Football that means something

Street Games Football Pools Champions 2013

“I never planned a single day of the St Matthews Project, but as my mum used to say, 'God works in mysterious ways.' It's a bit of redemption: I finally found a calling in life. It shows even if you've had negative experiences, you can use them. Some young men come back, bring their children. The other day an ex-coach brought in his new baby. Hopefully we'll see their kids play with us long-term! You may never know the difference you make, you may never see it. You may not be there to see the seed you planted blossom.”

We wrote about the St Matthews Project earlier this year when they won a major Football Association award.

The Project is celebrating its tenth anniversary, the FA award, and numerous other highs such as featuring on TV's Sky Sports. The Project started with one man and some casual kickabouts in a local park. We had a chat with this man, the founder of the St Matthews Project, Lee Dema. He gave us some background to the story of what has become an achievement that has positively touched the lives of many people. It is his words that start off this article.

Lee is a Londoner, born and bred. He grew up in Tulse Hill and Brixton, at one point being re-housed to the Loughborough Estate in East Brixton. He recalls leaving Strand Grammar School – now Elm Court School in Brixton Hill – with three 'O' levels and not a lot to do. Lee recalls, “There weren't a lot of jobs about, I lacked confidence, and I drifted into the wrong crowd. I'd given up footie in my teens. I'd draw a parallel between then and now, there's not the jobs and there are young people without a feeling of self-worth.”

Later on, it was when Lee was living on the St Matthews Estate in Brixton and he took his daughter to Brockwell Park for a kickabout with a football that things started to change. “Kids from the estate with nothing better to do, who had never left our block, and with their parents OK, tagged along, that was the seeds of the St Matthew Project.”

“I was a Parent Governor at Jubilee Primary School and introduced a ‘Friday Football’ after-school club. We ran an Easter tournament in 2004 and Lambeth Council and L&Q Housing got involved. A hundred kids turned up for a tournament in Jubilee playground! I was then asked to volunteer to run a summer holiday football kickabout. It was supposed to run for six weeks, but that was ten years ago and now here we are! Though my knees have gone. That happened during the early kickabouts.”

“In 2005, I got a little funding from the Football Foundation, a small grant and a football kit for a team. I started with two teams, U13's and U17's. In 2008, I got a big three year community grant from the Football Foundation, which was match-funded by the Walcot Foundation, which only gives out awards in Lambeth. Walcot have been really good to us, funding us ever since.”

“Then I went full-time as 'Football Development Officer', under the Football Foundation's advice, now I'm 'Project Manager'. I'd been working as a volunteer for four years and it had become unsustainable with the demands of the project and family. One of my daughters answered our phone one day and said, ‘He’s out with his other family!’ But the grant changed that."

Christmas 6-a-side winners 2007

“In 2008, I started a girls-only project. It was a turn-up-and-play approach,six-a-side and five-a-side. They won the Street Games Fives London finals two years running (2013-2014) and went onto play at St George's Park for the last two years of national finals.”

“The very first team I ran, U13's, used to play in the Tandridge League. That took them to fixtures as far away as Edenbridge and Tunbridge Wells. I was driving a mini bus around the home counties because we never had any parental involvement, but it was really rewarding."

“In March 2011, the Project became a charity. The difference? It became run even more properly. I do fifty hour weeks now, I probably need more staff. I do have an Admin Officer for a couple of days a week, funded by Comic Relief. It is just as well, now we have to show evidence for all that we do, which is a huge strain on time and resources. The more successful we are, the more funding we need to draw in, as we're a free service. Obviously, it's difficult. Six of the current staff came through from when they were playing from ten years old.”

"Now the charity is based in the bowling green pavilion in Brockwell park, where there is a classroom for coaching and other courses we run. We play in a more local league nowadays, the London County Saturday, and the teams usually use public transport, sometimes hiring a bus for games in Rotherhithe or Brentford."

“In 2011 our under-13 team won the London Saturday League Cup, at Hackney Marshes. We won in extra time. We'd put a mini-bus on for parents. At the end everyone ran onto the pitch. That was quite something. This year, the girls team won a penalty shootout at the Street Games London Finals - that was quite dramatic.”

As it is Christmas, we asked Lee for his Christmas wish-list for the Project:

• “More coaching hours”
• “To get into local schools and to use their facilities”
• “Equipment, balls, the usual!”
• “We run a second hand boot scheme, some new ones donated would be nice”
• “A nice football pitch, full-size somewhere. I'm working on it”

Lee concluded, “It was never about football. It was about helping kids where I grew up. Doing it here means something to me. I see the same issues, the same problems – even the same addresses sometimes. ‘Same scene, different props.’”   

