Welcome to the Let's 'Ear It Walworth online exhibition.

Voices from all over Walworth are gathered here and tell personal stories of how neighbourhood life has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Focussing on themes of community, safety, parks, food, travel and leisure these stories give important insight into real London lives.

Our hope is that by sharing these stories we can learn from one another and collectively influence positive action across the city, making it a better place to live, work and play.

Thank you to everyone that contributed their thoughts.

"I've been running to stay sane"

If you were asked to design a flag or a logo for the community in Walworth, what kind of symbols or images would you put on it?

"I used to visit Burgess Park in the 80s to go fishing but hadn’t been back since, when lockdown started I began coming back.

Now I love coming here, I come here every day to do mindfulness exercises. There's so much diversity of people and it’s got great landscaping. "

"We’re having to create our own space for leisure"

"Parks can make us feel normal, now we come here everyday."

"Since COVID there's not so much creativity about, people are hiding."

"I played scrabble and read more during lockdown, then I go to the park for fresh air and to bump into people I know."

"It would be good to see more creative lighting in the trees, but I generally feel safe in my neighborhood"

"The local shops are so important! Corner shops are the core of the community."

"The Cleaner Greener Safer Fund from Southwark Council is really good, but I’ve noticed they haven’t been maintaining the work they do."

"I’ve haven’t been to Mcdonalds since Covid"

"Bagel King on Walworth Road has been open and we’ve been going – they do good cakes!"

"No gym! Which has been frustrating at times but we got into yoga instead. We got to day 17 of the 30 day yoga challenge... which isn't bad!"

Can you draw a walking or cycling route you take regularly? What are the main features along the route that are important to you?

"Back in the day the market (East St. Market) was a proper community. The boys would look out for each other, there was haggling, it was lively y’know. But now it’s different, it’s just all about the money.

They’re going to close that park (Nursery Row Gardens) soon ‘cos something bad will happen. But they can’t build on it because of the trees, they can’t move those trees. But it’ll close cos they’ll be a bloodbath at some point. Someone was stabbed there just a couple of days ago. Drug dealers come to that park now, they come from other areas, not round here. Why? Cos that’s where the money is. Do you think that the people who live in these new million pound flats don’t take drugs? Of course they do! That’s why dealers come here. So yeah they’ll close the park soon but the problem will just move on, move on to the next park."

"This market (East St. Market) used to be the heart and soul of the community in the 60s/70s. Back then it was more about make love not war."

"I had a stroke a while back and so having to stay home in the pandemic wasn’t actually that different for me. The only difference is that it’s not a choice any more.

People have been checking on each other more, we’re listening out for each other, looking for lights in windows, generally just being more aware.

I think people are getting complacent though. Some people are going to parties and I think, well that’s their business but it’s not for me. I haven’t been to the park since Covid, it’s not time yet. I tried to not use public transport but then I had to start using it and when that happened I just did ‘mask on!’. The government really needs to grow some balls, we need to be told ‘this is how it’s going to be’.

For leisure I’ve got my gym at home – I bought all the kit from the shopping channels, I’ve got dumbbells, all the bungees, all that stuff. I have been going to the park actually, but to the smaller ones, not Burgess, at 5 in the morning because I’ve been waking up early and it’s quiet then. I’m doing that ‘Couch to 5k’ thing but it’s hard. I also tried ‘Insanity’ by Sean T. but I just did the warm-up and that was enough!

Food wise I’m getting takeaways. Dominoes large pizza covers breakfast, lunch and dinner. I do go to the market sometimes but again it’s ‘mask on!’.

I do feel safe here because I know it, it’s so familiar to me.

I’d like to get a bike but you know I don’t have room for it. I do want one. But also because of my stroke my eye has been affected and so I don’t think I could."

"I’ve been spending lots of time at home. People have been really helpful, very helpful. I get notes through my door saying ‘Anything you want? Give me a call…’ and then their number."

"The stabbings... they make it like a ghost town here."

"I walk for leisure – I go to Westminster all along the river from the mayor's office. I don’t take the main roads though, too fumey, but I know my way around that."

