Lambeth Women's Project

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Lambeth Women's Project
Formation1979
Dissolved2012
Location
  • 166a Stockwell Road, Lambeth, London
Formerly called
Lambeth Girl's Project

Lambeth Women's Project was a women's organisation located at 166a Stockwell Road in Stockwell, Lambeth, South London that provided counselling and a range of other services to women in the area.[1]

History

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It was founded by a group of women youth workers[2] in 1979 as Lambeth Girl's Project. The women's project provided a space for various community groups to meet, as well as services for women including counselling, sexual-health advice, meditation, mentoring, crafts, yoga, art, and music. Over 150 women used the space each month.[3][4]

Some of the proceeds from Ladyfest London in 2002 were used to buy a drumkit for the space.[5] In 2007 Ladies Rock Camp, organised by Nazmia Jamal and Liz Riches, was held in the project's building. Post-punk band The Raincoats gave a talk and performed there on the opening night.[5]

It closed in 2012 after being evicted from their location by Stockwell Primary School and Children's Centre, who had been handed management of the building by Lambeth Council.[3] 12 volunteers, including mothers, staged a sit-in at the building to protest the eviction.[6] A pot banging protest was held during the occupation.[7]

The history of the organisation is preserved at Lambeth Archives, catalogued by archivist and youth worker Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski who had been a member of the project.[8][9]

Writing in 2024, Nydia A. Swaby identifies Lambeth Women's Project as "deeply inspired" by Amy Ashwood Garvey who opened the first Black women's centre in London in 1954.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Get back to counselling". News Shopper. 23 January 2002. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  2. ^ "Lambeth Girls Project". yvonnefield.com.
  3. ^ a b Grant, Catherine (2022). A Time of One's Own: Histories of Feminism in Contemporary Art. Duke University Press. ISBN 9781478023470.
  4. ^ a b Swaby, Nydia A. (2024). Amy Ashwood Garvey and the future of Black feminist archives. Lawrence & Wishart. pp. 168–170. ISBN 9781913546397.
  5. ^ a b Ahaiwe Sowinski, Ego; Jamal, Nazmia (2019). "10 Love & Affection: The Radical Possibilities of Friendship Between Women of Colour". In Emejulu, Akwugo; Sobande, Francesca (eds.). To Exist is to Resist - Black Feminism In Europe (PDF). Pluto Press. p. 136. ISBN 9780745339481.
  6. ^ "Mothers stage sit-in at Stockwell primary school over poster on girls' mutilation". The Evening Standard. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
  7. ^ "Ain Bailey: Atlantic Railton". Serpentine Galleries.
  8. ^ "Ain Bailey and Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski in conversation with Rosalie Doubal" (PDF). Institute of Contemporary Arts. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  9. ^ The National Archives. "Lambeth Women's Project". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
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51°28′00″N 0°07′03″W / 51.4667°N 0.1175°W / 51.4667; -0.1175

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