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

More, from the St Matthews Project website:

The St. Matthew’s Project started life in the summer of 2004 and has developed, literally, from a kick-about in the local park for young people from one estate in Brixton, St. Matthew’s. The origins of the project are linked to an even smaller ‘community’ – Springett House – a large L-shaped block on the southern edge of the estate, backing onto Brixton Water Lane. The young people from Springett House were initially extremely reluctant to interact with their peers from the rest of the estate but barriers were broken down by organising a series of friendly football matches and the creation of ‘Springett F.C’, the forerunner of today’s St. Matthew’s F.C.

The young people from Springett soon came to see themselves as part of the wider estate community and that they had many shared interests and experiences with other young people from around the estate. Using the same approach, the young people from St. Matthew’s came to interact with their peers from the nearby Tulse Hill Estate and surrounding streets, overcoming long-standing hostilities and coming together under the SMP banner.
The Project now regularly engages with over 150 young people every week, has secured grant funding since 2004 from a variety of agencies, developed over 100 F.A qualified coaches from level 1 to 3, developed girls football in Lambeth and consistently provided free, fun football activities to young people living within one of the most deprived 10% SOAs in the country. In addition to football specific activities we’ve arranged trips, encouraged youth volunteering, delivered accredited training courses and healthy lifestyle workshops, and provided one-to-one support to our young people wherever necessary.

Working closely with Lambeth Council and other local agencies, we have now established a recognised hub in Brockwell Park, continuing to attract young people from across the SW2 / SW9 area and providing them with new opportunities for personal development, in order to help them fulfil their potential.

Sam's Word 8 – Trick or Treat?

Sam's Word

As I write, it is Hallowe'en. Strictly Come Dancing has just aired its annual special and Eastender Jake Wood had an off night, while Frankie and her partner Kevin scored a ten.

We have had two trick or treaters at our (home) door last night, and we were ready with the Quality Street.

So no tricks were needed.

However, there are certainly both tricks and treats in the world of estate agency.

We're one of the treats. Edward Ashdale estate agents is now an established and respected name since two like-minded businesses came together to become Edward Ashdale and work across Lambeth and Bromley. We do good things. Some are exceptional. Such as consistently accompanying people on viewings. The safest thing to do and the best way for people to get all of our expertise, all of the time. Such as consistently using professional photography. We're trying to attract buyers to the homes we sell for people and only the best will do.

There are also the tricks, or tricksters, out there. In our latest newsletter, I said that, “With property prices at strong levels the opportunities for buy-to-let investment are scarce, so if you are thinking about investing in property it’s more important than ever to choose carefully so as to maximise the yield and chance of capital growth. Properties with onerous maintenance and service charges are always likely to impact on yield and capital growth, so fully investigate any planned maintenance a building may have ahead. There are certain property management companies that have to be avoided, given their culture and practices. In an industry that is allowed to operate unregulated a poor leasehold management company or freeholder can make a Landlord’s investment a very unhappy experience.”

An article (here) from 2007 by a disenchanted former estate agent went further. He wrote before the The Property Ombudsman (TPO) came into being, which was a welcome development, though arguably even now one without enough legal teeth.

The list of horrors the agent came up with included:

1. Gazumping. When a deal has been agreed some agents still show people around the property hoping for a better offer.

2. Value a property at a low price - and then sell it to a friend or colleague.

3. Use scare tactics such as pretending to receive offers to get people to make a higher offer.

4. Neglect to pass on all offers to vendor in hope of achieving a higher one later on.

5. Refuse to reduce commission if the price is reduced.

6. Overvalue houses to secure business from sellers.

7. Supply customers with fake documents to help them secure a mortgage.

8. Make up a very low offer. This shocks the seller into accepting a genuine offer which is far lower 
than the original valuation.

9. Fake evidence that other properties in the area have sold for an overly high price.

10. Erect for sale/sold signs at homes the agent had nothing to do with to give a false impression.

Bringing things up to date, this year the Property Ombudsman reported a sharp increase in the number of consumer complaints for the residential lettings sector, ahead of the requirement that came into force on 1st October 2014 for every letting agent to register with an approved redress scheme.

The figures, published in The Property Ombudsman's 2014 Interim Report, show that 1,187 complaints were resolved in total about both sales and lettings issues between 1 January and 30 June 2014, with 721 complaints (61%) made against letting agents – a 37% increase on the same period last year.

The Ombudsman upheld 74% of the complaints made by landlords and tenants against letting agents.

