Coming up in August

Magnificence in Stoke Newington, a picnic, a Summer celebration and a canal café – coming up in August

Our August walk: Saturday 12th August, 11.30am – Abney Park Cemetery and Clissold Park

Join us for a walk and picnic (bring your own) or buy your lunch from the Clissold Park Cafe. 

Meet at Stoke Newington Overground (four stops from Cambridge Heath) or the 276 bus stops nearby. Find out more about the cemetery here.

Our August meeting: Thursday 17th August, 7pm for 7.30pm start – Celebration of Summer

We'll provide the Pimms, Elderflower cordial, strawberries and nibbles.

Share your happy memories of Summers past! 

Bring along a photo of you as a child and we can see if we can guess who’s who…

Also, perhaps, an object that reminds you of Summer.

Got a favourite summer song or tune? Tell us and we will endeavour to play it for you!

We will be at our usual venue: St Margaret's House, 15 Old Ford Rd., London E2 9PL. If the gate is locked when you arrive at St Margaret’s House, there will be a call bell on the right hand side at the back of the gate.

Our August Coffee Morning: Friday 25 August, 10.30am – Blu Ivy Cafe

Block C, 24 Stoneway Walk, Globe Town, London E3 5SH, off the Old Ford Road within Bow Wharf where the Hertford Union Canal meets the Regent’s Canal. 277 bus nearby; nearest tube Mile End. Pictured: their luscious Instagram feed.

Our July talk

Women's safety – our July talk

Ajay from Life Centric (soon to rebrand as My Personal Safety) brought along tips, stories and devices for an informal talk and discussion. 

Ajay's interest in personal safety came from discovering that if in fending off an attack, your attacker is injured, they can sue.

Safety tips included:

• That statistically, the middle carriage of a train is the safest as it’s the most crowded
• Not having valuables on show 
• If making a call while out, having your back against a wall so that no-one can come up behind you
• Taking care when disposing of packaging of valuable items so that they don’t signal to burglars
• Walking in well-lit areas
• Thinking through whether a parking space might be more isolated after dark
• Not wearing headphones, to stay aware of our surroundings
• If being followed, going into a shop to ask for help

We discussed safety apps, self-defence versus running, reasonable force, online safety and the benefits and permission aspects of tracking. We raised the local issues of street theft, theft on public transport, crime on the canals and with knife crime common, concerns about intervening in an incident. 

With our group including a wide range of family and working knowledge, there were points and ideas contributed around opportunities to discuss safety with children and to involve young people in discussions about safety, in and out of school.

Ajay talked us through devices, from personal alarms through a combined safety device and poo bag dispenser for dog walkers to anti-spiking drinks covers, and warned against buying sprays online that might not be legal in the UK.

A big thank you to Ajay for a lively evening giving us much to think about, and for the mobile power banks and personal alarms given out at the end of the session.

And special mentions for Heather's marvellous baking, the glorious fuchsias in the St Margaret's House courtyard and the cheeky fox cub that tried to join our meeting. 

Our July coffee morning: Friday 28th July, 10.30am

Meet us for coffee and treat yourself to a delicious cake or pastry at Boulangerie Jade near Victoria Park. There is an outdoor patio we can meet in if the weather is fine.

Boulangerie Jade, 79 Lauriston Road, Hackney, London E9 7HJ.

Our July walk

A leafy stroll – our July walk

The lovely Victoria Park was our setting for a relaxed July stroll.

Our little band of walkers did a circuit of the pond, struck out to investigate the newly-reopened Young V&A and eyeing the cheeringly-long queue of eager families, decided that our return visit was for another day... 

So back to the park with us. 

Our walks are social and as we wandered, we covered a wondrous array of topics. 

If you'd like to join us – our walks are on the second Saturday of the month – look out for our Coming up blog posts.