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Nicola Baird

Sara Mclaughlin: artist

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Artist Sara Mclaughlin: “I specialise in drawing, print making and painting. I focus on wildlife and particularly city wildlife. I’m interested in the manmade environment and the way it interacts with nature.” © Kimi Gill for Islington Faces
Everybody has a story. In her kitchen over mint tea, sweetened with honey from the bees living at the end of her garden, Sara Mclaughlin discusses the Islington places that inspire her art. Interview by Nicola Baird & photos by Kimi Gill taken before the Covid-19 lockdown “I’d always done…

Ant O’Neill: Moomin translator

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Ant O'Neill
Everybody has a story. Here’s how wordsmith Ant O’Neill from Archway turned an interest in Tove Jansson into a professional passion for this Finnish writer who created satirical wartime cartoons, birthed the Moomins and wrote autobiographical best-sellers like the ‘Summer Book’. Interview by Nicola Baird over Zoom. Photos by Kimi…

Savvas Panas & the Ringcross Community Centre: food bank

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Savvas Panas at the Ringcross Community Centre food bank. Vouchers aren’t needed, but every visitor is asked to writer their name in the book. Items on offer when Islington Faces visited included carrots, melons, rainbow chard, onions, all sorts of tinned goods and even hand gel. (c) Islington Faces
Everybody has a story. Here’s how the food bank at Ringcross Community Centre offers food, advice and company during the Covid-19 pandemic for hungry Islington people. Interview with centre manager Savvas Panas, volunteers and food bank users by Nicola Baird. A recent, chilling New Yorker piece (12 May 2020) reveals that…

Madeleine Ladell: potter

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Madeleine Ladell needs to find a new teaching studio for Phoenix Pottery (c) Kimi Gill for Islington Faces
Everybody has a story. Before lockdown if you wanted to make your own mug or were inspired to try working with clay after watching TV’s Great Pottery Throwdown, you’d have headed to Phoenix Pottery on Caledonian Road, run by Madeleine Ladell. Over the past few strange months Madeleine’s studio has…

Lucy Facer: Islington Clean Air Parents

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Lucy Facer: “In Islington you feel like you are on the doorstep of everything. But one issue I have is the air pollution. If it wasn’t for that, it’d be perfect. It’s interesting during the lock down how the reduced air pollution makes it a really great place to live. We need to know - how do we keep our children safe from coronavirus and also safe from air pollution?” (LF)

Everybody has a story. Have you seen the ‘I love clean air’ blue hearts from Islington Clean Air Parents which have been spreading around our streets during the Covid-19 lockdown? Find out more about this new campaigning group set up by Lucy Facer and friends. Interview with Nicola Baird Lucy…

Amy Daniels: Canonbury Mutual Aid volunteer

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Amy Daniels from Canonbury Mutual Aid. The dog belongs to someone who is unable to leave their house during lockdown. (c) AD
Everybody has a story. Theatre technician Amy Daniels, 26, helps co-ordinate Canonbury Mutual Aid. All Islington’s Mutual Aid groups during the Covid-19 pandemic are listed at the end of this interview. Q&A with Nicola Baird What’s your job pre Covid-19? I’m a theatre technician, lighting designer and production manager in Camden.…

Melissa Scott-Miller: artist

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Melissa Scott-Miller: “Sometimes I get commissions when I’m painting around Islington. Quite a lot of people ask me to do their house or street.” © MSM
Everybody has a story. Artist Melissa Scott-Miller paints her detailed canvases around the borough, so you may have spotted her at work in Islington. Or perhaps you recognise her Islington paintings when they star in the RA’s summer exhibitions? Interview with Nicola Baird Melissa Scott-Miller paints Islington scenes – houses, back…

Bill Freedman: theatre history & Pilates Central

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Bill Freedman: “People say you’re 90 years old what are you doing going to work. But Pilates Central is not work it’s my racing stable.” (BF)
Everybody has a story. Britain’s oldest theatre producer Bill Freedman was so impressed by the positive benefits of pilates that he opened Pilates Central studio near Angel in 2004. Now 90 – and in lockdown – he still does pilates every day. Interview by Nicola Baird “I was 90 last…

Bob Collins: Islington Pensioners Forum

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Everybody has a story. In the first week of the coronavirus lockdown, Islington Faces began trialling on line interviews. First up is Bob Collins who runs Islington Pensioners Forum. Interview by Nicola Baird Bob Collins is a retired postal worker from the Mount Pleasant mail sorting office who is still…

Richard Rhys O’Brien: the Dinner Puzzle

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Richard Rhys O'Brien helped raise more than £4000 for Islington charities with the Ballad of Highbury Barn. His current project focuses on a grand dinner party held by Lady Rhondda in 1933. (c) Kimi Gill for Islington Faces
Everybody has a story. Retirement has enabled Richard Rhys O’Brien to create music, books, articles and even a puzzle at a rapid pace, including a ballad of Highbury Barn through the ages. Now he’s turned history detective and needs your help to track down the missing pieces of the Dinner…