Lucy Howard and Pip McCormack

Lucy Howard and Pip McCormack - Street Reps in Perry Vale since 2016

Lucy Howard and Pip McCormack are neighbours and STfL volunteers as Street Reps. They have worked for several years as a double-act in a quiet residential road in Perry Vale. 
Lucy is a children's librarian working for Southwark Libraries and Children's Centres. Pip was for years a schoolteacher and then college lecturer in primary education. She now works as a humanist celebrant. 

They were already nodding acquaintances and had mutual friends in the road when Lucy began volunteering as Street Rep. It was only a matter of time before they were working together. Lucy welcomed the help, and they agree "two people make it much more fun!" They have certainly made their role successful. We asked them for their top tips for Street Reps, and you can see them here on our website. 

They feel they complement each other. Pip “specialises in communication on social media and Lucy in chat on the street”. Six years ago, Lucy ran a Street Trees for Living stall in their road's "Big Lunch" street party. Now they especially enjoy “the friendly encounters while watering, the meeting and working with fellow volunteers for Street Trees for Living". And they appreciate the satisfaction of getting trees planted, and then caring for them.” They agree that “volunteering makes you feel good, makes you connect, and gives you the opportunity to give something back.” Pip enjoys being “the annoying tree hugger”!

They feel that the Street Rep role brings you face-to-face with people's generosity, and they agree when Pip says “it’s great to feel you're boosting the self-esteem of an area, not by gentrifying - a word I’m not very comfortable with - but by contributing to the things that make an area lovely”.