Calling all freelancers! November 4th sees the inaugural Groucho-on-the-Rye, an informal fortnightly get-together of freelance media people around Dulwich and Peckham. Journalists, authors, editors, designers, photographers, web-masters, TV and film folk – all are welcome. Roger Williams explains why you should be there.
There are lots of reasons for freelancers meeting up: to keep up with gossip, to find work, to compare rates and agents, to escape cabin fever and to kick ideas around. Staffers may tumble into a pub at the end of the day to talk shop; for freelancers it can be hard to find a sympathetic ear.
I am newly arrived in Peckham. Until the move, I had been running Groucho Southeast, a similar event in the Weald of Kent. I am a writer and editor, and it has been 25 years since I had a staff job. That was on The Sunday Times, where, if you didn’t go to the pub, you didn’t know what was going on.
The speed with which New Media has swept in over the past decade has made keeping up to scratch particularly important. In an office, if your computer goes down you can call the IT department. And if you don’t know how a particular piece of software works, the chances are you’ll be sent on a course. At Groucho Southeast people wanted to know about script and photographic programmes, or how to make podcasts, ebooks and apps. “Sitting next to Nelly” was the way apprentices used to learn their trade – just by working alongside somebody who knew what they were doing. I tried to start a similar scheme, whereby skills could be shared. There are many other ways to help, encourage and mutually benefit.
This first get-together is on a Wednesday, the next will be on a Thursday, and they will alternate Mondays to Thursdays, so people with regular commitments can be accommodated. I imagine Dulwich and Peckham to be full of creative and resourceful people and I hope they will be meeting each over the coming weeks.
Date: Wednesday 4th November
Time: from 6.30pm
Venue: The Clockhouse pub on the corner of Barry Road and Peckham Rye
Web: www.grouchoontherye.blogspot.com
