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Barbara Binns Pattinson '61Barbara Binns Pattinson ’61 lives by the motto, “Be there and try to help. Leave a place better than you found it.” As a lifelong believer in civic engagement and the “value and power of human potential,” Pattinson has devoted her retirement to community improvement projects surrounding her home in Camberwell, southeast London.

A diverse community with rich cultural and architectural history, Camberwell lies within two local government authorities and suffers from cross-border neglect. “Cooperation between police services based in the two authorities has had to improve, because Camberwell has been designated a crime ‘hot spot,’” says Pattinson. To support the work of the police, she serves as vice chair of the Camberwell Sector Police Working Party and, as a volunteer in policing Southwark, helps staff the front desk of the recently reopened Camberwell police station.

As a leader in community organizations like the Camberwell arts festival, Pattinson supports year-round arts projects and Camberwell ArtsWeek. “I believe the arts are for everyone,” she says. On the Camberwell Society planning subcommittee, Pattinson works to help ensure that development enhances the quality of the urban landscape — in particular, conservation of the 18th- and 19th-century buildings for which Camberwell is renowned. “We also promote the best quality modern design,” she says. “Conservation is not just about old buildings.”

Her next challenge? A forum to “act as the voice for the people of Camberwell. As things stand now, local initiatives in regeneration are too fragmented. We must speak as one if we want to see improvements in the quality of life for the people of Cam­berwell.”

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