{"id":1501,"date":"2020-08-20T09:47:08","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T08:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/?p=1501"},"modified":"2020-08-20T09:47:08","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T08:47:08","slug":"lisa-roullier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/2020\/08\/lisa-roullier\/","title":{"rendered":"Lisa Roullier"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joining us for today\u2019s interview about Dagenham is Lisa Roullier, Delivery Officer for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Libraries.\u00a0 Lisa and her department do an amazing job especially with Pen to Print which encourages new writers, provides mentors and leads to many of them publishing their first novels. She is wonderfully supportive, endlessly enthusiastic and I wish I\u2019d known her when I was starting out as a writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lisa Roullier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ES: Apart from working for LBBD, what is your connection to Dagenham?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: I moved to Dagenham when I was just 4 years old. My parents<\/p>\n\n\n\n

considered it \u201cthe country\u201d and said we were moving from North Woolwich <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to pastures green!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: How do you think the rest of the country views Dagenham and do you think this view is justified?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: It\u2019s hard to say \u2013 Dagenham was well known as a centre for industry which gave it a positive spin years ago. Some residents have seen a\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

decline in the area and moved away whilst others move here for more <\/p>\n\n\n\n

opportunities and stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: What do you love about the place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: Anywhere you go in the world, most people have heard of Dagenham. I <\/p>\n\n\n\n

personally love the heritage and history of the Borough, especially the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

changes over the last 100 years. It\u2019s fascinating to see how it\u2019s grown and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

developed from a tiny country village. And 2021 is, of course, the Centenary of the Becontree Estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: Tell us something about Dagenham you don\u2019t think many people are aware of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: In 1953, Sterling works produced nearly half a million submachine guns <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in exclusive government contracts that gave British forces state-of-the-art <\/p>\n\n\n\n

weapons. Some of them were decommissioned and used by the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stormtroopers in Star Wars!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: Wow!  I didn\u2019t know that!  Now, did you<\/em> know that the term Banjo is peculiar to Dagenham? Have you or anyone you know ever lived in one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: I didn\u2019t until recently!  I never lived in a banjo but only a few doors away<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from one. I used to ride my bike and my mum would say \u201cOnly to the banjo <\/p>\n\n\n\n

and back\u201d so she know she could keep me in eyeshot. Banjo is a regular <\/p>\n\n\n\n

used word to me, the same as Road or Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: What\u2019s your fondest memory of Dagenham?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: I have loads of fond memories but my first was viewing our house in <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wren Road and I was so excited to look through the letterbox and see an <\/p>\n\n\n\n

indoor toilet!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: Dagenham has undergone huge change in the last 20-30 years.  What do  you miss most about the old Dagenham? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: I think miss the civic pride in the area \u2013 the respect there was, in the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

parks, for example with park-keepers making sure you didn\u2019t tread on the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

grass etc. Everything looked kept and uniformed,  with residents taking care <\/p>\n\n\n\n

of everything with pride alongside their council properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: As someone who puts on loads of events for the Borough – including the upcoming Readfest which I am really looking forward to – do you wish they\u2019d bring back the Town Show?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: The Town Show was a community event that felt a little dated. I do like <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the new Summer of Festivals as there is something for everyone, with <\/p>\n\n\n\n

popular artists and performers. I think the Council really try to involve local <\/p>\n\n\n\n

residents in some festivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: Now for the serious part…Fish and chips or pie and mash?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: Pie and Mash all day long!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ES: Dagenham Essex or Dagenham East London?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LR: Dagenham, Essex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you, Lisa!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about Pen to Print and the Readfest and to book <\/p>\n\n\n\n

tickets go to:  https:\/\/pentoprint.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joining us for today\u2019s interview about Dagenham is Lisa Roullier, Delivery Officer for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Libraries.\u00a0 Lisa and her department do an amazing job especially with Pen to Print which encourages new writers, provides mentors … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[915,914],"class_list":["post-1501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-barking-and-dageham-literary-festival","tag-lbbd-libraries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1503,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1501\/revisions\/1503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}