Whether you’re new to art or have previous experience, you are invited to attend a series of dynamic life drawing classes.

They'll explore themes that include mark making, tone, anatomy and the draped figure – and your skills of drawing from observation will be enhanced. Materials are available.

Please ring the bell when you arrive. Please arrive 15 minutes before the start time.

Book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/life-drawing-classes-at-the-meeting-house-tickets-781922008777?aff=oddtdtcreator

Please note: we're starting later for this screening, due to the later sunlight! Doors will open at 7.30pm and we'll show the film from 8pm.

The Newington Green Film Club is back on Saturday 20th April – and we're showing Certified Copy by Abbas Kiarostami and starring Juliette Binoche.

In the words of The Guardian...

"The film is set in Tuscany, where visiting British author James Miller, played by newcomer William Shimell, is giving a reading from his latest book, entitled Certified Copy. This is a daring work of art history, which claims that a reproduction is as valuable as an original, and that the distinction between the two is founded on fallacious and naive assumptions about authenticity and truth. Binoche plays a French antiques dealer, invited along to his talk, who is fascinated and a little nettled by the man's provocations – her teenage son teasingly accuses her of having a crush on this handsome celebrity."

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/02/certified-copy-review

Book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/newington-green-film-club-screens-certified-copy-tickets-876677043637?aff=oddtdtcreator.

Are you an aspiring writer? An experienced, published writer? Someone who has never written before but wants to meet local creative types and be inspired?

Come along to this interactive workshop at the Meeting House for freewrites, prompts and a supportive community environment with the N-Zine team.

We hope that the event will inspire you to contribute to our zine and to be a part of the ’N-Zine’ community!

Book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/n-zine-workshop-tickets-872361826707

Whether you’re new to art or have previous experience, you are invited to attend a series of dynamic life drawing classes.

They'll explore themes that include mark making, tone, anatomy and the draped figure – and your skills of drawing from observation will be enhanced. Materials are available.

Please ring the bell when you arrive. Please arrive 15 minutes before the start time.

Book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/life-drawing-classes-at-the-meeting-house-tickets-781922008777?aff=oddtdtcreator

Whether you’re new to art or have previous experience, you are invited to attend a series of dynamic life drawing classes.

They'll explore themes that include mark making, tone, anatomy and the draped figure – and your skills of drawing from observation will be enhanced. Materials are available.

Please ring the bell when you arrive. Please arrive 15 minutes before the start time.

Book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/life-drawing-classes-at-the-meeting-house-tickets-781922008777?aff=oddtdtcreator

Whether you’re new to art or have previous experience, you are invited to attend a series of dynamic life drawing classes.

They'll explore themes that include mark making, tone, anatomy and the draped figure – and your skills of drawing from observation will be enhanced. Materials are available.

Please ring the bell when you arrive. Please arrive 15 minutes before the start time.

Book: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/life-drawing-classes-at-the-meeting-house-tickets-781922008777?aff=oddtdtcreator

The Newington Green Film Club is back on Saturday 16th March – and this time we can share in advance what we're showing!

Join us for a screening of Hindi classic drama The Lunchbox, directed by Ritesh Batra.

Book your tickets here.

For future events: we can sometimes tell you the name of the film in advance, but not always. You can find out the name of the film and our full schedule by joining the Newington Green Film Club. Simply head to this page and join the mailing list. You'll be sent a password to access this schedule on our website. Any problems? Email nick@new-unity.org.

Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of Christmas jazz with the captivating vocals of Sibel Demir and the masterful piano performance by Jan Tabecki in our upcoming concert. Let Sibel’s voice take you on a journey through festive melodies, perfectly complemented by Jan’s intricate piano arrangements. Join us for an evening of joy as these talented artists bring the spirit of Christmas to life through the magical realm of jazz. Don’t miss this extraordinary concert promising an unforgettable fusion of holiday cheer and musical brilliance!

