#forthemany 

20mins, 2018–2024

Lewisham Council's plan to demolish Tidemill community garden and Reginald House in Deptford to build unaffordable housing in partnership with Peabody Housing was met by strong resistance from local campaign Save Reginald, Save Tidemill, made up of housing and environmental activists.

Rather than refurbish the existing Reginald House, it was scheduled for demolition with its residents forced to relocate. In the meantime, they had to endure 'managed decline' in which their building was not maintained. The film utilises a clip of residents speaking from a report made by EAST LONDON LINES.

The film features the only political hustings for local Council elections held in May 2017, hosted by the campaign in the garden and recorded by ION PRODUCTIONS. Local Labour councillor Joe Dromey, son of Harriet Harman, defended the Council's plans with misleading statistics.

Labour's house-building policies were obfuscated not only by Thatcher's discounted social housing sell-off that saw councils unable to recoup the finance required to build more housing but also by the Labour Mayor of London's compromised social housing policy that encouraged partnering with now privatised housing associations. Such distortions led to the inclusion of clips from ADAM CURTIS's 1984 film The Great British Housing Disaster which documented the political and corporate corruption behind the poorly constructed 1960s British council housing boom and led to the demolition of many homes.

The Save Reginald, Save Tidemill activists occupied the garden in early 2018 but were evicted before the end of the year. Over £1m was spent on security to guard the land.

In early 2019, all the trees and temporary structures were destroyed on the same day as Lewisham Council declared a Climate Emergency.

In the following years, new housing was built over the garden, and most Reginald House residents were relocated to new housing scheme in another part of Deptford. The building was let to Guardians on a temporary basis but the building still stands as one leaseholder refuses to leave.

See PROJECTS : Tidemill.

>74 trees 

11:37mins, 2020

There were over 74 trees in Tidemill Garden until Lewisham Council felled them in February 2019. This film combines footage and sound from a performance piece led by David Aylward in the garden with recordings of the individual trees that were numbered in the installation 74 Trees (both in September 2018), along with scenes from the tree demolition itself some four months later.

See PROJECTS : Tidemill.

the beigeness 

5:37mins, 2017–2019

Filmed at Faircharm Trading Estate, where artists and businesses were evicted by Workspace plc to build 12 and 18 storey blocks of flats. Nearby council homes were plagued by three years of noisy and polluting building work. Featuring text from The Housing of The Poor by William Morris, published in  'Justice', July 1884.

magma 

9:39mins, 2017–2018

A film in three movements, using found footage, iPhone video, old family cine film and manipulated sound. It's about my mother's untimely death in May 2015 on the volcanic island of Lanzarote. She became ill as the plane descended to the airport, and died in hospital later. She was later cremated on the island without ceremony.

My domain hosts have decided to age-restrict the film.

the consultation 

12:14mins, 2017

A film about a community of boaters in Deptford Creek, whose livelihoods and moorings are threatened by adjacent landowners, Artworks, who want to set up a box park container marketplace, raise the rents of the boat dwellers and block their access. Artworks worked with Lend Lease in Elephant & Castle to provide 'meantime' use on the demolished Heygate Estate, where over 1200 council homes were lost and replaced with private flats. 

red tape 

5:16mins, 2015

The theme of Deptford X 2015 was 'Deptford Conversations'. As Deptford Is Forever, Sue Lawes and David Aylward took the opportunity to talk to locals about the Deptford Anchor, using red tape to symbolise the excessive bureaucracy involved in persuading Lewisham Council to reinstate a much loved piece of public realm that they'd previously removed.

See PROJECTS : Deptford Is Forever.

two tides 

5:32mins, 2011

A timelapse movie of Creekery #2, an installation in Deptford Creek at Harold Wharf, home of APT Gallery. The piece was selected for Creekside Open by Dexter Dalward, and the film was made over the duration of the exhibition and later shown at Twentieth, an APT Gallery show in 2017.

See PROJECTS : The Willow Pattern Project.