Over the last month we (public works) have been busy developing and pitching ideas that are concerned with establishing Curiosity Shop projects in Hackney Wick. Not all were successful and will not be taken further in the way they were first articulated. The ideas linger on and will work themselves into future projects, ideas and ambitions. Just to mark the point when they were first articulated I thought I publish two of them here - WICK WICK WICK & SWEET FACTORY - to make them public and for future reference.

PROPOSAL 1
WICK WICK WICK
A platform for a collaborative practice to create an active monument for Hackney Wick. Wick Wick Wick is a proposal for the 'Made in HWFI' Wallis Road Commission consisting of the following three aspects:

1. The Wick Column (physical structure)
- We propose a large column on the land next to the footbridge crossing the A12 motorway. The column acts as a sculptural landmark and as infrastructure for a collaborative process to activate the land on which it is found. The Wick Column is the main focus of this submission but needs to be understood in context as it is integral to the following elements that make up the overall proposal.
2. The Wick Triangle (land for collaborative practice)
- We propose to make land available for a potentially longer term collaborative project the outcome of which (together with the column) will ultimately become the final landmark along the Wallis Road route strongly embedding it into Hackney Wick and its rich culture and history.
3. The Wick Curiosity Shop (governance and process)
- We propose the Wick Curiosity Shop as an independent organisation with the specific aim of initiating and facilitating local collaborations. These collaborations will contribute to shaping the land ultimately create a living landmark that captures the collective imagination of Hackney Wick. The Wick Wick Wick proposal is a direct continuation of the 'Wick Curiosity Shop' (http://wickcuriosityshop.net) and the 'Route Book' project, which is part of the same series of the 'Made in HWFI' commissions.

Made in Hackney Wick
For centuries Hackney Wick has been a place of production - initially agricultural then industrial and lately increasingly cultural. Before its recent phase of development Hackney Wick provided a remote space and a rich environment for a wide range of often alternative cultural practices. Space was cheap and available while the centre of London was close by but also far enough away. A post industrial landscape sometimes forgotten and abandoned with enough gaps and cracks for experimentation with cultural production, slightly removed from the confines of a rich capitalist city. All this is changing rapidly - the 'wilderness' of workshops, yards, overgrown green spaces, disused race tracks and artist studios is disappearing. The 'service based' culture of the big City is arriving and Hackney Wick is being tidied up and brought in line with the rest of London. At the dawn of this new era there are numerous attempts to preserve, acknowledge and reference the rich culture that is associated with Hackney Wick and Fish Island. The area inspires and excites but there are few places where these efforts come together in a combined expression. Within this context we are proposing an ambitious project that attempts to bridge the layers of history and the numerous cultural practices that are currently occupying Hackney Wick and Fish Island. As a practice Public Works are committed to continue our long term engagement with Hackney Wick and its occupants to establish a collective space for shared cultural production which bridges this period of rapid transformation. At the same time, Wick, Wick, Wick is attempting to lay a seed for the time beyond the Olympic Games when national and international attention and resources move on, leaving the Wick clean and tidy, having to make sense of the major interventions that took place. We are proposing a place where - for a long time to come, its roots are still visible as an 'active monument'.

1. The Wick Column
The Wick Column is the first piece of the puzzle. A one meter wide and app 12 metre high round column next to the footbridge crossing the A12. The column is situated at the bottom of the ramp on the green piece of land that stretches along the motorway (we call this piece of land the Wick Triangle). The column will act on a number of physical scales and levels. At the foot of the column is a small multifunctional room - The Wick Curiosity Shop - which can generously open up towards the land and to the streetscape. The room is slightly elevated and sits on a raised platform. Towards the street the opening of the room is covered by a large communal billboard, which can slide vertically to give access to the space via a counter creating a kiosk-like environment. This environment can host small-scale exhibitions or events as well as providing basic street furniture. The opening towards the back faces the Wick Triangle and consists of two large hinged doors. When open the space overlooks the land and due to its slightly elevated nature can act as a perfect stage. At bridge level the column will connect to the footpath and will act as a sheltered viewing platform looking into the Wick. Above Bridge level a large light board will display 'Hackney Wick' in large letters. It can also be used advertise public, cultural activities taking place in the Wick. Placed at one of the gateways into Hackney Wick the column will be highly visible to the cyclist and pedestrians moving in and out of the Wick as well as to the transient audiences that pass via car and train (A12 motorway and North London Link).