"I used to play netball when I was younger in Burgess park, there was this clubhouse where we used to get changed, it was lovely. Then I was a fencer! I was the number 3 in the world for my age group. Now I’m a dancer. I dance in old peoples homes which is really fun. It’s difficult to get kids doing sport or creative stuff but it’s worth the effort."

"I moved here 7 months ago from a seaside town, just before lockdown started. I tell you it’s been a real eye-opener… I find it fascinating. It’s exhilarating. I love it! It’s like a mini New York. Different cultures are so interesting to me. My son had special needs but I wanted to take him everywhere, we saw the 7 wonders of the world!

I’m lucky with my health. I had a small stroke but I can still be independant and that means I don’t have to rely on the system. I walk everywhere, I have a freedom pass but I mainly walk. I go from here to the Thames Barrier and back again.

Y’know this time is worse than the war. My generation went through the war and we had Polio, TB... but we’re in dire straits now. Nobody has control. I fear for the future of the younger generations. My advice would be to never give up and live your dream."

“I’ve just been to see my mum round the corner. She’s 92. She had the virus and she was in St. Thomas’ hospital for 4 weeks but she pulled through! Yeah I feel so lucky. I had the virus too and I know lots of others who had it and still haven’t got their senses back. I’m over it now, but y'know what it’s left this weird feeling that I can’t quite put my finger on. (After some more discussion) I think that feeling is depression, or living in fear. Yeah I think we’re all living in fear and no-body should have to do that, it’s not natural for humans. The government, they’ve got a gun to our heads. I’m Turkish but I’ve lived here in the UK for 60 years. I’ve got a Turkish flag on this shoulder and a UK flag on the other and I used to be so proud to be a British Turk, but over the last 6 months, I’m not so sure.”

"I got a lot of tinned food in at the start, not toilet rolls or anything like that. I’ve still got the tins in my cupboard, the only thing I ran out of was socks! I couldn’t go to buy any, but when the shops opened I went to Marks and Spencers to get socks.

I went to parks more than I normally do, I used to go a lot when my kids were young but not since then.

La Lunar! It’s down there on Walworth Road. They did great takeaways over lockdown.

The idea of public transport terrifies me, I'm going on the tube for the first time (since lockdown) next week. I don’t mind buses as much, but I didn’t want to go on the tube.

Homeless people worried me a lot, especially for elderly people, they come too close."

"There's no work since COVID.

Everyone was scared to come back to the market, we make a lot less money now, it’s not been busy enough.

It’s better being here than staying at home though."

"I’m the senior youth worker at 2 InSpire Youth. Before lockdown we were running clubs 5 days a week – football, art, cooking, photography, drama and also sessions at the centre where people just came to hang out, play ping pong etc. Since lockdown I’ve continued working and been running some of our clubs on Zoom – boys club, girls club etc. Then recently we’ve been coming here (UAE playground) to do football and art club, but there are less young people coming now because their parents are still worried about the virus. We’re trying to encourage more people to come and also using the time to think about what other things we can offer at the centre. The main centre (at St. Peters Church) is reopening at the beginning of September. I grew up round here, on Aylesbury Estate. Did I go to youth clubs around when I was young? Yeah sort of, yeah."

"The only thing I love about Walworth is the food. Especially Ossies Jerk Chicken on Walworth Road."

"I’ve decided to draw a flag with a person on it that’s made up of all of our faces, to show all the different people that live in Walworth."

"I’ve made the symbol on the flag a fist-bump because that’s what everyone does here now."

"I think Walworth is like a ‘through’ place. Like you go through it to go to Camberwell or to Elephant and Castle."

"I don’t really go to the parks because my parents don’t want me to hang out with boys. So I’ve been home a lot and I go on Snapchat with my friends. I also do lots of drawing at home, at night mainly. Some of my drawings take me like 3 days."

"I spend some of my time in Walworth and some time with my boyfriend in Kent. I was in Kent over lockdown and it was nice and there was more space but I didn’t really know what to do there and wanted to come back to London because this is where all the life is."

"It’s a shame now we can’t give the young people better snacks (at 2 InSpire Youth), before Covid we used to make lots of homemade food all together."

