Kings Cross Local Environment

King's Place seeks Front of House Manager

Kings Place is a community of music organisations and artists sited on the Regent's Canal just behind King's Cross Station. 

Kings Place is the base for both the London Sinfonietta and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. As well as London wide and national educational programmes, they have established ongoing educational and outreach work in the local community.

Kings Place is currently seeking an experienced Front of House Manager.

Help needed for King's Cross street party summer 2010

19th July 2009 was the first Big Lunch and now the seed has been sown we look forward to the event growing year after year. The original idea came from the Eden Project, where getting people to reconnect with their natural world and demonstrating what can be done by people working together is core to the project’s charity work. “Our aim was for people to get out on their street, raise a glass and share a bite with their neighbours – that’s The Big Lunch.” – Eden Project Chief Executive Tim Smit. So how do you fancy helping to organise the first Big Lunch King's Cross?

The Big Lunch team is gearing up for summer 2010, working with their existing partners and joining up with new ones to help them to help the nation throw a most spectacular bash next year.

So King's Crossites, your community needs you! We are putting together a working group of people who really want to make this happen in our streets. If you have some time you can offer, are prepared to roll your sleeves up to take on one or more of the wealth of tasks involved and can commit to seeing this project through for better or worse... contact us now. The sooner we start the better.

 

To see how communities faired last year click here where you can watch the movie, read the blogs and get a really good sense of what you#d be taking on should you accept your mission and join us. All you have to do at the moment is send us an email telling us why you'd like to get involved and what you might like to do towards organising the great event - no matter how big or small that might be.

Let's have a stonking great street lunch party for King's Cross next year! 

Local hero in Carbon Cycle bid

Team Carbon Cycle, have decided to cycle the 260 miles to Copenhagen (via a north sea ferry!) to make their voices heard at The UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, and to raise money for both Friends of the Earth, and Re~Cycle: Bicycle Aid For Africa. It's an attempt to raise awareness of the importance of the summit and the desperate need for a meaningful climate

deal before it's too late. Team Carbon Cycle includes our very own local lass, Lorraine Prince of Wharfdale Road.

The UN Climate Summit takes place in Copenhagen from Dec 7th to Dec 18th. To maximise the chances of preventing runaway climate change, we must quickly and massively cut global emissions. To quickly and massively cut global emissions we need a binding international treaty and the last chance we have to get that treaty within the timescale of the physics of the planet is the UN Climate Summit. Hence the "most important meeting in human history" moniker. We have the technology - we just need the political will and binding targets to secure a sustainable future for all.

Friends of the Earth are committed to the conservation, protection and improvement of the environment, and are campaigning tirelessly to persuade governments, councils, businesses and individuals to reduce their CO2 emissions - vital if we are to prevent runaway climate change.

Re~Cycle | Bicycle Aid for Africa's mission is to collect secondhand bicycles and ship them to Africa. They distribute bikes and teach riders the skills to repair and maintain them. Their bikes also help health/AIDS workers reach remote villages and even provide an ambulance service in remote Namibia.

Transport and development go hand-in-hand. Virtually everything traded, must be transported, and almost everyone needs wheels to get to work or school. Simple, affordable transport generates wealth in developing countries, as well as saving lots of time and back-breaking work.

In Britain, millions of bikes are thrown away or lie unused in sheds, whilst many people in Africa have no access to transport of any kind. Walking can take up-to 4 hours per day (collecting water, or walking to school). The burden can cripple a family, hampering work and education opportunities. A bicycle cuts travel time to a fraction, even carrying passengers and heavy loads. Bikes give families the extra time to earn, learn and enjoy life.

If you'd like to give money to Re~Cycle | Bicycle Aid for Africa, click here.

If you'd like to give money to Friends of the Earth, click here.

You can give to either...or even both!

Please sponsor Team Carbon Cycle if you can. They can be found on Facebook.

King’s Cross Central Construction Newsletter - Autumn 2009

Please click the following link to received the latest newsletter summarizing the ongoing activities at King's Cross Central - Download Newsletter - Autumn 2009

Art project on the Market Estate

This December The Market Estate Project will take over a soon-to-be demolished 1960’s housing estate north of King's Cross, and begin to transform more than 100 vacant flats, communal spaces and building facades into a creative playground for artists, designers and residents.

