pecknam blog – adventures in SouthEast London

From: info@spikesurplus.org

Hi there everyone,
I suspect you’ve all heard by now that at 7am on Thursday 12th February, 20 odd coppers, Southwark’s property department, some bailiffs, and 4 big noisy dogs turned up and suddenly we found ourselves on the wrong side of the gates. The on-site security (with the big dogs) seem regretful of the situation and have been letting us on site to get stuff sorted. Tomorrow we have more time. There is still lots of good stuff that we haven’t get found homes for… do any social centres want to take on the free shop? Got a vehicle? Any community gardens etc wanting plants, pots, outside furniture etc? There’s material, costumes, card, paper, some plants, pots, sofa’s, tables, chairs, wood, old tools, fire extinguishers, cushions and more. Please get in touch seriously asap if you want to provide a home for any of this. Oh, and if you want to buy a Spike t-shirt for a tenner, get in touch on the email and we’ll arrange something.

You may still feel to campaign to keep the Spike as a community space as it has been for 160 years. English Heritage should really list the place to protect the building but there’s little time for this.

Hope we all get to gather again soon. We’ll let you know as soon as our services are re-housed.
Best wishes,

Spike

It’s been on the cards for a while, but despite the court saying The Spike would be given 2 weeks notice of eviction the police and bailiffs arrived unnanounced at 7am this morning.

The residents have been told they can enter on Monday, one person at a time, and recover their belongings.

Residents, supporters and film crew outside The Spike gates.

Security team inside the property.

Love and warm cups of tea to all Spike crew.

It’s been a day of friendly snowball fire, chats with strangers and time with friends who would ordinarily be behind desks on a Monday afternoon. I got momentarily lost not three streets away from my house; everywhere looks so different! Loving this shot on Peckham Rye by Celie:

In other news, Santa is happy the weather has finally sorted itself out:

Stay warm everyone.