P A S T

“I’ve lived here for over 50 years, I used to live in Black Prince Road and Vauxhall Street, then this estate. A lot of changes isn’t there; we used to have the market, Wilcox market, all the old stalls down there, we used to have Lambeth Walk but it went years ago.” (Albert)

“In 1976 I’d left my husband so moved from Bermondsey and took a room here. Moving to Vauxhall was a new start and new era…new beginnings.” (Margaret)

“I moved here (Vauxhall) 52 years ago from Pimlico …. people were more friendly back then.” (Sylvia)

“I moved to the area in 1982 when I met my husband as he lived in a squat in St Agnes Place, well actually it was a housing co-op but it was really quite squatty, and I’ve been here ever since!” (Naomi)

“I was born in Wilcox Road and we lived there until I was 7 then we moved up to Black Prince Road just around the corner from the Lambeth Walk. I grew up playing on bombsites and moved away in 1974 at the age of 24” (Keith).

“Wilcox Road was a very very busy street market and community, only part of Wilcox Road remains now, but it used to be a continuous row of terraced housing all the way down until you got to the market, with parallel roads, each road its own community hub. Within these mini communities everybody knew everybody else.” (Keith)

“Before moving to Vauxhall in the 70s we moved around the world as my husband was in the Airforce, we came back from Germany, moving here was fine because it was a settled place, I didn’t have to worry about packing up again.” (Nora)

“We’ve been in the area since ’92 and it wasn’t really choice more chance, we got offered a place here in Stockwell, one of the flats behind Stockwell Station but then there were squatters there at the time, but in hindsight maybe that would have been better than the tower block where we are now. There’s a street there called Paradise Road …maybe when they were built it was like paradise because it must have been a nice place when it’s all new, but then it gradually goes down.” (Anne)

“My parents moved in here (flat in Vauxhall) in 1938, I’ve still got the administration listings that shows my brother and I were up in Staffordshire with my grandmother at the time – we were evacuated. Then in 1944 we were brought back because of the 11+ exams, as London education wouldn’t accept the Staffordshire 11+ exams because that area was farming and coal mining so their education was based on that type of future, not education for a London style of life. So then I came down for the examination in July ’44.

On the 27th July ’44 in the early hours of the morning, a V1 landed here. I was asleep, but very kindly he left the engine on on his way down and I suddenly realised this isn’t good, it got louder and louder and louder, until it hit the ground here. The whole bed was moving, the bedroom door was broken off its hinges, my parents’ bedroom door was divided half way up and I’d just come down for the examination! There were 27 casualties from the V1 and people in their shelters were killed as they weren’t designed to take a bomb, more just fall out from a blast and stuff dropping down on them. The following day I was back up at grandmother’s!” (Don)

“I moved here in April 1998 (South Lambeth), I will never forget that day. This is where I wanted to be around as there was a small Portuguese community and I wanted to be part of it. It was just growing then actually, there was more in Brixton than on this side. We moved to the flat I’m in now and will be forever as I don’t think I’m going to go anywhere else.” (Dalia)

“The so-called clearance started around the mid-late 60s onwards. From memory it was the GLC policy of the then council leader Horace Cuttler who had a penchant for the 60s style development – the tower block!” (Keith)

“The Vauxhall Cake Company was a big bakery run by the Gianelli family who were Swiss, and I got to know them because the son Peppin was a close friend of mine as my father knew their family, and I was his best man at his wedding.  It occupied a great area not far from the Thames there, and then when the uncle and the father were a certain age he took it over, but then later it was sold off, it’s where the big supermarket is now.

I think it was sold because of the value of the property and competition from other big concerns at the time, the area was enormous – they probably had an offer they couldn’t refuse! Vauxhall was quite a busy area even then!” (Beni)

“We moved to the area (South Lambeth) in 1997 - I was 2 then, it was June. Even as little as 2 we’d all play outside on the communal balcony, we’d all just play there together until we were old enough to go and play out downstairs - that’s my earliest memory from moving here.