The Project offers artists and designers free spaces and an opportunity to freely intervene with what was considered to be one of North London's most notorious housing estates. With works starting from mid December 2009, they are looking for projects that engage and address the site's architecture, history, and community. Culminating in a one day live event in February 2010, they will invite the public to explore and experience the site and the art works, just before the bulldozers move in.

They're inviting YOU to submit proposals for artistic activity. Check out the website for more information about the project, the people behind it, and how to get involved.

Network Rail - King's Cross Station Development - Drop-in Day

This advert was spotted this in the local paper so for those of you who are either, retired, don't work, or have too much time on their hands, you might want to take this opportunity to drop in the the German Gym across from St. Pancras on Friday 4 December to meet the team behind the redevelopment of King’s Cross Station and learn more about what's taking shape.

You can drop in anytime between 10am and 5pm at the German Gymnasium, Pancras Road, London.

For those of you who are otherwise engaged with work or other tasks, you can just check out their website - www.networkrail.co.uk/kingscross.

I have to wonder if this qualifies as a "Community Event!"

REVEAL: Arts & Community Grants

As part of the Reveal programme CreateKX is offering grants for projects led by established and experienced arts and/or community organisations that will provide exciting opportunities for local people living around Kings’ Cross/St Pancras as participants and audiences, and add value to the artistic programme.

Reveal is a creative journey through King’s Cross, taking place 22 April- 2 May 2010. The programme’s themes of discovery, revelation and exploration will reveal the creative history and celebrate the future of King’s Cross. Reveal builds on the success of the 2007 Arrivals programme.

Reveal will offer artists, participants and audiences access to the hidden treasures of King’s Cross, discovering the past through local stories, site specific performance and installations in some of the iconic buildings in the area whilst glimpsing the future through a range of innovative partnerships, unique venues and multi art-form and digital media events.

Reveal will create an arts trail with King’s Cross and St Pancras International in the centre, a creative treasure map where X marks the spot. We’ll weave this web of activity through three strands of work:

• Create KX projects & commissions
• Partnership Projects
• Arts and Community Projects

We can offer funding for original and adventurous arts & community projects that will culminate in a performance, showcase or other public event as part of the Reveal programme.  Please note that we will be looking to fund projects in the region of £2-3k. If your project will cost more then you must identify and access the match funds from another source. 

Criteria:

Successful projects will be able to demonstrate all of the following:

• Involvement of a professional artist or arts organisation
• A theme or idea linked to the Reveal concept
• A small amount of match funding
• A good track record of arts project delivery
• Real benefit to local people

Proposals  must be submitted by Monday 4th January 2010. For more information about eligibility and the application process, please visit: http://www.createkx.org.uk/NewsDetail.aspa?PageId=1465&NodeId=215

Trade in your cycling fixed penalty notices for safe cycling lessons

This is one of the more original things i have seen coming from the police - you can trade in your cycling FPNs if you follow the instructions below and turn up for a cycling safety session designed to illustrate how hard it is for lorries to see you in the inside.  There is also an unsettling video here of the view from a lorry cab as you cycle up the inside.  Police text follows:

>>The Metropolitan Police Service and City of London Police are to strike a bargain with cyclists given fixed penalty notices last week and the start of this week in Islington, Southwark and the City.  They will cancel tickets issued with a voucher in exchange for attendance at a cycle safety event.

The two police services will take the popular cycle safety event, 'Exchanging Places', to the streets outside St Paul’s Cathedral on Thursday 26th November to give cyclists the opportunity to learn about riding safely, especially near HGVs.

Traffic officers will be stationed from 12:30hrs to 18.00hrs ready to cancel tickets issued with a voucher and speak about safety. They will encourage cyclists to sit inside a truck's cab to experience first hand the limited visibility that HGV drivers have on their nearside.

Anyone is welcome to attend the event but cyclists who wish to have their tickets cancelled must bring the ticket and voucher and not pay the ticket in the meantime.  We will only cancel unpaid tickets issued with a voucher between 16th - 26th November.