Sibel Demir

Sibel Demir is a Turkish Soprano based in London. After graduating from the Istanbul University State Conservatory Opera Department, she delved into jazz, folk, and classical Turkish music. She enjoys incorporating the diversity of Anatolia into her music, reflecting it in her own performances. Sibel has achieved accolades in the Istanbul Baroque Aria Competition and the Nardis Jazz Vocal Competition. She has performed at the IKSV Jazz Festival and the EFG London Jazz Festival. Continuing to make her mark in London and Istanbul’s jazz clubs and various concert halls, Sibel Demir is an active member of the London Symphony Chorus and performs as a soloist with the London Film Music Orchestra, captivating audiences across the UK and Europe.

Jan Tabecki

Pianist, keyboardist, arranger and music producer. After pursuing a Bachelor’s degree with Honors at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London in Classical Piano, he is now in his first year of postgraduate studies in Electronic and Produced Music in the same institution. He has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and keyboard artist, and has been a member of musical groups in various countries such as England, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, Italy, Scotland and Poland. He has had the pleasure to play in venues such as Milton Court (London), The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Tyne Theatre & Opera House (Newcastle), St James’s Church in London, Villa Wahnfried (Bayreuth), Sheldonian Theatre (Oxford), National Philharmonic (Warsaw) and Tauron Arena (Krakow). Since 2022 he has been a member of the Bauhaus Band directed by John Harle, as well as being the keyboardist of the London Film Music Orchestra, with which he performs regularly around the UK. Jan has always shown interest in various musical genres and he likes to experiment by combining different types of music and creating new compositions. In fact, in addition to his main training in classical piano, he has always been interested in RnB, rock, and electronic and produced music. Jan also released two albums with his own compositions in which he collaborated with several artists of his generation. His latest projects include co-producing and arranging songs with Basia Malecka for her debut EP ‘Cosmic’ (released in September 2023), as well as performing and arranging a recital based on Polish poetry in ‘Scene in the Mountains’. He recently co-produced music for a theatre production in Latvia based on Latvian folk music. Jan is also working on his solo album, which will be released in 2024, as well as the musical arrangement of a show with music by Agnieszka Osiecka directed by Mateusz Mirek in London.

A showcase of short films made by the participants of the first 12-week Hyenas in Petticoats radical filmmaking course. Most of the directors are first-time filmmakers.

Running order

Olive was born in Liverpool on 19 December 1923 and died in London on the 27 November 2019. Through a selection of precious documents, photographs, writings, books, artworks, mementoes, artefacts, and curios from a long life, One Hundred Years Of Olive presents a personal and social history of the 20th century and an intimate portrait of a good life lived by a good woman.

Olive Keidan wasn’t a public figure or famous person, but she was a remarkable woman who worked in social policy throughout her adult life, as a psychiatric social worker and university lecturer and was also a keen amateur painter, dressmaker, zoologist, botanist, writer, poet, cook, feminist, and socialist. Olive would have been 100 this year. To mark her centenary and to begin the process of creating a family archive, her daughter planned to select one hundred objects from her life for a simple publication to share with family and friends. As Olive’s life holds up a mirror to the seismic political, social and cultural upheavals, changes and progress of the 20th century, the team at Newington Green Meeting House suggested there might be wider public interest in a small exhibition of aspects of her life.

In recognition of the Unitarian movements’ commitment to social justice and Newington Green’s place in the struggle for women’s rights, One Hundred Years Of Olive will highlight Olive’s professional life and lived experiences in relation to the histories and shifts in social policy for women, children and the family, and particularly the emergence of the welfare state. The great gift of the welfare state was central to Olive’s professional interests, and it cared for her throughout her adult life and in her death. As her beloved NHS now faces its biggest crisis since its formation in 1948, it feels timely to look back at its pre-history, its birth and impact through the lens of Olive’s life, something she herself was thinking and writing about extensively in her later years**.

Olive’s family held her 90th birthday party at Newington Green Meeting House in 2013 and a memorial service for her at the New Unity chapel in Islington in 2019, so we are delighted to be returning to Newington Green to mark Olive’s centenary. Each week of the exhibition we will display different objects from different aspects of her life, offer a few interactions, and encourage everyone to bring and take away their own memories of 20th-century life.

