RICH WHITE - Wembley Vision Report

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1 RICH WHITE - Wembley Vision Report rich@counterwork.co.uk Introduction My initial intention was to discover resident s opinions and thoughts about Wembley, and also what they would change about it. The purpose of this was to generate visual and written material from which I will then develop an artwork. Processes I spent four days (from the 3rd to the 6th December) based at The Coming Soon Club in Cottrell House. I had prepared a questionnaire for visitors to fill in, and also provided paper, pens and pencils for people to leave their drawings and thoughts. In addition to this I also created a slideshow which was continually updated with new texts and images as they occurred. The initial texts and images were created by myself in order to provide visitors with more information and stimulus. The text posed questions and suggestions such as What would you like to Workshop tables at Cottrell House see happen in Wembley? and Draw a picture of Wembley in the future. As the project progressed I added quotes from the questionnaires and from conversations that occurred. The images were photographs I had taken on my mobile phone whilst out and about in Wembley. I would try to take unusual, but still beautiful, images as a way showing residents a side of Wembley they might normally miss due to familiarity. The images were also posted to twitter with the tag #wembleyvision. Images and drawings from attendees were added as the project progressed. As well as being at Cottrell House I also spent time walking around various parts of Wembley observing how people used the different spaces along the Fringe area and around the stadium. People were reluctant to spend time talking in the street, not only due to the cold weather, but also a significant hostility towards being approached. I had more luck in the new Civic Centre, which not only provided shelter, it was also a more conducive atmosphere where people were more comfortable being approached. There was a diverse range of people in the Civic Centre. Over the four days a small number of people also came to Cottrell House to see the wider Wembley Vision project information and we were able to have protracted conversations about Wembley which provided excellent information. On the third evening a dinner was held, attended by members of Brent Council, a member of the GLA, local small businesses based at Coming Soon Club, urban planners and cultural providers. The conversation asked what the vision for Wembley should be, how to avoid the mistakes of failed regeneration projects, and also looked at how Wembley had changed. The fourth day saw the Small Business Exhibition being held at the Civic Centre. This provided a good opportunity to talk with many independent businesses based in Wembley. Rich White rich@counterwork.co.uk 1 of 10

2 Results I collected 21 questionnaires and had numerous conversations with local residents and businesses, visitors to Cottrell House, members of The Coming Soon Club, and attendees of organised events. Below, in no particular order, are some of the standout responses to the question What would you like to see happen in Wembley? : - More creative space. - More people talking and sharing. - An event not in the stadium. - A reason to come to Wembley [that isn t stadium/arena/ldo-based]. - More social spaces. - I would like a quiet library. - I want to grow my own vegetables. - The community to come together... - Food! Fashion! Music! Creation! - Inspire the children of Wembley. - Community, integration. - An end to violence against women/domestic violence. - A city farm. - A proper square. - More art. - A better bus service. - Facelift for Wembley Highroad. - A Speakers Corner. - More activities/events at a smaller scale. - Lots of interesting small things, more residents trying things. - Things you can use. Quotes from conversations: - The large statement buildings are Marmite moments. - [The stadium area is] a place in Wembley that doesn t feel like Wembley. - Do the fountains only go on at night? - Food is a great connector. - The feeling of being stuck in traffic, even as a pedestrian. - Stitching the small with the large. - Recognising the value of what you ve got. Along with this the longer conversations I had revealed some interesting ideas and histories which could provide starting points for sculptural responses: - Self-suffiiency: A gentleman suggested that he would like to be able to grow his own vegetables, and also proposed the idea of a city farm as he felt the provision for allotments was lacking. Through our conversation we came up with the idea of a space-saving vegetable trough - a stacked series of troughs that allow you to maximise how much land you can plant in if you have limited space. Rich White rich@counterwork.co.uk 2 of 10

3 - Speakers Corner: A frequent response to the questionnaire pointed out a desire for truly public space and somewhere for the community to come together. A visitor to Coming Soon Club suggested an adaptation of Speakers Corner involving a platform that allowed multiple people to stand and speak in turn. - Watkin s Folly: After being informed of Watkin s Tower by a number of visitors I did a little research to find out more about Sir Edward Watkin and his tower. From what I found it seems to me that Watkin was directly responsible for Wembley as it is today. Watkin was chairman of the Metropolitan Railway - which later became the Metropolitan Line of the London Underground. In a scheme to attract more passengers onto his railway he developed the idea of building an amusement park just outside of London on a tract of land near a Middlesex hamlet called Wembley. This park would have boating lakes, water features, gardens and areas for playing sport. The centrepiece was to be the Tower, inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris. A design competition was held with the winner being an ambitious eight-legged 366m metal tower containing observation decks, restaurants, Turkish baths, a hotel and an observatory amongst other things. Due to financial difficulties the design was scaled back from the octagonal eight-legged design to a cheaper and more conventional four-legged design. Construction began in The park was accessible via the Metropolitan Railway and the newly built Wembley Park Station, opened in 1894, with construction of the Tower still underway. The first stage of the Tower was completed in 1895, standing at 47m. Due to the reduction in legs there was increased pressure on each footing, resulting in the structure becoming unstable through subsidence. Work stopped and the construction company went into liquidation. Watkin died in 1901 and the unfinished section was demolished over four years from Despite this the Park itself continued to be a draw for sports and recreation. After WWI Wembley was selected as the site for the British Empire Exhibition in 1924 (a Colonial Exhibition whose aim was to stimulate trade, strengthen bonds that bind mother Country to her Sister States and Daughters, to bring into closer contact the one with each other, to enable all who owe allegiance to the British flag to meet on common ground and learn to know each other ). The British Empire Exhibition Stadium was built for this occasion, and later became known as Wembley Stadium and the home of the England football team. This leads us to Wembley as it is today. Source: wikipedia.org Rich White rich@counterwork.co.uk 3 of 10

