The Museum of Childhood has a weekend of activities, starting on Saturday 28th January with Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day. Clara Button likes drawing, making things and dressing up. When her Granny Elsie’s hat is torn, Clara sets off to the V&A to find out how to mend it. Enjoy a reading of Clara Button and the Magical Hat Day, then join illustrator Emily Sutton for a ‘design a hat’ workshop. Storytelling 12.00-12.30 Drop in / All ages. (There are also Illustration Workshops for children aged 5+ from 1-1.45pm and 2.15-3.00pm, £3 per child. Booking line opened Monday 16 January  at 09.00, priority given to phone calls. To book call 020 8983 5205 / email mocbookings@vam.ac.uk)

On Sunday 29 January, between 4.00 and 4.30pm, Laura Veirs Sings from Tumble Bee. Join American folk singer Laura Veirs as she performs songs from Tumble Bee, her recently released children’s album featuring early 20th century work songs and the ballads of Jimmie Rodgers, Woody Guthrie, Peggy Seeger and Harry Belafonte.  Her album is described as “a perfect Sunday afternoon record” by The Oxford American and “sweet and irresistible” by Rolling Stone. Drop-in / All ages.

On Saturday and Sunday from 2.00 until 4.00pm  you can join the team from Okido magazine for an arts and crafts workshop to launch their new issue on Habitat and Houses. Little interior designers can make a 3D pop-up card of their dream bedroom, and budding reporters can create a news-sheet about the fabulous dolls’ houses in the Museum. Drop-in / All ages.

For full details on all these events and more besides, visit the Museum of Childhood website.

Rich Mix  has a whole host of good things going on this weekend. It plays host to Our Brick Lane, until Thursday 2nd February. This is a superb exhibition and oral history project that recorded, documented and preserved the diverse and unique heritage of Brick Lane – a traditional host for global diasporas entering the metropolis. Concentrating on the former Jewish Community and current Bengali and Somali communities, the project recorded and archived the cultural life of this important East London Street from 1960 onwards. During 2007 the project collected some valuable oral history video interviews and worked with local schools, youth groups and community centres in Brick Lane, this exhibition tells this powerful story in the words of past and present communities of living and working in the lane.

On Sunday 29th January, Rich Mix hosts part 7 of Snapshots – a bite-sized festival in 13 parts celebrating East London in its Olympic year. East London Jewish Culture: Bagels, Bar Mitzvah and Babkas. This event that reflects on the rich Jewish heritage in the East End of London with an exhibition, archive films, a theatre premiere, a guided walk, live music, market stalls, family workshops, food, drink, and much more besides. This is a unique event for people of all ages and interests.

Also on Sunday from 1pm until 3pm is a Free Family Workshop: Tall Tales and Patchwork Puppets. Hear traditional Yiddish folktales about some extremely ‘wise’ men and an old lady who shares her house with an interesting collection of animals… Can these tales really be true? Afterwards choose a character from one of the stories and have fun creating a puppet so you can retell the tales to your own audience of family and friends. Suitable for children aged 5 to 12 and their parents/carers. Although this is free you need to BOOK call the Box Office on 0207 613 7498.

For more information on all these events visit the Rich Mix website

This weekend is Walk London’s Winter Wanders Weekend. There are a whole range of walks, from gentle city strolls to long-distance hikes around the wilder parts of the metropolis on Saturday and Sunday. This is a great opportunity to find out more about London and to get a bit of exercise with free guided walks. For full details of all the walks available visit the Walk London Website.

Until 29 January, the Bishopsgate Library will be home to the News International: Wapping – 25 Years On exhibition, showing images and accounts of the Wapping dispute. For more information visit the Bishopsgate Institute website

At the Whitechapel Gallery, British artist Zarina Bhimji’s exhibition of photographs and large-scale film installations opens this week, and there are ongoing exhibitions including Mark Rothko and Simon Schama‘s choices from the Government Art Collection.  See the Whitechapel Gallery website for more information.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park has a meeting of the Bow Beasties wildlife watch club on Saturday 21st January from 10:30am until 12:30pm. For children aged 4 – 14 The Wildlife Watch Club takes place in the fabulous resource of the Cemetery Park, with different activities to learn about wildlife. For more info, see the Tower Hamlets Cemetery website.

Spitalfields City Farm will be having an east end wildlife gardening session on Sunday, 22nd January between 11.00am and 2.00pm.  Weather permitting they’ll be planting a couple of Sweet Chestnut trees in the paddocks and making artists’ charcoal from willow prunings.  If you are interested, just show up on the day to get involved. For more details visit the Spitalfields City Farm website

Maire, our redoubtable manager and launderette stalwart since we opened in 1992, is back at work following a knee operation last October. We know Maire is a firm favourite with loads of you, and you’ll be as pleased as we are to see her back.  Sadly as we welcome Maire back Mina has been taken ill and may be away from the launderette for some time, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that she’ll be back at work soon as we’ll all miss her.

On Saturday 14th January, the London Ice Sculpting Festival is at Canary Wharf. With ice sculpting competitions, a free ice carving masterclass, make a snowman in the snow pit and browse the stalls at the Frost Fayre for warming winter drinks and snacks. For more information visit the Festival Website.

