The four seasons of 2024 have flashed by! We are so excited to bring you our Spring quarterly newsletter with four new Bell House articles which we really hope you enjoy reading.
“A home from home”. QA Quilts adding a colourful touch to the Ronald McDonald House in Camberwell
by Janis Fuller and Marianne ten Kate - QA founders
Photo credit: Marianne ten Kate
The Quilt Academy - QA for short - has been making quilts for Project Linus* for children and babies in King’s College Hospital since we began in 2018. Angus was keen for practical skills to be part of the Bell House mix, so in 2017 he contacted Dulwich Quilters. Janis and Marianne, who run QA, are both members of Dulwich Quilters and took on the challenge of sharing their passion for all things quilting in weekly drop-in sessions at Bell House. Charity quilts are a staple of quilters far and wide, so the makers are encouraged to make one and then they are hooked!
These colourful and cuddly textiles came to the attention of Ronald McDonald House** staff who also work with King’s to support the families of those children. Families who live far from King’s can stay nearby in the RMH residential home in Camberwell.
It’s a newly refurbished building with 24 bedrooms, each with twin beds which can be used separately or joined, in now gleaming wonderful hotel-like rooms.
And therein lay the problem.
The rooms needed something special to make them feel like a “home away from home”. Both family and young patients benefit so much from the daily, often day-long ward visits. Afterwards, the families are able to return to the RMH and make a meal, meet with other siblings and parents and rest ready for the next day.
RMH staff asked Project Linus if each room could have a pair of quilts to make the beds look inviting and cosy. It would be an ideal way to make the haven they create at RMH to feel like home too.
If there’s one thing we know about at QA, it’s making quilts and we love a challenge. It takes a lot of time and effort to make a beautiful and hard wearing quilt — one that can be washed and loved for years.
Each month, the QA stitchers learn a new block of just the right size to make a beautiful quilt top. Quilt blocks are made of pieces of fabric, known as patches, sewn together often in complex patterns. Quilt tops are variously made from repeating blocks set together, or a design appliquéd onto patches, or plain patches set together — as long as the geometry works and the maker is happy with the result. The photo above is of Gill, a QA regular, with a partially completed Economy Block quilt top to one of our RMH quilts.
We learned during the Covid-19 pandemic that to get a big job done, we need to involve other quilt groups. Dulwich Quilters, Half Moon Stitchers and Shirley Quilters are going to pitch in, but QA is best placed to make many of the quilts as we have benefited so much from the generous fabric donations we receive and the ability for us to store them (and our purchased supplies) at Bell House.
Each quilt requires approximately 10 yards of fabric — just over 9 metres — and 2.5 metres of wadding (the stuff in the middle). We can supply most, but not all the fabric from our ‘stash’ of fabric, but the wadding has to be purchased and we will need a lot of it. So we rely on sales at Bell House events and the generosity of our quilters and friends.
We’re happy to be part of this wonderful project and would welcome any support to get our beautiful quilts into Ronald McDonald House as soon as possible — and there is ALWAYS another beautiful block or technique we need and want to share.
*Project Linus
No “Rough Sleeping” for the Bell House Honey Bees
by Annie McGeoch, Bell House Beekeeper
The bees have been surviving winter for the last 35 million years. All the 60 kinds of bees in London have ways of coping with the cold and damp. But the difference with honey bees is that we as humans help them, or try to. They are still wild creatures and can leave at any time but humans have offered them cavities that they can live in. They still respond to the seasons and weather and changes in them. The connection to seasons and change is part of the pleasure of keeping bees.
In the wild they would have a nest in a hollow tree at least 20 feet above ground. Humans have been working with the bees taking their winter stores for at least 8000 years. There is a drawing carved on a cave wall in Spain showing humans taking honey.
At Bell House we try and mimic the insulation of thick tree walls so the bees can stay in a warm almost closed cavity and control the heat and scent environment they live in. Communication in a totally dark warm cavity is by scent that the queen produces and is passed from bee to bee and fills the cavity. By insulating and providing thick walls in the hive, the bees can keep the colony in a cluster.
The colony consists of one queen, some drones (males only during the summer) and thousands of female worker bees. Each summer female worker only lives about 6 weeks. In the autumn the summer worker bees die away and winter bees are bred that live 6 months until the spring. We always talk about worker bees but there are really two kinds of worker bee.
The bees use propolis, an antibacterial mixture of pine tree resin and beeswax to seal the drafts and control the ventilation and use honey stores around them in the nest as another layer of insulation. The bees cluster round the queen and slowly work inwards to care for her then work their way back to the outside of the cluster.
On a warmer day in winter with sunshine the outer bees will go out of the box to defecate and may even collect supplies of pollen or nectar if the snowdrops or crocus have flowered. Once the days begin to lengthen the queen will start laying and the larvae will need protein to grow. Mostly we hope the cluster moves over the food stores and the honey bees eat their own supplies . At Bell House I always leave at least 30 pounds of honey for the bees to use over winter.
