Tenants of Lissenden Gardens, an estate in the north London borough of Camden, are used to uniting to fight an enemy; in the 1970s they escaped the clutches of a ruthless landlord with a rebellion sustained for 17 months.
Up and down the stairwells of the three five-storey red brick mansion blocks, the 600 residents are reviving the same solidarity to resist the invisible foe stalking the streets.
Crises tend to bring out the best and also sometimes the worst in human nature. But as coronavirus wreaks havoc with lives and livelihoods across the UK and the public comes to terms with the government lockdown, communities across the country have been drawn together with millions volunteering to help.
Members of the Lissenden Gardens tenants’ association set out early on this path as the virus began to menace the capital, drawing from a deep well of community spirit.
Frank Chalmers, who worked for the Food Standards Agency and is originally from Scotland, led the pack, convening the first meeting a month ago. Attendees stood safely at a distance from each other on a communal tennis court, where the 1970s resistance was also planned.
“Within a couple of days we had representatives for every stairwell, 42 people in all, and volunteers on top of that,” said Mr Chalmers, who moved to Lissenden Gardens 15 years ago.
“What they do is a buddy system. On some stairways younger tenants look out for older people, cooking meals for people in self isolation, and shopping for people who can’t go out.”
Residents are kept informed with a regular newsletter and connected by WhatsApp groups. Each stairwell has a rota of volunteers who disinfect the banisters and door knobs two to three times daily. Assistance stretches from shared supermarket deliveries, to reminding older neighbours, to take their daily medication and helping them fend off telephone scams.
Individuals have also taken initiatives: one contemporary dancer, Hayley Matthews, holds morale-boosting exercise classes online for adults and children on the estate. “People are feeling very insecure. It’s reassuring to know your neighbours care,” Mr Chalmers said.
The mansion blocks at Lissenden Gardens were built at the beginning of the last century by the Armstrong family, locals who had made their wealth primarily from electricity generation. The flats were managed in a paternalistic way, attracting a diverse community to relatively low rents.
But by 1972 the estate had become run down and the family sold it on to a property company. In a bid to turn a quick profit, it threatened to squeeze out families on modest incomes in a precursor to the gentrification that has affected so much of London since.
But the tenants rebelled en masse, frustrating attempts to sell off vacant flats and drive up rents. They ultimately persuaded Camden council to buy the freehold. The estate is now split evenly between social housing and private leaseholders. There are some families who have lived in the area for more than half a century. Others, from as far afield as Congo and Yemen, have moved in more recently.
The estate’s history led to people with very different means rubbing shoulders — from barristers to baristas, according to the its historian, Rosalind Bayley.
There have been occasional tensions. But, the tenants association has remained strong and a regular Summer street festival has helped preserve a sense of community. “Coronavirus has helped us get in touch with lots of people we didn’t know,” said Jenny West, the association’s secretary.
John Crouch, a former adviser to the Labour party, was chair of the committee that defended the estate in the 1970s, a role he said, was “the proudest” of his life. Aged 87, he said he felt “like a pharaoh”. As one of the older and more vulnerable members of his stairwell, his neighbours are looking out for him.
Sue Dicks, a former care worker for the council and pensioner, echoes this. She has been self isolating for a month, and her own family lives far away. “There’s a man who lives in a one bedroom flat and he texts me when he is going shopping. I give him a list. I did say I would go out on my own. He said ‘there’s no way: you’re not going to be a hero’.”
The community action appears to be paying dividends. There have been 11 suspected coronavirus case on the estate but no one has been hospitalised. The wider area has seen hundreds of people fall sick.
“I’m bowled over at how the estate’s working. It’s a thing of real beauty and I am sure its roots are in the original fight from the ’70s,” said Tamsin Pearce, who works for an architects’ firm.
She grew up on the estate back then and returned two years ago. “It’s nice to know that spirit is still there because it was beginning to feel like it was lost.”
