around black britain: lambeth edition

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Britain’s top black weekly www.voice-online.co.uk 90p EVER AROUND BLACK BRITAIN LAMBETH EDITION MODEL BEHAVIOUR LOCAL LEGEND SPENDING POWER “Starting a conversation in YOUR community” Student who hopes to be crowned Miss London...p26 How Brixton is investing in its own community...p22 Clarence Thompson: Last Activist Standing...p27

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The Voice recently met with readers in Lambeth and surrounding areas in south London to come out and air their views on issues most important to them on Saturday, February 25. The Around Black Britain Lambeth Edition showcases what was shared. This series is part of the newspaper's determination to give the community a chance to speak directly with the news team. This community conversation is one of several initiatives The Voice will launch this year to get closer to readers as it marks its 30th anniversary. Look out for the next supplement in April 2012, which will showcase Croydon.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Around Black Britain:  Lambeth Edition

Britain’s top black weekly

www.voice-online.co.uk

90p

EVERAROUND BLACK BRITAINL A M B E T H E D I T I O N

MODEL BEHAVIOUR�

LOCALLEGEND�

SPENDINGPOWER�

“Starting a conversation in YOUR community”

Student who hopes to becrowned Miss London...p26

How Brixton is investing inits own community...p22

Clarence Thompson: LastActivist Standing...p27

Page 2: Around Black Britain:  Lambeth Edition

1. What is the Brixton pound?The Brixton Pound is a local

currency that can be usedinstead of Bank of Englandnotes among participating

businesses in the area. It aimsto support local traders byencouraging residents to spendmoney in Brixton.

Since being launched in

2009 by community organisa-tion, Transition Town Brixton– in partnership with the NewEconomics Foundation, Lam-beth Council and the London

Mutual Credit Union – over200 businesses are signed upand £65,000 worth of notesare in circulation.

The currency does notattempt to replace cash and, isit’s voluntary, does not consti-tute legal tender.

It operates in BrixtonMarket, Brixton town centre,Brixton Hill, Streatham Hill,Herne Hill and Stockwell.

Brixton Pounds can beexchanged for pound sterling,and come in B£1, B£5, B£10,B£20 notes. Issue pointsinclude Olley's FishExperience, Opus, Rosie’s DeliCafé, Olive Morris House.

The colourful notes havereflected the area’s diversity byfeaturing famous activists andartist from the area. The mostrecent note features the lateLen Garrison, founder of theBlack Cultural Archives.

On September 29, 2011, thegroup started to pilot an electronicversion of the note that transmitspayment by text message.

2. Why does Brixton need itsown currency?

According to lifelongLambeth resident DevonThomas, chairman of theBrixton Business Forum, thecurrency fits well with thearea’s tradition of rebellion.

He said: “To any area who

wants to build its economy, thelonger you can keep the moneyin the more prosperous you canget. In Brixton we are proactive– we saw the need and createdit. It’s an identity and frame-work residents can control.”

3. Could the Brixton pound beattractive to other localeconomies?

Similar schemes such as theTotnes Pound, in Devon, LewesPound, in Sussex, and StroudPound, in Gloucestershire, andthe Bristol Pound are in place.

A common response to lastAugust's disturbances hasbeen council-led “I Love” cam-paigns to spur on spending inriot-affected communitieswhere trade had dropped fol-lowing the riots - notably inManchester and Tottenham,north London. In this vein, thistype of scheme could beattractive.

Stewart Wallis, executivedirector of the New EconomicsFoundation, talking at theWorld Economic Forum onissues facing the global econ-omy mentioned the pound as“creating an advantage forlocal retailers”.

Alex Holland, a Lambethcouncillor representingBrixton Hill ward, added: “Thefuture is local and the Brixtonpound is one thing to helpbuild it.”

WELCOME TO the firstedition of our specialAround Black Britain

supplement packed full of sto-ries from the borough ofLambeth and surroundingareas.

To mark The Voice’s 30th

anniversary, we wanted to getback to where we started: thecommunity. Over the comingmonths, our reporters will behosting what we call ‘commu-nity conversations’ all overthe UK to find out whatmakes our readers tick.