"I study criminology at the University of Kent. I don’t really like the sociology side of it but I’m into the psychology and forensics part. Actually I want to be a teacher and I’m volunteering at 2 InSpire Youth to gain experience working with young people."

"I’d like to see
more bee hives."

"Pubs are disappearing even more now which is such a shame, it’s losing a community."

"I’ve always felt safe in my neighbourhood."

"Public life has been concentrated to the parks."

"I go to the park everyday with my kids, Burgess Park is an extension of our flat, as our garden."

"There’s been a lack of community spirit, the community is against each other."

"Burgess Park has been really busy – keeping a distance was hard.
It felt claustrophobic."

"We need to be asking the question ‘what does freedom mean?’. The people we elect into power only seem to think about ways of restricting people. Care homes can tell people to stay in their rooms. Students going to university are going to be told to be in their rooms at 6 o’clock – imagine going to university, building up all that debt but not being able to try things out, have relationships and experiment with life. The virus is going to be around for a while. We need to move on from restrictions."

"I work in healthcare so it’s been a really difficult time. I’ve been in and out of care homes like a yo-yo. It’s been terrible because… well people are dying! There is a lot of fear around.

I think it’s been particularly hard for teenagers because they need interactions, they need to be physical. When they’re restricted, their need for physical interaction erupts and that's when there is violence and trouble. We need more structured after school and weekend activities for teenagers."

My child is asthmatic and so we’ve been staying in a lot. Luckily we have a garden which is like our treasure. We actually went back home to Lithuania for five weeks during lockdown – it was so much more spacious. London is so overcrowded, I hate it.

We’ve been getting lots of takeaways. I think we got Dominoes over five times or my husband would cycle to Oval to get us chicken and chips. Like I said we’ve been staying home a lot, cooking, cleaning, reading, playing PS4 and watching films together.

My eldest has actually been doing really well academically during this time, he’s been learning on the computer and doing better than before.

I don’t really bother too much with the wider community. I just stay in touch with my family using Whatsapp and occasionally meet up with friends just in the street.

I actually think that coronavirus is not as dangerous as people think. I think it's more like the rich people are just playing a game with us – a control game.

"I moved to Walworth in 1965. It’s been depressing here recently – no music, no pubs. Luckily I’m quite mobile still so I’ve been walking around. I get food from Iceland, Morrisons, but not the market anymore because it’s been closed. I used to go to the Weatherspoons to eat sometimes. My wife – she’s abandoned me for the microwave."

"Everyday is an adventure in the ‘concrete jungle’. But we haven't been doing much recently, just staying at home and going on food runs and stuff. He lost his job just before corona. We’re neighbours so sometimes we go out together. Actually I got Chopper (beagle puppy) at the beginning of covid and that was like a new job. I’m an apprentice engineer. I’ve been working a bit. They used to get me a cab to work but now I cycle there. We cycle a lot but it’s hard to keep hold of a bike round here. Is it a safe area? That’s debatable. I feel safe because I’m familiar with it and I know the trouble. It’s when people come from other areas, that’s when there are problems."

"I either cycle or use my car, the transport I use hasn’t changed since Covid. Covid doesn’t worry me – I can’t see the threat. I can work from home and I prefer it. It costs a lot of money to travel."

"I feel safe in Walworth."

"The gym was shut during lockdown, I was looking forward to it reopening. Now its open again you have to call ahead to say you’re coming, and then you can only spend 55 minutes in there. I’d rather it went back to normal."

"I live on an estate that is like a big square of flats. There is one way in and one way out. At the beginning of lockdown I thought there would be problems, social problems, civil unrest. I didn’t want to get trapped there so I left for Hastings where my Gran lives.

It was hard to get food in Hastings, there was no bread or eggs for 3 weeks at one point and I had to get a bus to the campsite that had them."

"Lots of little cafes in London transformed themselves and became places you could go and buy bread and things."

"Yes that’s right, down in Hastings the fisherman were just selling fish straight from the docks. I bought big bags of whelks and took them home and made a giant whelk pie!"

"Here in Walworth you could always find stuff at the off-licenses and halal shops."