2. The Wick Triangle
One aim of the overall proposal is the transformation and appropriation of a piece of land by initiating a series of bottom up collaborations that will transform and shape the site. The land will be offered to the occupants of Hackney Wick as a ground for cultural production mediated by the 'Wick Curiosity Shop' (see description below). Each collaboration will focus on Hackney Wick's rich culture both contemporary and historical and will shape the site either temporarily (events) or permanently (interventions). We propose to open up the land to anyone who wants to work with us and allow them to take an active part in the project by joining the Wick Curiosity Shop. The musicians, film makers, graffiti artists, cooks, painters, publishers and fish mongers, flee market and festivals, screenings and concerts etc … By offering this common ground as a collective asset we hope to engage and draw from the rich social dynamic in Hackney Wick to shape the project and the space. To visualise what could happen we have taken two speculative examples from our current involvement in Hackney Wick and bluntly projected them onto this proposal.

A) Hackney Wick has an active guerrilla gardening scene and has numerous ambitious gardening projects in close vicinity (edible forest garden, manor garden allotments, Abbey Gardens, etc). The footbridge and the 'Wick Triangle' also mark the beginning of the 'Sunflower Avenue', a local initiative to grow a connection between Mabley Green and Victoria park by planting Sunflowers along the route which cuts straight through the heart of Hackney Wick. Our current Commission 'Route Book' is working closely with gardeners from Hackney Wick to trace the route of the ephemeral Sunflower Avenue and reseed it using seed bombs produced with the local community. As a possible scenario for Wick Wick Wick we would propose to work with the LDA and its current planting scheme for the site and match it with the local desires, ambitions and techniques for greening the Wick. This would build on local resources and imagination to grow and sustain greenery on the Wick Triangle, while at each point leaving space for possible future use by other collaborations.

B) Local historians have taken an active interest in Hackney Wick. We have started working with Wiggy Wilson who grew up in the area and who's father was a member of the Eton Manor Boys Club. Over the last years Wiggy Wilson has lead numerous walks around the Wick retracing the history of the Eton Manor boys club and the involvement of the Etonians in the area. The work with Wiggy Wilson and other local historians (e.g. Lisa Rigg from the Hackney Society) could lead to a library or wall of walks through the Wick housed on the land or on the outside of the column itself. Each engagement would leave its trace, some small, others bigger. Over time a layering of projects would occur which gives form to the space and constructs a network of relations and stakeholders. Very much in the spirit of Kurt Schwitters Merzbau. We propose to set up the 'land engagement' for 3-5 years after which it should be reassessed and either enter into a new phase or conclude, in which case the legacy of the project would be a detailed archive that can be housed inside the column or become part of the official Hackney Archives.

3. The Wick Curiosity Shop
The Wick Curiosity Shop (http://wickcuriosityshop.net) is a small scale archive and cultural space dedicated to the specific locality of Hackney Wick and Fish Island. It aims to document, host and promote. The project was originally commissioned by [SPACE] for the Hackney Wick Festival in September 2008. It is a collaboration between public works and Hilary Powell.

For Wick Wick Wick we are proposing to expand the Curiosity Shop into an independent smallscale cultural organisation to support the project, lead by public works with a steering group and open to anyone who wants to take an active part. The main focus of The Wick Curiosity Shop will be to create and facilitate a platform for collaborative cultural production dedicated to the specific locality of Hackney Wick and Fish Island.