Christopher Hamer, the Property Ombudsman, explained, "Up until now there has been no legal requirement for any letting agent to register with a redress scheme, which has left thousands of tenants and landlords unable to access our free, fair and independent dispute resolution service. That is shown by the fact that around 20% of the initial consumer enquiries we received in this period related to lettings agents that were not signed up to TPO. I am pleased to note that the new legislation will change that and we've already seen nearly 1,000 firms register this year, making us the largest redress scheme with 11,744 lettings offices under my jurisdiction and following our Code of Practice, which sets out what service consumers should receive from member firms.
'The sharp increase in the number of lettings agents registering for redress with TPO, combined with TPO's increased profile and the ever-growing number of households renting goes some way to explain why we've seen such a significant increase in the number of lettings complaints, with more than half of our total enquiries now coming from landlords and tenants that feel they have been treated unfairly. The new legislation will make it an offence for any ‘rogue' agent that has not registered to trade and they will a face of up to £5,000."

Key highlights from TPO's latest Interim Report reveal that:

• Registered agents (p7): more than 4,000 additional agents registered with TPO, with sales and lettings representing the biggest growth areas. A total of 30, 128 agents registered with TPO across all jurisdictions – a 15% increase on the same period last year

• Consumer enquiries (p8): More than 8,474 consumers contacted TPO regarding a property dispute (a 4.6% increase on the same period last year). More than half of all the enquiries received were regarding lettings disputes with 4,759 enquiries logged (56.1% of all enquiries)

• Complaints (p9): Complaints grew by 37% overall with 1,187 cases reviewed, of which 721 were against letting agents (up 37%) and 544 were against sales agents (up 42%). The Ombudsman upheld 74% of all lettings complaints while 61% of all sales complaints were upheld

• Consumer case studies (p10): The Ombudsman hand-picked a selection of case studies to highlight issues varying from death and inventories, owed rent, visas, pets, ex partners, planning permission and fraud to share an insight into the cases reviewed and awards given
  

To view TPO's 2014 Interim Report, please visit http://www.tpos.co.uk/quarterly_report.htm.

What is The Property Ombudsman?

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme offers an independent and impartial dispute resolution service to consumers who have been unable to resolve their disputes with a registered agent. The scheme was established in 1990. The Ombudsman can provide redress to place the consumer back in the position they were before the complaint arose, achieving a full and final settlement of the dispute and all claims made by either party. Where appropriate, the Ombudsman can make compensatory awards in individual cases up to a maximum of £25,000 for actual and quantifiable loss and/or for aggravation, distress and/or inconvenience caused by the actions of a registered agent.

TPO is free to all consumers. Agents pay a single annual subscription covering them for sales, lettings, commercial, international and auction activities. TPO does not charge case fees.
At 1 August 2014 over 13,200 sales offices and 11,600 letting offices were registered with TPO. The TPO estimates that these figures represent 95% of sales agents and 65% of lettings agents operating within the UK.

What does this mean? 

Hopefully, that tenants and landlords will receive better treatment and experience less tricks in future. 

I believe that everything that is done to improve the behaviour, practices and reputation of estate agents can only be a good thing.

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  November 2014


You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

St Matthews Project gains an outstanding award

Hot on the heels of our last blog post on something excellent that is British, we're kicking off (!) October with another one.

This time, we're talking football.Specifically, the St Mattews Project in Tulse Hill. The project, and the award, are probably best introduced by information received from James Alexander, a Trustee of the Project:

"As a trustee of the St Matthews Project I (James) wanted to let you all know that on Thursday evening the St Matthews Project won the FA Charter Standard Club of the Year for London award and also the wider regional award.  This means that out of 4500 football based projects throughout London and the surrounding area the FA deemed the St Matthews Project as achieving the most over the past 12 months. As you can imagine this is an amazing achievement and is real recognition of the hard work Lee has put in over the past 10 years.

"This comes on the back of the project receiving the Ambition Quality Mark earlier in the year recognising the high standard of the projects policies and procedures. 

"For those who didn't know the breadth of the projects work, here is a snippet of what St Matthews offers our over 100 weekly participants

• Weekly parents play football for 3-4 year olds and their parent
• Weekly turn up and play sessions for ages 6-9, 9-12 and 16+
• Twice weekly team sessions (training and matches) for under 10, under 11s, under 13s, under 15s and under 16s
• Weekly girls football
• FA level 1 and 2 coaching courses
• NVQs in sports coaching

"Alongside this Lee and the coaches spend countless hours supporting the young people deal with family issues, liaising with schools and supporting young people navigate their way through adolescence. Personally I take great joy is seeing how the project has been able to employ a number of our ex players as coaches.  This Saturday for example over half of the coaches were ex players who have done their coaching qualifications with us and now work for the project.

