Nicky Ludgate: making us all good neighbours

Nicky Ludgate is a pro at bringing neighbours together. Here she explains how this happens on the New River estate and across Canonbury at Yeate Street, Elmore Street, Elizabeth Avenue and Halliford Street. Interview by Nicola Baird. Photos by Kimi Gill

It takes a lot of courage to upturn your life, so it’s no surprise that the super-positive Nicky Ludgate was able to do exactly that after 10 years working in the corporate world. Nicky doesn’t remember it as a brave step – more a way to get the absolute most from life.

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“I used to work in the City doing secretarial and administration, but I wasn’t fulfilled. I was approaching 40-years-old and thinking this is not working. I literally saw a board outside the Connect Office, saying Help On Your Doorstep, at the Walter Sickert community centre and thought I need to go in there and see if I could volunteer…” says charismatic Nicky Ludgate laughing on the Zoom call with Islington Faces –wearing the most stylish white jumper.  Within weeks she had “swapped life in the suits for check shirts with big knit jumpers got from the charity shop.”

At first Nicky volunteered with Val Henney (see our interview in 2018 with Val here), “but then Val said, ‘You need to work on the Good Neighbourhood scheme’. I became a community worker and was then promoted to project coordinator. Now I have just become a manager. Val taught me so much; I’m so grateful for that time.”

If you live in the Essex Road area there’s a high chance you might have met Nicky at work or play as she’s born and bred Islington, and is the Senior Coordinator at the New River Green Good Neighbours Scheme/Help on Your Doorstep.

The Good Neighbours scheme aim to offer residents opportunities:

• to attend activities and events.
• learn or teach a skill in one of the groups.
• help out in any way that you would like to or just socialise and make new friends.
• be part of the reference group that oversees the running of the Good Neighbours Scheme.

By being part of your local Good Neighbours Scheme helps improves local communities by

• tackling isolation
• expanding your own social circle and that of other residents
• helping to build sustainable networks of mutual support
• increasing the sense of neighbourliness
• improving the health and wellbeing of local residents
• providing positive activities for children and young people.

 

Essex Road
Nicky was born “at Bartholomew’s hospital in the City and “then as a baby moved straight to Old Street. In my early 20s I moved to Essex Road and have lived around that area ever since. My whole life is Islington: I’m so attached to Islington and invested in Islington.

In 2018 Nicky also set up the Street Association with a couple of other local residents which was funded by Islington councillors. This is a community engagement charity programme run by Canonbury Responds, which works to unite neighbours to strengthen communities. To date Street Association is active on four N1 streets: Yeate Street, Elmore Street, Elizabeth Avenue and Halliford Street where during the pandemic it transformed into an outreach and befriending service offering assistance, referrals and access to a range of online meetings and activities for the residents. Now the Street Association is supporting residents to design and deliver their own virtual and face-to-face holiday celebrations.

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Places Nicky Ludgate loves in Islington

1. Sadler’s Wells is one of my favourite places – I danced there as a child. I was a fish on stage and everyone was catching me in the net. Such a special moment. As an adult I’ve done a couple of courses there. I’ll never be a ballerina but it’s important to remember what you love and what are your interests. I’ve given myself to the job so if I leave my house the conversations are all about supporting other Islington residents – it’s hard for me to have actual normal friendships in Canonbury because I work with everybody. I don’t pop in for a tea around Canonbury without it being about work.
2. I like Spring Rose Café, 93 Southgate Road’s little wooden tables and little bit of greenery: I feel like I’m abroad. I’ll have Eggs Benedict or a tuna salad panini.”
3. “When I was a child the Old Fountain pub on 3 Baldwin Street, Old Street is where my mum went once a week on a Friday or Saturday and when I popped in and she’d buy me salt and vinegar crisps and a coke. To this day I love it!”
4. “Ironmonger Row Baths on Central Street is where I learnt to swim after swimming we’d buy beans on toast for about 15p. When I was in my 20s they opened a gym – that was my first experience with a gym and my friends all went there.”
5. “I love the library on Essex Road. It’s a really silent place, and I’m barely in silent places. Also I can get free recycling bags!” https://www.islington.gov.uk/libraries-arts-and-heritage/libraries/your-local-libraries/south-library
6. “When I go to Mem & Laz on 8 Theberton Street, N1 I know I’m going to see people in another setting – in a restaurant. I used to like their injit, lamb on bone, but sometimes they don’t have that, so I have the vegetarian moussaka.”

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Islington champion
“I say I fight for people in Islington to join together and I fight for their happiness,” says Nicky who understandably admits that she has high energy. But her battles are to unite the community through activities that anyone can attend. “For our clients happiness is the ultimate goal for their health, their wellbeing and knowledge of the services we’ve got in Islington and what we can use.”

