I'm an artistic director at Blueprint Arts, which is a community arts organisation that runs programmes in Springhead, Northfleet, Swanscombe and Ebbsfleet. I have lived in Springhead for just over five years. I moved here from London at the very end of 2018. I'm originally from the Midlands and have lived in a few different places. We moved down here to buy a property as it was too expensive in London. Settling in has been a slow process, especially because of Covid not long after we moved here. Nobody could go outside and that kind of hampered making connections a little bit. One of the best ways I found settling in was the fact I've got two children and then we had a new school open really close to us. Making connections that way was probably the kind of first big time when I felt a bit more connected to people.I got to meet lots of parents. We've also got a park close by and then we go to the park after school - you start chatting and make connections that way. You help each other out a little bit, maybe you take their children to school then they take your children to school if you're in a rush. Making connections and having people who you can rely on, meet for a coffee, or whatever it is, it makes all the difference. The more things that people do here in the organisations that are making things happen locally, that's the way that other people can make connections to different groups, classes and things that get put on. My favourite local place: I like the older parts of Northfleet and I also go to a lot of different places within the new development which spans over Gravesham and Dartford. My favourite place to go especially with children is Jubilee Park by the lake. I like to take my children there - it's got a really nice playground there. It's a really nice place to go running. There's only a little bit of it open at the moment - it’s fenced off where you're not allowed to go yet, but I'm really excited to see it when it fully opens up. My welcoming message for people coming into the area would be to say: this is a lovely community, and no matter which part of the new development you move to or the community you move to you will find lovely people who want to get involved in things. They want to talk to you. People are very welcoming around here, I think because most people are in the same position that they're completely new to the area and they want to make friends, and they want to, they want to support people moving into the area. I think because of that, the communities that are emerging are really very close knit. There was very little going on when I first moved into the area, but now there's a lot more work going into making things happen. The first thing that I would say is: Check out the Creative Exchange project. We are developing arts and culture in the local area in this new development, and we are trying to get lots and lots of different people in the development of the arts and culture. We would welcome any ideas that people have of things that they might want to see put on in the local area. Go to local community centres like Castle Hill and find out what's going on in those because if you go to classes there, you'll meet people. Get chatting to people who work in the Blue Bean cafe, they're really, really friendly. Get on the neighbourhood groups. People will be so happy to answer any questions you have. And check out all the notice boards in the local area, you'll soon find there's lots of things going on. Don’t ignore Gravesend Town Centre, and if you want to travel that far, Dartford Town Centre, because there's always lots of things going on there. So don't just stick to the new development. Get out to other places as well and find out the other things that are going on in a local area, because there is a lot when you start looking. - From Ndini (This is me), a series of photographs and interviews with local residents by Mbeke Waseme, commissioned by Cement Fields for Ebbsfleet Citizen Archive. Mbeke Waseme is a writer and photographer based in Gravesend. websites.lightrocket.com/mbekewaseme
Submitted by Mbeke Waseme