"Well done Lee and everyone involved for your amazing achievement."

It is a real pleasure to share this sort of thing in this blog.

 You can browse our other blog topics in the Index here.  

Ways to make housing affordable

Teepol - cleaning up at the British Family Fayre

A lot of attention is being given to affordable housing, social housing, and the need for more housing. Indeed, the latest development is the Conservative party's proposal for discounted housing for first-time buyers under forty years old, as reported here by the BBC.  Most of these schemes simply reflect the fact that demand for housing and home ownership continues to outstrip supply, which has a lot to do with ongoing, and in some cases, record-breaking rises in house prices.

As responsible estate agents, we at Edward Ashdale certainly hope that the initiatives under way do help people find homes at an affordable cost, though it is certainly true that in both the owned and rental sectors the cost of a home does not compare well to the income of many people.

One consideration, then, is people's income. Having more income is one way to afford a better home. That is one reason why we have been happy to help the Tulse Hill Community Market to take off. It is an outlet for local people to trade goods and services and, in many cases, the goods such as jewellery and art are ones that the traders have created themselves. This is the kind of place where may people have started selling and begun businesses that grow and grow. It is easy to forget that even massive businesses start somewhere, just as Marks & Spencer did, with £5 and a Penny Bazaar. Even car boot sales, where again people sometimes sell the things they have started to make (or bake), can be an important step for some people. So we welcome these too, and note that a new one in Brixton has been set up, named BrixtonBooty, and we wish that well - see @BrixtonBooty on Twitter.


So, we also view efforts elsewhere to boost the economy, large and small, with approval. There are many artisan markets around, one instance being the Gingham Goose Craft Market in Hayes - Twitter @GinghamGoose. There are also British manufacturers who have, despite the demise of many proud names, clung on and prospered down the years. One example is Teepol, a cleaning products manufacturer in Orpington, which has been in business since the 1960's. They recently appeared at the British Family Fayre. The British Family are an interesting phenomenon in themselves, having chosen to buy only British goods for a year, which gave them a unique twelve months and a lot of publicity for British producers.  On Twitter, @BritishFamily.

So, in short, good luck to the government with what it is doing for the housing sector, and even better luck to the people making this country prosperous.
  
You can browse our other blog topics in the Index here.  

It's A Selhurst Thing

When we attended the recent Tulse Hill Community Market Fun Day, an initiative we (Edward Ashdale Estate Agents) are proud to support, we met someone interesting. Of course, we always meet interesting people at the markets and other activities they put on. This time, when we blogged subsequently, here, we focused on Constable Douglas-Smith, a local policeman who came along.

However, we also met former Tulse Hill resident and strong supporter of positive community interaction, Sadie Campbell. Sadie told us about something she is launching in the Selhurst and Croydon area of London.

First, the 18th of August sees "It's a Selhurst Thing", a Community Day and Creative Arts and Photographic Exhibition in Acts House, 30 Union Road, Croydon CR0 2XU.

Then, between 1st and 7th September, in the Sun Lounge of the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, CR9 1DG, the exhibition is in place over a longer period of days.

Sadie told us that, "This project has three main aims all of which are of lasting community benefit:
 

1) [helping people to] Gain transferable skills. Approximately 20 local people  aged 8- 70+ years will support the project, some volunteering in roles that develop their knowledge of project and event development and to learn new skills, such as photography.

2) [to]  Enrich Community Cohesion and through partnership working produce an exhibition depicting the likes and dislikes of people living in the Selhurst/Croydon area. These stories will allow the meek and mild to speak to decision makers and members of the wider community, as the exhibition will cover 100 years of Croydon life. It will travel through the borough allowing people to add pieces to it. Finally, it will be archived to serve as a historical record of how we used to live, work and play.

3) [to serve as a] Memorial. The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Fico Dougan, who was just 17 years old when he was tragically murdered on the 25th September 2013 in Croydon.  As a ‘Community Call For Positive Action,’ we hope that this project will be a start of the Fico Dougan Award, where local people will help raise money annually, to offer financial support to ambitious people who want to quickly access opportunities, i.e., access training, education or to start off a business idea, etc., who would not otherwise be able to afford the fees involved.This will serve as a lasting memorial in Fico’s honour to finish the educational journey that he started, but unfortunately could not complete."

If you can, go and see either event - or both events. If you're local, add a piece to the travelling exhibition. 

