Bell House Winter 2025 Newsletter

 

In the 2025 Winter edition, you’ll find a selection of recent news and updates from Bell House, which we hope you will enjoy!

“No age barriers here.” 

by Joan Trodden

Bell House is not just a place where adults or children learn in isolation.  There are many opportunities for families to learn together.

In my case my granddaughter, Agnes came with me to Quilting Academy and made a Linus quilt for King’s College Hospital.  She was doing this to complete the skills component of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Other opportunities exist to complete the volunteering component in both quilting and gardening.  Teenagers relax more quickly if they are accompanied by a parent /guardian or grandparent and able to focus on the job in hand.

Besides my grand daughter’s confidence and skills developing, there were other spin-offs.  A small cue is all that is needed to share memories and enjoy a trip down memory lane together.  In my case 1953 was on the jacket reviews of her set book from her school which was in her bag.  I told her all about the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and how many people bought televisions especially for the occasion and invited all their neighbours in to watch it.  Another quilter came into the conversation and mentioned that was also the year that Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Everest. 

Agnes couldn’t believe that our memory was so vivid, as she worked it out that I was only six! Little did she realise how few distractions we had in those days!

So Bell House can create a space not just for inter-generational learning and confidence building but a platform for those precious moments when children discover life can be quite different.

Just in case you missed the recent BBC DIY SOS programme where the wonderful quilt produced by Bell House Quilters was featured, do check out this link. 

“Bell House Gardeners - illustrating  why Accessibility and Climate Resistance must work hand-in-hand.”

by Gaynor Hayburn and Sarah Hammond. Image Sara Lloyd

The Bell House gardeners are improving the entrance to the Pottery and Bell House gardens, creating accessible paths into and through the Walled Garden and onto the terrace behind the house. This new space has been designed for sustainability and inclusivity, offering visitors a welcoming and educational experience.  The garden will allow us to plant drought-tolerant species and create habitats we don’t have elsewhere in the garden.  

We worked with Ben West and his team at Landscaping Solutions and used as many recycled materials, or those salvaged from other projects, as we could.  The landscaping is now complete, waiting for planting in early spring and a finishing gravel mulch layer.

To make the paths step free, we needed to raise the ground level across the garden.  By using a free-draining substrate layered with sand and gravel on top we were able to create what will be a dry gravel garden.  This means we can experiment with more Mediterranean style planting, plants which are drought-tolerant in the summer but struggle with our cold, wet, clay soil in winter.  The sand and rubble will require plants which tolerate alkaline conditions, so will introduce more variety into the garden.  In the garden as a whole we aim to have a good mix of native plants for specialist pollinators, feeders and their habitats and non-natives to extend the flowering season, providing forage for insects lulled out of hibernation by warmer seasons.  

Planting into low-fertility sand and gravel will mean slower growing plants which are sturdier and last longer.  Our planting design draws inspiration from the Horniman Museum Gardens, Sissinghurst Delos garden, Beth Chatto’s gravel garden and John Little’s garden in Essex and the Knepp Castle Walled Garden, all of which showcase climate-resilient planting, sand, gravel and reclaimed materials such as crushed concrete and rock. 

Different surface materials will enrich the ecological value of the garden with mounds of sand for ground-nesting bees and solitary wasps, areas of open gravel for ground-hunting spiders and rocks and stones for butterflies to bask on.  Logs and planting around the raised pond will create habitats for over-wintering frogs and egg-laying opportunities for damselflies and hawker dragonflies.

The new garden will welcome human visitors too with level paths, a new terrace outside the pottery, benches and the opportunity to learn about and explore with us the value of a range of growing conditions and habitats for our flora and local fauna.  The garden is open to visitors on the first Saturday of the month, please see the Bell House website for details.

A Celebration of Creativity’s Power to Heal, Connect and Transform Lives

by Sarah Wetherall and Fabienne Hanton

The Bell House Creative Health Project is bringing creativity and care together in a new and inspiring way. 

