The Gate

Summer holidays to end in style
New Cross Gate NDC will be sponsoring the Gateside Community FestivalThursday 24th -Saturday, 26th August, 2006. The end-of-summer event will accommodate people of all ages and tastes and promises to be a great way to end the holidays.Friday’s events will include a number of activities for young, old, and all ages in between, including healthy walks, line dancing, dominoes contest, healthy eating activities. The first day culminates in the Gateside Showcase for young and community talent at Hatcham Social Club on Thursday night. Saturday starts with the Hapi market and fair in Monson Road/Eckington Gardens to support the local holiday activities programme run by local community groups. Hapi market will feature a host of stalls offering wide range of goods. In addition, there will be information stalls with help and advice from a range of organisations which support the area.Later on Saturday afternoon, a family sports event gets underway in the gardens proper, with the day then revving up for the salsa party to give everyone a chance to let their hair down with the sun.There will be a number of opportunities for involvement in the two-day event – for all sections of the community and local organisations which serve the community. Organisations and service providers are invited to support the Festival and the hundreds of local residents who will be participating.For more information on the Gateside Community Festival, contact Stephen McGann, Community Development Co-ordinator, Tel. 020 8314 9384

New Cross Gate Food Co-op Launch

The launch of the resident-led New Cross Gate Food Co-operative has been announced for next Friday 25th August 2006 ~ to coincide with the Gateside Community Festival. A group of residents has worked hard over the last 6 months to establish their healthy fruit and vegetable stall. The stall is run by local volunteers and operates every Friday between 11.00am and 3.30pm outside All Saints, New Cross Road.
The stall has proved very popular with residents. One regular customer commented:
"This is a brilliant idea! Why should I go to Peckham or Lewisham market now? I get fruit and veg for the same price here and it is so close by"
Apart from selling fruit and vegetable, someone is always on hand to give advice on healthy eating and other health related matters. The stall is supported by the Lewisham Primary Care Trust Eating for Health Project and the New Cross Gate NDC.
Last month the Prime Minister stated that "people must make lifestyle changes" in particular mentioning action on diet. In New Cross Gate, through the Food Co-op, residents are already taking steps to make healthier food choices easier.
Project worker Mumtaz Meeran say "Come and visit the Food Co-op stall next Friday or Saturday, when we will be taking our place in the Gateside Community Festival next to Eckington Gardens."
If you would like to volunteer on the stall or for further information please contact:
Mumtaz Meeran, Food Projects Development Worker,
Eating for Health Project.
Tel: 07901553236
email: mumtaz.meeran@lewishampct.nhs.uk

Summer of Lit Festival
Families of New Cross Gate are to make a gigantic 50 feet poem as part of it’s Summer of Lit Festival on Saturday 12th August. The festival has been organised by Family Fortunes, Family Learning and is funded by New Cross Gate New Deal for Communities. The event will be held at Besson Street Community Gardens, New Cross Gate, from the 12th to 19th August and aims to promote literacy and literature in South London in fun and entertaining ways.

The 50 feet poem with a working title of “A Load of Old Nonsense” aims to encourage families to jot down a line or two to make the As well as the 50 feet poem, a huge mural will be created with all families in the area asked to take part in this “Hands on Art” project. A Books, Poetry and Story Tent will stage some of South London’s best story tellers and will also hold a book stall selling brand new top title books for £1 each. The book stall is open all week from 12th – 19th August.

Bug hunting and pond dipping will also take place in this rare subtropical garden on Besson Street, New Cross Gate. Music and Song session for Under 5’s will also take place in this fun packed festival on Saturday 12th between 2pm and 3pm. And if all that noise gets to the mums and dads attending the event, an Indian head and hand massage will be available on Sunday only, for free.
.

For further information please call Jill on 020 8314 7472.

Literature Facts:

Longest poem ever published
The lengthiest poem ever published is the Kirghiz folk epic Manas, which appeared in printed form in 1958 but which has never been translated into English. This three-part epic runs to about
500,000 lines. If printed it would be approx 10,600 feet long!!!

Longest word
PNEUMONO­ULTRA­MICRO­SCOPIC­SILICO­VOLCANO­CONIOSIS
= a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust.This is the longest word in any English dictionary. However, it was coined by Everett Smith, the President of The National Puzzlers' League, in 1935 purely for the purpose of inventing a new "longest word”.

Best Selling Books of all time
1. The Holy Bible: More than 6Billion copies
2. Quotations from Chairman Ma,o by Mao Tse-Tung (1966) 900million copies
3. The American Spelling Book, by Noah Webster (1783) 100million copies