The idea is, you talk and welisten. Your input will notonly feature in special edi-tions like this one, but helpshape future content as partof ongoing efforts to improveour publication.

In 1982, when our newspa-per was founded, life forblack Britons was challenging.Unemployment in Brixton, anarea often described as theheart of Britain’s black com-munity, stood at 13 percent.Unemployment for youngblack people in the UK at thetime was a staggering 55 per-

cent.Tension between black peo-

ple and the police was at ahigh culminating in the 1981Brixton riots.

The Scarman Inquiry intothe riots acknowledged theexistence of racial disadvan-tage but fell short of identify-ing institutional racism.

It would take the death ofblack teenager StephenLawrence and the Macphersonreport two decades later toaddress that.

Nevertheless, Scarmanbrought positive changes.

The police adopted a newcode of conduct and moneywas thrown into Brixton.

One of the areas thatescaped Scarman’s scrutiny,however, was right-wingnewspapers almost too eagerto portray black Britons as

violent criminals and chronicunder-achievers.

Our community knew bet-ter. The desire to defend itand report positive stories wasthe driving force behind thisnewspaper’s launch.

Thirty years on, Lambeth isa different place, in partthanks to people like veteranactivist Clarence Thompsonwho is featured in this sup-plement. In 1982, there wereno black politicians in parlia-ment. In 2012, Streatham MPChuka Umunna is a rising starin the Labour party.

The deprived Brixton of1982 is now a sought afterlocation with a thriving socialscene. It is home to WindrushSquare, named in honour ofthe ship that broughtCaribbean migrants to Britishshores in 1948.

And next year, Britain’sfirst black heritage centre, theBlack Cultural Archives, willopen.

Yet, there are challenges.Last year, reggae musicianSmiley Culture, whose rootsare in Brixton, was killedwhile in police custody.

In 2011, the streets ofBrixton witnessed more riots.At their heart were similarthemes to 1981’s disturbances:heavy-handed policing,unemployment, economicinequality.

We believe The Voice is asrelevant now, as it was then.But don’t let us be the ones tosay it. We want to hear whatyou think. Enjoy this supple-ment and join the conversa-tion.

Elizabeth Pears, supplementeditor

AROUND BLACK BRITAIN www.voice-online.co.uk�

1971 – Brixton TubeStat ion opens

1981 – Brixton riots

1983 – BrixtonAcademy opens

1985 – Cherry Groce isshot by police,sparking a

second riot

1998 – WindrushSquare isnamed to markthe 50thanniversary ofthe arr ival of theSS Windrush

1999 – Neo-nazi DavidCopelandplants a nai lbomb inElectr icAvenue, injur ing50 people

2009 – Brixton poundlaunched

2010 – Chuka Umunnaelected MP forStreatham

2013 – Britain’s f irstblack heritagecentre set toopen

Lambeth: A Timeline

SPENDING POWER Symeon Brown finds out everything you need toknow about the Brixton Pound

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Page 3: Around Black Britain:  Lambeth Edition

Cake baker who uses designer heels as inspiration wins praise from Manolo Blahnik By Elizabeth Pears

ABAKER who crafts eyecatching cakes usinghandbags and stilettosas her inspiration has

been given the stamp ofapproval from world famousshoe designer Manolo Blahnik.

Marcia Brown fromCamberwell, met the man whocounts Sex and the City charac-ter Carrie Bradshaw as hisbiggest fan at a book signing inluxury department storeLiberty’s last month.

The businesswoman whoruns Designer Art Cakes hadnever even heard of the fetedSpanish craftsmen, but wasencouraged by friends to try herluck.

With one of her most popularcakes packed safely in an Ikeabag, she headed to centralLondon where her handiworkcaught the eye of shop man-agers.

She was then invited to meetBlahnik personally who wasimpressed by Brown’s shoedesigns made entirely out ofsugar paste.

Brown told The Voice: “Hehad a thick Spanish accent, buthe was very complimentaryabout one or two that he liked.He was very nice. His favouritewas the black and white polka-dot stiletto which is actuallyvery similar to one of his owndesigns.”

