Emma Barnett
Nine months ago, my husband and I gave birth to our third creation – rather unexpectedly. I am not talking about our baby daughter (she arrived nearly 18 months ago). No, I am referring to our local colouring books, Colour Your Streets, born of our curiosity about our corner of the earth in Brixton and Herne Hill, South London.
We had been pounding our local streets with our endlessly curious six year old son and our newborn girl in her pram and answering his questions about the local clock tower or a piece of street art, when it occurred to us we could take photos for him to draw when we arrived home. Then my husband had the idea to print them so he could colour over them. A whole project suddenly loomed excitingly into view. What if our boy could colour in images of the streets where he lived and loved – while learning about them? Colour In Brixton was born, there and then, on our kitchen table. Swiftly followed by Colour In: Herne Hill, Dulwich, Peckham and Crystal Palace. And they have been flying into eager young and old hands ever since.
Nine months on we have more than 60 colouring books across London and the UK. The first outside of London was Manchester, naturally, as a Mancunian.
The great thing about having moved to London is you can remain an endless tourist in a city you simply cannot finish, even if in my case, you have lived in the Big Smoke for nearly 20 years. Post lockdown, I feel people have dug into their local areas even harder and I plan on spending July exploring new neighbourhoods and cities with my camera, taking images for our books – Nunhead and Nottingham look ready.
July will see a new government and potentially a new Prime Minister. I will also still be grappling with waking up a few mornings a week at 3.05am (every minute counts at that unholy hour) for my new day job presenting the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4. But unlike August, July is also the summer month where everything is still very much alive and there for the taking – usually in glorious sun-flecked technicolour. Let’s fill our streets with colour - fuelled by some delicious pale rosé.
Emma Barnett, broadcaster, journalist and co-founder of colouryourstreets.co.uk
Food & Drink: Holy Carrot
Holy Carrot has been running incredibly popular pop-ups and supper clubs over the past few years so it's very exciting to know its now opening a permanent residence in Notting Hill. This plant based powerhouse from founder Irina Linovich has brought in Acme Fire Cult's Daniel Watkins to head up the menu as Executive Chef. The menu will be focusing on micro-seasonal ingredients and small-scale producers and foragers with some open-fire cooking too. Some of the dishes coming include Roasted oyster mushroom, tahini, dashi, garum & mushroom salt, Grilled pineapple & miso butterscotch soft serve, Smoked chilli butter carrot skewer and Roasted squash, bhel puri crunch, fermented garlic & chat masala. All dishes that prove vegan doesn’t have to mean boring. In terms of drinks there is, unsurprisingly, a focus on natural and biodynamic wines with a substantial cocktail list to match. Lastly the space itself is destined to be pretty fabulous as they’ve brought in a design firm who have worked on fashion stores all around the world so it will be a very ‘carrot couture’ dining experience. Holy Carrot will be located at 156 Portobello Road and opens on the 16th of the month.
Outdoors: Camden Courtyard
Camden is getting a brand new venue to make the most of the sunshine which has, thankfully, finally arrived. Camden Courtyard is a food and music space on Kentish Town Road that mixes a load of street food options with live acts and DJS. Revolutionary? Not at all. But popular? Absolutely. The space has been developed by the people who own the Electric Ballroom, so the music offering is guaranteed to be very good. The courtyard itself has space for 300 diners and drinkers and has been fitted out with a high-spec Martin Audio sound system to really boost the musical side of things. In terms of the F&B, there will be a variety of traders on site including Pizza & Dumplings who do as their name suggests and serve up Neapolitan wood-fired pizzas and gyoza, and Wray & Nephew who will be running the bar with a whole load of frozen, alcoholic slushies as well as pitchers of cocktails, wine and beer. Check out the website now for the list of events already in the diary with music ranging from Disco to House and Acid, so something for all tastes. You’ll find Camden Courtyard at 23 Kentish Town Road and it opens on Thursday 4th July.
Theatre: River Stage
The National Theatre’s River Stage is returning to the South Bank for a month of outdoor live music, dance, performance, workshops and family fun. There is a full programme of entertainment spanning the month of July and taking place in front of the main theatre. The four takeover weekends are as follows: First up from July 5th to 8th is The Glory, hosted by Jonny Woo and John Sizzle. Hosted and curated by The Glory’s Grande-Dames of drag and performance, Jonny Woo and John Sizzle. They are calling on their top drag queens and kings, cabaret artists, DJs, and theatre makers to present probably London’s most exciting and radical, free weekend of queer music, performance and hi-jinx. July 12th to 14th is the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival with a cracking line-up of street theatre and circus performers. From the 19th to 21st is Rambert, a London-based contemporary dance company who’s teachers and artists are gracing the weekend with performances and tutorials. Last up from the 26th to the 28th is the National Theatre themselves who are hosting the closing weekend with a family–friendly mish-mash of live music, theatre, dance and workshops with tours of the iconic building available too.
Food Event: Beanfeast
The term "Beanfeast" dates back to 6 July 1773, when King George III arrived at Woolwich by barge and proclaimed an annual holiday after enjoying an open-air feast of beans and bacon. To be fair….what a day that would be! The Woolwich Works have recreated this unique day with Beanfeast, 251 years later, with a food-filled programme curated by food writer Anna Sulan Masing. Beanfeast is a day of talks, discussions, demos and workshops, plus a cookbook shop with book signings and a mini marketplace. Choose from a selection of talks for just £5 or make a plan to spend the day with various pass options ranging from £14 to £30. Talks include ‘Cooking for occasions’ and ‘Celebrating comfort food’. The workshop we have our eye on is ‘Thrive with your hormone health’ with Karen Mannion who will be talking through the transition into menopause. Other free activities on the day include music from acoustic duo Peter + Kerry, words from poet Vera Chok and PRNCSS, a multi-disciplinary artist, producer and DJ.