The poster that is at the top of this blog post offers some more detail and Sadie's contact details, if you would like to get in touch about having the exhibition near you. Her email is sadiecampbell@hotmail.co.uk.   

You can browse our other blog topics in the Index here.

Helping the thin blue line

Constable Douglas-Smith

Sometimes it is surprising how things come together. We're fresh from supporting the Met Police's Junior Citizen initiative by supporting 90 children to take part in activities promoting child safety, health and wellbeing - this is an earlier example. Our Tulse Hill office is looking forward to receiving the certificate we will get acknowledging our help, but helping the children is the real point.

We didn't think about it at the time, but when we supported the new Community Market in Tulse Hill, that too supported children and the police. This came home to us when we went to the Fun Day run yesterday by the Community Market at their old Scout Hut location. The market itself is about to move to a coffee shop at 357 Norwood Road, just down from our Tulse Hill office. The Fun Day, though, featured local traders, a few only just starting out, and people including (sometimes face-painted) children. It also featured Constable Douglas-Smith, pictured. On his beat in the community, the constable is well-used to being photographed as he pops into local events, keeping up relationships with people. However, if there were no Community Market, there would be less positive things being done in the community and one less opportunity for Constable Douglas-Smith to catch up with people in a nice setting. So, we are very happy that we have supported the market, and the Met's Junior Citizen initiative, and that we met Constable Douglas-Smith, our local example of the thin blue line of British policing.

We look forward to seeing him again.

You can read about who else we meet at the Community Markets and about their services and contact details in our post here.

You can browse our other blog topics in the Index here. 

Defining what estate agency means in the 21st century

Our three proud partners: John, John, and Sam

We have already stated our values for all to see and we've already captured some of our testimonials in this blog. However, recently the two came together in a very welcome way.

We received these new testimonials:

“Thanks for letting my flat in Kenley and finding me the best tenants I could wish for! It is testimony that you have sailed the rough waters of the turbulent past markets & survived, this is because you are jolly nice, honest and smart. And it is not often one can say that about people in your profession.” – Paul

“I really don’t exaggerate when I say how much your help has eased this whole process for me, from beginning to end. Yesterday was a good news day. Not only did we complete but my brother who was recently diagnosed with cancer got a clear CT scan. So, as you can imagine, what with that and the flat drama I think I would have crumbled but for all the help you lot have given me. You define what estate agency means.” - Jeri

In a time when the number of high street estate agents offices is rising, and when the lure of online and 'do it yourself' property transaction packages is present, one might reasonably ask, why use an estate agent? Or, why use one in particular? Especially for a property sale in a time when - with a few exceptions around the country - properties are selling quickly. 

The answer to these questions is simple. Property transactions are high value in financial terms and in terms of emotional investment and potential stress. You need to get the best for your money in a transaction you may not repeat for years and to experience the minimum of stress with the best results possible. 

We believe that means working with professional, friendly, innovative people who are passionate about delivering a great service is vital. All of these positives are embedded in our values and in what we do from day to day. If they weren't, we wouldn't be getting the testimonials we do, old or new. So, it is great to be called jolly nice, honest, and smart and to define what the best of estate agency means. 

Taking a step back, though, perhaps the best message in these testimonials is that Jeri's brother got his clear CT scan. Thank goodness for that.

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Calling Tulse Hill businesses! Your community needs you

Tulse Hill Forum Chairman Erica with a fine cake and Chris, its baker

Yes, if you're a business in Tulse Hill, your community needs you! If you are a business in Tulse Hill, and we're one, near the railway station, you are part of the community. There's no getting away from it. So why not join us at the gathering the Tulse Hill Forum has organised on Wednesday 7th May at 7.30pm in the Creative Aroma coffee shop to meet local business people?

The Forum wants to listen to what local businesses think is important that can be done in Tulse Hill to make it even better for them and for everyone in the community. The Forum is also interested in finding out what businesses can contribute to what the Forum is doing - time, skills, money, items, even things as simple as use of window space for posters. Some of the things the Forum is doing are really innovative and making a real positive difference, drawing on the talents of local people of all ages.

The Tulse Hill Forum are as bright and engaging a group of people, and as determined to boost the local community, as any you'll find around the country. We really enjoy talking with them and doing what we can to support them and the recently started Tulse Hill Community Market. Hence this blog post.

So, if you're in a local business, please join the Forum and one or more of us from Edward Ashdale Estate Agents on the 7th. Did we mention what a lovely place the Creative Aroma is? Or how superb their home made cakes are? Well, they are. If you've not been there before, some and find out for yourself.

