Filed under: Hackney Post | Tags: Dalston, East Festival, Hackney, Hackney Post, Hoxton, Journalism, Museum of London, newspapers, Passing Clouds, Shakespeare theatre, Shoreditch
This week we have embarked on producing our own newspaper and website The Hackney Post, covering all things Hackney related.
My role for this week was in the features department so on Thursday last week I rolled up for a features meeting to discuss ideas and start things moving.
At first, things didn’t seem to be getting off the ground, a couple of hour’s research on Friday for one feature and an afternoon walking the streets of Hackney on Monday for another bore no fruit.
On Sunday, I spent the morning doing a walking tour of Shoreditch and Hoxton as part of the East Festival. Fascinating stuff but the video was unusable due to traffic noise and it was not possible to take stills from the footage.
The afternoon was more productive, I went to the Geffrye Museum with Ben to film kids in a craft workshop, watch a play and speak to some people.
Tuesday was the most exciting day this week. I went with Beth to get some footage and interviews from the site of the original Shakespeare theatre in Shoreditch for a feature on Shakespeare in the borough.
I returned to university feeling very excited, I was one of just 50 people who got to see the site before it was closed up and the planning permission is finalised. We took video of archaeologist Heather Knight from the Museum of London and did an on location to camera piece. But technical problems hit and the video could not be downloaded.
Wednesday was a frustrating day. I made about 30 calls to academics- I don’t even want to think about my phone bill- all of whom were out/not answering their phone/ unable to help/ on maternity leave. I also tried desperately to find some photos to replace the lost footage from the previous day.
In the evening Ben and I went to a hidden gem in the backstreets of Dalston in Hackney. Passing Clouds is unlike anywhere I have been before, an eclectic mix of decorations, sari fabric hanging from the walls upstairs, Arabic style writing on the walls downstairs and a collection of dolls and puppets dotted around were just some of the things on display.
I learned to play the African drum with Adesose Wallace. It was like going back to school, as I lost the rhythm he would get progressively frustrated but when we all played in time his face lit up with pride. Hopefully the feature and video will go in next week’s edition.
Thursday was deadline day and as expected, things became a bit manic. Arguments were had about page layout, copy which was cut and pictures were changed. But overall we pulled together and are proud of our efforts.
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