The Canada Estate TRA is running a gardening project and a social history project in conjunction with Southwark Council JSI
The gardening project is open to all budding gardeners we are creating allotments to grow fruit and veg this is on Wednesday from 4pm to 6pm and Sunday 2 pm to 4 pm we will also be running this scheme in the half term holidays on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 12 pm to 2 pm
The social history project: We are interviewing people who worked in the docks and who lived here during that period and through photography and research of existing photos documenting the changes in the area
We are also interviewing the people who have immigrated to the area to get their stories of what it was like to leave their homeland and settle in the area. Same days same time as above its free to all .
The owners of the Thames News (ITV regional news) archive have published on YouTube this 30-second clip of a demonstration in Swan Road Rotherhithe in March 1985.
Locals occupied a plot of land in protest against plans by the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) to build ‘luxury housing’.
In September 2014 your correspondent visited Bermondsey Road in East York, Toronto – home of the Peek Freans biscuit factory (and cookie outlet shop).
Peek Freans may have long disappeared from its original home in ‘our’ Bermondsey (and British supermarket shelves) but the brand lives on in Canada as part of the same Mondelez International conglomerate that owns Cadbury’s
Last month the Government granted listed building status (at grade II) to the former Swedish Seamen’s Church in Lower Road.
The church – which dates from 1964 – closed in 2012 and was put up for sale.
In 2013 the Twentieth Century Society asked English Heritage to recommend to the Government that the building be listed.
Henrietta Billings from the 20th Century Society said: “We are delighted by this decision to celebrate and protect the Swedish Seamen’s Mission building. It is a rare and remarkably intact piece of authentic post war Swedish architecture in England.
“Not only are the interiors a showcase for Swedish design, it also tells an interesting story of Anglo-Swedish links in architecture as well as trade. We are confident that this diverse building can be successfully re-used and its fascinating history celebrated.”
In the summer of 2012 the complex hosted a drop-in Swedish cafe during the Olympic Games. More recently the premises has been used by the London Bubble theatre company while its permanent home in Elephant Lane was being refurbished.
With consultation on the draft Canada Water Master Plan starting this weekend it’s timely that this footage from ITV regional news programme Thames News of the opening of Surrey Quays Shopping Centre in 1988 has appeared on YouTube today.
Just over three years since the theft of the statue of Dr Alfred Salter from Bermondsey Wall East, the whole family – including a new statue of Ada Salter – is now returned to the riverside.
The new statues have been created by the original artist Diane Gorvin.
Sunday afternoon’s unveiling ceremony featured speeches by Southwark’s deputy mayor Cllr Neil Coyle, council leader Cllr Peter John and Rt Hon Simon Hughes MP.
According to the council leader, the new Ada Salter statue is the first statue of a female politician to be erected in London.
In his speech, Simon Hughes MP called for Southwark Council to name a new school in the borough after Ada Salter to complement the existing Alfred Salter Primary School.
Johanna Crawshaw, Dr Salter’s grandniece, unveiled the replacement statue of the legendary Bermondsey MP.
Ada Salter’s statue was unveiled by Nick Hudson and Janet Kendall, grandnephew and grandniece of Bermondsey’s first woman Mayor.
Dr Ruth Wallis, director of public health for Lambeth and Southwark, removed the cover from the statue of young Joyce Salter which has been in storage since the theft of her father’s statue three years ago.
Maisie Carter and her grandson Archie unveiled the sculpture of the Salter family cat which has been returned to its place on the river wall.
Other guests at the event included peace campaigner Bruce Kent and the deputy lieutenant for Southwark, Jenny Bianco.
An exhibition of photographs of the Salters was displayed after the ceremony in the nearby church of St Peter & the Guardian Angels.
Alfred Salter
Ada Salter
Joyce Salter
The Salter family cat
Gary Glover
Rt Hon Simon Hughes MP
Cllr Neil Coyle
Cllr Stephanie Cryan
Cllr Peter John
Dr Ruth Wallis, director of public health for Lambeth & Southwark
Janet Kendall and Nick Hudson, Ada Salter’s grandniece and grandnephew
Maisie Carter who remembers campaigning for Dr Salter as a young child
The statues are now watched over by CCTV cameras at the Angel
three4all theatre will present a reading of Alison Mead’s new play ‘Politic Man’ in Chatham on Monday 24 November.
Set in run down Bermondsey during two world wars, ‘Politic Man’ is the true story of Alfred Salter and his wife Ada, who between them, stood for local, mayoral and parliamentary elections throughout their lives while living and working in one of the most impoverished areas of London: Bermondsey.
