Where would you spend the busiest evening of the busiest weekend of the busiest part of the August summer holiday month?
Seeing a lot of great music – 7 acts in all – at a Robes Project fundraiser at Amott Baptist Church in SE London, of course!
People typically evacuate London in August for half-term. Still, a great crowd turned up, lots of fun was had. Funds were raised for stellar South London homeless charity Robes (robes.org.uk) in Amott Baptist Church (near Goose Green) on 17th August, an event organised by community groups Cost of Living Crisis Concerts, Grove Collective, and Camberwell blues band John McClean and the Clan.
The cost of living is rising dramatically. and non-denominational Robes try to fill the gap for the vulnerable by providing winter shelter in churches across Southwark and Lambeth from November to March. Robes provides a safe, warm place to sleep, a hot meal, and support for the many London vulnerable seeking to rebuild their lives.
Grove Collective, a community “foodshifting” group active since 2017, was founded by John McClean and the Clan with early assistance from Copleston Centre Peckham. Grove Collective organised and catered this Robes event through its Cost of Living Crisis Concerts (COLCC) partner. It provides food for food-led charities, while COLCC works to raise money to assist charity provision. This Robes Project fundraiser brought everyone together.
Heaps of local musicians were on hand for this event to help raise money to help. The 7 acts on the night included Who Slapped John, Lizzie Shirley of Telegraph Hill Community Choir, Vronksy, Winston Skeritt, Tim Wright of Orchestra Fantasma, The New Immigrants, and New Zealand’s best Taranaki-to-London transplants John McClean & the Clan, London’s only psychedelic rockin’ gospel blues band.
But the evening’s headliner may have been Grove Collective’s unsung volunteer caterers. Still a volunteer himself, John McClean said they were ‘legendary’ on the night. They hope to replicate their exotic fusion and beverage menu at Amott with a COLCC community choirs event next year!
https://www.instagram.com/grovecollectiveselondon
https://www.instagram.com/colcrisisconcerts
Thanks to Alex Zdan for this article and Vladimir Daniel for the photo.