It was launched earlier this year and explores how art can enhance wellbeing and bring people together. By partnering with local health charities, artists, and community organisations, the project is using creativity as a powerful tool to support both physical and mental health. 

The first charity to partner with the project this year was Aphasia Re-connect. Over 350,000 people in the UK are affected by Aphasia which is a communication disability and occurs when the communications centres of the brain are damaged from for example, a stroke, brain injury, tumour or hemorrhage and can impact on your ability to read, write or speak.

So far, members of this group have been welcomed to Bell House to take part in a marbling class and a pottery class. 

At the marbling class Sarah showed participants how to work ink onto the surface of water, to make patterns for transfer onto plain paper.   Each pattern is unique and every participant made 8 beautiful marbled papers to take home.

At the pottery Gaby showed members of the group how to make a simple cup, a bowl and a jug and everyone was given the choice of making two of the three pieces.  The finished items were left on site to be fired before being returned to the participants.

In both classes the artist practitioners and participants had wonderful support from two speech and language therapists, Rachel Ba and Katherine Preece as well as in-house volunteers Jane, Jenny, Paula and Jim.  

And for the participants an added bonus was the beautiful Bell House and garden setting for these workshops. The time to break for refreshments, enjoy the surroundings and talk together is an essential part of the experience at Bell House and everyone was able to sit outside and enjoy the sun, which obligingly shone for both workshops.  We had great and constructive feedback from participants for both the activities.

Through hands-on workshops in painting, pottery, music, and stitching, participants are discovering how creative expression can boost confidence, reduce stress, and build connections. Each session is designed to be inclusive and accessible, encouraging everyone to take part, explore their creativity, and leave with a sense of achievement and belonging. Health charity partners help shape the programme, ensuring that activities draw on therapeutic practices and align with evidence-based approaches to wellbeing. This collaboration strengthens the impact of each workshop.

As the project grows, so does our belief that active engagement with the arts and creativity can be beneficial for our health and wellbeing.

The Bell House Creative Health Project is a celebration of creativity’s power to heal, connect, and transform lives. We have great plans for 2026.

Introducing Liam Sherriff - Bell House’s Inaugural Filmmaker-in Residence

by Liam Sherriff

I am very excited to be the inaugural filmmaker-in-residence for Bell House. As with many other things in life, I arrived here via a circuitous route and with the help of many friends. 

In the summer of 2025 I had just finished work back in Canada on my third feature documentary in a row and was looking to shake things up a little and expand my horizons. Through the great network of filmmakers I'm lucky to be a part of, I met Morgan - also an English/Canada based filmmaker - who was looking for someone to take on this role. Given both my professional and academic background, and my need for a project on arriving in London, it was a great fit.

I am primarily a feature documentary editor, both picture and story. I also have an academic background in literature and film, and professional experience working for non-profits and charities back in Canada, where I live on the west coast. I’ve enjoyed working on all genres of film and television from animation to webseries, but long-form nonfiction is where I do my best work. The last three documentaries I was a picture and/or story editor on include the biography of famous physician and writer Gabor Mate, the story of Canada’s largest act of civil disobedience, and the ongoing saga of the war on (and for) drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia.

My overall aim during my time here is to set up future filmmakers for success at Bell House. Current projects I'm working on include obtaining a professional camera and microphone for the house. This could be used for capturing the events and activities of the house - including recording talks and lectures - as well as more creative pursuits for future artists-in-residence, or classes and workshops. To that final point I am currently developing a short documentary class for local youth; look for that in the early spring! Finally I am also instituting a film club, starting with a screening of Physician Heal Thyself: the life and work of Gabor Mate. The film offers a searingly intimate portrait of the celebrated expert on addiction, stress and trauma. It’s showing on Wednesday 10th December at 7.00pm at Bell House. https://www.tickettailor.com/events/bellhouse/1964554

Whilst all that is ongoing I am also keeping my ear to the ground and my eyes open for interesting new stories to tell about the people in the community. 

Do you or a family member have a unique passion or goal? 

