Dear Friends & Supporters,
This news update will lack the poetic polemic of Wrinkled McFathead (alias Rankine), as he is sunning himself on a beach in New Zealand for a month! Meanwhile, we’d like to share with you some of our plans and invite you to join us!
WAREHOUSE RE-OPENS FROM SATURDAY 23RD APRIL, 11am to 5pm and every Saturday afterwards (except when we have an event). We will be making/preparing the following:
A MADCAP Banner
More bloomer, vest, sock etc., Buntin (you can never have too much)
Some new decorations for the tents, come along and help create them!
Some MADCAP-style signage for the events (come up with some wackey ideas for naming the tents, with Deptford in mind).
Re-paint the stage
Come up with your own ideas and contributions.
Teas, Coffees and cold drinks available and bring your favourite CD mix for the sound system.
EVELYN COMMUNITY FETE & WORKSHOPS
SATURDAY 21ST AND SUNDAY 22ND MAY 2011
On Saturday 21st May 2011 at 12 noon we will be setting up for a one and a half day event in Kingfisher Square, Evelyn Estate, end of Clyde Street, SE8.
We need to have set up some structures by 4pm, when we will begin 3 workshops: Carnival making, Samba Percussion and Street Dance.
At 7pm Flaky Jake will be leading a community music jam for a couple of hours, so bring along your instruments and join the happy throng. There will be a meal available between 5.30 and 7pm, free to volunteers, and cheap for others. Bring a tent and join our Urban Village Camp if you fancy it.
On Sunday 22nd May we will kick off at 10.30am putting up the stage and side shows, and decorating the site, while at the same time there will be a repeat of Saturday evenings workshops. At approx 12.30pm we will process through the Estate to the sounds of the Samba workshop, adorned by the fruits of the Carnival making workshop.
At 1pm we begin the Urban Village Fete with Pocket the Clown’s Circus Skills Workshop and Walawubeba’s African Dance workshop.
We will be programming our usual fayre, including cultural performances, storytelling, the Deptford Olympics, tug of war, band, competitions and our Fairground side shows.
We will need help at 6pm to strike the site.
SATURDAY 11TH JUNE – 12-5PM – ST NICHOLAS’ ANNUAL GARDEN FETE
In the grounds of this historic church, we will be assisting them for the third year running. Set up will start at 9am, so please come along and join us.
THEREAFTER …….
We are planning events on Milton court Estate and Friendly Gardens for later in the year, and have two (funding confirmation pending) events: SUNDAY 5TH JUNE, SEVEN BRIDGES PROJECT LAUNCH & EVENT, LOUGHBOROUGH JUNCTION, and SATURDAY 16TH JULY – “GOLDEN OLDIES”, Deptford Park, a day of fun and entertainment for older people.
We will of course update you with confirmation/details of these events as soon as we can. Hoping to see you all at some point during this, our third summer season.
Best wishes,
Heather
www.madcapcoalition.org.uk
07932-335625
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Hello One and All,
As we have a flurry of activity [Nowruz on Mon 21st & Silva Community Garden on Evelyn Estate on Sunday 27th March] to take us thru to the end of March we're asking for helping hands to get everything ready this weekend.
Don't forget March 26th is the TUC march against the cuts.
The warehouse will be open from 11am on Saturday and Sunday - some people may prefer to come on Sunday – the really enthused may wish to come down on both days.
We will need to get the equipment for Sunday 27th all checked, packed up and ready for Monday and also to organise the load on Friday 25th.
For those who are free on Monday, all are welcome to The Afghan & Central Asian Assoc. Nowruz celebration on Monday afternoon in the main hall at Goldsmiths. We'll be taking arts & crafts and kick-starting the group with ideas about carnival - Ian has drawn up some interesting ideas to offer.
There will be food and a session of traditional Afghan/Farsi music, which should be a treat.
As the Evelyn event is to celebrate the beginnings of a community garden this event will have a gardening theme – we'll have a potting shed, seed sowing, and potting seedlings, making mobiles and decorations to brighten up the garden – those with a love of gardening and plants especially welcome.
Julie from the community garden asked about broken bricks etc for making borders for the garden and last weekend by the river I noticed bricks [plus] all nicely rounded by the tides so Sunday I'll be going foraging on the river at low [to half] tide with long ladder buckets and ropes to haul some up, throw them in the van along with the compost we have at the warehouse to donate to them and people will be able to make a good communal start on their garden.
Look forward to seeing you.
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SPRING AWAKENING!
[theme tune: Walk like an Egyptian]
Hello all you lucky people! We trust you are well and have survived the mayhem of Xmas and New Year.
The chilly winds, snow and icy cold dark days are loosening their grip, the winter thaw is on it's way. Yea! Welcome hints of warmth from the sun's rays; crocus, daffodils and hyacinths bursting from the ground in the parks, new buds to clothe the skeletal trees, hedgerows, shrubs and birdsong herald the oncoming spring. But beware!
Winter usually sneaks up in March and bites you on the arse... just as you're stripping off for the summer.
