The Beehive, London, 16 May 2019

It was a very fine evening as I walked up Tottenham High Road towards The Beehive pub. The new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium loomed staggeringly large on the not-too distant horizon; a dazzling emblem of progressiveness in this community. Likewise, at just £5 for a full evening of life drawing, Tottenham Art Classes is a great community asset… and a progressive one at that.

In addition to being one of the best value informal life drawing groups in London, they have extended their global platform by getting listed as an AirBnB Experience. Hats off to organisers Taz and Tom for this innovative stroke of genius. At 7pm, it was time for all items of clothing to come off as I started with short poses: 1-minute, 2-minutes, 3, 5 and 10-minutes.

The first half ended with two poses of 15-minutes each. When I arrived, Taz had been concerned that attendance may be affected by disruption on the Victoria Line – a dog on the tracks, of all things – yet as we approached the interval, our main concern was making sure I positioned myself somewhere that everyone in the crowded room could see me. Not so straightforward when the ceiling is supported by a central column.

The second half began with a flurry of quick-fire poses: four lasting just 1-minute each. We then finished at a more sedate pace. I stood for 10-minutes in my recent favourite ‘whispering’ pose, and lastly sat for our final 20-minutes. Somehow I lost track of time and thought there must be another pose to follow but, no, it was 9pm and we were all done. I’d enjoyed being back with old friends… and maybe some new AirBnB-ers too.