In addition the Wick Curiosity Shop will continue to create a growing archive of 'Curiosities', an eclectic collection of local produce, memorabilia, oral history, songs and stories from or about Hackney Wick that are collected along the way and which will be housed in the 'kiosk'. Working on the scale of the artefact and the land at the same time, the Wick Curiosity Shop will present a narrative understanding of the area. A space full of stories about the Wick told in a multitude of ways. It is an archive of local cultural activities and interventions that help to document the process of change in the area with the close involvement of its local residents. It allows existing histories to be collected and new memories to be formed, thus capturing the life of a community in transition through a series of close engagements, which will manifest themselves in the Wick Triangle, at the Column and in the collection. Contributions to the Curiosity shop cannot be made from afar. Based on the principle of direct involvement only those who get actively involved can join in.

PROPSOAL 2
SWEET FACTORY
for Create 2011

Sweet Factory is a proposal to set up a small scale sweet factory and shop in one of the host boroughs in order to produce sweets and explore the historic and contemporary narratives surrounding its production and consumption across the 5 host boroughs.

Sweet Factory will establish a small scale local production of sweets. It will draw from the wide variety of sweets consumed or remembered by the many different cultures living in the 5 host boroughs today, recreate them and offer them for consumption at the factory outlet and at local events across the 5 host boroughs.

Leaving behind the nostalgia associated with traditional candy shops, The Sweet Factory will be a 21st century interpretation of a sweet shop offering home made sweets made with recipes from local residents and produced where possible from locally sourced ingredients. It will (re)introduce a small-scale candy production and invent new varieties alongside revisiting well-established recipes.

From Poplar Salty Liqurice (referring back to early Dutch settlements in the area), to Bangladeshi Pumpkin leave candy, social histories and tastes can be explored via the shared production of candy.

The project will engage with communities and participants across the host borrows both vie the production of the sweet as well as disseminating them by visiting local food events such as Harvest Festivals, local Markets and others.

The Sweet Factory will be based around a specially designed temporary structure. It will consists of a production space and a social space (sweet shop) where the produce will be on display available for consumption, meetings can take place and the different narratives can be displayed, overlap and unfold.

We are planning to directly engage and visit food growing projects located in the host borrows to source possible ingredients, visit sweet makers in the areas and source recipes by directly getting in touch with local community groups and individuals that want to participate in the project. We will invite professional sweet makers to share their knowledge as well as amateur candy makers to contribute in the making of the produce.

The project will also look at the history of sweet production in the areas from the Carnico Factory in Hackney Wick to the Tate and Lyle's sugar refinery in Silvertown and the historic sugar bakeries that were scattered all over the east end and which employed many of the immigrants that newly arrived in Britain.

The project will be accompanied by a Website which will publicize the project as it develops. If the budget allows we would invest into a small mobile vehicle to give us a base when traveling across the 5 borrows.

Sweets are an indulgence. They are not a necessity. We want to work with the delight and pleasure that sweet teeth can offer to engage with the host borrows in a project of collective production, exchange and invention. Not only of sweets but also of a joint narrative.

Posted in News on April 18, 2011 11:43 by Andreas Lang

Is an artist from Hackney Wick Fish Island like a Melton Mobray pork pie with special geographic status?

The Wick Curioisty Shop is taking part in a private dinner debate organised by muf. The debate will be chaired by Simon Grennan and is hosted by
muf architecture/art on behalf of Design for London. The debate is structured around the following questions:

- who writes the brief for public art in HWFI and what should it say?
- should HWFI public art opportunities be available only to HWFI artists?
- should the new public realm in HWFI be designed for local artists to exhibit their work?
- should HWFI have any public art at all?

The debate will examine the feasibility of a homegrown public art for Hackney Wick and Fish Island. The aim of the debate is to establish shared ideas from which briefs can be written and local or other curators, nominated or self selected, to commission a number of small scale temporary works for Hackney Wick and Fish Island that address the plans for ongoing regeneration in the area and explore the issue of local provenance.