See you there.

John Adamthwaite

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.
  

Sam's Word 7: Over the hill

We're in red, white and blue...

When you are, like us, a comparatively new agency (two years old) built on the foundation stones of two much longer established businesses with strong reputations, every step forward means a lot.

One of our most recent steps forward was over a hill. As you leave Orpington and drive up past the railway station, it was possible recently to see a "Edward Ashdale: For Sale" sign at the roadside. Now it is equally possible to see an "Edward Ashdale: sold" sign in the same spot. This is one of the properties we have dealt with that is further out than usual. Why? Because the word is spreading that we are good at what we do.

The word is spreading also because of things like a recent experience we had when talking with a homeowner about possibly selling his property for him. We were appointed over two larger estate agent chains, which was a real mark of respect and trust by the homeowner. He told us afterwards that it was our passion for the service we would deliver to him, that meant we would leave no stone unturned to do a great job for him, that made the difference. We are already doing all we can to reward his trust. That is what you get when you work with a values-driven business like ours that takes pride in delivering a great service. 

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  April 2014 

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Fifty posts, Cake, and a Manifesto for an Estate Agent

This is the 50th blog post since Edward Ashdale Estate Agents was founded and we can reflect on a lot of writing during over two years of serving many people across South East London and beyond. We deserve a bit of cake, and yes, we made this one. It disappeared very rapidly probably back around post 20 or so. So, let us reflect on cake and more, and come to our little Manifesto for an Estate Agent.

We've won an award in that time, though to be fair the one below was for golf. 

The golf winner was one of our Directors, Sam Samuel. For some reason he's the only one of our partners who has been caricatured....

 Derrick from the Tulse Hill office escaped...

 So did Director John Campolini. So far... 

John Adamthwaite, also a partner, is another to have fled the artistic scene... 

Yet we have done our bit in the local community, as shown below with the Tulse Hill Community Market, and we're not stopping...

We've doggedly just carried on making sure our clients are happy...

We've revisited the cake theme and got some attention from the press, even though they didn't get any cake (sorry, guys)...

We've certainly proved we don't take the biscuit and we're no mugs...

Oh yes, let's not forget that Manifesto.  Perhaps Manifesto is going too far, but what we're saying is we'd like all estate agents to be a bit like us, as we're worth using.

Why?

- We’re 21st Century Estate Agents with old-fashioned values. As the foregoing might suggest, we have a sense of humour too;

- That means we really do live up to our values:

- Passion to do a great job. That is why we enjoy taking people on 100% accompanied viewings. Not all estate agents do this, but we believe it is a way we can show people we really care;

- Pride in our professionalism, getting things right for our clients. That is why, unlike many estate agents, we use professional photographers to show the homes we sell or let in their best possible light;

- Friendliness. We enjoy our work and its shows in the way we are, with everyone;

- Innovation. Old-fashioned values doesn’t mean an out of date service. We use the latest IT tools and social media where they help us to help our clients.  

Also:

- We know our patch. We cover offices in the South East London and Kent from our two offices and we are constantly out and about. We believe in helping the community we’re part of and we enjoy helping out local schools. In Tulse Hill, our encouragement and sponsorship has helped to get a very special community market created by young people up and running

- We show off the properties we have for sale or let really well, using our website and our advertising on all major property search portals including Rightmove and Zoopla. The colour professional photographs and detailed floor plans we provide are a real asset

- Free EPC* (Energy Performance Certificate) – No up front costs

That just leaves us to say, if you're thinking of moving and have read this far, please call 020 8466 8445 to book your FREE MARKET APPRAISAL!


*Subject to Edward Ashdale selling the property

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Share the love

As it is Valentine's Day tomorrow, we thought we'd get a little seasonal.

We're using the Twitter hashtag #Sharethelove to encourage other businesses to follow our lead and make a gesture that could be useful and make people a bit happier. Ours is very simple. Following the success of our initial support for the Tulse Hill Community Market (and we haven't stopped) we thought we'd offer our clients a warming discount. We're sharing the love, and shaving some costs for people who use our 21st century service with traditional values.

30% off all fees throughout February is the result. We hope you like it and any other results of #Sharethelove. Follow us on Twitter at @edwardashdale to keep up to date with what we do.

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Tulse Hill Community Market takes off!

See below for who these happy people are

In our last blog post, we said "Make a note in your Calendar - Saturday 25th January 2014" - about the launch of the Community Market in Tulse Hill. Details and future dates of the Community Market are in that earlier post, here. 

