Rhaune Laslett

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Rhaune Laslett
Born
Freda Pulverness

15 November 1919
Festival, which evolved into the Notting Hill Carnival
Spouse(s)Terence A. Laslett, m. 1947 (div.)
James O'Brien, m. 1968
Her plaque

Rhaune Laslett (15 November 1919 – 28 April 2002)

Festival, that evolved into the Notting Hill Carnival
.

Biography

Rhaune Laslett was born Freda Pulverness in Stepney in the East End of London. Her mother Jennie was the daughter of Harris and Betsy Noskovitch. Her father was Abraham Pulverness. Laslett often claimed that she was of Native American heritage.

With the name Frederica R.A.J. Pulvernes or Gibbons, she married Terence A. Laslett in 1947 and was later divorced. In 1960, she was a matron of the Pixie Hollow home in Grove Road,

Ramsgate, Kent. At the trial, she was acquitted of the main charges but, because of her record, she was sentenced to nine months in prison.[clarification needed
]

Laslett became president of the

underground artists of the area, particularly John "Hoppy" Hopkins. The aims of the school were "to promote cooperation and understanding between people of various races and creeds through education and through working together". John Michell and Michael X provided 26 Powis Terrace as a base and the idea was born of a free festival, which became the Notting Hill Carnival
.

She set up the Children's Play Group at 34 Tavistock Crescent that was visited on 15 May 1966 by Muhammad Ali prior to his fight against Henry Cooper.[2]

She became president of the

underground artists of the area, particularly John "Hoppy" Hopkins. The aims of the school were "to promote cooperation and understanding between people of various races and creeds through education and through working together".[4] John Michell and Michael X provided 26 Powis Terrace as a base and the idea was born of a free fayre or festival, which became the Notting Hill Carnival.[5]

In 1968, she married James O'Brien in London.[6]

Notting Hill Carnival

Main article: Notting Hill Carnival

In a series of articles to newspaper correspondents and in The Grove (newsletter of the London Free School),

Coleherne pub in Earl's Court, followed by 2 fire engines".[8]

As

Madame Tussaud's; a local hairdresser did the hair and make-up for nothing; the gas board and fire brigade had floats; and stallholders in Portobello market donated horses and carts. Around 1,500 people turned up, according to police figures."[9]

Neighbourhood Service

Out of the new-found energy in and around the Free School, and

George Clark's work to establish the Community Workshop, Laslett established the Notting Hill Neighbourhood Service, one of the first voluntary services to offer free legal and drugs advice as well as an all-round welfare service.[10] The work of the service is featured in a chapter of the 1968 book Drop Out by Robin Farquharson.[11]

Legacy

Laslett's Carnival: A Photography Exhibition, a photographic journey into the history of Notting Hill Carnival and its early pioneers, was held at The Tabernacle, Notting Hill, in August 2011.[12][13][14]

On 26 August 2011, a blue plaque commemorating Laslett's conception of the Notting Hill street festival that "later evolved into Notting Hill Carnival" was unveiled on the corner of Tavistock Square and Portobello Road (organised by the Nubian Jak Community Trust), facing another blue plaque that commemorates Claudia Jones, who in 1959 organised an indoor Caribbean carnival event.[15][16]

On the eve of the 2016 Carnival, in a series of articles, the leading black newspaper The Voice recognised that "Yes, this is Notting Hill Carnival's 50th year"[17] and "Rhaune Laslett: The true founder of Notting Hill Carnival".[18]

Notes

  1. ^ Rhaune Laslett O'Brien – The mother of Notting Hill Carnival Archived 15 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ An historical and psychogeographical report on Notting Hill Archived 21 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine compiled by Tom Vague for HISTORYtalk. Chapter 10 – Dancing in the Street 1966/67.
  3. ^ Abner Cohen, Masquerade Politics: Explorations in the Structure of Urban Cultural Movements, University of California Press, 1993, p. 10.
  4. ^ Kensington News, 23 July 1966.
  5. ^ Jeff Dexter interview - Notting Hill Carnival grew out of London Free School Archived 10 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Djhistory.com.
  6. ^ "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005". FamilySearch.
  7. ^ Cohen (1993), p. 11.
  8. ^ "1966 London Free School Michaelmas Fayre", Portobello Film Festival.
  9. ^ Gary Younge, "The politics of partying", The Guardian, 17 August 2001.
  10. ^ International Times, 30 May 1968.
  11. ISBN 0-218-51453-0
    .
  12. ^ Carnival Village presents "Laslett's Carnival: A Photography Exhibition", Mangrove in association with RiceNPeas.
  13. ^ "Photo Exhibition: Laslett's Carnival", London Socialist Historian Group.
  14. ^ "Laslett's Carnival", Time Out, 11 October 2012.
  15. ^ Hazelann Williams, "Notting Hill Carnival 'Mothers' Honoured", The Voice, 26 August 2011.
  16. ^ "Plaque: Rhaune Laslett-O'Brien", Memorial, London Remembers.
  17. ^ Davina Hamilton, "Yes, this is Notting Hill Carnival's 50th year", The Voice, 28 August 2016.
  18. ^ Davina Hamilton, "Rhaune Laslett: The true founder of Notting Hill Carnival", The Voice, 28 August 2016.

Further reading

  • Abner Cohen (1993), Masquerade Politics: explorations in the structure of urban cultural movements. Chapter 1: A Resurrected London Fair.
  • "Rhaune Laslett, The Notting Hill Festival", in Carnival: A Photographic and Testimonial History of the Notting Hill Carnival, London: Rice N Peas, pp. 50–83.
    ISBN 978-0-9545293-2-1
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rhaune_Laslett&oldid=1181517762"