Posted in Blog on March 29, 2011 09:42 by Andreas Lang

public works was invited by rotor in Graz/Austria to be part in an exhibition and conference that asks questions about arts projects in the context of neighbourhood development. Rotor Gallery was specifically interested in the Wick Curiosity Shop.

The exhibition runs from Thursday 10th March until 5th May, 2011 and is called:
CREATIVE COMMUNICATION AND ARTISTIC INTERVENTION INTO PUBLIC SPACE.

Showcasing examples by
Christoph Schäfer (Hamburg)
Jeanne van Heeswijk (Rotterdam)
Oda Projesi & Nadin Reschke (Istanbul / Berlin)
and public works (London)

The conference takes place Friday and Saturday 11 & 12 March, titled:
URBAN NEIGHBROUGHOOD CULTURES
and for a full programme click here.

More images of the exhibition are here on our Flickr page

Posted in News on March 22, 2011 11:21 by Andreas Lang

You can now keep up to date with the Wick Curisoity Shop via twitter
WWW.TWITTER.COM/WICKCURIOSITY

Posted in News on March 21, 2011 11:35 by Andreas Lang

WICK SESSION 1
COLLECTIVELY WICK 

Thursday, March 3, 2011, 7pm till late
A Wick Development Trust and trust in development.
There is no Development Trust in Hackney Wick or the surrounding area. With so much speculative and top-down development descending on Hackney Wick we want to take a moment and brain storm alternatives for a collective community driven development of public spaces in Hackney Wick.

Speakers include:
Christopher King - Mabley Meadow
Fiona Fieber - SPACE
Caitlin Elster - muf
Trenton Oldfield - TINAG
Bonnie Wong - East London Development

WICK SESSION 2
GROUNDS FOR CULTURE 

Friday, March 4, 2011, 7pm till late
Wick Session Number 2 will bring together artists currently working on projects or setting up initiatives in Hackney Wick. A friendly and informal exchange between practitioners with a passion for Hackney Wick.

Speakers include:
Hilary Powell
Nina Pope / Somewhere
Neville Gabie
Chris Dorley-Brown

Posted in News on March 2, 2011 11:32 by Andreas Lang

Join us for a week of talks, walks and viewings at the Wick Curiosity Shop in Hackney Wick, organised by public works. The WICK CURIOSITY SHOP focuses on current activities and programmes including self-initiated, commissioned, informal and formal projects. The programme splits into three groups of events:
The Way We Walk,The Way We Make and The Way We Talk

For a pdf timetable click here or scroll down for more details.

10 Felstead Street, Hackney Wick, London E9 5LT
Tuesday March 1 - Sunday March 6
Opening times from 11am - 7pm*
(*open later for evening events)

Guests are welcome to join the Hackney Wick Curiosity Shop with their stories, ideas and proposals. More events are added daily as we are approaching the week so please check our website for updated programmes or just drop in when in the area. All events are free of charge - Places on the walks are limited, reserving a place is recommended. You can do so by emailing info@wickcuriosityshop.net or message us on Twitter @wickcuriosity or find us on facebook.

THE WAY WE WALK
A series of Walks from the wick
By public works in collaboration with ……
The walks Programme is part of the 'Wick Curiosity Shop - Route Book' project by public works. It is one of 6 temporary art projects commissioned by London Thames Gateway Development Corporation for London Borough of Hackney (LBH) and London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH). The 6 temporary commissions are curated by muf architecture/art.

Walking the Press
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
A walk from Abbey Gardens to the Wick Curiosity Shop in Oslo House, where we will be moving the mobile press which produces seed bombs. The seed bombs will be used for the Sunflower Avenue walk (see below). Get an introduction to the beautiful Abbey Gardens and enjoy a slow walk into the Wick via the Greenway pushing, pulling and talking all things gardening and the Wick.
The walk will be lead by Andreas Lang and take approximately 1.5 hours and leave from Abbey Gardens. Bakers Row E15 3NF. Check www.abbeygardens.org for directions.

