We are about midway through school half term (at time of print) and if – like me – you also work for yourself from home, you know you can’t just take a whole week off. You have to find a way to juggle ALL of your balls at the same time. For me, one of the best ways to keep those pesky balls up in the air is to get a head start on the laptop before the house wakes up. I achieve more between 6-8am than in the rest of the day! That being said, it is slightly easier now that my football-obsessed son is slightly older and wants to go to football camp every day! We booked him into Football Magic in Dulwich Village for a couple of sessions over Easter and he loved it so much that we re-enrolled him for a day over half term. This provided a brilliant excuse to escape the work being done in our garden and the endless muddy footprints of various tradesfolk up and down the hallway. Now, I just need it to stop raining for long enough to light the new built-in barby…

The Dulwich Festival was on while the really messy work was going on so preparing food for our Greek dips stall at the Dulwich Festival Fair and Dulwich Park Fair was fun… #notsomuch

The Festival Fairs are always a highlight of the Festival. Bringing together a selection of the best craftspeople, designers, independent shops, family fun, local bars and food stalls, there was plenty to entertain the family. But, with the Dulwich Festival over for another year, it is time to turn our attentions to June.

The ‘i used to know that’ – stuff you forgot from school – pub quiz at The Crooked Well on 4th June sounds like lots of fun and all for a great cause too! Tickets are £10 a head with all proceeds going to Link Age Southwark.

Village Books of Dulwich Village will host a fascinating talk with Henry Hemming on 5th June about two remarkable female spies and the man who ran them: an animal-loving drop-out who went on to become MI5’s greatest spymaster.

Goodrich School is hosting their annual summer fair on 17th June featuring a surfboard simulator, tin can alley, BBQ and cakes, bouncy castle and live music.

And, Dulwich Picture Gallery will present the first major UK exhibition of watercolours by the Anglo-American artist, John Singer Sargent (1856- 1925), since 1918. The exhibition opens on 21st June.

Next month, thousands of women will unite to help beat cancer on the Crystal Palace Race for Life 5k run. Details of how to register are on our website where you can also find details of all local news, events and ticket information.

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This article first appeared in the June 2017 issue of SE22 magazine.