However winter was not without activity:
• we staged a sit in when threatened with eviction in November
• two exec meetings
• carnival workshop evaluation
• the Xmas lights event in Deptford on Dec11
• band video shoot Sun 6th Feb
• joining the Vietnamese for their New Year celebration on Saturday Feb 12
• on Sunday Feb 13th People before Profit came down to make a couple of banners for the Carnival Against The Cuts in Lewisham and
• Sat. 19th we joined in with some drumming and percussion, Ian [Otherworld Arts] corpse bride, the black horse and the skellie bikes and marched with at least five or six hundred people from the Town Hall in Catford to the mound by the roundabout on the High St .
Just like hedgehogs, Madcappers are emerging from winter hibernation and, unlike the frustrations and false hope of last year [mind - we did end on a high note with the March of Mischief & Mayhem], we're hitting the ground running.
We have already been hired for two events in March, an urban village fete on Pepys Estate to mark the opening of the refurbished parks on March 12th, Saturday March 12th’s event [12noon – 4pm] will be at Upper Pepy's Park which is located in the corner by Convoy's Wharf at the southern end of Pepy's Estate on the river.
If you could drop an email or give us a call to let us know if you are able to join in, that will give us peace of mind, and ability to plan the day more easily. The other to be confirmed with Evelyn TRA – Sat.27th March. This event is a Lewisham Homes “get to know your neighbour winner”, to promote their newly established community garden and will take place in the open grassed area next to the garden behind Magnolia House which runs along Evelyn St between Abinger Grove and Deptford High St.
This is really good news. We need to earn as much as we can to cover our costs, including electricity, website, phone, keeping our email account and public liability insurance, volunteers expenses, stationery, petrol for the van etc.
We are also helping out (in-kind) with the Afghan and Central Asian Association’s Nowrus (New Year) celebration on Monday 21st March. This is being held in the main hall of the main building of Goldsmith’s College. The event starts at 1pm, but we’ll be setting up ready to go for 4pm. It will finish at 9pm. Please feel welcome to join us.
Hopefully we'll have a refreshed team of volunteers for these events. Knowing who is available for each event is really helpful and we welcome hearing from you if you are able to join in. Could you please let us know [either way] asap by email, text or mobile.
The 12th of March will be the usual early start (8.30am) to set up, and we always need volunteers to bark the games, assist in the arts & crafts workshops, and pack down at the end of the day. You will get fed and watered as usual, and hopefully have a good crack to boot.
There are creative muts and witterings re ideas and possibilities of devising satirical sketches for cabaret – performance is ultimately an option but the process is inclusive and with a view to a MAD-re-CAP to consider how current trends in society relate to Madcap's activities and direction. Here's an idea for this weekend – how about a gathering of Madcap people down at the warehouse – lets say from 2pm, on Saturday 5th March. It would be a timely opportunity to check and organise all the equipment for the following weekend and field ideas for the summer ahead.
We could put the table out and have a meal – people could contribute by bringing some food - I could make a mouth-melting goat stew [believe me it's yummy] and those willing could bring a starter, roast tatties and parsnips, green vege and a dessert.
Let us know whether you can make this.
Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing everyone together.
Cheers
Rankine
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EVENTS AND WORKSHOPS 2010
CLICK HERE to
download the latest CARNIVAL PROCESSION NEWSLETTER
Wednesday 27th October MEETING for musicians
and volunteers who want to help with the Rough Music Band (no experience
required!).
7.30pm at the Warehouse (click here for Google map)
Thursday & Friday 28th & 29th October CARNIVAL
PROCESSION REHEARSALS
2-5pm at the Albany
Saturday 30th October CARNIVAL PROCESSION
6pm from the Albany to the Laban
Event in the Laban including music, games, fire, food and much more!
Call out to one and all & including local musicians
and performers...
Are you available, willing & able? Please can you help us out?
No Carnival procession is complete without the integral aspect of
marching bands and music...we are inviting local musicians to take
part in forming two, possibly three marching bands already existing
in the area.
We have received funding for a limited number of carnival preparation
workshops and the procession and will be working with the Vietnamese
and the Afghan Supplementary Schools, Deptford Park & Tidemill
Primary Schools, and possibly Deptford Green School.
Further we will also be holding open access carnival preparation
workshops at our warehouse on October 2nd & 3rd for those who'd
like to build procession puppets, costumes, banners & flags etc....Also
we want to encourage people to join the procession to form a rough
music band for which we would like to develop a core group.
Madcap Coalition aims to revive the Deptford Festival / Carnival
as an annual event. With this in mind over the last two summers we have
been funded to organise urban village fêtes on estates and parks in the
Lewisham borough and particularly around Deptford creating opportunities
to encourage local residents to participate in creative activities. We
have also organised two small carnival processions during the now defunct
Made In Deptford Festival – which was set up to promote business on the
High Street.
It is our aim to involve the community to make it a genuinely community
participatory event.
Our warehouse is open every Saturday between 11am and into the evening
for preparations and we will be scheduling a music session to provide
an opportunity to rehearse and to have a percussion workshop too.
Rehearsal times and making sessions can also be arranged to suit
at any other time during the coming weeks.