Printers Paradise
Thursday, March 3, 2011, 3pm
'Printers Paradise' was the informal name of the dense cluster of printers and related industry spread around the Wick and along the Carpenters Road. With the changes sweeping through the area and through the print industry only a few outposts of Printers Paradise remain. Join us on a walk tracing the former glory, meet some of the printers and visit some of the print workshops still active in Hackney Wick.
The walk willbe lead by Andreas Lang and Gemma Drake take approximately 1 hour and will leave from The Wick Curiosity Shop, 10 Felstead Street, Oslo House, Hackney Wick, London E9 5LT.
The walk will contribute to an on-going project by Gemma documenting the changing print industry in and around Hackney Wick.

Friday Fish Walk
Friday, March 4, 2011, 3pm
It is Friday afternoon and what better way to spend it than joining the Curiosity Shop on a walk to show you where one could pick up the best fish in the Wick! Along the way we will fly post pictures and posters, which have been made on-site at Oslo House earlier in the week.
The walk will be lead by Polly Brannen and take approximately 40 minutes and will leave from the Wick Curiosity Shop, 10 Felstead Street, Oslo House, Hackney Wick, London E9 5LT

Sunflower Avenue Seed bombing walk
Saturday, March 5, 2011, 11am
Sunflower Avenue connects Mabley Green to Victoria Park cutting straight through the heart of Hackney Wick. It is a Local Initiative by Lea Bank Square Purple Garden to establish a planted connection between the two local parks. Seed Bombs specially designed and made in the Wick Curiosity Shop will be used to replant hundreds of sunflowers while strolling along the Avenue.
The walk will be lead by Andreas Lang and take app. 1 hour and will leave from the Wick Curiosity Shop, 10 Felstead Street, Oslo House, Hackney Wick, London E9 5LT ending at Mabley Green

The Way We Walked
Saturday, March 5, 2011, 2pm
Following the footsteps of one of the most popular yearly walks in the Wick - the Christmas swim - we will walk together to retrace the 'Otters Swimming Club' days, with giant posters and hot dogs on the way!
The walk will be lead by Polly Brannanand take app. 1 hour and will leave from the Wick Curiosity Shop, 10 Felstead Street, Oslo House, Hackney Wick, London E9 5LT

Off the Track
Brigand boys, Monkey Parades and Clarnico Girls
Sunday, March 6, 2011, 4pm
Monkey Parades were popular from at least the 1840's and were a British working class institution, which probably started life in the crowded urban centres. This courting congregation that saw men and women lavishly dressed to impress was rife in Hackney in 19th Century. The walk will retrace a visual journey of the Wick by George Sims, a journalist during the height of the popularity of Monkey Parades in the late 1800s. Participants are invited to dress to impress and the ladies are invited to wear lavish hats (designed by the ladies at the Wick) ending with a drink on Mabley Green.
The walk will lead by Torange Khonsari and take app. 1 hour and will leave from the Wick Curiosity Shop, 10 Felstead Street, Oslo House, Hackney Wick, London E9 5LT

THE WAY WE MAKE
A series of hands on workshops in Curiosity Shop

The Anecdotal Hair Style
Tuesday, March 2, 2011 from 2-5pm
Get your hair styled or your nails done, have a tea and chat about the Wick. Lauren Campany will offer free hair styling and manicures in return for some lively anecdotes about the Wick - imaginary or real, regardless weather you live in the Wick or are on your first visit.