Is there something different about how you live your life? 

As long as it’s authentic, the universal can always be found in the specific, and the smaller stories are always truly more interesting. A good story can often be found in someone who pursues an interest or desire that’s just a little outside the mean. 

Please reach out to me - I’m always looking for more subjects for micro-documentaries. [email protected]

 

Quilters on BBC's DIY SOS

 

DIY SOS wanted to have a memory quilt made for bereaved siblings living on together in the same house after their mother’s death.

DIY SOS found Catherine-Marie Longtin, an art quilter based in Peckham, and asked her if she could make such a quilt. She was enthusiastic, but knowing that she had less than a week to make it, knew she couldn’t do it alone and needed some volunteers to help her. She contacted Marianne ten Kate, a fellow member of the London Modern Quilt Guild, for help. Marianne quickly realised that she knew EXACTLY who could get the job done. Marianne spoke to Janis Fuller, her fellow Quilt Academy tutor, and they hatched a plan. The mother’s clothes, chosen by the siblings themselves, arrived at Bell House on Friday lunchtime, and under Catherine-Marie’s artistic guidance, a large group of eager and joyful QA members, joined by members of Dulwich Quilters, worked to make the blocks. In addition, another group of equally keen QA stitchers made each of the five siblings a cushion from their mother’s clothing to keep in their own rooms.

An heroic effort resulted in a quilt top and all the cushions being made by 5pm. Janis made the backing from two huge pieces of ticking, to Catherine-Marie’s exacting standards, and Marianne quilted it on the Saturday on her long-arm quilting frame. It was ready for Catherine-Marie to add the binding and deliver it to the programme makers by Wednesday. 

Catherine-Marie and Wendy Regan went to the DIY SOS ‘grand reveal’ at the newly renovated home and met some of the family. Tears were shed all round, we’re reliably informed.

The programme, featuring the finished quilt, aired on the 24th October on BBC1.

 

Bell House Autumn 2025 Newsletter

 

Welcome to our third Autumn seasonal newsletter. In this edition you’ll be introduced to our first Potter in Residence, our new House Guardians and our new Artist in Residence.

For one month only… Rowena Hamilton in the Pottery Studio

Rowena is the first Potter in Residence at Bell House, spending August working in the studio. The studio was scheduled to be closed as all the teachers were taking their well deserved holidays and so the idea to offer it to a working potter was a winner.

Rowena successfully applied and was also given a bedroom in the house. 

She was late to potting, having spent many years working in museums and galleries. But it was here that she became interested in pots of all shapes and sizes but particularly the older ones. She was fascinated by a theory about basket weave sometimes found on ancient pots. The theory goes that early potters learnt this by accident. Woven baskets were not waterproof, so were lined with clay. When a basket was thrown away in a fire they found in the embers clay pots with a basket weave. Basket weave is a decoration she now uses on some of her work.

Over covid and looking after her mother who had dementia, Rowena started to work with clay with her mother. They both found deep satisfaction working with the clay - moulding with their hands. And this was the start of her move to become a potter.

She graduated in 2024 from Clay College in Stoke. This college specialises in preserving the dying elements of traditional potting - both practical and technical skills teaching the traditional ways of working with clay not available at most other teaching institutions. As Rowena says - Clay College delivers “self-sufficient potters”. She now continues the tradition of functional pottery through her work making tableware.

Rowena has a ‘tiny’ studio with an electric kiln at her home and also works in another small studio where there is a collectively run wood kiln. So the Bell House studio - its size and functionality - has been a very special opportunity for her. She came with plans to “work on form, hand building and textures - to perfect shapes and techniques - not to be distracted by glazes - the pure process of potting is that you have to spend time on the form and then leave time for drying and firings”. 

So what are her reflections on her time in Bell House?

In her first week she felt the big studio unblocked her - the physical space gave her head space. She has been surprised by how ‘wildly’ creative she felt - some of her ideas haven’t worked but they’re stored for future reference she says. She feels this wouldn’t have happened in her home studio. She felt very comfortable out of her comfort zone and it‘s given her the confidence to know she can work almost anywhere.

