Lauren, knitting pioneer and founder of Stitch London
Lauren, organiser of Stitch London, is an ambitious believer in the power of knitting to give people a meaningful connection with their environment. I found her at a Stitch London meeting, where knitting enthusiasts meet together to knit and socialise. I scoured the restaurant near Waterloo for the flash of knitting needles and slowly people started to emerge with their yarn, some in groups chatting, others staring ahead defiantly as if focusing on some far off knitting mecca. I found Lauren amongst them to find out how her small idea has grown into a global phenomenon.
Random Interview: Vic - Market Trader, Deptford Market
Deptford Market on a Saturday morning is a thriving bastion of old-timey market chaos. The air is full of shouting, arguing, laughing and confusion as people pick through piles of strange china ornaments, odd shoes and every conceivable electrical appliance that has been surpassed by modern invention since electricity began. It is untainted by trendy craft stalls and free from overpriced tourist tat, instead it is full of pure and glorious junk. Junk that it is exciting and rewarding to search through; books, odd paintings, records, furniture, TVs, clothes, old newspapers, hats and the slightly depressing china set your mum had when you were five. Approaching market trader Vic, I admit to being a bit nervous, but soon found a softness behind her hardy exterior.
Peter Davis, Ghost Bus Tours
I first noticed the distinctive routemaster “Ghost Bus” as it’s ominous black shape trundled along Northumberland Avenue on a winter evening. The Ghost Bus Tour aims to provide people with a unique view of the darker side of London by fusing history, theatre and comedy together with the aid of some creative embellishment. I tracked down Peter Davis, Creative Director of the Ghost Bus Tour in its appropriately atmospheric headquarters located in the upstairs of a shadily lit pub.
snipe: How did the idea for the tour come about?
Amjad — Shop assistant, Julia Wig Shop, Manchester
Shopping in Manchester is a financially dangerous and physically tiring pastime. Vintage clothing shops, independent record stores and art cafes are all within walking distance of the city’s bustling high street.
Opposite the Night and Day Cafe on Oldham Street, where I stopped to rest my bag laden arms, I spotted a shop called Julia. Through the front window of Julia lines of wig adorned mannequin heads stared blankly back at me across the street like an army of motionless clones. I spoke to wig shop worker, Amjad to find out more about his job and his thoughts about wigs.
Random Interview: Senior Pastor at St Peter’s Barge, Canary Wharf
Photo by Fiona Garden
A man with a beer can is singing “Maybe I’m because I’m a Londoner.” (sic) Canary Wharf’s distinctive skyline stands like a cold and intimidating monument to Capitalism and is perhaps the last place you might expect to find London’s only floating church. However, in the waters of West India Quays a haphazard illuminated cross shines across the water like a lonely and defiant beacon. It’s an undeniably brazen statement in such a sterile and corporate setting. I half expected to meet an ex-mariner or some sort of modern day half crazed pirate convert. In reality, Marcus Nodder, Senior Pastor at St Peter’s Barge, was a smartly dressed family man, completely focused on his beliefs and as uncompromising as the world around him. As the Sunday drizzle hit the windows of the front cabin, I spoke with him as he fed his young son Nelson his evening meal.
Random Interview: Darth Vader, South Bank
It’s a bright and fresh spring morning on the South Bank. Above the murky waters of the Thames a group of people are smearing face paint across their cheeks and setting up their performing stations for the day. A silver wizard readjusts his staff, a golden king is pulling up his britches, “the most pierced lady in the world” is laying out her rug and a man who is about to spend the day dressed up as the ultimate dark lord, Darth Vader, is surveying the sky.
Darth: It gets very hot in my costume, I am thinking of changing it to fabric of some kind instead of this leather. I only started last October so I haven’t been through a summer yet. I love Star Wars like most men my age. He is the biggest villain. People may like or hate him but everybody knows him.