The south Londoner hasalways loved cakes but afterbeing made redundant for thethird time she decided that shewanted to develop her interest,perfecting her range of cakerecipes before trying her handat design.

“I promise you they taste asgood as they look. I sometimeshave to convince people to eatthem because they don’t wantto ruin the design,” she said.

Many of the people whomeet Brown are surprised tolearn that she did not attendany culinary courses. Shetaught herself by watching YouTube and is now running a suc-cessful enterprise with theknowledge she gained.

She said: “This was just ahobby, that became a passion,but now it’s my business.

“I don’t just do shoes. I doeverything from Chanel hand-bags, Tiffany jewellery and car-toon characters. As I get betterand better, I enjoy it even more.I’m doing something uniqueand special and I think that’swhat keeps people interested.It’s also a constant challenge tokeep outdoing myself.”

Brown has now been short-listed to feature in a Sky TVshow tracking the journeys ofentrants to Cake International –one of the largest cake exhibi-tions, to be held at the ExcelCentre, in east London, in April.

AROUND BLACK BRITAIN

Designer has her shoe cake and eats it

MARCH 15 - 21, 2012 THE VOICE � 23

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SHOE TIME: Marcia Brown meets Spanish shoe designerManolo Blahnik. (Right): Another of Brown’s creations

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Page 4: Around Black Britain:  Lambeth Edition

EVIDENCE SHOWS thatblack businesses arefour times more likelythan white start-ups to

be refused bank loansoutright.

Rather than being a barrier,it has simply inspiredLambeth’s enterprisingresidents to get a little bitmore creative.

During The Voice’scommunity conversation, heldon Saturday, February 25, atLambeth Town Hall as part ofthe newspaper’s Around BlackBritain initiative, careersprofessional Mathy LisikaMinsende told how she wasleft reeling after being maderedundant last year andhaving to deal with her fatherpassing away.

Stuck at home and facing acrucial crossroads in her life,she began researchingopportunities on the internetand started blogging abouther experience.

It inspired her to start herown venture ‘What the Job isthis?’ which offers advice tothose in ‘career transition’ via

online mediums like videos,podcasts and blogs.

Having previously beenunsuccessful in securingfunding in the past, Lisika-Minsande stumbled acrossinnovative ways to make hervision a reality.

She said: “There is not a lotof funding out there, but thereis some. You just have to lookfor it and it is not easy to find.The important thing for me isthat I did not want to start mybusiness in debt.

“One way to get funding isthrough business awards.They can be up to £500 – youjust need to get a certainamount of people to vote foryou. Another way is throughcrowd funding, which isbasically what some mightknow as village funding.

“The way it works in thevillage, for example, is if achild wants to go to school buthas no means, everybodychips in. Some people give£50. Some might give £1. Inexchange for the financialsupport, you offer a service areturn. So with a £1 donation,

AROUND BLACK BRITAIN,

GETTING DOWN

SMILES ALL ROUND: Voice MD George Ruddock presents a raffle prize to Eugenie Simms courtesy of Tropical Sun

SOUND OF SUCCESS: Ms Melody, who runs her ownrecording studio, Instant Melodies, in Coldharbour Lane,Brixton, has received three nominations at the 2012 LambethBest Business Awards: best cultural business, best creativebusiness and best small business. The mixing engineer hasmore than 10 years experience, and has more than 7,000recordings under her belt. Artists like Jessie J, Shola Ama,Sneakbo, Roxxxane, DJ NG and the So Solid Twins havepassed through her doors. Ms Melody, real name, CarlaCampbell, set up the business in 2004. It is a one-stop-shopand also offers post-production, music videos, CD printing anddesign, artist development and promotion.

When Around Black Britain went to Lambeth, one

www.voice-online.co.uk� www.voice-online.co.uk�

24 � THE VOICE MARCH 15 - 21, 2012

Page 5: Around Black Britain:  Lambeth Edition

‘Africa and the Caribbean are open for business’The Olympics are generally regarded as the World’s single largest networking event presenting huge opportunities for business. Timed to coincide with and capitalise on the Olympics, the African and Caribbean 2012 Business Expowill present a once in a lifetime, unmissable opportunity to showcase African and Caribbean business opportunities and for African, Caribbean, UK and Diaspora businesses to connect and collaborate in London.