On Sunday 15th January, there is a guided walk around Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park from 2pm until 4pm, with some amazing history and surprising wildlife on the route. The cemetery park is one the best wild spaces in the borough with some great views – you can easily forget you’re in the middle of the city.

Winter 2010/11 © Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

Whatever you do this weekend, stay warm and give yourself a bit of a break – get your laundry service washed. We’re open 8am until 7pm, so you can drop off and collect your laundry whenever you want – easy!

Filed under: What's On ]]> http://boundarylaunderette.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/whats-on-no-really-whats-on/feed/ 0 boundarylaunderette london-ice-sculpting-festival IMG_1449 http://boundarylaunderette.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/lovely-generous/ http://boundarylaunderette.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/lovely-generous/#comments Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:49:01 +0000 Boundary Community Launderette http://boundarylaunderette.wordpress.com/?p=3408 ]]> Thanks to your generosity in donating and buying books, the bookstall donated a total of £240 to various good causes in 2011, including the DEC appeals for the Japanese Tsunami and East African Drought, and local organisations such as the Spitalfields Crypt Trust and the Shoreditch Youth Football Team.

Keep donating and buying books in 2012 so we can carry on your good work!

The Geffrye Museum has it’s usual First Saturday Family Day on 7th January, with loads of activities including Bake Away the Blues for 11-19 year olds from 2.00 until 4.00pm, where you can bake away your January blues and use herbs to create 2012 treats, and Bean Kings and Pea Queens for 5 to 11 year olds from 10.30am – 12.30pm and 2.00 – 4.00pm, where you can craft an Epiphany crown and really regal accessories. Visit the Geffrye website for full details.

Rich Mix hosts ‘Images of Protest’, an exhibition that focuses on protest posters and poster art of 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s Britain and how this art form has both influenced and been influenced by the myriad aspects of youth culture. The work on display charts the immense change that occurred in popular and social culture in these decades and covers subjects such as Nuclear Disarmament, Racial Equality and Equal Rights.  Open  Friday 6th January until Saturday 28th January. For full details visit the Rich Mix website.

The Tower Hamlets Local History Library in Bancroft Road is hosting East End Street Scenes – Paintings by Noel Gibson. A self-taught artist born in Scotland, Noel Gibson was a prolific painter of East End street scenes during the 1960s – 1970s. Gibson’s paintings capture a changing borough, often depicting rows of old houses on the brink of demolition. The exhibition is open until Thursday 9th February, for full details of opening days and times visit the exhibition web page.

Noel Gibson - Hessel St

A little further afield, it’s the last weekend of the South Bank Centre’s Winter wonderland Festival. The Forkbeard Fantasy: Theatre of Animation is open until Sunday 8th January. Enter a magical world of interactive fun for young and old, with peepshow boxes, mechanical gizmos, films and cartoons. On Saturday 7th., The Clore Ballroom will be oozing energy as youth dance companies from across London perform with the hope of securing a place at U. On Sunday 8th., Winter River Tango is an afternoon of workshops, demonstrations, DJ’s and live music. Get full details from the Winter Wonderland website.

If you want to clear your head of post-festive blues but need your laundry done, drop it in to us and go and enjoy yourself. There are loads of other things to see and do locally, just check out our links on the right of the web page. Have a good weekend!

If you’re a launderette customer, we’re back to normal opening now. You may notice that along with the new decor we’ve now provided benches to make lifting washing in and out of the machines a little easier, and we’ve also invested in a recycling bin to help us all reduce our landfill waste! There are a few bits of decor and repairs still to be done, but James and Mark will be back soon to do the work and make the launderette that little bit more gorgeous.

Sadly our marvellous manager Maire is still off work after her knee operation, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that she’ll be back towards to middle of January. We spoke on New Year’s Day and she was her bright and cheery self, longing to be back at work and amongst her customers and friends.

We’ve been applying for funding to replace the spinner and machine that are no longer working, but so far we’ve not had any luck. We are continuing to look for funding and will keep you posted. If you know of any charitable organisations that might help, please email us.

There are some chocolates left – Heroes and Quality Street – so take a couple whilst you’re waiting for your wash or when you drop off you service wash…

We’ll be back later in the week with ideas for free things to do locally at the weekend. See you then!

Looking Brighter!

However you celebrate, have a wonderful time and we wish everyone a very happy 2012.

The launderette is closed from 7pm on Friday 30th December until Tuesday 3rd January 2012 at 8am.

Thames Fireworks Photo © Jon White

Customers, Supporters and Friends

The Compliments of the Season

and

A Very Happy 2012

from

The Boundary Community Launderette Team

For our opening times over the holidays, click here.

To check what’s on for free in the local area, click here.

For help, advice, information and local places of interest, see the links to the right.

The Local Services section has links Tower Hamlets Council, Hackney Council, and the City of London Corporation, plus links to Transport for London, the local police and many other local services.

The Help & Advice section has links to a wide range of organisations that offer support, advice and information or someone to talk to during difficult  times.

The Medical & Health Services section has links to NHS Direct and Health Centres/Surgeries for the Boundary Estate area.

And, of course, we have our Local Places & Events section with links to lots of free museums, galleries and other places to visit in our area.

If you’ve got any elderly or vulnerable neighbours please keep an eye out for them as the weather turns colder.

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