By Celia Paul
ELDERLY Barnsbury residents were given advice and help to get through the winter months this week.
The Warm and Well event, held in Chapel Market on Tuesday morning, hoped to get hundreds of residents the help they are entitled to this winter.
Audrey McDonnell, Strategic Projects Manager for Islington Council, said: “Winter debts have doubled over the past three years, and the most vulnerable group are the over 55’s."
Groups including Age Concern, the Pensions Service, the police and the fire brigade braved the weather to hand out leaflets, advice, blankets and free soup.
Marie McCormack, from the council’s joint visiting team, said: “A lot of people just don’t know what they are entitled to, in tax credits, fuel allowances and council tax rebates.
“I met a woman last month who had been paying council tax when she didn’t have to, and she got a rebate of £1800 just in time for Christmas. That makes a huge amount of difference to someone living on a state pension.”
Muriel Jackson, 78, said: “I knew I could get a fuel allowance, but there are lots of other things I didn’t know I could get from the council. I think these things might help a lot this year, and I’ll be much better off.”
Tuesday, 28 November 2006
Warming advice for the elderly
Wednesday, 1 November 2006
Demolished housing plans
By Celia Paul
POLITICAL feuding led to a reprieve for a controversial Barnsbury housing development last week, after councillors were unable to agree on a demolition order.
Islington Council met to discuss the development, built illegally on land in Barnard Park, and to vote on a demolition proposal put forward by Barnsbury Councillor James Murray.
But wrangling between Labour and Liberal Democrat Councillors led to a tied vote, broken by Liberal Democrat mayor Jyoti Vaja. She voted to leave the building standing, but to push for financial compensation from developer Lydbrook Properties.
Planning Officer Geraldine Knipe said: "The block of 12 luxury flats and one townhouse on Copenhagen Street back onto Barnard Park, and are built on a depot site that once belonged to Islington Council."
The flats, however, also occupy a two-metre strip of the park that was never sold to developers, and is still council property.
Councillor Murray said: "The decision has upset Barnsbury residents, who find the building ugly and poorly designed."
Piecing art together
By Celia Paul
A LOCAL artist launched his latest exhibition in an Islington gallery this month.
Nine paintings by King's Cross based artist Matthew Swift went on display in the Barnsbury gallery on Liverpool Road at the beginning of November, and will remain there until February.
Jeremy Goth, owner of the Barnsbury, said: “We like to help local artists as much as possible by giving them space to hang their pieces, and letting the public see their work.”
Two of the paintings were snapped up by buyers during the private shows held by Mr Swift in the first week. One was sold for £300 and the other for £500, and Mr Swift said he hoped to sell more.
He said: “I was attracted to the Barnsbury because it’s quite an unusual space to display work, and a good opportunity for people to enjoy it.”
The paintings that made up the collection, Piecing it Together, were based on a series of Mr Swift’s earlier collages. He said: “The collages were a different way to try and configure the world, and hopefully the paintings are a visual representation of the slices of life you see in London.”
A trained teacher who has also lived in New York, Mr Swift said he found London life an inspiration for his painting: “The urban location is a brilliant example for me to work from.”