Estate we love is turning into a pipe-and-wire city

Published: 18 February, 2011

• I WOULD entirely agree that “Our estate is just great”(Letters, February 11) – that is, until the works were carried out by Homes for Islington.

As a tenants’ and residents’ association (TRA) we are only too pleased to hear that some residents are happy with the work that has been carried out – as having a new kitchen or boiler clearly is something they wanted or may well have needed to improve their homes. We are pleased they are satisfied with the end results as we have been making sure they got exactly what they were entitled to – a decent home with a decent quality of work carried out.

Unfortunately, for many on the estate it has not been a happy time. So if the words of my poem have helped to speak for them I am only too happy to do just that. 

I am on the Popham 1 committee as vice-chair so anyone who attends the meetings will have seen me and know who I am. 

People unhappy with the work have attended our meetings and contacted us for help. The TRA does not get paid and its members are totally voluntary, giving up time and effort to keep our estate one we can be proud of. 

We love Popham as much as many others on the estate and at no point have we called our estate terrible or rubbished it.

For those who don’t know me, I am 52 years of age and was born and raised in Islington, playing on many a bomb site in and around Popham. I watched Popham being built in the early 70s and had family who moved into flats on the newly-built estate and now live here myself. I have always thought Popham to be one of the most attractive estates around and therefore cannot abide seeing it being defaced and turned into a pipe-and-wire city. 

I am sorry if I don’t know everyone and if my poem describing the eyesores has offended in any way but I only speak as I have found and represent people who have concerns about what is happening to our estate. The TRA is in total favour of everyone having an opinion.

PATRICIA NOLAN
Vice-chair (poet), Popham 1 Tenants’ and Residents’ Association (PETRA) 

• I WAS totally outraged by the letter which tried to dismiss the hard work the Tenants’ and Residents’ Association has done on Popham 1 estate. 

Our estate would be in a real mess if it wasn’t for the hard work the officers of the association do. And, as you can see below, I put my name to this letter.

As for someone not knowing who Patricia Nolan is, all I can surmise is that the person who wrote the letter has never been to any meetings or had any of the electrical nightmares that my neighbours and myself have had.

Ms Nolan and Martin Rutherford need to be knighted for offering their shoulders to cry on, and helping my mother get through the stress that Homes for Islington put her through. 

They were there at all times, in person and on the phone, and I will never be able to thank them enough.

At the TRA meeting last Saturday, more than a quarter of the estate attended, and everyone there knew who Ms Nolan was. So, “Mr or Mrs Name and Address Supplied”, stand up, be counted and realise that the TRA has never rubbished our estate, only tried to make it a better place to live in.

SIMON MOTHERWELL
Popham Street, N1

• THE anonymous letter writer would know who Patricia Nolan is if he/she came to the regular meetings at the Community Centre, or read the newsletters hand-delivered to every home on Popham 1, or read the noticeboards, of which there are two on every walkway.

Would the anonymous letter writer support the look of the new drainpipe-size gas laterals being put up on all walls and ceilings on every walkway?

On March 24 there will be the AGM where anyone on Popham 1 can stand for any position on the TRA. 

Perhaps this letter writer would like to come forward, be voted in, spend more than 20 hours-plus of unpaid time a week caring for the residents of the estate we love so much, or perhaps not as they wouldn’t like to be identified.

MARTIN RUTHERFORD
Secretary, Popham1 Tenants’ and Residents’ Association