Interview with Claire Sheppard, Green Party candidate and community campaigner

Can you tell us a bit about Nunhead Knocks?

It was started by a handful of folks local to Nunhead who had skills in tech, community connections and backgrounds in organising who wanted to find a way to help the many people in our neighbourhood who have been affected by the virus.

How did you get the idea for Nunhead Knocks? Is it just you?

Southwark Green Party has submitted an objection to the planning application to build a new stadium on Metropolitan Open Land on Green Dale. This Site of Importance for Nature Conservation is in East Dulwich, roughly between the large branch of Sainsbury's on busy Dog Kennel Hill and the pedestrian and cycle-path between Champion Hill and Dulwich that's also - very confusingly - known as Green Dale.

Part of Green Dale. Photo: Friends of Dog Kennel Hill Woo

We support Dulwich Hamlet Football Club as a pillar of the local community, and celebrate its special character as inclusive and socially progressive. But we are not convinced that this plan is any more sustainable for the club than previous ones, and would rather see investment in the clubhouse, bar and sports centre to help support the club.

Southwark Green Party congratulates local community activist Mark Webb on his recently awarded 'Freedom of the Borough of Camberwell', awarded by Southwark Council.

Mark is chair of the Camberwell Green Safer Neighbourhood Team ward panel. He's well known locally, often seen staffing the SE5 Forum stall at Camberwell Farmer's Market on a Sunday morning. He has recently been involved in tackling knife crime through leafletting and working with the police to sweep the neighbourhood for concealed weapons.

Last year, Mark was nominated for the Metropolitan Police 'Citizen of the Year' and was a finalist at the ceremony at the Park Lane Hotel.

Congratulations Mark - we look forward to seeing you herding sheep on Camberwell Green (or whatever it is your new Freedom of the Borough entitles you to do!)

A massive thank you to our co-hosts the Friends of Brunswick Park and wonderful band Ceilidh Tree for making our Big Spring Dance such a fab evening. Guests of all ages from across our community were instructed in the art of the do-si-do and the right-hand star, and a good time was had by all. There have already been several requests to do it all over again! Thank you too to Father Nick and Fatima at St Giles church for use of the splendid parish hall, and to the Kernel Brewery, Bermondsey, and the Hill Bakery, Camberwell, for supplies of excellent beer, wine, bread and cheese.

Making an impact at the neighbourhood level

A few months ago, a group of neighbours in Nunhead met up to see how we we might act collectively encourage environmentally friendly initiatives. I took responsibility for setting up a bulk buying scheme. We wanted to see how small initiatives such as this could deliver a reduction in waste including fuel and single-use plastic plus encourage positive community action on a neighbourhood level. In addition, it would also make buying ecologically friendly products easier and more affordable than would be the case individually.

The first task was to gauge interest via an online poll on the community’s social media page. Fifteen neighbours expressed an interest and a week or so later we placed the first order for the most popular items (washing up liquid, laundry detergent, dishwasher tablets, handwash and shower gel). The weekend after delivery from a single ethical online retailer we ‘set up shop’ and neighbours called by to collect their choice of products. 

Friday March 23rd 7:30pm - 10:30pm, St Giles Parish Hall, 161 Benhill Rd, Camberwell SE5 7LL

The wonderful band Ceilidh Tree ("London's finest ceilidh band" - Evening Standard) are coming to Camberwell to play at our big community social, hosted jointly with Friends of Brunswick Park. The band plays upbeat Scottish & Irish folk tunes on fiddle, guitar, whistle, banjo & melodeon. A 'caller' explains the dances - everyone can take part, of all ages and abilities.

Full details and tickets here... 

The playground of Goose Green Primary School in East Dulwich is full of activity: there’s a water area where children can create rushing rivers or meandering streams and a music station with percussion and wind instruments, as well as plenty of joyful running about for no apparent reason. But the playground is adjacent to a very busy road carrying 5 bus routes, a main route between Camberwell and the South Circular. It’s one of 1,148 schools in London within 150 metres of roads carrying 10,000 or more vehicles per day.

In 2017, David Jennings and Eleanor Margolies, members of Southwark Green Party, measured nitrogen dioxide levels outside the school as part of an area-wide study.

Southwark Green Party at the Greens’ autumn conference in Harrogate, 7-10 October 2017

This was an occasion that injected a new spring into the steps of all those who were there, and we left with a fresh sense of purpose. Here is my personal view.

Photo: John Tyson

We joined Thames 21 for the Big Bottle Count on Saturday 2 September. We picked up and counted plastic bottles, clear bottles for still water, fizzy drinks bottles, and milk bottles. Then we picked up a lot of plastic, mostly brightly coloured broken fragments gleaming against the pebbles and gravel. Here's a list of some of the things we found...

At the Global Greens and European Greens congress in Liverpool this year, I made contacts with the Polish Green party. I was asked to meet and help with setting up structures in the Gdansk branch of the party.

Two weeks ago I attended an international summer school where besides representatives of Polish Green party, there were representatives from Czech, German, Ukrainian and Dutch parties as well as foundations and Brussels institutions supporting green NGOs. I also met the sole Green councillor in Poland. Next year there will be local elections and for the first time the Greens want to have candidates in at least half of constituencies. It's a massive task.