On Monday morning, I did something that needed doing. I pulled on a pair of rubber gloves, grabbed some black bin bags, and headed out onto the street outside our Herne Hill shop…
There was litter strewn everywhere! Rubbish spilt from bins that, frankly, don’t get emptied often enough – presumably by the urban foxes that are only too happy to raid in the small hours, scattering their contents across our pavements like a sea of detritus before dawn. At least, one has to hope it’s the foxes.
I was like a combination of Granville Arkwright from Open All Hours, broom in hand, and Aggie McKenzie from How Clean is Your House, Marigolds on, scrubbing brush out and my bucket of hot, soapy water at the ready.
It’s because I’m proud of this place.
As an estate agent who has spent years helping people find their homes here, I know Herne Hill’s streets as well as anyone. But it isn’t just that.
I know these streets, it’s true – but I don’t just know them like a Hackney Cab driver knows his London A-Z. I know them more intimately than that. I know the history of them, the residents in many of them, the business owners of that shop, that deli, that hairdresser on the corner…
I understand what makes this place tick. I feel, in a visceral way, what makes its heart beat. It’s in my bones – because I’ve always been a part of it. And so, it is a part of me.
And I feel that responsibility.
It is partly pride in our neighbourhood, that’s for sure; but it is a type of pride that isn’t passive. For me, having local pride means having something which, sometimes, you simply have to act on – rubber gloves and all.
And I am far from alone around here, which is all part of what makes this neighbourhood such a wonderful place to live.
Herne Hill is, at its heart and in its very soul, a civic-minded community. Two local groups in particular spring to mind that embody this brilliantly. The Friends of Sunray Gardens, on the Southwark side of our manor, and The Herne Hill Society; both are dedicated to keeping the area clean, cared for, and extol the virtues of why it is worth caring about at all. Their volunteers turn out regularly, just simply getting on with it – no fuss made and no fanfare required.
But there’s wider support too, and whilst I might whinge that if they kept our bins emptied more frequently, fewer foxes might make a mess of our pavements overnight, I have to offer at least a little recognition to the local authority help that is out there.
Southwark Council, for example, runs a scheme that lets residents bid for litter-cleaning funds and report issues directly.
On the Lambeth side, the council will provide litter-picking equipment to residents if you ask for it. And you know what? You do!
This sense of local community pride goes beyond just clean streets. Community Roadwatch is just one local initiative in which residents work together on road safety campaigns, kitted out in Hi-Vis jackets, making sure residents are kept safe and that drivers behave.
It is all a reminder that looking out for your neighbourhood means looking out for the people in it too.
This is what I tell people when they ask me why Herne Hill is so special.
Yes, the parks are beautiful. Yes, the independent shops and cafés are wonderful, friendly, welcoming – real centres for the people of this community to come together, or simply sit alone, laptop open or paperback in hand. And yes, the choice of local schools is a very good reason for people to move here.
But what really makes a neighbourhood is the people in it. People who refuse to simply shrug and walk on by. People who notice something isn’t right and choose to do something about it.
That’s Herne Hill.
And it’s why, on a Monday morning, with a weekend of viewings to chase and offers to negotiate, I still find time to snap on a pair of rubber gloves, grab a black bin bag, and get to work.
It is because I don’t just work here. I love ‘here’.
And I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.