Pimp your Hat
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 6pm
Join the 'ladies of the Wick' for a hat making session in the Wick Curiosity Shop in preparation for the Monkey Parade - a courting congregation along the Wick, which will see men and women lavishly dressed to impress. Just bring yourselves - material is provided.
The workshop will be lead by Torange Khonsari with the WI of Hackney Wick (TBC)

Fish Frying Posters
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, March 1,2,3, 2011 from 11am-2pm
Fish has been part of the Wick for a long time. Join us to make large scale posters which will be copied and pasted during the Friday Fish Walk. The woskhop will be lead by Polly Brannan

Seed Bomb Pressing
Tuesday, March 1, 2011 from 1pm-4pm
Join us and our magic 10 ton press to make unique Hackney Wick seed bombs to re-seed the Sunflower Avenue. The workshop will be lead by Andreas Lang

THE WAY WE TALK , REMEMBER AND IMAGINE

Wick Session Number 1
Collectively Wick
Thursday, March 3, 2011, 7pm till late
A Wick Development Trust and trust in development.
There is no Development Trust in Hackney Wick or the surrounding area. With so much speculative and top-down development descending on Hackney Wick we want to take a moment and brain storm alternatives for a collective community driven development of public spaces in Hackney Wick.
Speakers to be confirmed - Please check our website for updates, www.wickcuriosityshop.net

Wick Session Number 2
Grounds for culture
Friday, March 4, 2011, 7pm till late
Wick Session Number 2 will bring together artists and activists currently working on projects or setting up initiatives in Hackney Wick. A friendly and informal exchange between practitioners with a passion for Hackney Wick.
Speakers to be confirmed - Please check our website for updates, www.wickcuriosityshop.net

Wick on Film
Saturday, March 5, 2011, 5pm till late
Pop down to the Curiosity Shop on Saturday afternoon for a film session showing a varied selection of films from and about the Wick. While the final programme is yet to be confirmed it is likely to include archive footage, explorations of what is now the Olympic site and stories from the area.
Curated and hosted by Rakan Budeiri and Andreas Lang
Click HERE for full programme

Tea Cake and Curiosities
Sunday, March 6, 2011, 1-4pm
Join us for some free Tea and Cake on early Sunday afternoon in the Wick Curiosity Shop and bring you photos, anecdotes and rare curiosities to be included in the Curiosity Shop archive. The antiques road show meets friendly chatter and deep anecdotes about life in the Wick.

The Wick Curiosity postal service to Graz, Austria.
public works is invited by Rotor Gallery to present the Wick Curiosity Shop in Graz, Austria. The week after the stay in Hackney Wick, The Shop will be journeying across the continent where it will be participating in an exhibition entitled CREATIVE COMMUNICATION AND ARTISTIC INTERVENTION INTO PUBLIC SPACE organised by Rotor Gallery. The gallery is situated in a similar social context to the shop's home in the Wick and thus this visit aims to create a form of cultural exchange between the two areas and the explorations which have gone on within them. As part of this exchange the Curiosity Shop is interested in receiving contributions from visitors who would like to pass something (physical or not) between the two areas. If this sounds like you pop into the shop during the week or email us via our website.

Part of the show in Graz is a two day conference on URBAN NEIGHBOURHOOD CULTURES with an impressive list of speakers from across Europe - Hackney Wick will be in good company.

This Wick Curiosity Shop was originally commissioned by
[SPACE] as part of the Hackney Wick Festival in 2008

Posted in News on February 26, 2011 22:46 by Andreas Lang

From documentary to fiction and the bits in between - an afternoon of films featuring Hackney Wick as the main protagonist. Stories of pleasure, discovery, loss and celebration providing a cross-section of the transformation taking place in Hackney Wick.

1. Edgeland (15:25mins) 2009
Edgeland is a film by artist Sally Mumby-Croft, co-directed by Xavier Zapata. Shot entirely around Hackney Wick it uses voice overs from local people to creating a great introduction to the Wick area and the many changes it is facing from the ever encroaching 2012 Olympic Developments.

2. The Games (17mins) 2008
A film by Hilary Powell made in 2007 before the arrival of the ubiquitous blue fence. A surreal alternative sporting event inspired by the DIY nature of the 1948 London Olympics, 'The Games' sets its athletes loss on a crumbling Hackney Wick which was about to be lost forever.

3. Outfall (6:16mins) 2009
"A road movie for a road that was never built". A film by David Knight following the Northern Outfall Sewer which heads east from Hackney Wick. Better recognised as the Greenway, this path was long known as an escape East away from the city and its rules being overtaken by nature, mopeds and graffiti.

