Scrapstore Community Artists Recognised in BATCA Awards

Work and Play Scrapstore‘s two local community artists have been honoured in the annual BATCA (Balham & Tooting Community Association) Awards.

Made to 11 outstanding individuals and teams for their service to the community, Scrapstore’s Weavie Stevie and Jayson Singh (pictured above) have been recognised in the arts category for their fantistic work on the Hazelhurst Estate in Tooting, where we are located.

Jayson Singh has brightened up the area underneath Hayesend House on the Estate with the help of community residents. He led the project to add colour to the pillars on the Blackshaw Road side of the Estate, with residents painting their own murals in colourful Rangoli-style designs. Over 100 individual murals have been painted to date.

Weavie Stevie toiled hard to make a colourful, over-size mosaic mural depicting the word Hazelhurst and created out of upcycled materials from Scrapstore.

Both community artists have made a dramatic difference to the fabric of Hazelhurst Estate and its inhabitants. They have brought colour, creativity and community engagement - in terms of developing skills - to Hazelhurst.

During Scrapstore’s annual mini green festival – Hazelfest* - Jayson built an upcycled ramp to the green to give greatly needed access to what is otherwise a disused green space as it is five feet off the ground. Children could scramble up, but the elderly and less mobile could not.

Both Jayson and Weavie Stevie also take active parts in the annual festival. Weavie Stevie has woven a permanent installation on the railings edging the estate with the help of Hazelfest participants, and she recently ran the Towers of Summerstown project when local residents built (foam) bricks to replicate the two 15-storey towers to commemorate the V2 bomb which fell on the area in WW11. Both she and Jayson ran workshops during Hazelfest to teach artistic skills.