2025 AGM

On Wednesday 1st October Co-oPepys will host it’s AGM celebrating 40 years! Pepys SE8 residents and regular visitors to the weekly Art Club all welcome.

We remain faithful to the founding principals of the organisation to make quality creative resources accessible, whilst striving to develop community art practices with people living locally. Join us to hear more about recent activities, hear from resident artists and find out how you can get more involved.

Don’t be late it’s tea and cake at 7pm for a 7:30pm start. We will work through the AGM agenda, Chair’s report and update from the treasurer.

Pepys Estate celebrates 60 years in 2026 and will contribute to these celebrations. It would be great to hear from local residents who recall Co-oPepys origins so please come and share some of these experiences and stories.

In Sync with this celebration we are inviting Pepys Estate to help identify some of the characters and events documented in the great photographic archive will hold at Co-oPepys.

The photographic Darkroom has very recently been reactivated so there will be a series of image production workshops dedicated to uses of the vintage equipment that review some of these rare skills with plenty of photo tech oportunities.

eXhibited

DeptfordX annual arts festival openened on 11th July with a set of international artist commisions exhibited at community galleries and schools.

Coopepys once again joined the fringe to host several guests alongside a set of Pepys resident artists in the elevated community arts project spaces. Performance, installation, fabrication, painting, poster and photography all feature in the presented exhibition.

Over a hundred DeptfordX fringe exhibitions and activities are being held in local shops, studios and outside around the area and will close this Sunday 27th.

We were also pleased continue showing some of the latest elements from the recently exhibited Kali Hypothesis virus detective installation .

Helix the catch

This weekend 28th June 2025 @ Coopepys, we welcome the return of ‘Kali Hypothesis’ the DNA detective mystery.

Take up a detective role in the story where the clues you find will help get in to the depths of discovery about the role of viruses and their profound impact on all our lives.

Look out for Kali the cat to help unlock a route through SE8, picking up clues and threading your way out to Pepys Estate, where the journey continues with intensity through a series of crafted interactions inside the studios.

Your investigation begins at Badger Badger by Deptford railway station.

It’s all the work of resident artist Code ⁴, with a cast of local and international collaborators.

Code ⁴ arrived from Indonesia with a large case of exquisily hand cut monochrome card and polycabonate layered illustrations, which have been refactored in scale with our community art spaces.

Don’t miss out on this beautiful and provocative artwork installation that all should experience. Open each day until 6th July, noon till 8pm.

Co-opepys Community Arts Project, 1st Floor, Daubeney Tower, Bowditch, Pepys Estate, London  SE8 3QN coopepys@gmail.com

If you can’t make the trip or want a peek, see this photo album of collected preparation process images.

Hypo

Co-oPepys has been ungoing a temporary transformation over recent weeks in preparation for openeing of Kali Hypothesis, a detective interaction adventure situated throughout the studio spaces.

Uncover the truth about our evolutionary programming, explore the impacts of viruses and their influence on our experiences of this world.

All are invited to take up the threads of our incredible human viral story which is free to visit until the end of October.

Artclub will continue throughout on Monday and Wednesday evenings 7-9pm as usual.

Flora’s Handover

During the run up to DeptfordX 23 we were joined by a Goldsmiths Anthropology and Visual Practices student Flora Tye. Thanks to her great effort and support, much of the Co-oPepys media archive was unboxed and digitised.

These are her handover notes.

I have looked through all of the photo’s and scanned a selection (500+) I have also organised some of the photo’s into polypockets, which are labelled in a clear plastic box in the sewing room. None of the black and white photo’s on the walls have been scanned.

