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. 

Tulse Hill Community Market

On 25th January 2014, the Tulse Hill Community Market opened its doors in the Scout Hut in Upper Tulse Hill. The market opens fortnightly on Saturdays between 11am and 4pm. The market is now located at the James Wilson Coffee Shop, 357 Norwood Road, London SE27 9BQ.

Local young ladies aged between 13-17 years old set up the market to showcase their skills and products as budding business people and to help others locally to sell their wares. Everyone is welcome who can pay the modest table fee. 

Edward Ashdale estate agents have helped to publicise and fund the market. John Adamthwaite said, "It's a pleasure to be associated with the young ladies and their new market."

Tulse Hill Community Market upcoming dates in full:

• October    11th and 25th
• November    8th and 22nd
• December    13th and 20th

Please add this post to your Favourites, as we expect to add more information and updates including dates of the markets. 

Contact

If you'd like to get in touch with the market organisers, their contact details are:
 
Email: waistknotwantknot@live.com

Mobile numbers: Nicole on 07904 662306

Jennyfer on 07539 232992

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

Can Get Satisfaction in Bromley

The Rolling Stones famously sing a song titled Can't Get No Satisfaction. Bromley, on the other hand, can get satisfaction, even well-being and 
happiness, as has been newly revealed.

One of the Bromley homes we're currently selling - here

Recently, an Office of National Statistics (ONS) report showed that the wellbeing of people living in Bromley is above the national average and indeed much of the rest of London.

The Personal Well-Being Across the UK report - here - revealed some interesting facts. Bromley came out rather well. The detailed tables which can be accessed in the report are, perhaps unsurprisingly, somewhat detailed and complex. However, here are a few highlights, courtesy of an article in the Bromley News Shopper which ran a story about the report titled "Satisfied with your lot in life?" on 30th October 2013.

Life satisfaction

UK - 7.41
London - 7.25
Kent - 7.51
Bromley - 7.54

Happiness


UK - 7.28
London - 7.19
Kent - 7.37
Bromley - 7.53

Worthwhile


UK - 7.66
London - 7.51
Kent - 7.81
Bromley - 7.90

Anxiety


UK - 3.14
London - 3.43
Kent - 3.03
Bromley - 3.21 (well, no one's perfect)

What can we conclude? If you're already living in Bromley, you might want to stay put. It's nice here. If you're in a less happy place, consider moving here (with help from Edward Ashdale!). Of course, the statistics may not be reliable and certainly don't apply to everyone, but it is still good that one of our offices is based somewhere that does get some satisfaction.


Key points of the over all report:

• Personal well-being improved in the UK between 2011/12 and 2012/13. Ratings for life satisfaction and the feeling that the things we do in life are worthwhile increased on average, whilst anxiety levels fell.
• The proportions rating their personal well-being as very high or very low fell between 2011/12 and 2012/13 in the UK, while the proportion rating their well-being around 7 or 8 out of 10 increased.
• Among the countries of the UK, Northern Ireland had the highest average ratings for life satisfaction, worthwhile and happiness in 2012/13. A greater proportion of people in Northern Ireland rated their life satisfaction, worthwhile and happiness as very high (9 or 10 out of 10) than in any other country.
• Among the English regions, the South West and the South East had some of the highest levels of average life satisfaction and worthwhile ratings in 2012/13. The South West also had proportionately more people than any other region rating life satisfaction, worthwhile and happiness as 9 or 10 out of 10.
• The relationship between personal well-being and local circumstances is complex and the reasons why different areas of the UK have different levels of personal well-being is not yet fully understood. ONS plan to publish further analysis later this year looking in detail at how different aspects of where we live contribute to personal well-being.

 Read our earlier posts in our Index, here.
 