The studio has a huge window looking out into the Bell House gardens and Rowena has enjoyed chatting with the volunteer gardeners over a cuppa. She’s learnt from them and in particular about baskets (and has been told about a collection at Kew Gardens which she hopes to visit at some point). She’s also met Emma, one of the new Guardians who gave her the idea to make some small plant pots for seedlings. She has made some and what is even more helpful is that Rowena can use the pots to fill the spaces between larger pots in the kiln. Another win-win.

One of the less positive learning experiences was the impact of such a sunny spot for a studio. It has been very hot and she found hand building very difficult. To be successful you need to keep the clay moist and in such hot drying conditions this was very hard - but a learning experience nonetheless.

Rowena believes it is a privilege to eat and drink from handmade pottery and this is how she approaches her processes - so she is very mindful of her role in this.

Just to return to her covid experience with her mother. Her mother was a dentist and had worked in schools. She had a wonderful collection of teeth that she would show to the pupils - one in particular was a sperm whale’s tooth. These teeth have been fascinating to people over time - their size and shape  - and Rowena decided to make a replica of one but to make it even more interesting to make it into a rattle. These rattles have now become a part of her collection - she makes egg shapes as well - she calls them ‘Fidget Toys’ - an object for handling and thinking - she doesn’t like to use the word ‘de-stresser’! 


Photo above of Rowena in the Bell House garden with one of her sperm whale tooth fidget toys and some of her plates on a table drying in the sun and ready for their first firing.

To find out more about Rowena and to see her work and online shop visit:

rowenahamilton.works
Instagram: @row_hamilton
Facebook: Rowena Hamilton Pottery

Author and Photo: Sally Graham

Meet Emma and Ted - our new House Guardians

1. How did you become the Guardians for Bell House, and what does the role involve

Emma first got involved with Bell House as a garden volunteer, spending a year learning from the brilliant horticulturalists and garden designers Sarah H., Shelagh, 'Cookie' and others. It was one of the wonderful gardening volunteers, Sara, who informed Emma about the opportunity.

We’d also come across the former guardians at Kingswood Arts, where we’re involved on the Community Advisory Board, and we have mutual friends in common. After Jack and Laura moved to Manchester, we knew we had big shoes to fill: they were such pioneers of community life in this part of London!

The role itself is varied. It’s a mix of contributing to keeping the house safe and secure, pitching in with cleaning, supporting events and charitable activities, and generally being a friendly point of contact. No two weeks are ever quite the same, which keeps it exciting. 

2. What drew you to becoming Guardians, and what do you hope to gain from your time here?

Two of the charity's pillars, mental health and neurodiversity, are really close to our hearts. 

Emma’s late mother worked as a highly specialist speech and language therapist for the NHS, Ted works as a psychiatrist, and Emma now tutors with a particular focus on supporting students with SEN. It feels really meaningful to bring those threads into the work we do here.

We also feel strongly about supporting educators. Devastatingly, a friend ended their own life, shortly before Emma’s mother passed away, brought to the fore how incredibly important it is to support those on the frontline of education. Being here gives us a chance to contribute to wellbeing work that can make a difference for teachers and learners alike.

But we'd say the most immediate draw was community. We’ve always loved communal living — we previously shared a home with ten adults, and Emma spent nearly a decade abroad living in shared houses and co-operatives. It's equally an honour to share this role with Anna and Jarek, who have many years' experience of communal living. 

3. What would you like your impact at Bell House to be?

Although it’s still early days, we’re eager to support and help develop the wellbeing activities at Bell House.

With the support of Cher and the events team, Emma’s starting a mindfulness series from mid-September with a much-loved local yoga teacher. 

Recently she also ran a “Reset & Renew” workshop in the garden, blending mindfulness, yoga and sound healing; it was a joy to host alongside a local sound healer she’s long admired. 