For more information and to sign up please go to

www.aacbe.co.uk

T H E A F R I C A N& C A R I B B E A N

2012BUSINESSEXPO2–11 AUGUST 2012, LONDON

MARCH 15 - 21, 2012 THE VOICE � 25

AROUND BLACK BRITAIN

we will put your name in one of ourvideos, for example.

“I never would have known aboutit, if I didn’t take the time to find outfor myself.”

The idea of ‘giving something back’is something that is very dear to theheart of Chantell Graham, who hasrun her own make-up artist andbeauty therapy business for the pastseven years.

She is also project manager for Black100 Plus – a social enterprise whichcelebrates high-achieving BlackBritons through an annualphotographic exhibition.

It has been running since 2007, andis currently open for nominations.This year, they hope to host theexhibition in Lambeth.

Graham said: “Black 100 Plus is aself-funded business and we are reallyproud to say that. We like to fund itourselves because it means we controlit. We believe we can raise the moneyand we always have. It’s not cheap,but it’s possible.”

The way the organisation raises cashis by offering services. Its founder,Lorna Stewart, one of only a fewproject writers in the country, takesideas and packages them as viablebusinesses.

She runs sessions for City firms like

JP Morgan with all the proceedsinvested into Black 100 Plus.

“You could say she takes from therich and gives to the poor,” explainedGraham.

“It fits in with one of our schemescalled Give Something Back. Forexample, if I need to rent a meetingroom, I might not have the money, butI might have a service you can benefitfrom.

“I’m not advocating running yourbusiness for free, but we have got tobe creative and flexible sometimes. Ibelieve in the black community. Ibelieve that we can support eachother, so we all get what we want.”

At the meeting, working together toachieve individual goals was arecurring theme. Audience membersharked back to an era whereCaribbean migrants relied on the‘pardner’ system – a pooling ofresources – in order to get on theproperty ladder.

Activist Junerly Raymond, who wasborn and raised in Brixton, is thedirector of Lambeth Enterprise, whichworks with social enterprises andsmall to medium businesses to helpthem thrive.

She recalls: “Banks see ourcommunity as a risk no matter whatyou have, unless you have a house to

borrow against that they can takeaway from you. We advocate usingour own means. The Government ispulling funding, so we can’t rely onpublic funds anymore.

“When our parents, grandparentsor great-grandparents arrived in thiscountry, they relied on pardner, or‘susu’. Different islands havedifferent names, to buy their ownhomes.

“It was not uncommon to have 12men sharing one room with six beds.They operated a rota system, six slepton the floor, six in the bed. Now Iworry we’ve gone full circle. We needto the pass baton to the young peoplenow, but they are not prepared. Weneed to prepare them now.”

Raymond said one of her biggestconcerns was what she called an“ethnic cleansing” of Brixtonbusinesses.

“I think licensing rules work againstblack businesses. Brixton is a 24-houreconomy. Lots of money is being spenthere, and the businesses that areclosing down are black ones. I’d likeThe Voice to explore this. Why have webeen here so long and don’t ownmuch? We need to learn to lobby. Weare getting the hang of networking,but lobbying is the language theGovernment understands.”

TO BUSINESS

ENTREPRENEUR: Mathy Lisika Minsende

hot topic was enterprise. Elizabeth Pears reports

www.voice-online.co.uk� www.voice-online.co.uk�

Page 6: Around Black Britain:  Lambeth Edition

NEWS www.voice-online.co.uk�

26 � THE VOICE MARCH 15 - 21, 2012

By Elizabeth PearsA TULSE HILL student hoping to be crownedMiss London is waiting to find out if she hasdone enough to make it to the finals.

Elizabeth Akingbade, known as Yemzi, battledit out with other beauty queen hopefuls at a one-day pageant bootcamp on Tuesday, March 13.

A panel of judges, including last year’s winnerRissikat Bade, will announce today which of theeight contenders will go head-to-head at theMiss London 2012 finale at Cafe de Paris onMarch 17.