Well, we made a note ourselves and were there for the launch, and it was great! To think that just four months ago the market was an idea that came to young ladies, Iyanla (14 years old); Jada (14) and Liqueda (15) - all cousins - as they went around Brixton Hill market, and now, three months on, the hall was open, and all the tables for sellers were taken. Also, the marketing - 2500 bright, cheerful postcards designed by Shenice (18) and a poster displayed in our Tulse Hill window - had done its work and people were coming in, and the sun was shining. OK, that last part is hard to believe, but it was, and shining on the purple balloons and A-stand that were proudly declaring that the market was in session.

The creation of the market meant a lot to local people. So much so that they had managed to bring Lambeth's Deputy Mayor, Councillor Adedamola Aminu, and Clovis Till, holder of an MBE, to officially declare the market open. Pictured above together are, from the left - Margaret Pierre-Jarrett, Director of High Trees Community Development Trust; Sam Samuel of Edward Ashdale Estate Agents; Deputy Mayor of Lambeth Cllr Adedamola Aminu; John Adamthwaite of Edward Ashdale; and Nicole of Ast Enterprises (see below). Nicole is interviewed for the Now In Focus podcast about the story of the market, on the opening day, here.

Here is a little on the people who took part as sellers in the market. Apologies if anyone is missed - just give Edward Ashdale a call and you can be added later:

- The young ladies mentioned above themselves had a stall with varied produce - some very well worded key rings, small pictures, and jewellery. Hung nearby were some of Shenise's T-shirts with some stylish artwork;

- Not with a stall today, but present and helping, Nicole of Ast Enterprise - "Healing Hand Crafted Jewellery". Nicole can also be credited with having a big hand in helping the market become a reality. She will be selling at later markets. Enquiries to aqua.bah@talktalk.net;

Joan - centre

- Art by Joan (who only started drawing at 70 years old!) - botanicals and pet potraits - greetings cards, T shirts and other uses of Joan's very good drawing and artwork. Joan can be commissioned to produce pet portraits in pastels and those we saw were excellent, showing real character in the animals. Enquiries - joanlongley@btinternet.com;

A great sound

- Goldstar Bamboo Sax - small (and not so small) saxaphones made of bamboo. They made a lovely sound, which was played to us by Chris, live, all day. See www.goldstarbamboosax.com; 

By What I Hear I Keep

 - What I Hear I Keep - Scarves and hats knitted by Nola - strong colours and lovely soft wool - to find out more contact Nola at whatihearikeep@yahoo.com. Nola also offers children's tuition services;

- Titas World Cuisine - "Infusion of Caribbean flavours Homestyle Cooking" - very popular and Chef Vincent's food disappeared fast - see their Facebook page here; 

- Cherubim. Really nice baby clothes, and with additions of hard-to-source fabric from Ghana that made some of the garments really striking - contact Yvonne via vonsilver925@btinternet.com; 

- Jewellery, t-shirts, hats and scarves by Kylie and Trisha, two cousins. Baby bibs with slogans like "I'm not crying, I'm ordering dinner" were fun as well. Even more fun - as the bibs were inspired by Kylie having a baby recently - was Kyle mentioning one accurately inscribed "I support Liverpool because Daddy does";

- Abi's Cakes - flower arrangements; chocolates; chocolate bouquet's and baby garments thoughtfully arranged as cupcakes, with a chocolate on top. Enquiries to mommo-08@hotmail.co.uk;

- Butterfly After School Club (at the local St Martin's Community Centre) - Amanda was very friendly and there were a couple of photos of very happy children - enquiries - amanda_butterfly@hotmail.co.uk;  

Sweet T Licious

- Sweet T Licious - cake pops. Beautifully decorated, very sweet! Susan - enquiries - susiesoven@hotmail.co.uk.

Not to forget the teas and coffees and wraps that were there to refresh market-goers. 

In summary - it was a great day, with great people. Jennyfer Mclean, a lady herself instrumental in the setting up of the market, said something to remember during the speeches. "This is about youth, not people like me who have retired, but leaving a legacy, and going on and on and on, like the work Margaret [of High Trees] does." Not that anyone who meets Jennyfer would consider her retired. 

Joan, the artist, agreed with Jennyfer, saying "This is an enterprise, a place where young people and others can sell things and be inspired to make things and learn from people older than themselves."

As for the inspiring younger people themselves, Iyanla said, "I'm excited about the market and hope it will be a great success." Jada added, "I feel good, we've done something positive for the community." Shenice said, "I hope the community market gets known throughout this area." 

We're sure it will. We look forward to future Tulse Hill Community Markets and are honoured to be involved.