"The supermarkets sold out so quickly at the beginning. In the Tesco on Old Kent Road there was no pasta on the shelves but actually I instigated something there… I saw a big palette trolley thing filled with pasta and so I just went up to it and ripped it open and all the people in the shops took a bag of pasta.

I felt sorry for the homeless people because they rely on people giving them food. So when nobody was around, not shopping or going to take aways, they weren’t getting any food. I could see some people looking really malnourished and it was awful."

"In Hastings you can get a bus pass for next to nothing and you can go a long way with it. And if you get on and you say ‘Look, sorry, I have no money’ they just let you on anyway. You don't get that in London."

"I get the bus as normal, to Camberwell and back. I wear my mask. Sometimes I forget about social distancing though!"

"The gardening club came back just in time. I was getting depressed. I live with 5 people and sometimes my friends would come and visit me but now that doesn’t happen."

"Yes, I met him through the gardening club and I used to go to his house. But now I don’t do that."

"I live with my mum and my dog Scooby. I love taking care of animals. Scooby gives me a reason to go outside. Scooby has really helped me."

“More and more people have been getting into gardening and have wanted to join our gardening group. We reopened it fairly recently but we can only have 6 people here at a time. We’ve got a waiting list now. It’s good to have somewhere to go. We’ve got one plot here and I also use another plot on the Aylesbury Estate. We’ve grown some food for ourselves – lots of rhubarb!

It’s been an interesting time for nature – we had a kestrel move in!"

"Yeah, I came eye to eye with a badger in the road. There was nobody else around. And the seagulls, they’ve changed their tune. They live on robbing tourists and there’s no tourists anymore.”

"I’m a community mental health nurse. Lots of my work is about referring clients to local activities that help with wellbeing. There’s been lots of online activities during Covid but they’re not so good because lots of my clients don’t have computer/IT skills and that really gets in the way. Organisations like Sporting Recovery over there (points to a football training session in the park) are amazing. They do lots of different free activities, from football to Qigong. Stuff like Qigong is really great for one of my clients because when they get depressed they’re really in need of some spiritual healing and that’s what Qigong is focussed on.

The clients I worry about are the ones on the edge, the ones that don’t behave bizarrely outside and get the attention, the isolated ones. Many of those people want to go back to the hospital where they’re cared for. That’s what is really difficult.

We receive great support from the Southwark community. There are lots of creative wellness activities, we get free tickets to private views, Camberwell College gives us equipment to use. If anything it’s sometimes a bit too much and I feel overwhelmed with all the things on offer.

I’d like to see more outdoor swimming pools, like you get in Germany. We need them!"

"My life has been amazing for the last few months. I didn’t go to school and I work in my garden (shared community garden). And I can get ice cream in the park!

(Parents) Yeah, the ice-cream van has ramped up the prices though. It was £1, then £2, then £3 and now its £4!

I missed my grandad but now I can go and see him and he’s got a new dog called Lou-Lou. Yeah, my life is amazing.”

Natural Mystic by Mystic

Marilyn Monroe by Ali

Flower Pot by Denise

by Ian Jack

Sun Ear Pearl by Tom

Cherry Pipes by Stephen

Harvest Collection by Maureen

by Celia

"If I am feeling stressed or blue, I take myself to Park Life cafe and have a bowl of pasta there. It's always good because the people who run the cafe are Italian. It never fails to make me feel better."

“More and more people have been getting into gardening and have wanted to join our gardening group. We reopened it fairly recently but we can only have 6 people here at a time. We’ve got a waiting list now. It’s good to have somewhere to go. We’ve got one plot here and I also use another plot on the Aylesbury estate. We’ve grown some food for ourselves – lots of rhubarb!

It’s been an interesting time for nature – we had a kestrel move in!

Yeah, I came eye to eye with a badger in the road. There was nobody else around. And the seagulls, they’ve changed their tune. They live on robbing tourists and there’s no tourists anymore.”

Photos by Ali

Thank you to the people of Walworth

These scanned images were made during a workshop in which participants were asked to respond to the question:

what makes you happiest about Walworth parks?

Thanks to Art in Burgess Park for helping to facilitate the workshop and to all who came and shared their thoughts through drawing, collecting and filmmaking.