One dream is to fundraise for sound healing equipment, so we can offer free sound bath meditations at Bell House to mothers living with chronic illness in Southwark — something very close to Emma’s heart, in memory of her own mother. 

On the education side, Ted is hoping to use his experience of working with young people with ADHD to set up an ADHD Advice Clinic to support local young people and families.

We also love welcoming the artists-in-residence, as well as the recent potters like Rowena and Andy. We're keen to support future residencies. It feels like such a privilege to share a home with them; they bring so much creativity, conversation, and inspiration, both to the wider community and to our own dinner table chats!

4. Could you tell us something unexpected about yourselves?

Between us, we speak eight languages and have lived in 14 countries. But maybe more surprising is that we’ve both spent over a decade practising martial arts! It’s had a significant influence on us: from how we approach breathwork to mental discipline, and even our shared interest in Eastern philosophies. Those lessons continue to shape the way we live, and the work we do today.

Author and Photo: Emma and Ted

Rosie Bayliss - our new Artist in Residence

1. How did you become the ‘Artist in Residence’ for Bell House?

I first heard about Bell House through a friend who runs workshops here. I visited for the open studios and later for the open gardens, and was struck by the generosity of the community and the outreach programming. After spending time in the space and meeting volunteers, I raised the idea of a residency with the board and it all came together.

2. Tell us a little about yourself and your ‘art journey’ so far.

I grew up in South London and later Brighton, where I completed my art foundation. I then studied Fine Art and Writing at the University of the West of England, a rare BA course that allowed me to explore both painting and writing. The tutors and technical staff were incredible. After graduating in 2022, I received the Dreamtime Fellowship, which gave me a studio and bursary at Spike Island, Bristol, for a year. My work, both written and visual, explores unlikely connections and unreliable narratives.

3. What do you hope to gain from your time here?

Being the Bell House artist in residence offers me the space and time to focus on my practice. I’m excited to create new work inspired by the house, gardens, and Dulwich Picture Gallery. I’m also excited to run workshops and contribute to making art more accessible, something I’m very passionate about.

4. Have you been asked to get involved with activities at Bell House—for example the Art Studio sessions or outreach projects? What would you like to bring to this side of things?

I’m running a fortnightly Saturday drawing class exploring different approaches to life drawing. It’s inspiring to see how people interpret the same guidance in unique ways, which reinforces the importance of art as self-expression. I’m going to start working with the Bell House Creative Health committee to expand outreach and bring workshops to specific communities.

5. Apart from your art, what else would you think we’d be interested in knowing about you?

I love reading and writing, especially about storytelling and how we create narratives to make sense of our lives. I enjoy conversations about people’s creative practices and am passionate about amplifying underrepresented voices. Outside of art, I also love cycling and a pub quiz!

Author and Photo: Rosie Bayliss

 

Bell House Summer 2025 Newsletter

 

Welcome to our Summer newsletter - it’s time to tell you what’s been going on…

What’s New @ the Bell House Pottery?

by Jim Belben

Raku

Anyone who has watched the Great Pottery Throwdown will have witnessed the excitement of Raku. This ancient Japanese art is famous for its dramatic 'live' outdoor firings with a strong element of surprise. 

Well, in July, Raku will come to the Bell House Pottery for the very first time!

We have spaces for 32 students across four courses from beginners to intermediate. The making sessions will be led by Gaby Mlynarczyk who is the latest recruit to our teaching team, then the following weekend the glazing and dramatic outdoor firing will be led by visiting Raku expert Andy Mason. To book your place, please click here.


‘Let’s Clay Together’

From the start, one of the aims of the Pottery was to extend our reach to people who we know would enjoy and benefit from a pottery session but who can’t afford it or don’t yet know the benefits. We feel like we have made significant progress over the past year. 

We now offer two half price places for every course which are paid for thanks to the generosity of other students, many of whom give a top-up donation when they place their order. 

