New Education Officer for Brixton Windmill

Local Brixton resident Stephen Lawlor is Brixton Windmill?s new Development and Education Officer.
Stephen studied in Ireland at the National College of Art and Design, specialising in art education and ceramic design in secondary schools. So how did he end up in the heritage industry?
Stephen explains:
?While I was in Ireland I wrote a museum study guide for school trips. Then when I came to London I didn?t have the money for equipment and materials to teach ceramics. So I applied for a heritage job at the company that runs Uxbridge Lido [which also owns Brockwell Lido].
?I said in my interview that the best way to teach children about heritage is through creative workshops ? and I got the job! So we do activities like painting patterns inspired by ripples in the water, which leads us to talk about painters like David Hockney, or walk around looking at different architectural features, discussing why an architect built a wall in a particular location.”
Stephen is continuing to work for Uxbridge Lido for two days a week alongside his post at Brixton Windmill. He says he?s been shocked ? in a good way! ? by the enthusiasm and passion of the local community about their local heritage and environment.
Although he was appointed on a temporary contract, he?s hoping that he will be able to stay longer. Already he?s got a secondary school physics class lined up to visit next week, when they will measure the wind speed in different parts of Windmill Gardens and design and build their own wind turbines. Other ideas include workshops related to the Olympic opening ceremony, featuring William Blake?s ?dark satanic mills?.
Stephen?s also got great plans for our Flour Power day on 6 October, repeating the rangoli drawing with flour and lentils from last year but also introducing adult activities for observational drawing of the windmill.
We warmly welcome Stephen on board and look forward to working with him.