“We cross over the divide,” says Nicky referring to the economic differences in Canonbury. Even recently as a community organiser “we’ve brought people together for street parties, winter warmer evenings, bring a dish, family fun days and clothes swapping. During the pandemic we created a WhatsApp group for the community I work for on the Marquess Estate to keep everyone connected and to befriend. So whatever needs doing – shopping, whatever – could be done. It kept us on high alert community Ninja mode,” says Nicky with one of her wicked smiles. She made it more fun by running online competitions – getting people to post photos of something you’ve baked, or a flower grown – and then I generated a certificate and hand delivered it to keep things going.

Working with Val and newest recruit, Joanne, the Help on our Doorstep team were super busy during the pandemic. “We quickly moved to Zoom and those that couldn’t be reached that way we did phone calls or contacted family members, whatever it took, it was so full on.”

Generally, much of the work is door knocking but with her Good Neighbourhood community hat on Nicky has a base at Walter Sickert Community Centre on Canonbury Crescent, while the Street Association has its centre at Almorah Road community centre, 58 Almorah Road.

With so many contacts locally, it would be hard for Nicky to be lonely, but has found that as society opens up again people needed help rebuilding their neighbourly contacts. “People got so nervous during Covid.  After lockdown we had a street party on Elizabeth Avenue and the feedback was amazing. They knew their neighbours in the old school way, to the left and right of them, but not down the street. Get togethers are so good for getting people to get to know each other and to have fun and to get to know their neighbours,” she says.

Community Ninja
Nicky went to Moorfields Primary school in Old Street, which was knocked down and then to EGA. But she’s got plenty of memories of the Old Street area as, “My mum still lives in my childhood home – and I worked in St Luke’s centre. It’s not just this Essex Road community I know, I did some research in Archway and also at King’s Cross to put on another Good Neighbour scheme because ours was working so well and we did 34 months research. Knocking on doors I got to know everyone: you must go to them. That’s the big thing about community development, you chat and have conversations.”

“When I’m with my daughter, who is 24, she says if I go anywhere, say to Tesco to buy a loaf of bread I’ll be approached for all sorts – a food voucher, what to do when a fridge is broken down or how to join our Wednesday yoga. I don’t mind as right there and then I can send a referral. Nicky finds sitting at My favourite Café, on 310 Essex Road for half an hour is a good place to pick up referrals too. Mainly I outreach on the Marquess estate and as our office is there, people come down worried with their letters. “

Nice as it is to sit at a desk, Nicky is clear that for community work to be successful, “door knocking is the key. A vulnerable person won’t walk down to the office or go to a community centre to do some mindfulness.”

The years may have flown by, but participation is up too. “When I started seven years ago the numbers for Monday morning coffee at Walter Sickert Community Centre was 10-11. Now we have up to 27 residents – we have to count heads because we’re only allowed 30 people, but you can see the need. We now have activities every day and without the volunteers I don’t know how we’d do it!” At the moment there are 8 local residents signed up (we had 15 pre active pre covid) and we also have natural volunteers – the ones who get up and make a tea or talk to the quietest person in the room.”

One of Nicky’s special gifts is her ability to offer tips on how to get to know people that seem really achievable, for example:

• If you’re an outgoing person you could start a street association easily. Knock on doors and ask if people are interested. You could form a WhatsApp group, get together a core group, make a plan, have a Halloween event like trick or treat for the kids to get together.
• A big key for getting to know people locally is to look up on Help on Your Doorstep or local community centres and see what is going on in there. I’ve been doing outreach on the Marquess Estate for seven years – there’s posters and flyers, and I’ll still get people saying I didn’t know yoga was here. Try the yoga!

 

Being happy
Nicky’s clearly got a full-on job introducing neighbours and supporting people who need help, but she reckons it’s a lovely life. “People say ‘don’t you get bored doing community outreach’, but the answer is no, never. You always meet new people when you’re knocking on doors or informing them what’s going on, and seeing people being happy makes me happy. And we see new faces too: people move in and people move out. I love outreach!

Her down time is often spent locally too. She loves joining the Mindfulness class on Tuesdays and as a big fan of the TV show Below Deck was inspired to have a go paddleboarding on the Regent’s Canal at Islington Boat Club.

• Find out more by popping into the Walter Sickert centre on the Marquess/New River estate. Or you can look at the website https://www.helponyourdoorstep.com/good-neighbours-schemes
• Or contact Nicky for referrals – 020 7354 0319 / 07875 224386 (direct line)
• Email: nludgateGNS@helponyourdoorstep.com

 

Over to you
Also if you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via islingtonfaces@gmail.com Thank you to Rosemary for suggesting this interviewee. If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola