The wasteground

Photos, anecdotes... One topic per house
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Joviale
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The wasteground

Post by Joviale »

Well, one could argue that people didn't really leave there, but they did! I for one moved in an old broken down van parked there when i escaped from the horrible council flat i had been rehoused in with mac and eloise, and quite a few people had their vans or caravans parked there at one time or another. It was like thumbing one's nose to bovis (the property developper): every time they pulled a house down, someone would move a van on the space thus "liberated".
But it was also a very important social spot, to have parties, meals or picnics, build domes, a playground for children, os squaters and local residents alike, ...
A few photos:

Image


Image

(other photos removed until i have time to resize them, sorry)

And loads more in the gallery, specially inger's photos!

Has anybody any photos of the dome? And how about adding you're tree house, weed?
If i can't dance to it, it's not my revolution

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Dominic
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Re: The wasteground

Post by Dominic »

Hi' Joelle, My memory is not so good but it is getting stronger, the more we discuss these things. I think we all remember different elements and a good thing about this forum is that it might help us to fill in the missing pieces. I am embarrassed that I don't remember peoples names but when I see a photo I remember the person. If I am then reminded of the name, it activates that part of my memory file and sometimes, in there, are other related memories.

Here's one of Mac on the wasteground. Without trawling through the galleries, I don't know if this one is there. I think this was when they were demolishing a house just around the corner, hence the low-loader lorry parked on OUR recreational space / wasteground.

If my memory is correct, the house that was being demolished was where we got the timber for the dome and the banquet-table + bench.

Also there's a photo of me with half a dome. I wish this one had been framed to include the whole of the dome.
M+I-van-LB-van-10-12-Mac.jpg
Dom-+-dome.jpg
Last edited by Dominic on Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Dominic
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Re: The wasteground

Post by Dominic »

I remember early one evening, sitting in No.7 with a bunch of people all off our faces. It must have been quite soon after No.s 9+11 were demolished. We were beginning to see the value of that space to the community. We were just discussing the problem of local builders and the like using it as a tip, when someone came running in saying, "There's someone dumping rubbish." We all ran outside, just in time to see a transit van start to move away. We shouted and screamed and banged in the side of the van. they were spinning their wheels in an effort to get away, we continued throwing stuff at the van as it sped away.

I think those builders must have got the shock of their lives. They were tipping right next to No.7 and it was quiet. Then suddenly, seemingly from nowhere came a gang of angry, wide-eyed, crazed hippies.

I think the word must have got about, because I don't think we had any trouble with people dumping rubbish after that.

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Dominic
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Re: The wasteground

Post by Dominic »

Of course people did live on the wastegrounds. Mostly in the last two years when many people decided that it was more secure to have their home on wheels so that when the developer's big hammer came down, one could slip away from beneath it with one's humble domestic set-up still intact.

before all that, when the potential of that space hadn't yet been realised. When there was still some heaps of rubble and bits of old tat and junk strewn about. We all woke one morning to find that Tony G had been up all night and had turned it into an art installation. Actually it was more of an exhibition of individual creations, all done by Tony, I think.

Now that I think about it, I think he called it Scrap Art Exhibition. He had used every bit of junk in the area, and arranged it into separate sculptures or assemblies, with humorous titles, roughly painted on bits of cardboard.

The one I will always remember was called, 'mother and child'. It was basically a small TV tube with a big eye painted on the screen, representing a baby, in the lap of an old dentist's lamp with a large reflector, looking down, lovingly, on the TV tube.

They were all good, and funny, which was typical of Tony in those days. I think that might have been a significant day. It perked-up the spirit. It inspired the continuing clearing of rubbish from the wasteground and it was the day that Weed was inspired to do his survey, which also helped to jell us as a community.

