean will be hosting the first SE Village community hub on the 2^nd September.

This short story really doesn’t do Seans’ story justice, it cuts out all the intricacies of his hard working ethos, and family who have also worked incredibly long to realise the dream, but if are in need of a cappuccino perhaps you could venture up and listen to the modest Mr Patel tell you his story. 

Download and Distribute

The finished flyer, once again thank-you to Aki for our billiant new poster. Please download and distribute  wherever  you think it will have the most impact. Happy Fly Pasting!

New Talent

We are very fortunate to have access to some real local talent, Aki Naimi-Akbar has very kindly volunteered his time to create this stunning poster to help our cause. The final version will be up shortly but for now we have little nugget to share with you.

Where there's a Will there's a Way.

A range of flyers have been produced, feel free to download and distribute to anyone you might feel is interested in helping us and the project.

Reflecting

Thursday was a favorite, not only did we meet the man who bought the cappuccino to Peckham (Sean) and met a surrealist artist from Camberwell (Prince) but we really got down to the nitty gritty of what makes people in Peckham tick, people here are refreshingly honest in airing their views but are so incredibly friendly it makes it an easy space to discuss the finer details of Peckham life from the best place to  buy the local brew to the new direction of youth work.  Just FYI to all visitors to the peace wall, it comes down this weekend, so get your thoughts up there now. Eventually the Peace Wall is to be archived, and there are even discussions to transform it into a community structure.

Peckham Settlement

I visited Peckham Settlement for the first time today, a seriously amazing space with equally amazing people behind the scenes. We'd like to thank them for all their help so far, and if you can give them an hour of your time it will go a long way. Drop in to find out what they are up to and all the events they are putting on. http://www.peckhamsettlement.org.uk/index.html  Here are two gorgeous ladies who were helping us out this morning.