Sam's Word 6: Going nuclear and keeping calm and carrying on

It was interesting to see this week that the UK government has committed itself to a new

nuclear facility as a future electricity source. There are many issues involved - many existing power plants coming the the end of their lives and needing to be decommissioned; the cost of the electricity set in order to attract overseas investment; reliance on overseas investors who are bound up with other governments; safety; waste; positive investment in Britain and creation of employment; and finally the fact that some other nations, notably Germany, are firmly committed to electricity production without a nuclear component. Not an easy issue at all and among our staff and the wider public there is sure to be quite a range of views.

One definite plus is that, whatever the source, the future national electricity supply is being secured. We don't want power outages. Among our staff are a few very experienced estate agents (mentioning no names) who remember the last ones! In those days there were no computers smaller than would fill a room, not all TV's had colour, mobile phones were (probably) on TV's Tomorrow's World and seemed as futuristic as the robotic space aliens who were in the Cadbury's Smash advert laughing about old-fashioned potato peeling.  

We had our broadband go down recently for a few days in one of our offices. We managed and we kept our clients happy, but just imagine outages that would take out and offline internet, smart devices, unsmart devices, anything needing electricity? It's probably best not to. Though, for all the advances in technology, and online property portals and so on, estate agency remains very much a people business. 

It is our people you see when we first value your home if you're looking to move, or take you on our 100% accompanied viewings to properties for sale or let. It is our people who put through the paper (and electronic) work that moves transactions from offer to completion. It is our people and the people and the services we work with who ensure our landlords and tenants are happy with the properties they rent if an issue arises, say a boiler going wrong (yes, they need electricity too). It is our people who live our values and have the passion and friendliness and professionalism we cherish and who help us to innovate and to grow. Also, our people ensured that the loss of broadband is, to use a familiar phrase, a drama not a crisis. As one of our people myself, who you could quite likely meet, I enjoy the range of things we do and being hands-on. Often hands-on the steering wheel of my car as I go to and from meetings and viewings, in fact.

The strength of our team is a great comfort as we look forward to occupying our new office. Once we move in, there may be a teething problem or two. A washing machine upstairs may go wrong and produce a flood (fingers crossed as I write this)! Whatever happens, I know we have a great team and with them we will be able to keep calm and carry on. In fact, like the national grid, we're rather looking forward to our own bit of increased capacity.

Sam Samuel, MNAEA CRLM,  October 2013

You can check out our earlier posts in our blog index.

Cheese biscuits and the Met police...

A while ago we ran a My Dream Home art competition with a local school and we've blogged about local schools in case it is helpful to people moving to the area. Now we've done something a little different.

Some of what schools do as they educate chiildren can be very earnest. For example, some people might view maths or science as unexciting (though pretty much anything, taught well, can be fun). However, some things are very interesting to children and as any parent knows, food - and cookery lessons - are popular.

We are, then, pleased to be able to share a recipe for cheese biscuits, by the kind courtesy of the Cookery Club at Worsley Bridge Junior School in Beckenham. Do try the recipe and enjoy it (and feel free to bring a sample round to one of our offices!).

Cheese Twigs/biscuits recipe

Ingredients

130g plain flour
50g margarine or butter
80g coarsely grated cheese (strength according to taste)
1 egg yolk
1-2 teaspoons of water

Method

1. put on apron
2. tie back long hair
3. wash hands thoroughly with soap
4. put flour and marg into bowl and mix together with a fork
5. add cheese and stir
6. mix together with egg and add enough water to bind mixture together
7. put mix onto floured board and roll out thinly
8. cut into strips or shapes using a cutter
9. makes approx 30 – 40 twigs or 20 – 30 biscuits, depending how thin you roll them and what size cutter you use
10. place in oven until golden approx 8 – 10 mins

On a slightly less tasty note, our Tulse Hill office recently sponsored a police talk in Hitherfield Primary School in Streatham. Pupils need to know things that are good for their future safety and good citizenship and we were glad to help with that too.

Please view our Index blog post here to read earlier our blog posts.

Our Blog A-Z Index

If you're viewing our latest blog post, we think it's nice to have an easy way to browse our earlier posts. 