We are also gradually building links with community organisations who we invite to the pottery for a free ‘Let’s Clay Together’ session. We try to run at least one per term. We have so far hosted two school groups, a Ukrainian youth group, a GP practice, Kingswood Arts, and most recently the Paxton Green Timebank. Next up is to work with Aphasia Reconnect thanks to the introduction made by the Creative Health group.

If you know of a community group whom you think would benefit from ‘Let’s Clay Together’ please email me, [email protected] 

Potter-in-residence

Following the success of the artist-in-residence scheme, we are proud to announce our first ever potter-in-residence, Rowena Hamilton from Derbyshire. 

Rowena is based in the Peak District in Derbyshire. Since graduating from Clay College in August 2024, she has been making functional and decorative pots on the wheel with some hand-built elements. Her work references archaeology and anthropology.

During her residency she’ll research and develop new shapes, combining forms and textures from basketry and other found materials.

This is particularly exciting because normally our studio would close during August to give the teachers and technicians a break. To see it well used over the summer will be so exciting.

Thanks to everyone in the Bell House community for their incredible support of the Pottery over the past two years. It has been an amazing and rewarding journey to everyone involved and we are very excited about the future.

“Doing our best” in the Bell House Garden “thanks to our volunteers”

by Martin Cook

Image © Sara Lloyd

It's been another successful, fulfilling and encouraging year in the garden at Bell House.

Re-shaping

​The pollinator bed planted late last spring is maturing really well. This was funded by a grant from the London Bee Keepers Association (LBKA). We have added plants and developed the new 'Pebble' bed, so the borders along the South wall are shaping up really well. We have planted new climbing roses around the roped terrace, an area which gets lovely late afternoon sun and have been gradually moving existing turf about to reshape the house lawn. The walled garden goes from strength to strength. Herbs particularly seem to thrive in our raised beds.

Native species

We have seen far more butterflies this year, hopefully because of our planting efforts, but definitely helped by the dry, warm early spring. Toads are in the compost again, plenty of newts in the wildlife pond and some plump tadpoles have survived our introduction into the dipping pond. We watched a Sparrowhawk nest and raise a fledgling in one of our oaks last summer. We are gradually seeing a wider range of native species in the meadow beds and the snakes head fritillaries were magnificent. In the Pickwick grassland we have lady's smock appearing.

Garden HQ and Tool Shed

The tool shed is now well stocked and in full use and we are meeting in the beautifully refurbished building, the garden pavilion (which we like to call our HQ! ) but will be used by all projects at Bell House. It’s situated next to the bees.

The polytunnel success

The polytunnel is being well used and we’ve had good early food crops. Bought in plug plants have been successfully grown on and mostly planted out in the garden. On our regular open days, visitor numbers have increased. It's lovely to see people relaxing, sipping coffee and enjoying the garden. Our plant sale offering is gradually improving and brings in welcome income to help with funding and increase the range we can stock.

Volunteers - our not so secret army

We have roughly 60 active volunteers, whose skill set has improved enormously. The social atmosphere is delightful and we can see there is a strong feeling of ownership developing. However, we have realised that as areas are improved, the maintenance effort has to go up enormously! So we would welcome more volunteers please. Landscaping the pottery entrance is the next big project. As well as improving the entrance, it will provide new, dry garden conditions, to broaden our range and habitats. ​

Our ethos remains the same. To do our best for wildlife, in terms of the variety and quality of habitat and food source we supply. We have added new habitat towers using the old pickwick fence posts and in many other areas. It's been a challenging dry spring and we could really do with some decent rain, but we do our best to give things the conditions they need to thrive, watering deeply when needed and mulching heavily.

Happy gardening all.

The Incidentals - an in-depth look at the exhibition

by Kim Thornton

Each year Bell House opens its doors for the Dulwich Festival Artists’ Open House and invites a team of curators to create a thought-provoking exhibition. The show is a survey of contemporary artists practising and exhibiting in London.