The winner and two run-ners up will go on to com-pete for the Miss Englandtitle.

Akingbade said: “I wouldlove to be in the top three.Even though I didn’t growup in London, I feel at homehere.

“I love our city becausethere is an opportunityaround every corner andinspiration everywhere. I’veachieved a lot living inLondon and I hope by win-ning this competition I willinspire others to make themost of the capital and chasetheir dreams.”

Despite what her Nigeriansurname might suggest, Akingbade was raisedin Bournemouth in Dorset after being fosteredby a white couple at just 10 weeks old and hasno contact with her biological parents.

But moving to the capital to study a designcourse at the London College of Communicationshelped her connect with her African heritage and

she is proud to call herself a BritishNigerian.

“There are no Nigerian restaurantsin Bournemouth, I’ll put it like that,”the 20-year-old said. “I didn’t evenhave black friends until I was inYear 11.

Akingbade now has her ownhomeware brand Brit-Nig, inspiredby a fusion of her two cultures.

She has also successfully exhib-ited plates decorated in a pattern shedesigned at the British museum.

Her ambition is for Brit-Nig tobecome as successful as brandslaunched by leading designers such

as Cath Kidston whose floral printshelped her build a multi-million poundempire.

She said: “I believe Miss England is ready fora new image.

“Being fostered and being black, I tick twoboxes that are under-represented. I alsothink it’s important to see a variety of blackwomen in the media. We all have our ownstory to tell.”

By Juliana Lucas

ALAMBETH schoolgirl oncepicked on by her peers hasturned the tables by becomingan anti-bullying ambassador.

Nefertari Armarne, who attends GlobeAcademy, in Brixton, was at the receivingend of the bullies when she was in Year 7.

But when the bullies shifted their atten-tion to others in her class, Nefertaridecided to join the school council to putan end to the taunting.

“I have seen lots of children being bul-lied and I have been bullied too. I knowhow it feels and I do not like it,” saidNefertari, now in Year 8.

She said: “I could handle my bullies, butsome of the other kids in my class could-n’t so I joined the school council to helpthem.”

Though Nefertari appears confident, shetold The Voice she was once slappedacross the face by a tormentor whichaffected her morale for more than a year.

“One day a girl slapped me at a youth

club near my house. The girl had beenintimidating every new person who cameto the club. She slapped me and ranaway so I went home and told my par-ents.”

Bullying is now taking place beyond theschool gates, and on social networkingsites. Nefertari has also experienced herfair share of that.

“Some girls were saying that I thought Iwas too nice and it really hurt me," shesaid.

“Older boys were intimidating me andtrying to get me to go out with them. Iwas being pressured to join a gang. Somepeople started sending me cruel messagesand pictures on Facebook.”

The youngster was encouraged by herstepfather to join the school council as aplatform to shed light on the issue.

“We have to be victors not victims,”said Nefertari’s stepfather, Peter Wekpe,who attended a community conversationorganised by The Voice on Saturday.

He added: “Nefertari is quite confidentunlike her younger sister who is very gre-garious but not so sure of herself. She

knows she has her sister and she canalways come to me as well. I try and helpthem both to understand how important itis to stand up for themselves to help cre-ate change.”

Part of Nefertari’s role is to listen to herclassmates. She then takes their opinionto the teacher. And, as well as tacklingbullying, she has also helped improvethings in other areas.

“We used to get stale cheese at lunch”,she explained. “We didn’t like it so I madea complaint through the council and I gotpeople to sign a petition which was passedto the head teacher. Because of that wenow have somebody to monitor the foodas well.”

A perk of the job came when she got tomeet US President Barack Obama andBritish PM David Cameron when they vis-ited her school – although she wasunaware of the significance until later.

She said: “He was just another personwith Cameron. I played ping pong withthem, but thought nothing of it until Iwent home and told my dad who made somuch fuss.”

Just like most teenagers, Nefertari isunsure of what she wants to be in thefuture.

She added: “I want to be a chef, but Ialso want to have my own TV show. I love[comedian] T-Boy and I want to be thefemale version of what he is doing.”