4. Olympic Stories: Hackney Wick (7:44mins) 2009
A film by Dave Hill, Francesca Panetta and David Levene which looks at people and places which make up the stories behind the areas where the Olympics will be taking place.

5. This Was Forever (10mins) 2008
A prize winning film from Mark Aitken and young film makers from polkadotsonraindrops which follows the story of the Manor Garden Allotments which struggled to hold their own before being demolished in 2007 to make way for Olympic projects.

6. Trowbridge Blow Down (4:01mins) 1985
Two clips from BBC News covering demolitions on the Trowbridge Estate in Hackney Wick, the initial blast was unsatisfactory and became known as "the leaning tower of Hackney".

7. Computer Pub (2:30mins) 1965
'The Pub of The Future' a clip from Tomorrow's World featuring trials of automated drink ordering system at a pub in Hackney Wick. The pub in question was the Victoria (Hotel) on Eastway.

8. Coracle Regatta (3:17mins) 2006
Harry Meadows' film of his first Coracle Regatta project which took place on the Cut outside the Eton Manor's Johnstone Boathouse. The site of the traditional 'Christmas' swim, the artificial waterway continues to host this informal boat race which, coincides with the annual Hackney Wicked Festival, until 2012.

9. What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day? (45mins) 2005
The story of the Lea Valley River area as it prepares to be forever changed by the 2012 Olympics directed by Paul Kelly in collaboration with St. Etienne. A celebration of an area which saw the invention of plastic, petrol and the formation of the Labour movement, the film depicts a young boy cycling around the area on the day the Olympic decision was announced.
Filmed and directed by Paul Kelly, produced by Andrew Hinton, music by Saint Etienne, written by Kevin Pearce and edited by Mikey Tomkins.

Posted in News on February 26, 2011 22:00 by Andreas Lang

The Anecdotal Hair Style and Manicure
Tuesday, March 2, 2011 from 2-5pm

Get your hair styled or your nails done, have a tea and chat about the Wick. Lauren Campany will offer free hair styling and manicures in return for some lively chat about the Wick - imaginary or real, regardless weather you live in the Wick or are on your first visit. - Bookings now taken here

Posted in News on February 17, 2011 13:17 by Andreas Lang

This just in from Mabley Green Meadow:

With spring undeniably in the air, the Mabley Meadow is already starting to burst into life. Which means now's the perfect time to start preparing for an incredible, flower-filled summer. So if you'd like to roll up your sleeves and get involved this spring, here are a couple of dates for your diary:

Stag Beetle Habitat Building - Saturday 19 February
Thanks to the kind folks at Skanska, we now have a pile of freshly-cut logs on the meadow just waiting to be turned into a habitat for Stag Beetles. So come along on Saturday anytime between 11am-2.30pm and help us give these rare beetles a new home. Making the habitats will mean a fair bit of digging, so it's good to wear sturdy shoes - but all tools will be provided. More info here.

Meadow Seed-Sowing Day - Saturday 19 March
Just like last year, we'll be getting the meadow off to a good start again this spring by sowing more seeds, planting some woodland species and putting up the coppiced-wood fences to protect our young seedlings. But unlike last year, the meadow is already starting to take care of itself so we can spend less time digging and more time chatting. So save the date! More details will be on the blog soon.

www.mableymeadow.blogspot.com

Posted in Blog on February 17, 2011 09:41 by Andreas Lang

Join us for a week of talks, walks and viewings at the Wick Curiosity Shop in Hackney Wick, organised by public works.

Tuesday March 1 - Sunday March 6
Opening times from 11am - 7pm*
(*open later for evening events)

10 Felstead Street, Hackney Wick, London E9 5LT

We will publish details of the programme on this website very soon.
You can also follow us on Twitter @wickcuriosity or find us on facebook

Posted in News on February 14, 2011 16:31 by Andreas Lang