My 2 young children now play out on the same communal balcony every day just like we used to” (Charlotte)

For more information about the history of Vauxhall see:

The Vauxhall Society – Civic consultative group covering the London parliamentary constituency of Vauxhall (vauxhallcivicsociety.org.uk)

Vauxhall History – David E. Coke, Naomi Clifford and Ross Davies bring you stories about a south London area rich in history (vauxhallhistory.org)

“This area was devastated by bombs because it was so near the river and the railway hubs and termini of Waterloo and Victoria.” (Naomi)

The proposed new park for Vauxhall.
’The Prince of Wales receiving a deputation of workers at Lambeth Palace’

Vauxhall Park was established and founded by the suffragette Millicent Fawcett and the social reformer Octavia Hill (who also established the National Trust), and was designed by the first professional female landscape designer in Britain Fanny Wilkinson.

For more information on Vauxhall Park and its history see History – Friends of Vauxhall Park www.vauxhallpark.org.uk

7th July 1890 – opening of Vauxhall Park by HRH Edward Prince of Wales (heir of Queen Victoria who would later become King Edward VII)

Women playing football, Vauxhall c. 1920

Copyright F. Durrant
V20 Lambeth Archives

“That site where they dropped the V1 was all cleared and there were about 50 houses demolished and then after the war they built some prefabs.” (Don)

“The market here on Wilcox Road used to be full of stalls and there used to be Kays the bakers. All the men had racing pigeons, and every Monday afternoon they would take them off in a big van, the organiser was Colin who had the fruit stall on the corner, they did that for years. At Vauxhall there was a vinegar factory, a gin factory and a Marmite factory and the smell in summer was disgusting; oh and United Dairies too, it was far more active. I think there was a piano factory near Wilcox Road. The Italian cafe on Wilcox Road, the ice-cream was amazing. It’s different but I still enjoy living around here though.” (Sylvia)

“Then I started to get connected to the church, and I used to go to the flower market (New Covent Garden) to get the flowers for church, and I’d get them for free, I’d just ask and they’d give them to me.” (Dalia)

“When we were younger we used to bump into and see Joanna Lumley a lot as she lives nearby and I’d always think oh wow that’s the lady from James and the Giant Peach.” (Charlotte)

“The Walworth Road was another hub, with East Street market, it used to be a Sunday morning out, you went and had your Sarsaparilla – it was part of the day out.” (Keith)

“I guess it’s the way of the world isn’t it? People were more outside on the streets 50 years ago and so more easily got to know everybody. It didn’t matter where you went in the area, there was always someone you knew.” (Sylvia)

“I remember the GLC held a meeting in Lambeth Walk to talk about their proposals for the building of the Etheldreda Estate, which is like a wilderness and I know because my mother lived there until about 14 years ago. I remember attending the meeting and Horace Cuttler stood up in front of the community and the protests of the people saying you are just going to decimate the community and that’s exactly what happened, that whole community was totally fragmented.

I can’t talk about the motivation but in my view all I can say was it didn’t work here because it broke up what was good and didn’t replace it with anything that was comparable in terms of community.” (Keith)

“I remember there was not much traffic around here, only one chap owned a car up until the 1950s but he was a chauffeur, he used to park his car out there and then when he saw us kids playing cricket he’d come charging out.” (Don)

“When I moved in there was a little Portuguese community, which was good for me, with the option for my daughter to learn Portuguese culture, knowing that she could go to after school Portuguese lessons was great! I came from Portugal to London in 1987, I was in need of a change, it was one of those phases when you try to be rebellious, 19-20 years old, and then an opportunity came and I just thought wow!” (Dalia)

“Also we used to play in the garden downstairs, they call it the Secret Garden now but we used to call it ‘The Pit’, I don’t know where that name came from but that was our own name for it, we just decided to call it that. We’d play in there in the daytime, and there was so much wildlife, the foxes would just come and sit down and sleep whilst we played in there. It was just lovely, all children from the tower block and across the whole estate we’d all play together. All ages, all very diverse, very friendly, everyone would look out for each other, especially compared to the times we are living in now. it was very different back then.” (Charlotte)

“Years ago there was always someone out there to talk to and always children around but they can’t play out like that now. Even the police used to walk through the estate and they knew everyone.” (Sylvia)