AROUND BLACK BRITAIN

Girl wages war on bullies12-year-old joins school council

to protect her classmates

ROLE MODEL: Nefertari Armarne, 12, is a school counci l lor

‘London helped me find myself’Beauty queen hopeful saysshe is grateful to the capital

MODEL:Akingbadede at arecent fashion shoot

DIFFERENT STYLE: The budding beauty queensports her off-duty look

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Page 7: Around Black Britain:  Lambeth Edition

MARCH 15 - 21, 2012 THE VOICE � 27

LAMBETH RESIDENTClarence Thompson,72, moved to the areain 1962 from his

native Trinidad. Over theyears, he has played a role innumerous initiatives to bene-fit the community including ahousing association and asupplementary school. In2010, he became chair ofLambeth Community PoliceConsultative Group (CPCG), aforum for consultationbetween the community andthe police.

What were your firstimpressions of Brixton as ayoung 20-year-old man?

There were very few peopleof African heritage. When yousaw someone with the samepigmentation as you, youwould cross the street to sayhello. There were so few of uswe tried to stick together, butthere was really no place wherewe could hang out.

So what did you do for fun?I used to go to a pub called

The White Horse. In those days,the racism was pretty bad. Insome places you couldn’t getserved, or people would breakthe glass if a black persondrank from it.

But the conduct was to go tothe pub after work. It was notsomething we were used to inthe Caribbean, but it was a cul-ture we had to adopt in orderto socialise.

Brixton is often seen as theheart of the black commu-nity. Why is that?

Brixton became the wonder-ful place it is today as a directresult of the opposition to usbeing here, and the way wewere treated by police. They

had a culture of ‘ni**er hunt-ing’, but over the years wehave changed that. We went toa dance at the town hall, andon the way home the police setthe dogs on us. There’s still along way to go, but it haschanged significantly.

How do you think you havecontributed to that change?

The first thing I did was tojoin a political party as aforum for change. One of mymentors was Joe Hunt – he wasthe thinker among us. Hebelieved that in a democracythe government of the day hasa responsibility to create anenvironment in which all itspeople, irrespective of race,class, sexuality or disability, isgiven equal access to educa-tion and to participate equallyin the creation of the wealth ofthe nation. Out of that hypoth-esis came the debate which ledto the 1965 Race Relations Actwhich eventually led to the

Commission for RacialEquality (CRE), which is nowpart of a wider single body, theEquality and Human RightsCommission.

All of that came out of thedebate that we were engagedwith. People don’t feel like ourcommunity has contributedanything, but we have done alot to change the society.

Who was Joe Hunt?Joe Hunt came from

Trinidad and died in 1983. Heis buried in West NorwoodCemetery. On his grave youwill find the CRE logo. RobbieRobinson, a former deputychair of the CRE, designatedhim the father of communityrelations. The thing is, I can’treally talk about my contribu-

tions in isolation, becausethere were many people whohelped to make a difference.For example, when no onewould to rent to ‘blacks’ orIrish, a man called Neil Watesgave us £10,000 to start ourown association in order toprovide accommodation forour people. Ten of us startedPresentation HousingAssociation in 1968, and mybrother, Adrian, was the mainperson who drove it. Later onin 1981, we formed the QueenMother Moore School, run byReverend Hewie Andrew,because our children werebeing put into ‘sin bins’ andbranded educationally sub-normal by the state.

How important is the workLambeth CPCG does?

Following the stabbing ofKwame Ofusu-Asare we had acommunity meeting wherethere was a lot of people veryconcerned about where thiswas all heading.

The bottom line is that ourcommunity does not trust thepolice. Even if someone dieswithin our midst, no one willspeak to the police. The groupwork with the police and thecommunity to say that wedon’t want to see any moredeaths in custody.

But we also need to face upto the fact that there are somebad people in our community.That poor boy was walkingthrough the Moorlands Estateto see his aunt and was killed.We shouldn’t accept that.

Do you worry for theyounger generation?

Overall, I feel positive. A lotof us faced worse situationsand were still able to succeedbut we need to do more. Weneed to come together to buildour own schools so we caneducate our children becausethey are failing within the sys-tem.

