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Nicola Baird

Brian Reeve: Charterhouse brother

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Brother Brian Reeve at Charterhouse: “If you have retired and are alone in the world, the almshouse is basically like a very grand old people’s home paid for by a  17th century charity set up by the richest man at the time to care for 40 elderly gentlemen who’d fallen on hard times."(c) © Miko Malkowski Charterhouse
Everyone has a story. How do you get to live in the almshouse at Charterhouse (and yes, they do have spaces)? Brian Reeve explains how it was a passion for books that helped him apply… Interview by Nicola Baird This is the second of three interviews on Islington Faces about…

Mike Lawlor: Charterhouse Brother

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Mike Lawlor is one of the Brothers living at the Charterhouse - this means he lives in the almshouses there (c) © Miko Malkowski the Charterhouse
Everyone has a story. What’s it like living in the almshouse at the Charterhouse in EC1? Brother Mike Lawlor reveals all from selection to surviving lockdown in the walled garden, plus shopping trips up to the Angel. Interview by Nicola Baird This is the first of three interviews on Islington…

Bunmi Otubushin: trustee at Graham Street Park

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Bunmi Otubushin also has many plants in her home. “My yucca is beautiful but got really leggy looking for the sun so it’s not standard looking. It’s like a curly yukka and I’ve got a succulent with these amazing lotus flowers, but the leaves are really furry like that plant rabbit’s ears. I think in lockdown a lot of people; missed human touch but these plants are soothing to touch and it is good for seedlings to be touched. I inherited about eight plants from my mum. I live facing the canal so I’m making my window have lots of green on it so it looks like the indoor and outside merged.” (c) Islington Faces
Everyone has a story. Secondary school teacher Bunmi Otubushin has found a community of plant lovers in Graham Street Park and is learning more about growing food online. Here Bunmi explains how growing is giving her back her zest for life after her Mother passed. Interview by Nicola Baird It’s…

Berrin Bates: art teacher & therapist

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Berrin Bates teaches art at three primary schools. “Teaching is very rewarding and so lovely to see that confidence in a child, especially if they weren’t feeling very confident and then you enable them. The best sign is when a child says I love this, can I take it home please! I know they really love what they’ve made if they want to have it.” (c) BB
Everyone has a story. Making art isn’t just creative, it is a great tool for building confidence and problem solving says art teacher, art therapist and maker, Berrin Bates. Interview by Nicola Baird What’s your connection to Islington? “I live in Muswell Hill but when I came to London my…

Netta Hakak: 6th form college student

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Netta Hakak (c) Kimi Gill for Islington Faces
Everybody has a story. Islington Faces’ Youth Ambassador Netta Hakak, talks about her experiences as a Year 12 during lockdown & how difficult studying for exams has been. The current Year 11s and 13s in Islington (England) will sit exams 3 weeks later than usual, to allow them to “catch…

Floree Zama-Neagra: London National Park City Ranger Co-ordinator

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Floree Zama-Neagra enjoys nature, coaching, facilitating and Managing London Rangers for National Park City (c) FZN
Everybody has a story. Islington famously has the least green space of any London boroughs but it’s still part of London National Park City. Here Ranger Coordinator Floree Zama-Neagra, who is based in Old Street, talks about how she gets her nature fix. Interview by Nicola Baird Islington Faces met…

Martin McKenzie: Big Issue seller

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Martin McKenzie selling the Big Issue outside Sainsbury's on Stroud Green Road (c) Islington Faces
Everybody has a story. Martin McKenzie can often be seen selling the Big Issue outside Tesco and Sainsbury’s on Stroud Green Road. But his dream is to run a mobile bike repair business. Interview by Nicola Baird “I was looking for the Big Issue office, in Finsbury Park, and then…

Valerie Bossman-Quarshie: community activist

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Community activist Valerie Bossman-Quarshie. Photo by Kimi Gill for Islington Faces
Everybody has a story. Meet Elizabeth House trustee Valerie Bossman-Quarshie who’s making Islington better for us all. Interview by Nicola Baird. Photos by Kimi Gill Valerie Bossman-Quarshie is a force of energy in Islington as you may already know if you read the local newspapers. For some years she’s often featured…

Vicky Lawson & Daisy: the Positivitree

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The Positivitree has 300 or more designs on it. Vicky Lawson helped her daughter Daisy get the project going and quickly saw the community joining in. (c) Islington Faces
Everybody has a story. After a month of lockdown spent looking out of the flat window six-year-old Daisy asked her Mum, Vicky Lawson, how she could cheer people up. The answer was to decorate their nearest street tree. Soon everyone was joining in. Interview by Nicola Baird Over the phone…

Natalie Dinning: Lesley’s Sauces

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Natalie Dinning now runs Lesley's Sauces, a condiment business that began life on the back of Lesley’s Jerk Sauce, which was the must-have condiment on her Dad’s football food stall outside the Emirates, The Jerk Kitchen, until it shut in 2019. (c) Kimi Gill for Islington Faces
Everybody has a story. The Jerk Kitchen is a real Islington family business. Here Natalie Dinning the new owner explains the move from a match-day Caribbean food stall, set up and run by her Dad, to focusing on selling their range of sauces, including their Jerk Sauce which was originally…