“As a 7 year old my range was probably a 3-4 mile radius from my home, so I was completely safe and free to wander, certainly up to Lower Marsh/Waterloo then a loop around to Elephant and Castle and that gradually extended.” (Keith)

“I guess there was no social media back then – I feel like that was better – it’s such a different world now. Back then as children we’d just knock on a neighbour’s door and ask ‘are we allowed to walk your dog today?’. Nowadays you would not feel comfortable asking or even knocking on doors, but back then it was just nice being able to help elderly neighbours or just go and have a chat with them.” (Charlotte)

“For amusement we had plenty of cinemas as you didn’t have television, you got the news from the cinemas.” (Don)

“On Black Prince Road on the corner opposite Vauxhall Street there was a bombsite and another small bombsite by Lambeth Walk, they were like adventure playgrounds – climbing trees, looking through the post-war debris, the old bomb shelters, we were comfortable and felt safe.” (Keith)

“It’s interesting to look back on how life changes, as I remember we used to play cricket on Vauxhall Street in the road – we’d turn up with a milk crate and play as the traffic was just non-existent, and the local policeman knew us all by our Christian names and we knew him by his as he was part of the community.” (Keith)

“Bombsite playgrounds were around until the 60s – it’s amazing more kids weren’t blown to bits! You just went out in the morning and came back at night.” (Naomi)

“Not to romanticise as there were some aspects of it all that were bloody difficult and tough – there wasn’t a great deal of money and in the winter it was bloody cold! When you get older you do tend to paint in some of the colours but it’s not that times were better, times were just different, and for everything that is gained there is always something that is lost, and it’s the balance in between.” (Keith)

“You have change upon change, but there are little things, wonderful tree things. Walnut Tree Walk that runs down from Kennington Road to Lambeth Walk, when I was a kid it used to have walnut trees but now there are other trees there.” (Keith)

“My mother was a ‘clippy’ for the busses, she was one of the first female bus conductors, she was on the 137 route.” (Don)

“I grew up in north London and had never been to south London before the age of 12 as I just had no reason to come! I immediately thought there was a slightly harder edge than I was used to but a really satisfying social mix amidst extremes.” (Naomi)

“There were definitely fewer street trees when growing up. I don’t remember any on Vauxhall Street, or Black Prince Road with street trees. There were garden trees and trees on the bombsites – some existing and some self-seeded as it was already 12 years after the war.” (Keith)

“When I lived around the corner in Meadow Road, we had a tree with sticky leaves, a rowan. On the night of the hurricane in 1987 we were completely oblivious, we slept and didn’t hear the storm at all, didn’t wake up. I went to the kitchen the next morning, tried to put the kettle on but it didn’t work. Couldn’t work out why so thought I’ll pop to the corner shop to get a pint of milk. I went to the front door, tried to push it open but couldn’t. The rowan tree had fallen on the front of the house. I had no idea what had happened or why the tree might have fallen but I pushed my way out. Got to the corner shop and only then found out there had been this enormous storm of which the rowan tree was unfortunately a casualty. Every time I walk passed there I think of that rowan tree.” (Naomi)

“The Vauxhall Cake Company was opposite Sainsbury’s Nine Elms and the other side there was a cider factory. Vauxhall motors used to be where Sainsbury’s was. Royal Doulton, Lambeth Potteries were at the Lambeth Bridge end just beyond the fire station and around the back….that lovely building with the nice tiles.

Along South Lambeth Road there was the Baptist Church that’s still there, but also the Beulah Laundry, St Barnabas Church Vicarage and the Settling Engineering Works - all on the 1914 map.” (Don)

“Wilcox Market was thriving, Saturday was the main day for the market, but it was very messy to clear up, lots of cabbage leaves and potato skins. Fortunately at the market you could get anything. What I did find fascinating as a child were the chaps selling rabbits, because these were not on the rations.” (Don)

“Looking back on it I look back with immense fondness and warmth.” (Keith)