Too many of our children arebeing excluded. You cannotteach children you do not love.We have to be the ones thatwill love our children and givethem alternatives to killingeach other.

Do you think the older gen-eration have been so tied upfighting the system theyhaven’t paying attention totheir own families?

If you have rent to pay, gasto pay, children to provide forand you’re earning some of thelowest wages in the country, itis hard to be a parent.

But the Government alsospends too much time in ourhome. It has contributed to thebreakdown of our families. Wecan’t teach our children.

Campaigning Clarence

We will be at Fairfield Hall, CroydonFind us inside at the Women’s Weekender

COME & MEET The Voice team and express your views!

WHERE TO DROP BY AND MEET US:

Saturday, March 17th(Time: 11am - 2pm)PLACE:

Fairfield HallPark Lane Croydon, Surrey CR9 1DG

FOR MORE CONTACT:Tel: 0207 510 0340 or email: [email protected]

COME & TELL US NEWS OF A COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN OR INSPIRATIONAL

TALES OF ACHIEVEMENT

NO NEED TO COME

TO US BECAUSE

THE VOICE IS COMING

TO YOU!

GOING STRONG: The 72-year-old is still campaigningfor equality

ANGER: A Youth confrontsa policeman during theBrixton riots

AROUND BLACK BRITAINwww.voice-online.co.uk�

Page 8: Around Black Britain:  Lambeth Edition

CLASSIFIED| THE VOICE MARCH 15-21, 2012 28

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Thanks to our 90 years of heritage, Grace Foods UK is perfectly placed

to meet the needs of the growing number of people in the UK looking

for delicious, authentic flavours. We established the Caribbean foods category

in the UK in the 1950s with the first set of Caribbean immigrants, and have

remained the market leaders to this day. We’re very proud of our expertise in

the category and our range of long-trusted, authentic brands.

These are exciting times for Caribbean food and drink. People in

the UK are becoming more adventurous with their cooking, and

seeking to expand their taste horizons across a wide range of food

and drink products.

Our range of authentic, instantly recognisable products fits the

bill perfectly! Supplied by Enco Products, the largest subsidiary in

the Grace Foods UK group, our range includes the market-

leading* Encona sauces range, available in 12 exciting

flavours from around the globe including our

new Extra Hot sauce.

Another flagship brand is Nurishment,

the UK’s no. 1 nutritionally enriched milk drink**.

Targeted at consumers with active lifestyles, the Nurishment range contains

calcium, vitamins and minerals and is a source of protein.

We also supply a broad range of Caribbean ingredients under the authentic

Grace and Dunn’s River brands, including seasonings, marinades and

Caribbean cooking staples such as coconut milk, ackee and callaloo,

helping UK consumers to add a touch of the exotic to their cooking.

Grace Coconut Water is another product that is enjoying popularity

with consumers, having benefited from the growth in soft drinks which

are beneficial to the daily diet. Available both with and without pulp,

it contains potassium, manganese and vitamin C.

Grace Foods UK has many more strings to its bow. The company

also comprises Chadha Oriental Foods Limited, which has held a position

at the centre of Oriental cuisine for more than 25 years. Chadha supplies

specialist ingredients to retail, wholesale, foodservice and industrial

customers throughout Europe. It offers a wide range of products under

our own Silk Road label as well as many other leading Oriental brands.

Funnybones Foodservice is the leading importer and distributor of

multi-temperature American, Mexican, Mediterranean, Spanish and

Cajun foods in the UK food and catering industries. With a dedicated

sales team, impressive development facilities and an expert chef,

Funnybones supplies our brands La Mexicana and Rio Pacific as

well as many other trusted brands.

GraceKennedy has had an exciting 90 years, and we’re sure the

next 90 will be just as exciting – watch this space!

www.grace90thanniversary.com

*Source: IRI UK Table Sauces, Unit Sales, MAT 52w/e 25th Feb 2012

**Source: IRI Nutritionally Enriched Milk Drinks – Unit Sales, MAT 52w/e 25th Feb 2012

90 YEARS OF AUTHENTIC

CARIBBEAN FOOD AND DRINK