It is not clear why bees make so much more honey than they can possibly eat over the winter, maybe after centuries of human interference they have evolved to make more than they need.
There are a series of evenings booked into the garden and apiary during the 2025 season. We will look at the planting for all invertebrates in the beautiful garden and then don bee suits and look inside a beehive.
What connects a 10ft tall Paper Sculpture of a Polar Bear and Bell House? Read on…….!
Mike Coates Interviewed by Sally Graham
Photo credit: John Jessel
There are so many wonderful volunteers running Bell House - our unsung heroes as we call them.
We start with an interview with Mike Coates - a previous house Guardian and now an indispensable employee and volunteer.
How and when did you discover Bell House?
Mike and his family had lived in East Dulwich for 30 years and had driven though the village many a time and even had a coffee or two in the Dulwich Picture Gallery café - but they’d never noticed Bell House - after all, it looked like “just another huge village property”.
It would take something quite remarkable for Mike to discover Bell House.
How did you first become involved with Bell House?
Mike had informally met Suzanne Jessel - Bell House Dyslexia extraordinaire - and one day in October 2021 she told him about her plans for a weekend in the Lake District. She, and her husband John (the photographer), were helping a Quaker artist to transport a 10ft tall bamboo and tissue paper sculpture of a Polar Bear. The bear was being ’walked’ from Shropshire to the COP26 conference in Glasgow as a protest about climate change. (BTW - the number of the COP doesn’t match the year.) By coincidence Mike was going to be walking in the Lake District that same weekend and he asked if he could help out.
During their walk Mike and Suzanne had a chance to really chat. To cut a long story short, Mike and his wife Sarah were looking for somewhere to live and Suzanne said “Perfect. We’re looking for Guardians for Bell House - would you be interested?".
What are your strongest memories of the time you and your wife lived at the house?
When Mike met Angus and Fabienne he found they had so much in common - most importantly a keenness to “build community”. After many years of teaching Mike had moved to London to take a course in community building - this was exactly the plan for Bell House.
Mike’s strongest memory of his time in Bell House?
Being inspired by Angus and Fabienne’s vision for Bell House.
What is your involvement now you are a volunteer?
Mike is employed on Thursdays and then volunteers on Saturdays. His nickname is “Man Thursday” - but that doesn't say it all.
You’re known as ‘Mike can sort/fix anything”. Have you ever got ‘stumped’ when you’ve been asked to help out with something?
To quote Mike: “If I’m stumped, I’m probably not the right person to be performing the task. I’ve finally learnt that not everything is my responsibility!”
But normally he knows who should be asked. As he says: “I may not be able to solve the problem myself but it does mean I no longer have to worry about it.”
Apparently Angus’s nickname for Mike is ”Henry Kissinger, known as the peacemaker.” No surprises there!
If you were asked to become the ‘Bell House Cryer’ what would you shout out through the streets of Dulwich?
Mike said he would refuse to be the cryer. He has never wanted to be a ‘front man”.
However he does applaud the vision of Bell House. To finish with Mike’s thoughts: “This ties in with my values - it’s all about the community - about development and cohesion.”
A big thank you to Mike.
The Bell House Exhibitions Team - serving the local artist and community
by Anna-Maria Amato, Leader of the Exhibitions Team
The exhibitions team came about in response to the many requests Bell House received from artists and the community to hold exhibitions.
As a result there was a call out for people to do just that - to organise exhibitions in the house, outside and in addition to the annual Artists’ Open House which takes place in May. The aim is to utilise the space by creating shows which ‘enrich visitors' curiosity and in turn, their relationship to the house and their lives outside Bell House.
Anna-Maria was asked to lead this team. “I selected the team members based on their enthusiasm and reliability, and appreciated that different people will have different contributions to offer. I am excited by our valuable group members and the unique team we have."
The first exhibition the team will open is titled ‘Intergenerational’. We were initially inspired to work with this theme, in response to the recent Dulwich Picture Gallery exhibition ‘Yoshinda: Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking’, which displayed journeys through the generations within a family of printmakers.
We used this as a springboard to investigate art which covers generations, explores generations and describes generations. In addition we have designed a workshop which will bring visitors into practically exploring the theme with us. There will be a list of briefs - fun and thoughtful, plus guided activities if you wish, and a chance to make a zine or family portrait telling your story of intergenerations.
The artists we invited we felt explored the theme from many facets and therefore we believe will make a varied and interesting show. The artists explore family connections, the cycle of life, memories, heritage, shared histories. The art work will reflect how the past informs our understanding of life and creativity.
The artists are varied in their styles, materials and concepts, from Jo Lewis, who creates with ink and watercolour, exploring movement, natural processes and stasis to Helen Barff’s work which is concerned with memory, explored through playing with the perceived physicality of textiles.
‘Intergenerational’ promises an interesting and exciting show. It’s free and no booking required, so do visit - it’s running next weekend!