“The air, with all the factories and fires using coal, wouldn’t have been great, but it was just normal back then. On a winter’s night you’d get that yellow fog smog, you couldn’t see anything across the road. I think the really bad one was in 1953 when I was away on national service (in Malaya attached to the Gurkhas) , they were killed with it in their lungs. You couldn’t see your hand in front of you, it was really thick and it would get inside as well. Hundreds died! It got better in the 70s as less and less coal was being burnt, but then by the 80s pollution from the cars started to increase.” (Don)

“Between here (Hartington Road) and Kenchester Street there were just 2 bombs but then in the 70s there was the clearance going through. They started down at Vauxhall end demolishing all of the Victorian properties, just chopping them down to build those estates, until they got as far as Thorne Road and then the people there objected. That’s why one side is gone and one side is still there.” (Don)

Kenchester Close (formerly Kenchester Street)

P R E S E N T

“You tend to look at things more when you are walking.” (Nora)

“In lockdown I sat in the garden, we tried to make the best of the lockdown situation, it made you more aware… we are older people but had a positive outlook so coped quite well, but we do miss the library and our knitting group, but we formed our own little bubble and found ways to stay positive.” (Margaret)

“I find that it’s not London anymore like it used to be….Yes it’s getting more international which I guess you would call progression but it’s changed a lot.” (Nora)

“I’ve noticed the changing of the seasons more, all the blossom in spring, it was beautiful and now we’ve got autumn. I’ve noticed more berries on the bushes this year, that doesn’t bode well. There’s an old saying ‘the more berries you have the harder the winter’ – all the birds are stocking up! But it might kill off the virus though.. I’m hoping it does!” (Sylvia)

“Here’s your sweet lavender 16 sprigs a penny, that you’ll find my ladies will smell as sweet as any”
(A lavender seller’s cry from about 1900)

“The bowling green in Vauxhall Park is a big memory for me – it was great, I thought it was extraordinary despite not being in that kind of world at all. I was really sad to see it go but then they replaced it with the lavender.” (Naomi)

“My girls used to go to the 1 o’clock club in Vauxhall Park, they’ve still got the lovely lavender field there; we’ve been out and cut that together, it’s lovely.” (Sylvia)

“Memories of Vauxhall park - the lavender garden for me is Vauxhall Park.” (Charlotte)

“I go back occasionally now and I don’t sense community, I sense people isolated. Our society now is very good at assessing change, supposedly going forward. It’s not only what we are gaining because undoubtedly mobile phones/computer technology and everything has had its huge advantages and I’m not making a case that we should return to the 50s but if you just change in one direction something usually slips off the end, and we are not very good at calculating the value of what is slipping off the end and disappears. Once you have lost it you can’t easily get it back.” (Keith)

“I moved here (Vauxhall in one of the new towers) in July 2019, I moved here for my role as a live-in welfare needs warden for the student block. The students are all King’s University students.” (Maria)

“South London does value what it’s got! Some things are not here anymore and leave just traces but I always think of Vauxhall and Lambeth as a little bit broken but with a really warm centre; it’s sincere and it’s very very London, it doesn’t take any nonsense, speaks its mind, but I love living here! Sometimes it does feel overwhelming but I have accepted it in all of its flawed glory.” (Naomi)

“We’ve got too many high-rise buildings and that’s no good for community because your community aspect has gone unless you create something yourself – it’s short-term thinking, hasn’t got the community spirit anymore.” (Nora)

“The thing I’ve not really done is walk around the area, the only time I’ve really gone to the other side (Albert Square) is when my boys used to do paper rounds and they’d say to me ‘mum come and see this place it’s really nice and at this time of the day it’s really beautiful’. They’d say ‘come come there is a nice place here in Stockwell!’” (Anne)

“Even for me it is just very different to anywhere I have lived in the past…coming from a small village (in Spain) with just 16,000 people in total and we just have one thing of everything. So it’s very different, firstly it’s very modern – it’s a 31 floor building with lots of amenities inside, for example the games room, very modern, feels very futuristic. There’s also a terrace on the 31st floor with really really amazing views.” (Maria)

“The eras of living here are just so different. You might get a ‘good morning’ if you are lucky, but it’s good morning then on; before everyone knew everybody.” (Don)