4 - The White Horse Bridge: The bridge that crosses - and serves as the access to - Wembley Stadium Station is named after an incident that occurred during the 1923 FA Cup Final. A grey (although appearing white in photo and film) police horse named Billy was used to restore order after large numbers of people invaded the pitch before kick-off. In the version of the story I heard the detail of a small child being plucked from the crowd by the mounted policeman was included. I find the naming - or designing - of the bridge unusual in that, apart from being white, there is no point-of-reference to link it to the story or a horse. - Unfinished ramp: A story recounted to me by a resident concerned the construction of the split ramp that leads from Olympic way to the present Stadium. According to the story the west ramp was left without reaching the ground for some time due land ownership rights taking longer to resolve. Photographs and Drawings A selection of photographs I took during walks around Wembley, and drawings made at Cottrell House by, and in response to, visitors. Rich White rich@counterwork.co.uk 4 of 10

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9 Conclusions A majority of people expressed a desire for more useful public space, and in particular a central hub of activity - a square or European-style plaza - that would provide a reason to stop or meet there. Coupled with this was the idea of enabling a more integrated community. Food was identified as a great way of bridging gaps between people. In my walks around Wembley I noticed that a lot of space which initially looked like public space was actually privately owned, such as the areas around the Stadium and Arena. This space could not really be used for public events or gatherings, and only really gets used during Stadium Event days. Similarly Olympic Way, which is a broad pedestrian walkway, is designed to cope with the minority of occasions when a vast amount of people are to be moved from the station to the Stadium and back. At all other times this expanse of tarmac is relatively quiet. The new London Designer Outlet provides a steady influx of people from the surrounding stations, but nothing like the numbers for Event day. This piece of land serves only one function but could be used for much more. The square outside Wembley Central Station could also be regenerated into a destination. It is currently a rather unattractive, grey, concreteslabbed space with a building site at its centre. The square understandably serves a purpose as the gateway to shops and the station but, like Olympic Way, could be a much more vibrant place. The loss of the market was also mentioned frequently. This seemed to provide, for many, the social hub, with one long-time resident and member of The Coming Soon Club stating that on a Sunday you either went to the church or to the market with others agreeing that you would go there to meet with friends - not necessarily to buy anything - it was a lively place to be. The notions that struck me most were those of self-sufficiency, community and creativity. It was very interesting to hear how people felt they had lost a community spirit and that there wasn t really a social hub where they could gather. The idea of a place where people can meet, share their creativity and help each-other to realise their ideas already seems to be taking shape with The Coming Soon Club. I would like to emphasise this availability through a sculptural work. The focus of my project is public engagement, which I initially thought would occur during this research phase and inform the final work. In light of the results I feel it is now essential that the engagement continues with the work itself - that the work should engage, should be a useful thing, and have a clear purpose. Ideas that are currently in contention (some are more cohesive than others): - Space-saving Vegetable-growing Trough. This would be a sculptural object which also provides people with a place to grow vegetables if they have limited outdoor space. The sculpture would be built as a prototype with instructions on how to build your own made freely available. Rich White rich@counterwork.co.uk 9 of 10

10 - Speakers Platform. I envision this as almost like a portable square - a structure that can be set up in any location that invites people to speak, discuss and share ideas. An event would be held with invited speakers to introduce the work. - Signs. This work would be a development and continuation of the statements and sentences collected previously. A series of signs (text and/or symbol-based) erected around the Fringe area and designed to provoke discussion about the ideas discovered during the research period. The purpose of this work is to further disseminate the idea of Wembley community and creativity through subtle suggestion. - Community Nodes. A sculptural object (or series of objects) designed to be distributed amongst the people of Wembley to encourage interaction and discussion. Going Forward I would like to continue collecting information through a number of channels: - Photographs and texts posted on Facebook to invite comments. - Questionnaires remaining at Cottrell House. - An activity sheet which could be distributed to local schools. I would like to discuss this idea further with Meanwhile Space and Brent Council. A very short activity (one side of A4 with a bit of context, a question and space for drawing) could be given to as many classes as possible and then returned. I think it would be really important to get some feedback from children. I will choose one (possibly two) ideas, either from the list presented earlier or from those emerging from further engagement, to develop into a finished work by mid-february. This decision will be made in the next few weeks. Any comments or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Please send responses to rich@counterwork.co.uk. Rich White rich@counterwork.co.uk 10 of 10