Welcome to the Wornington Word: A People's History of the Wornington Green Estate

The Wornington Word: A People's History of The Wornington Green Estate W10 was a year long project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and run by Renegade Theatre (residents of Wornington Green), in partnership with the Venture Community Association.

Since our lively launch at Venture in February 2019, where we began our year long project, drunk rum and danced to Glissando's steel drums, we have gone on an oral history journey. Over a hundred local residents, Venture goers and Althone Park walkers have come together to train in oral history taking, documentary making, photography, audio editing, creative writing and social media skills to create The People's History of Wornington Green.

We've recorded 17 oral histories and collected over 200 photos all of which are currently being archived in the RBKC Local Studies and Archives. During the course of the project we also made a 40 minute documentary, The Wornington Word, which we are pleased to announce won the Best UK Documentary at the 2020 Portobello Film Festival.

When Covid19 hit, we were preparing to hold a party to celebrate our beloved estate, built in the 1960s - 80s, and now being demolished to make way for Portobello Square. We are waiting for when the restrictions are eased so that we can come together to enjoy our collective history and to dance the night away at Venture. In the meantime, please enjoy our website.

Thank you to everyone who took part and made the project such a rich and enjoyable experience.

The Wornington Word documentary: Winner at the 2020 Portobello Film Festival for the Best UK Documentary.

Kevin Percival: Top 100 Winner in the Portrait of Britain 2020 with his portrait of Grace Zikpi.

Oral Histories

Hover & click on a portrait below to then listen to an excerpt of a residents oral history. The full histories and transcripts will soon be available to listen to at RBKC Local Studies and Archive.

We are also pleased to announce that our photographer for the Wornington Word project, Kevin Percival, was listed in the top 100 winning images for the Portrait of Britain 2020. Kevin's winning image of Grace Zikpi and can be viewed below and at Portrait of Great Britain.

Margaret is in a wheelchair on a pavement with parked cars to her right. She is wearing a striped wool scarf, a black winter jacket, brown leather gloves, brown trousers, brown shoes, a pair of glasses with a handbag looped over one hand.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Margaret Cairns-Irven

Jessica is sitting on a sofa. There is a picture on the wall behind and fairy lights. Jessica is wearing sunglasses on the top of her head, a red Chinese style jacket, a white top, black trousers and a black handbag.

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to listen
to the oral history of
Jessica McMillan

Kathleen is standing ouside with big thick bushes and a red brick building behind her. Kathy has white hair and black framed glasses and is wearing a dark purple jacket with toggles with a high res sleevless jacket over the top. Underneath she is wearing a fine knit top with light stripes of green and blue and a dark coloured skirt with a light printed pattern on top.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Kathleen Webb

Latifa and Rachid are outside their ground level flat in the courtyard. The blue railings are on street level, the floor is concrete and there is a red brick barbecue unit. A bicycle is chained to the railings. Latifa is wearing a red t-shirt, casual blue trousers, flip flops and she wears glasses. Rachis is wearing blue shorts, a polo t-shirt and black trainers.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Latifa & Rachid Kammiri

Esther is standing in a large wooden floored hall at Venture Centre with one hand leaning on a large table dressed in a floor length black and red flower print dress. Two other women are at the table, sewing - behind is another large table with a lady and a sewing machine. In the right hand corner is a lady at a table with a sewing machine and her shopping bag standing next to her.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Esther Ngo Mangoung

Betty is standing looking out of her living room window with her forearm resting on the sill. Christmas motifs hang from the window; a snowman, Santa Claus and a snowman with a black top hat. On the sill are two flower pots and a glass bottle of purple flowers. Hanging on the blue wall is the head of Santa Claus with a large letter N above and an E below. Betty is wearing a cream summer top with lacey short sleeves, has a thin gold chain necklace and glasses hanging from her neck.

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to listen
to the oral history of
Elizabeth Lawler

Oumayma is standing in her kichen. Behind her is a gas ring oven and a wooden cabinet on the wall, the tile surrounding are a mix of mushroom browns and cream. To her left there are three plants in silver pots. Oumayma in wearing a fitted black cotton top with a zip down the front and a black collarless jacket over the top that has flowers embroidered down either side of the front.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Oumayma Tuijri

Kirit is standing outside his newsagent shop. There is a taupe coloured door with panels in it to his right and black railings, one end attached to a blue wall. Kirit is leaning on a lotto stand-alone unit with a large padlocked metal box next to it painted with a picture of Popeye. Kirit is wearing a blue collared sweatshirt, light grey commando trousers and red trainers. He has short dark hair.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Kirit Patel

Leslie is standing in one of the rooms of the Venture Centre with several steel drums sitting in the background. The walls are painted white. Leslie is standing with his hands in his trouser pockets. He is wearing a dark grey jumper with a navy blue sleeveless puffer jacket over the top. He has short white hair and a short white moustache and beard.