“My daughter keeps telling me ‘it is getting trendier and trendier here in Vauxhall’… and it is with all these changes isn’t it? But it totally wasn’t like that when we moved here!” (Dalia)

“Interesting to think about all this change and amidst it what are the continuous features? If you look along Kennington Road you’ll see the London plane trees, at the top of Black Prince Road three hawthorn trees.” (Keith)

“But there’s also a willow tree - we’ve always loved willow trees playing as children.” (Charlotte)

“We have all become stronger friends, we have had our little group amidst lockdown, before it was just ‘hello’ now we’ve formed our group and got a lot more friendly. It could have been really bad as we’re all widowed, the men have escaped as they say!” (Sylvia)

“Communities developed their own safe-guarding measures, for example a child walking home from school that everyone knew had to pass 20 people who knew her, so there’s 20 alarm bells when something is not right. Everybody had routines and there were enough people familiar with those routines. Now it’s very anonymous, that deep level caring is gone.” (Keith)

“I enjoy living here!” (Sylvia)

“Lockdown has actually been quite sustaining of our neighbourhoods – now people are looking around themselves and valuing their relationships closer to home. Also perhaps it’s better for the soul not to be squashed into a tube off to a difficult office environment. It might look a bit broken but there’s so much here, even if it’s not all still here the bits that are, are telling the stories.” (Naomi)

“In lockdown we must try to be as positive as possible and fight off negativity – I firmly believe that until things have happened they haven’t happened – so we must make the best of what we’ve got.” (Naomi)

“I see trees from the 16th floor, the other side, the parliament side, you used to see all the way, it was a beautiful view. With all this development in Vauxhall that’s the view now, it’s like being in Dubai except it’s Stockwell!” (Anne)

“The area has changed so much since I lived here, it was quite daunting it was grim, then after, some of the trees were planted to make it prettier, but to begin with there were no flowers, there were no gardens and now you look at it, it is just so beautiful! Before it was awful – there is a huge difference!” (Dalia)

“I live on the 16th floor so my views are also quite nice particularly at night. Having the views has made quite a big difference particularly now having had to spend so much time inside to self-isolate, so for example something I would do is sit down right next to the window and look at the view, especially at night. I do not look towards town but towards the US embassy so the opposite side of the centre but the view is still really lovely. You see the road, the new buildings that are in front and then the embassy, and then in the distance you see green, but the trains are so close. If you have the window closed it is quite good at isolating the sound of the trains so it can go a bit unnoticed but if you have it open it feels like you are next to the train!” (Maria)

“I enjoy living here, glad I don’t live far out of London, in lockdown it would have been horrible or rather different.” (Sylvia)

“If you want my opinion about what they are doing to Nine Elms Lane & Vauxhall - it’s this thing of scale – the environment I grew up in was scalable. Vauxhall was scalable, the biggest thing was the Elephant and Castle pub at Vauxhall Cross. Now you look at it and think where’s the human scale? And where are you going to get community from those tall blocks?” (Keith)

“In lockdown I suppose for me being in a flat (on the 16th floor) that was the down side as you actively have to get out. Some days I walked down and walked back up – I used that as my exercise. We had the communal garden – for me actually I spent a lot of time in the garden – I went to the garden every day – when I finished work that was the place to go! I’d spend hours there. Even though it’s a communal garden for the whole estate it was mainly just me down there. I think that garden came into its own, it really helped me a lot, it really did. It was straight from the start of the first lockdown I began going.” (Anne)

“The only thing I remember that has been there for ever and ever is that big tree in that circle, is it Lansdowne Gardens? That was always there, but all the rest wasn’t very nice, that’s why Larkhall Park was our special place to go. There weren’t many trees on streets and you didn’t see as much green as you see now.” (Dalia)

“The world has become very small, at the time I moved here the world was far apart. I remember having to ring home (Uganda) and literally I’d spend 5 minutes and my money was finished, it was very expensive to communicate. If you got a letter from home you were very excited, letters were very exciting and then if you see Airmail then that was even more of a bonus! Of course all that now is not there – communication has become very easy. I think everything has become very near, you can literally zoom into anywhere in the world. We zoom to villages on Google maps and say ‘look that’s our village there’ – it’s crazy! The web is new, it’s only been here in the last 20 years really, yet it’s changed the world – scary! So the world has become very small.” (Anne)