Event: Lord Mayors Hot Air Balloon Regatta
The Lord Mayor’s Hot Air Balloon Regatta is the official ballooning event of The City of London and is the aerial extension of the historic Lord Mayor’s Show. However, in recent years it has been plagued by bad luck and forced to cancel due to bad weather, lockdown and more. So we are keeping everything crossed that 2024 is its renaissance! Up to fifty hot air balloons take flight across central London raising awareness and funds for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal. Leading the launch is the official Lord Mayor’s Appeal hot air balloon which carries both the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress. The 2019 event launched from Battersea Park and saw 46 hot air balloons fill London’s skyline at 5:30am. Quite the spectacle for the early birds! This year there are three standby dates in the diary for the event and they are all this month - Sunday 7th, Sunday 21st and Sunday 28th July. Provided they in fact make it airborne this year, we’ll be able to watch this majestic sight from all corners of the capital as they glide over Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, and the London Eye. Stay tuned on the website and social pages for more information but let's hope this is their year!
Exhibition: Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
The Royal Society's unmissable and FREE Summer Science Exhibition takes place from the 2nd to 7th July, offering us the chance to discover cutting-edge research and innovation in this interactive experience open to everyone with a curious mind. We can get hands-on with personal brain scanners, hear real ice core samples from Antarctica, marvel at a chandelier made from a waste product, or learn how stem cells are revealing secrets of the embryo. There are over 300 passionate scientists unveiling their secrets behind their ground-breaking research with esteemed speakers such as Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE, Professor Alan Wilson FRS, Dr Emily Grossman, Luke Jerram, Regius Rose Anne Kenny, Professor Neil Lawrence, Dr Camilla Pang, Paralympian Stef Reid, Eric Daas, Dr Sarah White, and Professor Steve Haake, among others. This year's exhibition promises excitement for all ages and interests, with a more diverse programme than ever before and each day offering something unique. Mirror Moon, the artwork by renowned artist Luke Jerram, will be on display throughout the exhibition. Made from stainless steel and utilising NASA's accurate topographic data of the moon's surface, Mirror Moon allows the public to feel and touch every crater, valley and mountain. Luke Jerram’s artwork not only offers a visual exploration of the moon but also provides an immersive experience accessible to those who are visually impaired. A fascinating and educational one not to miss!
Event: Beyond the Bassline
Beyond the Bassline is an extensive celebration of Black British music at the British Library, a must-see for music lovers. Tickets are available now to enjoy transporting experiences that give way to absorbing soundscapes, artworks and films produced by artists and collectives across the UK. Archival footage leads into spectacular costumes, interactive displays, and of course, music. And at the conclusion of the exhibition, Tayo Rapoport and Rohan Ayinde present a new multi-screen film installation in collaboration with Touching Bass, a South London-based musical movement and curatorial platform. We are invited to dive into letters from 18th-century composer Ignatius Sancho, glittering props and outfits of glamorous performers, records from the likes of Fela Kuti and Shirley Bassey, nostalgic video archive of grime’s golden era captured on Risky Roadz DVD and the equipment that Jamal Edwards used to start SB.TV, the industry-defining YouTube channel dedicated to Black British Music. Here, alongside over 200 exhibits, they are woven into union as you journey through an ever-evolving and ever-expanding history.
Exhibition: Barbie, The Exhibition
Barbie fever ain’t over, that’s for sure. Because a major exhibition exploring the design evolution of the original pink princess is opening up at the Design Museum this month. Journey into the Barbie universe and discover over 250 remarkable objects, with rare, unique and innovative dolls dating from 1959 to the present day. Opening to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the Barbie brand in 2024, the exhibition will explore the story of Barbie through a design lens, including fashion, architecture, furniture and vehicle design. Highlights include a rare first edition of the very first doll released by Mattel in 1959, the ground-breaking Day to Night Barbie from 1985 and the best-selling Barbie of all time, 1992’s Totally Hair Barbie which sold over 10 million across the globe. Other dolls will highlight the diversity of the Barbie range, with examples of the first Black, Hispanic and Asian dolls to bear the Barbie name, as well as dolls that reflect today’s diverse, multicultural society, including the first Barbie with Down syndrome, the first to use a wheelchair, and the first to be designed with a curvy body shape. Of course that’s not Kenough without the main man himself - There will be a section dedicated to Ken, which will see six decades’ worth of Ken dolls on show, showing his evolution from his introduction in 1961.
Charity of the Month: Samaritans
Samaritans Awareness Day is on 24th July (The 24th of the 7th) and is all about raising awareness to let people know that they can talk to them, day or night, 24/7. Every year on this date Samaritans branches hold local events to raise awareness of what they do and how you can help. As a charity, Samaritans provides emotional support to anyone in distress, struggling to cope or at risk of suicide throughout the UK and the Republic of Ireland, often through its telephone helpline. To find your nearest branch and what events they have planned, check out their website. Halpern’s local branch is located is less than half a mile away in Soho and each year their 400 volunteers respond to over 70,000 calls for help via phone, email and webchat; support up to 4,000 callers face-to-face via the branch drop-in service; and help around 7,000 of London’s most vulnerable people including homeless people, those bereaved by suicide, people in prison and in custody. To volunteer, donate or take part in a local event, please do head to the website and help this invaluable service.