It was a good week for learning about determined people who make a difference.
During a wintry sock mob walk down by the river Hazel,our guide, told us some past and present stories of the area around Borough Market and Southwark Cathedral. We saw the sombre site of Cross Bones, and talked about the long history of deprivation, neglect and impoverishment that’s haunted Bankside.
We also heard about the impact of benefactors – in particular Elizabeth Newcomen, who, in the late 1600s made sure local kids were educated and provided for, and Octavia Hill who, a couple of hundred years later, when she wasn’t busy pioneering social work or starting up the National Trust, managed housing schemes for the local poor.
There are still plenty of people doing practical, positive things in the area and, as Hazel said, there’s still plenty of need for such folk.
A number of them, like the individuals who started Sock Mob, are what UnLtd call ‘Social Entrepreneurs’ , and at an UnLtd Connect event last week there was an opportunity to meet some. One is a regular at Borough Market. Jenny Dawson and her Rubies in the Rubble team run a stall there, selling chutney and jams made from surplus fruit and vegetables they’ve saved from being discarded.