“Before everybody used to see London as a ghost, grey, cold city, nothing like as green as we see now, that’s how it was, but now look at us, colourful gardens everywhere, everybody trying to do their bit for their bit in front of their house, it’s so much nicer! Look at how things change over the years!” (Dalia)

“Since before Christmas, possibly October/November, the terraces on the 31st and 4th floor have been locked so Vauxhall Park is our only outside space.” (Maria)

“I was only the second person in my room as the building was built in 2018 so someone had been in my room for one year but it felt completely new.  I grew up in a house, it was very different very rural, and this is very urban and modern, so I’ve never been exposed to that type of living before. I felt very excited at the beginning but now because of Covid and especially because of having spent so much time in the same space – as it’s a studio I live in, I think now I am starting to miss nature and more rural ways of living.

It’s like living in a bubble, especially now with Covid I would describe it as a bubble for sure.” (Maria)

“You just have to get on with it really. Got to keep smiling – that’s us anyway, there you go.” (Sylvia)

“I like the nature around the area, that is one thing growing up and still now, I still feed the foxes and feed the birds, as the foxes have always lived in the back garden, for me that’s always felt nice. There’s also blossom trees, planted flowers that come out every year which for me has always been one of the things I really like about the area, and the fact it’s close to everything - the library, the park, busses, the tube. I like the fact that all of our neighbours have been lovely over the years - which is like a little community in itself having neighbours that feel more than neighbours, more like friends and people you can trust, because it’s quite hard to find that now.” (Charlotte)

“Oh another thing is about the area being so diverse, that’s a good thing about the area it’s always been very multi-cultural and I think it is just nice to live somewhere where you have people from different backgrounds, different places from around the world that all live in the same place and there is just no issue with that. That’s a good thing about the area but London I guess is in itself like that.” (Charlotte)

“I didn’t know Vauxhall before, the closest I had been was Victoria. First impressions - I was really impressed at how modern it was, it felt very luxurious.

Personally I think if I hadn’t had the opportunity to have this role I don’t think I would have had the possibility to live in a place like that, so I thought it was an amazing experience to have those views and I made the most of it, but even within the same building it’s probably a very different experience to be on the 3rd floor or 31st floor – I do think the views do make a difference.

At the beginning I have to admit I just stayed in as there was just so much to do inside, but that novelty has definitely worn off a bit and then I started doing more things outside and that’s when I started coming to Vauxhall Park, and the other park as well that has the city farm.” (Maria)

“It definitely has changed in terms of feeling safe, in these times now people do look out for each other, but it’s not the way it was when we were growing up. I felt safe playing out or going for a walk around the area, but now it’s not safe anymore, there is a lot more trouble going on around the world in general, but also in the area I don’t feel as safe as I did.” (Charlotte)

“I really really like that there is a park just 2 minutes from home, right in front of the block, and I really liked the fact it felt really comfortable that you have everything right there within the building and also that if you go 5/10 minutes for a walk then you are by the river. You can see the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament, sometimes it feels a little bit like you are in a movie because of the landmarks, the views. It feels very London and very UK in a good way.

And I really really love the animal farm – Vauxhall City Farm – that is one of the places I’ve loved the most, because when I was getting overwhelmed with my work or course I would just go and stop by to watch the animals, and that felt really good. A bit of countryside in the capital!” (Maria)

“I love that picnic table under the blossom tree. Any time it is free I go to work there, that’s like my spot, it just feels like you are in this magical world because any time you look up you see the beautiful blossom. Also the really big tree next to it, that was the one last summer I used to sit under to read. It feels very nice in summer when you have a little bit of shade.

I do feel the changes to the park are great this year – it’s changed a lot. One of the things I always do when I come here I just like watching other people, kids playing, dogs on their walks, and even just doing that makes me feel better.