Ch Insp Graham Horwood, from the MPS Traffic Unit, said: "Having your ticket cancelled is a great incentive for cyclists to come along to this event but everyone is welcome.  Far too often cyclists are killed or seriously injured in collisions with trucks.  The frustrating and tragic thing is that they can be prevented through awareness on the part of both cyclists and HGV drivers. If you cycle or drive a truck do come and join us.

We’re also reminding cyclists that bright working lights are not only a legal requirement but a must for staying safe. Any cyclists without working lights on the front and the rear of their bike will be liable to a £30 fixed penalty notice.”

So far this year a total of eleven cyclists have died on London's roads, eight of those involved collisions with heavy goods vehicles and seven out of the eight people killed were women.

Four trucks will be present at the event, provided by MAN trucks, Cemex and Keltbray Group. These are modern vehicles, fitted with all the mirrors and visibility aids required by current legislation, and are being used to demonstrate that even with these aids the size of these vehicles does cause blind spots.

The Keltbray Group and Cemex trucks are fitted with a proximity alarm system which is activated when the left turn indicator is operated by the driver. Four sensors fitted to the nearside of the vehicle detect any movement, such as a cyclist, close to the vehicle. If movement is detected an audio alarm sounds in the cab, alerting the driver.

Inside one of the trucks a DVD showing the dangers of riding on the nearside of an HGV will be playing.  This video can be found on the website of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents.

Insp Dave Aspinall, head of the force's Roads Policing Unit, City of London Police, said: "Making sure the City's roads are safe is one of the areas that our community has highlighted as being a priority. Events like this, which offer cyclists practical advice on driving on the Capital's busy roads, help make everyone safer."

The operation, supported by Transport for London (TfL) and the London Cycling Campaign, is one of the many safety awareness events held by the MPS throughout the year. In the last year we have held 16 events, most significantly speaking to around 1,000 cyclists on January 20th and on May 20th inviting around 400 cyclists into the cabs.

Smaller events held include bringing 'Exchanging Places' to hospital cyclists at St Guys and St Thomas' and Kings College. Traffic officers also regularly give presentations to businesses to their cycle user groups and speak to HGV drivers and HGV companies about the problem.

Want to have your say on local crime, anti-social behavior and it's prevention?

 ...then this is the meeting you need to attend!

Time and place:
Thursday 26 November, 7.00-8.30 pm, Blessed Sacrament Church
Copenhagen Street N1

This is your chance to speak directly to those who patrol our streets.  What are your priorities?  What is being done to address local concerns?  This is the place to find out and have your voice heard.  Even better - this meeting is chaired by our local Councillor Paul Convery.

To help understand what is discussed at these meetings, here are the Minutes from the last meeting: Download SNP minutes of 24 September 09 meeting

We hope you will attend!

Have your say on local issues - West Area Committee 26 November

People often grumble about how hard it is to get their voice heard in the neighbourhood - well here's your chance to contribute to some important issues in disucssion with your local councillors.

Councillors local to our area meet in the 'West Area Committee' on 26 November and will discuss the following topics - i've translated them in brackets:

MAGPI and Holloway Ward SNT (policing and anti social behaviour)
Waste Management in Islington (the bins to you and me)
Planning Biref - Gifford Street Railway Embankment (the green bit behind Gifford Street and the top of Carnoustie Drive)
Review of sustainability standards within major developments (how green do big new buildings have to be)
Issues and Options Consultation for Development Management Policies and Site Specific Allocations Development Plan Documents (i couldn't understand this one but i think it is about the thematic approach the council will take to development - so it's important gobbledegook)

If you have any questions the endlessly helpful clerk [email protected] will help you out.  Or click for the agenda and papers which get published as the meeting gets closer.  The meeting will take questions from the attending public on all these issues.

Unfortunately the meeting will be a the Town Hall  - 7:30 pm Islington Town Hall, Upper Street, Islington, N1 2UD so it is a bit far away from Kings Cross.

These meetings are rarely a barrel of laughs, but it is democracy, being done live, not vaudeville.