Mavis W

Mavis has a background in youth, community and social work, project management and commissioning. She works with the local community to address, highlight and solve local issues of interest and concern, using local leadership, co-creative and participatory budgeting approaches. Mavis is interested in partnerships and collaborations across industries. She is a carer, with a keen interest in self-care management and in social justice movements.

Mark G

Ex-City professional with experience in Finance & IT Support (esp Unix Bash shell scripts and SQL queries) gained mostly at RBS. Interested in creative writing, critical thinking, machine learning, trading, game automation, video editing, web scraping, and python programming. Hobbies include running, table tennis, classical music, languages, chess and forge of empires. Got my hands full raising a 2yo these days.

Hugh B

Hugh studied chemistry at Imperial College then spent 40 years in computing. He has worked for the EU Commission, the EU Parliament and for various tech companies. Hugh is semi-retired and working on community currencies. He has an MSc in computing from the Open University and recently finished a philosophy BA at Birkbeck.

Lia

“E7 Blackbird”

My project: putting local life on the map! Big paper ones at the Citizen Science Fair – we all get to write on those. A searchable online “signpost” (Newham for Newbies, coming soon). A build-your-own version for the community (Web Design for Nobodies).

Because: there’s a wealth of community knowledge, support and history in our part of East London. But it’s not that easy to find – scattered over the web, hidden on short-shelf-life platforms, buried in ads. I’m building a permanent, open resource with the long-term links and background info we’ve all been missing around here.

Born in the 80s, grew up in Forest Gate, background “arts, activism, alternatives”. Started messing with HTML in the original Newham Young People Online group (1998). Less young now, but the themes stay relevant: community, self-expression, digital safe space, empowerment & learning. 2023 projects include the Green Fair artwork and big patchwork banner.

You

Calling all…

Makers, inventors, tinkerers

Coders, hackers & data wizards

Low-tech, high-tech, no-tech-at-all people

Systems-and-strategy types

Hands-on creative types

“Able to fix anything” types

Community-builders

History & archives people

Hobbyists & specialists

Questioning, freethinking, curious people

East London needs you!

It’s a festival of knowledge – the first of its kind in Newham.

Share your discoveries, meet the community, join us on this journey.

Never stop playing, and never stop learning.