There are a few trees I see from my room, I see the tops of them, the canopies, but that makes a difference though. From the 16th floor I see symmetrical lines of trees alongside the road. It’s nice to see how the seasons change and the trees change with the seasons, that’s something I always look at. I do think my mood changes with the seasons, but in winter when they are bare it’s always interesting to think back to spring and when they were all growing.” (Maria)

“In lockdown I didn’t feel too much of a difference apart from church being closed, it felt strange to see the roads so empty. I visit old people in the area. I go around helping them with their shopping and because my mum lives in sheltered housing I’ve been helping out there, so basically my life didn’t stop.” (Dalia)

“It’s yes and no in terms of being more aware of nature, no because I have always gone to parks, but yes because I started to bring my mother out for walks because we couldn’t be in her house, and being with my mum I experienced the park at a slower pace.

Being in the park, even just seeing the dogs running around and stuff like that, and the difference from when I had a little girl to now, it’s about sitting down, making conversation. The walk there is slower, looking around.

I have good memories of my area, the Queen’s Jubilee fell on my birthday and we had a big street party in the communal garden, the Pope came here to Vauxhall, these are all good memories we can tell one day. At least we can remember something happy, there’s so much sadness in life, you need to remember the happy things.” (Dalia)

“In lockdown getting out amongst the green things even just to see the colour green is very restorative and to speak to or even just nod at other dog owners from a distance created that kind of human-level relationship that we must have because we are built to talk to each other and be creative and make new relationships, otherwise we are not really human – we are built to do that and that will never stop – we’ll just have to find new ways to do it.” (Naomi)

“We all tend to freeze frame places in the time that we are familiar with them and you lose sight of these across other times.” (Keith)

“Sometimes when I am upset I just stare out of my window into the communal garden at the trees my sitting room window looks onto. If you are upset you just go to the window and it calms you down.” (Dalia)

“I was a bit embarrassed about exercising in a park at the beginning, but then I realised that other people were doing it so one of the things I started doing was that I would bring my yoga mat and do yoga under that tree. For some reason I just got attached to that single tree, I don’t know why. It felt very grandiose and majestic that one, it was my go-to tree throughout the summer first thing in the morning, weather depending. The feeling was completely different from doing it at home to doing it here outside under that tree.” (Maria)

“The blossom tree in the garden we look straight out on to in the back communal garden, for me that’s always been one of my favourite trees, and we used to climb it along with all those trees.” (Charlotte)

“I felt very much more aware of nature and aware of its healing powers. I am not a natural gardener but I grew vegetables and herbs in lockdown. We were all there in the house and sometimes you just need to go to another room, and if you have a garden that is another room. It was helpful to go to our local park and see the trees changing and see the grass growing underfoot and know that that will always happen no matter what happens around it.” (Naomi)

“I do feel in this last year or so I have shifted my perspective and maybe I feel now that happiness may be more about a more simple way of living, paying attention to small things, being in nature, and I think it’s not having those things during this Covid times that has helped me realise this.” (Maria)

“Nature in all its forms makes you feel immensely lucky, and I think a lot of other people felt new appreciation for what they had. Over the years I’ve lived here I think parks are more well used now, there are definitely more people in parks than before.” (Naomi)

“I’ve always been really aware of how much nature we’ve got around us, but I think being out and knowing there are restrictions makes you appreciate things more. Of late I have been thinking ‘oh that’s a beautiful tree’. As much as I thought I appreciated nature before, I think lockdown did make me appreciate it more and there’s so much when you look, foxes, blossom trees, there’s two wood pigeons who live in the tree opposite. Now that the leaves are all off they are in the tree in the day, but they don’t nest there at the moment but they have lived there for a long time, and also there are bats around the back. I like the fact that even though we live on a busy main road there’s still lots of nature around and I really appreciate it.

There have been changes in Larkhall Park – there used to be water features and when we were little that was one of the things we loved but that has gone now, they’ve covered it over – there’s just rocks so that’s changed a lot, but the trees remain constant.” (Charlotte)

“All the trees in Vauxhall Park just look amazing, and they are so old and tall, they are just wending their way obliviously not going anywhere but dignified amidst it all.