You can view our earlier posts in our Index here.

Update March 2014

This section of the blog will list more traders who have appeared at the market:

- Erin, an American lady resident in the UK who knits and crochets hats that are a lot of fun as well as keeping your head warm, for instance a pony hat with a mane, and a mouse hat. Erin also brought with her from a maker in Brighton several knitted toys, included an enchanting stripy cat, a Frankenstein's monster (with real neck bolt) and a pterodactyl. The items are available on craft website Etsy and when we have links we'll post them here;

- Mareah's Patisserie. Dubbed "a decadent taste of the Caribbean" Reah bakes artisan cakes and patisserie with unexpected and imaginative ingreadients from the Carribean - a bakewell tart with guava; cupcakes with Scotch Bonnet chili peppers, and more. If you would like to contact Reah, email mareahspatisserie@gmail.com or call 07931 969341. The business bagan in November 2013 so it was a pleasure to see the Tulse Hill Community Market showcasing her work so early;

- Maureen, who takes many different items from her personal collection and from friends and combines them with items from Freecycle to produce saleable goods. One especially striking sale item was clipframes from Freecycle combined with art prints from Maureen's earlier times as a bookseller. Maureen aims to generate some money to help people with learning difficulties get together and socialise mode widely.

Update July 2014

The Fun Day on 26th July featured more new traders, attesting to the wealth of talent and enterprise in and around Tulse Hill:

- Blessed G (above). Serving some excellent Caribbean food (the Akee with Salt Fish was really good and she has her own fresh cucumber, carrot, sour sop, ginger an lime, irish moss drinks). Also a mobile DJ for hire, Blessed G - a.k.a Gloria Dixon, email blessedgee1@gmail.com and telephone 07539 943612, is doing very well with her "Friday Night Fish Fries" from her home and plans to study to be a radio DJ. Her catering and DJ services can both be hired and both were being successfully used by the Community Market.

Speaking with us afterwards, Gloria confirmed that she can provide a range of fish dishes and also can provide specialist dishes on request, i.e., lobster, crab, fish pie, etc. Her regular dishes include: 

• Fry fish snapper/sea bass
• Steam fish
• Pepper prawns
• Fry sprats
• Salt fish fritters
• Ackee and salt fish
• Stew fish
• Home made fish n chips
• Rice, rice n peas, dumpling, bammy, breadfruit, plantain, hardo bread and more

Delivery is available on orders over £10 and prices start from £1 for single items. Meals range from £5 - £10 depending on items selected.

- K'Diva make up artist and facepainting. Karlene also does henna painting - such as on Baby Bumps - and makeovers and has been professionally trained. She says, "Everyone who sits in my chair leaves smiling."  www.kdivauk.com and on Twitter @kdivauk, email kdivauk@gmail.com

- Natural You bath and body products. Run by Sue, the stall features a range of goods including coconut body butter and an avocado, honey and olive moisturiser. The latter had to be replaced by one lady customer after two days, "as her daughter and her boyfriend kept nicking it!" Liz changes the range to sell the most popular items, such as the 'freshly squeezed' grapefuit bubble bath. Contact motherluv@hotmail.co.uk on 07532 169757

- Sadie Campbell - Former Tulse Hill resident, supporting the market and local people, but planning a series of events and charitable work in Croydon. Pictured above using the services of local ice man (and caterer, accountant, bookkeeper and jerk chicken man) Andy with his Yo Yo Shave Ice Desserts - @YoyoShaveice email shaveicedesserts@gmail.com, tel 07973 743344.

- Prudence - providing advice on stopping smoking and on wellbeing in general. As Prudence told us afterwards, "I provide non-nicotine stop smoking service for Blacks and Ethnic Minority Communities, Asylum seekers and Refugees community. As part of stop smoking top tips, I encourage and  support community groups , community organisations and young people, as well as event organizers  or  anyone who is interest to host one or more stop smoking top tips service programs. Here are few of our services:

• Health detoxification services for every one;
• Advisory Services relating to non -smoking:On telephone and face to face support;
• Health Assessments Services relating to Carbon Monoxide;
• 95 days non- smoking challenge programs;
• VADS - Non smoking Validation Services.

I also provides Ex-smokers recognition Certificate.This is to celebrate  Ex-smokers success. An opportunity to encourage  communities groups to say thank you to those we know  who have quit smoking. Show appreciation, value their efforts and contributions." 

"For more information on how one can join us, please visit www.stopsmokingtoptips.com or email opulentwellbeing@gmail.com or call 0788 340 1041."

You can browse our other blog topics in the Index here.