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Joviale
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Re: The wasteground

Post by Joviale »

Dominic wrote:I think you need to edit those photo's. Reduce them to, between 300 and 500 pixels width. When I first looked at them, I thought you had chopped Jan off. I had to go all the way to the bottom of the column to slide them across, and then the other side was chopped off.
You're right, i didn't notice because i have a wide screen (i do lay-outs). But it will take a bit longer than just taking them in the gallery! Most of my work involves working on computers so i go for a rest on this forum, every now and then, for a pause. If i have to work on the photos, it will take me a bit more time.
If i can't dance to it, it's not my revolution

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Dominic
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Re: The wasteground

Post by Dominic »

Here's another picture of the dome. This photo is in the gallery but the dome has been cropped off. It's nice to see Liz in there.
wasteground-kids-party.jpg

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Joviale
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Re: The wasteground

Post by Joviale »

So after a bit of resizing and working on contrasts and so on:
Attachments
And we did have a big vegetable garden, it was Weed, wasn't it who had started it?
And we did have a big vegetable garden, it was Weed, wasn't it who had started it?
Other angle, with n° 11 in the foreground
Other angle, with n° 11 in the foreground
The kids. Remember that there was not only squatters' kids playing there but also locals and "shelter families"?
The kids. Remember that there was not only squatters' kids playing there but also locals and "shelter families"?
Evening in the Wasteground
Evening in the Wasteground
Chris SS painting his caravan, or is it Jan? And Dominic looking happy.
Chris SS painting his caravan, or is it Jan? And Dominic looking happy.
Angie and Jan making a dragon, was it for the kids party?
Angie and Jan making a dragon, was it for the kids party?
If i can't dance to it, it's not my revolution

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Dominic
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Re: The wasteground

Post by Dominic »

Photo-commentary.

It looks like Chris is being distracted from his gardening by that frisby ring thing.

Correct me if I'm wrong,- but I think the wasteground was the plot where No.s 9 and 11 stood, I think it's possible that there was never a 13 and the house in the photo is 15. The gatepost with 11 on it may not be directly in front of that house but on the end of the wasteground. (discuss)

Then there's Bill and Angie's caravan with Ben and Barney and some others. Who are they? They look familiar but my memory is bad.

Next! Nice fire! That bench withstood a lot, considering it's crude construction. Note the wig-wam style tripod legs and the plank bending from the weight. I think that's why Pat, sensibly, chooses to sit on the end. It's a shame he isn't more in the light.- And- I'm playing a jews-harp, not stuffing my face.

The happy face is more of a grimace, I think.-And- That is definitely Chris SS painting his caravan, which he took to Llangubi Common in Wales, where we were neighbours for a while.

Does anyone remember the event that Angie and Jan were making that dragon for? I don't.- And which direction was that camera pointing, there's a red DD bus in the background?

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Weed
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Re: The wasteground

Post by Weed »

Dominic wrote:I think it's possible that there was never a 13 and the house in the photo is 15.
Ron, Pete, Princess and Fritz lived in No 15 -- No 13 was a Quadrant tenancy and housed a Nigerian family
Dominic wrote:there's Bill and Angie's caravan with Ben and Barney and some others. Who are they?
Karen, Tim, and Viveka being held by Ola (from No 16?)
Last edited by Weed on Sun Nov 30, 2008 4:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Dominic
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Re: The wasteground

Post by Dominic »

Hi' Weed, - Thanks for putting me straight, I can see now that, that is Tim. If that is the Karen who was with Pat, then I wouldn't have recognised her from that angle. And although I recognise the face and the name rings a bell, I didn't know Ola.

I understand that I am side-tracking from the subject in this section, which is 'The Wasteground', but I drew some maps of Gr.Rd. from memory and I've been having trouble working out the house numbering.

So the house described as No.11 in the foreground, is actually No.13. I must confess, I don't remember the people who lived there. Surely life must have been *not very nice* for them, not being part of our mad community, yet living in the middle of it. Their back garden fences were knocked down making their private space an extension to our recreational space / wasteground. So they were completely surrounded. (the *bad word* was 'h e l l')

Perhaps they just accepted it as an inevitable consequence of moving into a house numbered 13. Did they already live there when the squatters moved in?

I feel a bit guilty now, in hindsight, for not having taken more of an interest in the people around me at that time.

If your innocent children read this, and have never heard the word 'h e l l'. Then I think it's time you talked to them. Or they will hear it sometime, even in a similar context to the way I used it, and they won't know what it means. I don't believe in 'h e l l', but one still needs to tell their children about language and the dangers of religious belief.

Just out of curiosity I wonder if I would be censored if I said it was like heaven or, it was heavenly. (experiment). I'm surprised the No. 13 wasn't censored.

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