Video

I have looked through the VHS tapes which are marked and converted the following to digital format:

Paperwork

I have organised the loose paperwork (which was on top of the filing cabinets) into chronological order. I have also put aside a small section which maybe interesting/useful. This is in a red tray in the office. Here is the information I have retrieved from the paperwork which may be of use;

  • 82/83 Income = £43,330 82/83 Grant provided to Combination Outreach Project of £1919.88
  • 83/84 Income = £48,340 84 3 full time staff, 1 part time
  • 85 Grant provided for large scale mural – £6,000 from Superstructures Limited
  • 85/86 Dragon Garden was built 86 Independent evaluation paid for by Lewisham council – £700 (report carried out by Pete Sketchley)
  • 86/87 Income = £66,538 87/
  • 88 Income = £65,276
  • 92 Co-oPepys becomes independent project (no longer working under the Albany)
  • 93 threat to art group funding
  • 93/94? became a registered charity – main funder Lewisham leisure services, 25% income raised from charity, public funding bodies, and small grants. “Managed by a voluntary committee made up of local residents and people with experience in community and community arts work”
  • 98 Granted £8,303 by Bridge House Estates trust fund
  • 99 Granted £9,800 by Bridge House Estates trust fund 05 Pete Pope resigned

(All of the supporting documentation for this is either in the top left hand drawer labelled ‘paperwork in chronological order’, or in the red tray)

Then and Now

In 1981 Co-oPepys was established in response to an outreach project by the Albany Empire to increase access to the arts, and to nurture community life. A colourful programme including arts workshops, festivals, dance classes, and theatre productions arrived on Pepys estate, with the aim of bringing people together “to work and play in a spirit of celebration”.

From 1984 until 1996 news and events were broadcast through the magazine ‘Pepys Diary’ designed, printed and distributed by local residents to every household in the estate area. Over the decades Co-oPepys has worked consistently with people of all ages, as well maintaining a focus on the empowerment of women. The wealth of free activities provided over the last 42 years has offered local people the chance to create and connect, that inspired pride and agency over the lived environment.

Today Co-oPepys is a space for everyone to make art and meet with like-minded people. Our Art Club on Monday and Wednesday evenings provides free access to facilities, materials and guidance, hosted by skilled art practitioners.


Where previously Co-oPepys received funding to allow for paid work, we now exist as a registered charity reliant on the continuing dedication of our long standing volunteers. As ever, we remain committed to broadening our scope for workshops, as well as increasing accessibility and inclusivity.

Co-oPepys believes in the impact of projects such as this one to add joy and richness to the lives of individuals, as well as its power in the creation and sustenance of resilient communities. Like many other arts organisations, we are engaged in an ongoing battle to preserve the necessity of art and play in a society which increasingly dismisses it.


We view Co-oPepys as a vital and historical community asset in need of protection. If you wish to help re-invigorate the spirit of Co-oPepys please get in touch at: coopepys@gmail.com

We are forever grateful for the commitment of Pete Pope, Dalva James, Tony Bone, Pocket the Clown (Lez Brooks) and Malcolm Ball who are no longer with us, as well as the energy invested by all Co-oPepys staff and volunteers since 1981.

DeptfordX 25

This years Deptford X festival celebrates 25 years of Arts and Crafts in Deptford with a full program of events and widespread fringe of activities at community spaces, ad-hock performances and after parties around SE8.

Co-oPepys joins the festival with an exhibition of community arts and hosts special guest artists as well as a reminder of it’s rich history in Pepys Estate since 1985!

Check the photo archives at our locally hosted collaboration server.

Open between 12 noon and 6pm each day up to 1st October 2023. Please come and view all artworks on show and find out more about weekly workshops.

Spring 2023

Do you live in Pepys Estate or in the Deptford area and want to attend artist workshops, participate in creative collaborations, brighten up your street or home?

Painting, Printing, Photography, Fabrication and Publishing.

Just ring the the door bell and step out of that wind at the foot of Daubeny Tower, into a warm and welcoming space to see what others in your area are up to.

paste up
sit down

Pleased to welcome Chicco back after 12 months exhibiting in europe and see him get busy with three large poster collages out of abandoned advert posters.

Art Club is held each week on Mondays and Wednesdays 6pm-9pm, free for all.

Co-oPepys 3D

The whole of Daubeny House has recently been scanned as a 3D model to improve on building management and to help emergency services find their way about in the event of an emergency situation.

Many internal spaces including Co-oPepys on the first floor has been scanned to capture the dimensions and as a consequence we have been sent links to where three of the low res models can be viewed..