Parks and open spaces in London are part of what makes London a pleasant place to live.” (Naomi)

“It shapes who you become as back then it didn’t matter what you were like, where you were from or what background - where your parents were from or the colour of your skin, everyone played with everyone, everyone spoke to everyone, everyone got along, nowadays the world is very different. I guess growing up with it being so diverse has made me really appreciate everyone for who they are.

I think everyone should be allowed to be who they are - they should not be judged for their sexuality, race, religion, anything!” (Charlotte)

F U T U R E

“The future of the area – it is a good thing in that sense of more housing and accommodation for people that they’ve built so much of but I think it is very modernised – it sort of changes the way the area feels to me. I feel it might attract different people and maybe there might not be as much of a community as there is now. I would like to hope that it doesn’t really change in terms of the community spirit that there is. It does feel like there are now more younger people in the area than older people.” (Charlotte)

“Then there’s also the spread of affluence, there were always pockets like Clever Square that was upmarket, but there was always an interchange between the two communities, so whilst there was a wealth divide it wasn’t as though they were separated because they occupied the same accessible-to-all kind of space.

But you have to evaluate these things in 10-15 years time.” (Keith)

“Once I leave the building the first thing you have in front of you is the park – a block of green, other blocks don’t have this they just see other developments. They’ve just built a building behind our block so we are basically covering all their views of the park, it’s just behind and much taller than ours. I don’t know if when people live there it will negatively impact their mental health as I do think the view you have is really important, but if your view is just the wall of another building right there immediately in front of you, it’s not the same as a tree or beautiful landscape – it can change the way you feel.” (Maria)

“Oh my God we are going to have an underground station right here, there are so many things changing and going on!” (Dalia)

“The future is the next layer of change on the horizon, that we can only dream and hope is better than our current ‘present’ that surrounds us.” (Chris)

“People keep saying ‘when we return to normal…’, but let’s instead hope we return to ‘better’!” (Polly)

“Let’s hope the future of the area and all the change happening around us builds upon the good things from our area’s present and past and that it doesn’t fragment and divide the area.  Let’s hope instead it recognises, strengthens and cherishes the unique and diverse special sense of community we have here in our local area of Vauxhall.” (Chris)

“It has changed a lot with all that regeneration in Vauxhall, and a lot of the buildings on Wandsworth Rd. I do think it’s good that there is some change to the buildings, but at the same time it does sort of take away parts of the things you remember as a child, for example certain buildings were a landmark of where we live so sometimes it is sad to see the change, but at the same time they are building more houses so I guess it is good.” (Charlotte)

“The future of the area? Sad to say I think there will be more and more big buildings. The park acts as a natural barrier so let’s hope that stays intact. What I don’t want to happen is that central London, of which this is a part, to become a sort of Manhattan situation where only the rich can afford to live here. It is the epitome of London isn’t it – everybody is here – a slice of life! Such a good cross section, there’s a cohesion between people of all different types.” (Naomi)

“I’m not adverse to change, as in life it is usually one of the few things we can count on happening. Things, people, places don’t and can’t stand still, they have to move forward and change with the times, so change particularly in a city is inevitable, but I do think one notices the difference when that ‘change’ has been approached sensitively, thought about and appropriately considered.  There is a difference between the ‘new’ respecting what’s already there, and trying to harmoniously connect and fit in, as opposed to it just landing, trying to take centre stage, and in doing so over-shadowing and demoting what was there before.” (Chris)

“Community, cohesion and diversity is what makes an area pleasurable to live in and interesting.  Changes and future living should keep these at the forefront and not lose sight of all that currently makes our area great.” (Joe)

“The future belongs to the next generation not ours….  but we do have a duty to that next generation to pass on a hopeful and healthy environment with a promising future.” (Chris)

“Investing in parks and green spaces is so important particularly as they are still building more towers.” (Maria)

“It’s amazing to think about all the things those trees have lived through and will go on living through.” (Joe)

“Only time will really tell if all this has worked and been a success, and created a better place in which to live and work.  All the hoarding adverts and publicity can say and suggest it’s going to be a dynamic and vibrant new area but we’ll only truly know that in a few years time… fingers crossed, let’s hope they are right!” (Chris)