** “People like me, born between the wars, seem to have taken up writing autobiographies as a major leisure activity… I have taken a route that is for me much more interesting – focusing on the social policies that I have lived with and that have been relevant to me, and in which I have had both personal and professional interest…Like rites of passage there are social policies that are important for each period of the life cycle. With marriage came my interest in the financial and work situation of married women, the socially approved family size, and how to achieve it. Then the interest shifted to provisions for families with young children and moved astonishingly rapidly to provision for students. Pension arrangements followed and finally the processes of care in old age, dying and the cost of burial. All along the route health provision goes in and out of focus as need rises and falls, and by old age care provision looks very important.” Olive Keidan, 2007

Due to licensing requirements, we aren't allowed to show the title of the film publicly.

You can find out the name of the film and our full schedule by joining the Newington Green Film Club. Simply head to this page and join the mailing list. You'll be sent a password to access this schedule on our website.

Alternatively, you can book free tickets here and turn up on the day for a surprise!

Sibel Demir

Sibel Demir is a Turkish Soprano based in London. After graduating from the Istanbul University State Conservatory Opera Department, she delved into jazz, folk, and classical Turkish music. She enjoys incorporating the diversity of Anatolia into her music, reflecting it in her own performances. Sibel has achieved accolades in the Istanbul Baroque Aria Competition and the Nardis Jazz Vocal Competition. She has performed at the IKSV Jazz Festival and the EFG London Jazz Festival. Continuing to make her mark in London and Istanbul's jazz clubs and various concert halls, Sibel Demir is an active member of the London Symphony Chorus and performs as a soloist with the London Film Music Orchestra, captivating audiences across the UK and Europe.

Ozan Omer Kucuk

Ozan Omer Kucuk has received his undergraduate degree in Mimar Sinan University State Conservatory, piano department with pianist Zeynep Yamanturk. Soon after, he earned his master’s degree in Istanbul Technical University, Center for Advanced Music Studies (MIAM) with legendary state artist Aysegul Sarica. Ozan has enjoyed being on stage for solo recitals, chamber music concerts, as an accompanist and as the pianist of Istanbul Film Music Orchestra. As a soloist, he has attended many masterclasses, music festivals and concerts. He collaborated in premiers of new music as part of MIAM Modern Music Ensemble. He continues his work in London since late 2019, as a performer and a piano tutor.

Due to licensing requirements, we aren't allowed to show the title of the film publicly.

You can find out the name of the film and our full schedule by joining the Newington Green Film Club. Simply head to this page and join the mailing list. You'll be sent a password to access this schedule on our website.

Alternatively, you can book free tickets here and turn up on the day for a surprise!

Part of the Walks through Women’s History collection: Join Johannah, thepoetryguide, for a free guided tour around Hackney/Islington.

Who made it her mission to empower women and is linked to the first hospice in Europe for patients with HIV/AIDS? Who stood up for Jewish women's rights and wrote ‘genius’ poetry? Who criticised Britain’s colonial project and defended the lives of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? Traces of their lives still exist along the Islington-Hackney borders!

Begins at Dalston Kingsland Station and finishes at Newington Green Meeting House for tea.

This exhibition brings together portraits of the influential figures of the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries who played an important role in slavery and the anti-slavery history of Newington Green Meeting House, its surrounding area and worldwide. Through the portraits of abolitionists, the formerly enslaved, and slave-owners we shed light on our understanding and acknowledgement of the role that slavery has had in the history of the Meeting House and in Britain’s socio-economic and cultural development. This will form a part of the Meeting House’s commitment to improving our understanding of the socio-cultural and socio-economic legacy of slavery, its political legacy, and its consequences.

Panel

David Walter [panellist]

David has been a volunteer researcher for the Heritage Project at the Newington Green Unitarian Meeting House, since 2019, he completed his degree in History and International Relations, at Birkbeck University College London in 2020.
David was born in Walthamstow, but has lived in Hackney for most of his life. He has been a congregant at the Newington Green Meeting House since 2008. David has worked with my fellow volunteers to archive and record different materials and artefacts of the Meeting House, using photography and databases, and store them at the C.L.R James Library, Dalston, Hackney.