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to listen
to the oral history of
Leslie Palmer

Vanessa is standing on the balcony of her new flat, in the background there are trees and buildings of various heights. Off to the left is a plantpot and just behind an empty clotheshorse. Vanessa is holding her little girl on her right hip who is wearing a white dress. Vanessa is wearing a summer dress with a small flowery print in yellow, blue and dusty pink.

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to listen
to the oral history of
Vanessa Roa

Alan is sitting on a sofa with a laptop on a table to the right of him, on the left is a little teddy bear. Alan is wearing a grey Lonsdale hoodie that zips up the front. He is bald.

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to listen
to the oral history of
Alan Barnes

Grace is standing in one of the walkways that connects the flats. She is leaning against the wall that overlooks the trees showing in the background. Grace is wearing a yellow tunic with a dark green border around the neckline and a matching turban style hat.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Grace Zikpi

Micky is standing on the balcony with other Wornington Green Estate buildings in the background. Micky is leaning on the railing and is wearing a boater and a blue sweatshirt. There are plants to the left and right of him.

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to listen
to the oral history of
Micky Pallant

Cheryl is standing in the Wornington Green Estate in front of Paul House. In the background there is a brick wall covered in large images to the left, directly behind Cheryl are green railings, a bicycle and two plant pots. Cheryl is wearing a white t-shirt with a band of colour, cream coloured shorts and black sandals.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Cheryl Thomas

Moshen is standing in front of a huge billboard depicting the new buildings of Portobello Square. He is bald with a grey beard, a grey moustache and black framed glasses. He is wearing a purple checked shirt and a pair of grey suit trousers with a black belt.

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to listen
to the oral history of
Moshen Zeid

Keith is standing in his living room by the window which has grey and white flower patterned curtains with white viole curtains behind. Keith is wearing a Nashville t-shirt and behind him is a black bookcase filled with books and DVD's. There are ornaments of various sizes sitting atop the bookcase; 5 birds including an owl, a puffin and 2 eagles, a medeival knight in full armour and a small ornament of an otter.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Keith Stirling

Eve is standing on the pavement. To the right of the pavement is a strip of grass with a large tree and lamp posts going down the side of the grass strip. On the right of the grass are parked cars. Eve has shortish brown hair and dark brown framed glasses. She is wearing a grey wool coat with a red polo neck jumper underneath and a green woollen scarf. She has a black handbag over her right shoulder and three bangles of her right wrist. The day is overcast.

Click here
to listen
to the oral history of
Eve Wright

"We made the estate and the estate made us."

Rachid Kammiri | Resident of Wornington Green Estate

Wornington Word Documentary

Winner: Best UK Documentary, 2020 Portobello Film Festival

Credits

Directed by: Natasha Langridge
Cinematography: Constantine Gras | Sanya Mihaylovic
Edited by: Constantine Gras
Music by: Glissando Steel Orchestra
Sponsored by: Heritage Lottery Fund
Partners: Venture Community Association

Transcript

N/A

The Team

A project of this size depends on people's commitment and their various skills. The following people were key to bringing this project together; it couldn't have been done without them. A big thank-you goes to:

Head of Oral Histories: David Saiz
Oral History Training: Rosa Shling & Rib Davies
Head of Volunteers: Micky Pallant & Hannah Hutch
Project Photographers: Kevin Percival & Talibah Stevenson
Audio Editing Training: Roger Kitchen
Sound Editing Support: Gerrard Abeille

Documentary Making Workshops: Sanya Mihaylovic
Creative Writing Workshops: Oumayma Tuiji & Natasha Langridge
Social media workshops: Lizzie Spring
Documentary Filmmakers: Constantine Gras & Natasha Langridge
Web Design: Drupal-on-the-go
Project Manager: Natasha Langridge

Contact

If you would like to follow-up on this project or if you require any further information you can contact Natasha Langridge, the Project Manager of The Wornington Word: A People’s History of The Wornington Green Estate W10:

Natasha Langridge
natasha.renegadetheatre@gmail.com
07881 860 802