As you will have read elsewhere in this issue, the Community Association is fundraising for the new lease agreement with Camden Council. In response to this, a new Events Committee has been set up, both to widen community participation in our activities and to maximise opportunities for fundraising in the Community Centre and other local  venues.

› Next meeting: Sunday 9 September 5-6 pm at Primrose Hill Community Centre

The committee is chaired by Tim Kirkpatrick, who introduces himself as follows: “I am a recent arrival in Primrose Hill, though I have lived in Camden for eighteen years, and am delighted to find a functioning Community Centre here, which I am pleased to be a part of. I am an ex-psychiatric social worker, a trauma therapist and an ordained Buddhist, all of which give me an appreciation of the importance of community for our sense of sanity and wellbeing.

“There is good evidence (google ‘social prescribing’) to suggest that humans are hard-wired for cooperative behaviour and that we flourish best in such conditions, especially when creative play is involved. And I am a Libran, which means that I throw parties and bring people together for shared experiences (once I have decided what to wear). I look forward to meeting you, and perhaps finding a way in which we can share your passion with others to our mutual benefit and delight.”

Current plans are to have a monthly event on a Friday or Saturday evening, as well as reviving the monthly evening Tuesday Talks, and The Fitzroy Club brand. In addition to our usual diary, there are plans in the pipeline for an opera recital, a hip-hop recital, a second Vintage Disco of the year, a Wellness Day, a Burns Night with whisky tasting and a fashion show (in cahoots with the Mary’s Living & Giving crew).

We would also like to throw a party/best-dressed competition on Halloween for under-12s, so if you are a parent of young children and would like to help plan such an event, please get in touch. And we welcome any new ideas too.

The Committee is taking shape, but we invite new members to join. We meet monthly for an hour at the Community Centre, initially on Thursdays 6-7 pm but next time on Sunday 9 September 5-6 pm and then again on Sunday 7 October 5-6 pm to help everyone to attend.

Looking for new members

Meanwhile, we are looking for new members who can identify with the following roles, either as an individual or as part of the team:

• Community partnerships – You build imaginative connections between local businesses, organisations and venues, and the Primrose Hill community. Everybody wins.
• Inclusivity – You are moved to make links with the missing members of our community and plan community activities that engage them. You bring a developed social conscience to the table.
• Mixologist – You want to build community one enchanting drink at a time. You already have a concept for A Primrose Path cocktail.
• A&R – You like working with talent and talent likes working with you. You see talent in unusual places, and think “They would go down well in Primrose Hill”. And so the arrangements are made.
• Literary agent – You put out the word to the wordsmiths, and they reply. Perhaps you develop a literary festival, or a poetry slam.
• Gastronomist – You long to set up a supper club in the space upstairs at the Community Centre, in partnership with local gourmets, both private and professional, as you believe that a community should eat together.
• Decorative – Because everything we do must be beautiful.

If you are interested in becoming part of the committee, taking on one of the above roles, lending a hand with a specific project, developing a new idea, or simply registering your interest, please send an email to Tim at events@phca.cc