David is one of the blog writers of the meeting house and presented a paper at the Festival of Dissent titled "Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley: Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus, Cyberpunk, and the Dark Future of Modernity"

Simon Strickland Scott [panellist]

Simon is a former university lecturer with degrees from Swansea and Leeds Universities. He graduated with a PhD in Sociology in 2002 and in a somewhat abrupt career change became a Station Assistant with London Underground where he worked for 18 years, five and a half of which were spent as an RMT union representative.  Simon is now a full-time carer and a member of the congregation at New Unity.  

Ken Olende [panellist]

Ken Olende writes and lectures on race, Africa and history. He is researching a PhD on race and the current crisis at Brighton University. He previously worked as a tutor for the Workers’ Educational Association and a journalist. 

Johannah Barrett [facilitator]

Johannah, a leader of teaching and learning across the curriculum, is also a writer and qualified Clerkenwell and Islington Tour Guide. She has a keen interest in bringing to light the histories of less-represented or less well-known people, particularly those of writers and those local to our community. 

The Newington Green Meeting House is delighted to be hosting a selection of screenings from the London Community Video Archive (the LCVA).

We’re partnering with the LCVA for this event: the LCVA is based at Goldsmiths, University of London and its aim is to preserve, archive and share community videos made in the 1970s/80s in London and the South East. A portion of ticket revenue from this event will go to the LCVA.

Please see more info on the LCVA here.

We’ll be showing three short films on the topic of housing:

1. Downham, A Home in the Country
The Downham estate was built between 1924 to 1930, it housed 29,000 people in 6071 homes over 522 acres of farmland, with each house costing £450 to build. This community video interviews elderly residents who moved to the estate as children, with many coming from slum buildings in Deptford where there was no running water. Residents happily reminisce about the move and how they felt. One resident describes the estate as ‘Utopian’, another stating Downham was ‘space and light.’ One lady remarks the happiness she felt to have a flushing toilet, a bath and garden. The council imposed strict guidelines on the tenants, they were required to keep the gardens tidy and were not allowed to paint their house a different colour. Residents felt that the council thought they were not ‘civilised’ but the advent of World War Two changed that when the authorities witnessed how intelligent the working-class were, becoming pilots and officers in the Navy. The video ends with residents talking about the local cinema and the happy childhood they enjoyed on the Downham estate.

2. Pepys Estate Repairs Campaign
Members of the newly formed Pepys Estate Community Association document on camera outstanding repairs and maintenance needed on the estate, as well as interviewing about other about badly needed facilities, eg nursery provision, playscheme facilities.  This material was edited for a community association public meeting attended by representatives of the GLC.

3. A Netful of Holes
A Netful of Holes is about female homelessness, looking at young women’s experiences of living at home, leaving home and the problems of finding somewhere to live, especially if you are single and unemployed. “…Even if you do find a place to live, it’s not necessarily what you’d call a home…” Taken from the theatre production of Netful of Holes, which was devised and performed by Second Wave Young Women’s Group, the tape intercuts discussions and workshops with actual scenes from the show. This structure gives the audience an idea of the working process leading up to the finish performance and is ideal  for further discussion purposes. 

There’ll be a short interval and a bar, and afterwards there will be an opportunity for discussion together.

The Newington Green Meeting House is the perfect location for a screening such as this. One of the birthplaces of modern Western feminism, it’s been at the heart of the Dissenting movement since it was built in 1708. The Meeting House’s congregation, which welcomes non-religious and religious people of all backgrounds, has many historic and ongoing social justice projects. The housing theme of these films is a relevant one: the congregation here recently campaigned, for example, for the introduction of tougher rules to combat rogue landlords (in conjunction with Citizens UK). So it’s a fitting place to explore the impact that housing and housing policy have on the lives of London communities.

The building has recently been renovated thanks to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, a project that included the installation of a high-tech audio-visual system that allows us to screen films, including at our monthly film club (see this page for more info). The high ceilings and beautiful acoustics make it a gorgeous space to explore this important cinematic archive.

Tickets are £8, and we offer free unwaged tickets. Please contact Nick to arrange a free unwaged ticket - to pay for a ticket, please book here.