This year’s theme was The Incidentals. The curators, Kim Thornton, Lucy Soni, Min Angel, Sarah Sparkes, Jane Millar, Léonie Cronin, Monika Kita and Lucy Bainbridge approached this in a variety of conceptual ways such as whether any painting brush mark could ever be considered incidental or unimportant, through contemplating the incidental nature of materials or by searching for incidental every day subject matter. In total they invited over 70 artists whose works would contribute to the story each curator wanted to tell.

Bell House welcomed in the region of 2,000 visitors during the two May weekends of the exhibition, some local and some who had travelled to see the work of artists they knew or had discovered on social media. The exhibition was overall very well received.

But of course, everyone evaluates and perceives art differently depending on their own experiences, beliefs, feelings and views. As Whoopi Goldberg said, “Art and life are subjective”. However, it can be interesting to learn more about the thinking behind an artwork as a doorway to a different kind of viewing experience.

In the Wissman Room you may have come across a small, framed photograph of a woman wearing a stole with some kind of fascinator in her hair. On closer inspection the material that these objects are made of becomes apparent. They have been carefully fashioned from tampons, an everyday item used at some point by almost all women around the world, yet something discrete that is not usually made visible. 

The work was born from a parliamentary debate in 2015 where the notion of female sanitary products falling within the government’s list of luxury items for tax purposes was discussed. The idea was to impose an additional 5% tax on these “non-essential, luxury” items.

The artist Kim Thornton, who uses humour and rebellion to explore contemporary issues and the politics of being female, decided to make a ‘luxury’ tampon stole and fascinator to comment on this ridiculous idea. The tampons are carefully stitched together with their blue strings pulled from them and knitted into the hairnet or used as tassels for the stole. The staging of the photograph was inspired by an image of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and the framing references postage stamps where royal profiles are commonly placed.

Bringing Poetry to Bell House 

by our featured Volunteer: Matthew Otor

A Little Background - Why Poetry?

I grew up always feeling like I had something to say. From as early as I can remember, I'd gather kids in my compound and just talk to them - there was this sense that something inside me was waiting for an outlet. I felt like I had a different opinion or perspective that needed to be shared.

Initially, I thought politics might be my path. I was drawn to how members of parliament could make their words carry such weight and meaning. However, when I stumbled upon spoken word poetry on YouTube, I just knew this was what I'd been searching for. It's been a life-altering journey ever since.

Discovering Bell House

I was new in town and actively looking for poetry communities when I found Wendy and Robert's Fringe event on Eventbrite. I thought it would be perfect for me, though I didn't realize the audience for that event was quite mature - everyone was surprised to see me there!

Despite the initial surprise, I had such an amazing time. Right after the event, I had a chat with Angus where I mentioned that I used to host poetry events back in Lagos. He immediately asked me to explore the idea of hosting one at Bell House. And that's how "Poets at Bell House" was born.

The Vision Behind Poets at Bell House

When we started planning, the thinking was simple but ambitious: create a space where poetry could flourish authentically. We wanted to build something that honored both the art form and the community that surrounds it.

Ambitions

We're hoping Poets at Bell House becomes a household poetry event in London - a place where experienced and emerging poets alike can share the same stage and tell their stories unapologetically. Our vision is to create a safe space where poets can express themselves with complete freedom.

We're also focused on increasing our production value and creating much better content that truly befits the amazing poets we host. The dream is to grow into more frequent editions, building a stronger, more vibrant poetry community.

A Personal Favourite

One of my favourite poems I've written is titled "SCUM" - Society Cannot Understand Me. In it, I tell two vivid stories of people in society we would typically consider as lowlife and useless, but I reveal their backstories - showing how they became the "monsters" we all see today. 

Poetry allows us to look beyond the surface and find the humanity in everyone's story. That's what we're building at Bell House: a space where every story matters, every voice is heard, and every poem has the power to change someone's day.

Poets at Bell House continues to grow as a vital part of London's creative community, offering a platform for authentic expression and meaningful connection through the power of spoken word.

 

Bell House Spring 2025 Newsletter

 

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

**Ronald McDonald House - RMH

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!