So, this is an A-Z Index of our blog posts. Probably the most important post we've published is the one talking about our Values and our Testimonials post - which between them show why we're worth choosing. You may also find our recommendations on reliable property related services handy too. Onto the Index:

A

A baptism of fire for my first lettings agreement (2015) A successful first year of Edward Ashdale estate agents (2013)

B

C

Calling Tulse Hill Businesses! (2014)

D

E

Estate Agent on the radio (2015)

F

Fifty posts, Cake, and a Manifesto for an Estate Agent (2014)
Football that means something (2014)
Front page news (2012)

G

Great estate agents blend the old and the new (2012)

H
  
Happy days for Bromley (2013)
Historic posts 1 - Ashdale's first newsletter before the merger that created Edward Ashdale Estate Agent (2008) 
Historic Posts 2 - Testimonials (2008)
House price reports (2012)

 I

In the news again (2012) 
It's a Selhurst Thing (August 2014)

J

K

Kevin's Property Blog (December 2015)
Kevin's Property Blog (February 2016)

L

Lambeth Country Show-n off at its best (2015)
Landlord and letting agents advice 1 -  Gas Safety FAQ (2012)
Local and national events calendar 2013 (2012)
Location! Location! Location! and the headlines (2013)

M

Market reflections 1 - house sale reasons and lettings cowboys (2013)
Moving in... with the Queen of Clean (2015)
My Dream Home art competition (2012)

N

New partnership, new newsletter for Edward Ashdale Estate Agents (2012)
Nostalgia Corner - posts from pre-Edward Ashdale days (2012)
New landlord? Don't be nervous (2016)

O

On The Market.com is on the market (2015)
Our community - St Christopher's Hospice (2012) 
Our new eBook and a hat-trick for landlords (2016)
Our team - John Campolini (2012) 
Our team - Derrick Boyce (2012)
Our team - Sam Samuel (2012)
Our team - Hayley Mortimer (2012)

P

Professional photography - an essential part of our service (2012)

Q

QR Codes and you (2012)

R

Rising Prices and Signs of the Times - thank you, Bromley Times (2015)
Rolling Stone says it will be a great 2015... so do we (2015)

S

Sam's Word 1 - Beware inflated expectations and valuations (2013) 
Sam's Word 2 - Don't always go with the big dogs (2013)
Sam's Word 3 - Current issues concerning the London residential property market (2013)
Sam's Word 4 - The look of Estate Agents and working in different areas and markets (2013)
Sam's Word 5 - Barnstorming (2013)
Sam's Word 6: Going nuclear and keeping calm and carrying on (2013)
Sam's Word 7: Over the hill (2014)
Sam's Word 8: Trick or Treat? (2014)
Sam's Word 9: OTM and the Estate Agents Markets (2015)
Sam's Word 10: Doing anything for a sale (2015)
Sam's Word 11: In the news again: and why shouldn't you be? (2016)
Schools In Focus 1 - Highfield Junior School, Beckenham (2012)
Schools In Focus 2 - Valley Primary School, Bromley (2012)
Schools In Focus 3 - St Marks Church of England Primary School (2012) 
Schools In Focus 4 - Clare House Primary School (2012) 
Schools In Focus 5 - Highfields Infants School, BR2 (2012)
Schools In Focus 6 - Worsley Bridge Junior School, Beckenham (2012)
#Sharethelove (2014)
Some property related services to consider (2012) 
Spring News 2013 (2013)
Stripes and Strypes (2015) 
St Matthews Project gains an outstanding award (2014)

T

Take comfort in accompanied viewings (2012)
The Great British Bake-On (2015)
Tips for landlords 1 - new energy regulation is coming (2015)
Tulse Hill Ladies Market (2013)
Tulse Hill Community Market Takes Off! (2014)

U

Useful post - South London local online (2012)

V

W

Ways to make housing affordable (2014)
Welcome to the new Edward Ashdale blog - 21st century estate agents with traditional values (2012)
We value being friendly (2012)
What gets an estate agent out of the bed in the morning (2012)
Whisky Galore (2015)

X

Y

Your moving people are moving - a bit (2013)

Z