Part of the Walks through Women’s History collection: Join Johannah, thepoetryguide, for a free guided tour around Hackney/Islington.

Follow in the footsteps of Britain’s best-known Feminist! Discover who she was, what she wrote and why she still matters! And get a close-up view of her favourite pew!

A round trip starting and ending at Newington Green Meeting House for tea.

Due to licensing requirements, we aren't allowed to show the title of the film publicly.

You can find out the name of the film and our full schedule by joining the Newington Green Film Club. Simply head to this page and join the mailing list. You'll be sent a password to access this schedule on our website.

Alternatively, you can book free tickets here and turn up on the day for a surprise!

This one-day workshop is all about Characterisation and Creating Compelling Characters to drive your novel forward. Readers don’t just fall in love with books, they fall in love with characters, and as such we will examine how to develop your characters and make them come to life on the page.

The workshop is free and completely funded by the Arts Council. You may be an aspiring writer, a complete beginner, or even an established author who wants to learn the tips and techniques used in novel writing, the workshop should have something for everyone.

As well as publishing edgy and unique fiction, Indie Novella also works with leading literary agencies such Watson, Little, David Godwin Associates and Georgina Capel to make novel writing and publishing more transparent and accessible. We believe all authors should have the same opportunities so we’ve carefully crafted a one day writing workshops to support local authors, writers and creatives in their writing journeys.

Agenda

· Welcome and Introduction

· Session 1: Building your Characters – What makes a compelling character?

· Session 2: Creating Active Characters – How to make a character act

· Session 3: Creating a Cast – Is there such a thing as too many characters?

· Wrap up and Next Steps

Part of the Walks through Women’s History collection: Join Johannah, thepoetryguide, for a free guided tour around Hackney/Islington.

Who made it her mission to empower women and is linked to the first hospice in Europe for patients with HIV/AIDS? Who stood up for Jewish women's rights and wrote ‘genius’ poetry? Who criticised Britain’s colonial project and defended the lives of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? Traces of their lives still exist along the Islington-Hackney borders!

Begins at Dalston Kingsland Station and finishes at Newington Green Meeting House for tea.

Performed by Suna Alan and accompanied by Levent Canen (Baglama, Lavta, Fretless Bass) & Erdal Yapici (10 Strings Baglama, Guitar, and Fretless Guitar). Tickets: £15.

Raising the Wreck by Sue Frumin, directed by Runa Augdal & originally produced in 1985 by Gay Sweatshop's women's company.

Journey into the heart of a sunken pirate ship, where four fierce female pirates, Irish, African, Chinese and English, recount their stories with a woman who has fallen into a timeslip from 1980s London, where she is one of the women running a pirate radio station.

‘The actresses were so good…. Not only did they create such compelling characters but they had a great chemistry and a fast banter. The play was sparking with jokes and the ensemble got the timing exactly right for the audience to laugh.’

- Audience member at the first showing of this staged reading

Get your free tickets here.

Audience members will also be able to visit the Unfinished Histories exhibition Acting Out: LGBTQ Theatre in 1970s and 80s (open Thurs and Fri 12pm to 6pm till Fri 29th September when there will be a closing night party 6pm to 8pm (to attend please email contact@unfinishedhistories.com)

Part of the Walks through Women’s History collection: Join Johannah, thepoetryguide, for a free guided tour around Hackney/Islington.

Follow in the footsteps of Britain’s best-known Feminist! Discover who she was, what she wrote and why she still matters! And get a close-up view of her favourite pew!

A round trip starting and ending at Newington Green Meeting House for tea.

Part of the Walks through Women’s History collection: Join Johannah, thepoetryguide, for a free guided tour around Hackney/Islington.

Who made it her mission to empower women and is linked to the first hospice in Europe for patients with HIV/AIDS? Who stood up for Jewish women's rights and wrote ‘genius’ poetry? Who criticised Britain’s colonial project and defended the lives of animals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? Traces of their lives still exist along the Islington-Hackney borders!

Begins at Dalston Kingsland Station and finishes at Newington Green Meeting House for tea.