The Torch of Anarchy: 1890s meetings in Southwark Park

The Torch - sometimes known as The Torch of Anarchy - was an 1890s anarchist communist journal started by Olivia, Arthur and Helen Rossetti,  three young siblings from an artistic family (the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti was their uncle and the poet Christina Rossetti their aunt)

An issue from 1895 (April 18th) mentions that 'An Anarchist-Communist Group is being formed in Bermondsey' with open air meetings to 'be held in Southwark Park every Sunday morning at 11 am'. The contact give is C. Freestone, 5 Brandon Street, Bermondsey New Road'

A subsequent issue (18 July 1895) lists 'Anarchist Open-Air Propaganda' meetings in Southwark Park, Deptford Broadway and other London paces. The Torch is listed at being available from Devenny, 108 New Kent Road.

'Indoor Lectures' were also advertised at Deptford Workingmen's Educational Club, held at Smith's Cocoa Rooms, Deptford Bridge as well as at Liberty Hall in Wimbledon (Torch, 18 October 1895), 

See also: Bermondsey Socialist Club in the 1890s

 

The Mighty Scheme - Graham Fagen

A couple of weeks ago (12 June) I went to a live performance by Ghetto Priest and Adrian Sherwood at Dilston Grove in Southwark Park.  The event was part of the 'The Mighty Scheme' exhibition by the Scottish artist Graham Fagen, taking place at Dilston Grove and at the nearby CGP gallery in the park.

I went back today to check out the exhibition in full. Its centrepiece is a four screen film and video installation 'The Slave's Lament', featuring Ghetto Priest singing Robert Burns' anti-slavery song of that name accompanied by strings. In the dark, cool space of the ex-church it is beautiful and mesmerising. 

The only other object in the church is a haunting rope tree, with its echoes of lynchings. Fagen is interested in the relationship between Caribbean history and Scottish identity. Burns, central to the latter, not only wrote about slavery but planned at one point to move to Jamaica. Ironically if he had succeeded it would probably have been to work on a slave plantation. He couldn't afford to make the trip, and then found success as a poet which made his escape from a precarious financial position in Scotland unnecessary.

Outside is one of Fagen's neon works 'Come into the Garden and forget about the war', while there is a series of connected work in the CGP gallery just across the grass. 

Tomorrow - Sunday 26th June - is your last chance to see this exhibition - both galleries are open from 11 am to 5 pm, admission free.

Natural Anarchy - Graham Fagen

Hilly Fields Parkrun Birthday

This Saturday (9 am), Hilly Fields parkrun will be celebrating its first birthday. In the last 12 months, 887 different people have come to the park on a Saturday morning and run 5 km. The combined distance they have run is 17,640 km - which is further than from Hilly Fields to Sydney, Australia. Most weekends there are between 70 and 100 people taking part, plus a team of volunteers organising it. For the birthday celebrations there will be cake and prizes - and running the course around the park in the opposite direction to usual.

I've written here before about the wonders of parkrun - it's a free, accessible run (or walk if you want), and a great community event. For details of Hilly Fields parkrun, see the website. Weather forecast is that Saturday will be a day of sun in a week of rain, so get along and join in!

Photo from Hilly Fields parkrun flickr group

There are other parkruns in many other London parks (see map here). Last week a new one started in Southwark Park, getting off to a fine start with 150 people taking part (see report here).

For a round up of South London running, check out Go Feet.

Swandown

Swandown at Dilston Grove (Cafe Gallery) in Southwark Park is an installation to accompany the film 'Swandown' about Andrew Kötting and Iain Sinclair's journey, in a swan-shaped pedalo, from Hastings to Hackney - a journey described by Sinclair as a kind of mute 'counter grand project' to the Olympics and similar initiatives. It is on until July 29th.

I went along a couple of weeks ago (1st July) to a talk featuring Sinclair and the writer Marina Warner in conversation about the complex mythology of the swan - as both graceful and violent, pure and terrifying, creature of the water and the sky. The many swan names in the river city of London were referred to (and indeed, though not mentioned, there is a Swan Road in SE16 and Swan Street SE1, as well as numerous Swan pubs).

Marina Warner and Iain Sinclair talking in the swan

Dilston Grove - built in 1911 as the Clare College Mission Church, this early concrete building
is now Grade II listed. The church itself closed in 1966. Clare College Mission was a philanthropic
settlement linked to the Cambridge University college.

Among the documents in the exhibition is this 1987 flyer for an appearance by
Sinclair and Brian Catling at Rasp - seemingly a poetry night held at 67 Balfour Street, SE17

Actual swans in Southwark Park

Jubilee parties and protests

So in case you haven't noticed it's the 60th anniversary of the Queen coming to the throne, with various jubilee events happening. Must say I can count on one hand the number of houses I have seen displaying union jacks, though a few pubs and shops have them up.

I was a kid in the Silver Jubilee 1977 and there did seem to be a bit more enthusiasm, though even then the pro-royal consensus was a bit of a myth - most famously The Sex Pistols had a massive hit with the incendiary 'God Save the Queen... she ain't no human being.. they've made you a moron'. The song was of course banned from the radio but I recall driving my mum mad singing 'No future for you'. Last weekend in Southwark Park, artist Rachael House staged Apathy's a Drag - recreating with model boats a related moment from 1977, when members of the Sex Pistols entourage were arrested during the Jubilee after playing a gig in a boat on the Thames.

Apathy's a Drag in Southwark Park
(picture by Controlled Weirdness)

This time round many people will no doubt join in street parties, but not sure that should be taken as a whole hearted endorsement of the future role of the monarchy. Other than just wanting an excuse to party, the main sentiments underlying this Jubilee seem to be nostalgia, retro kitsch and in some cases affection for an old celebrity called Elizabeth Windsor.

In Deptford there's a Jubilee Street Party from 2 pm on Saturday 2 June at The Old Tidemill School in  Frankham Street complete with Saxon Studio International Sound System and various bands including Bastion. They are at pains to point out that 'THIS IS NOT A LOYALIST EVENT - THIS IS A COMMUNITY EVENT CELEBRATING THE PEOPLE, ART AND MUSIC OF OUR COUNTRY - ONE AND ALL WELCOME'.

In New Cross there is a Jubilee Street party on Saturday in St James Road from 2 p to 6 pm, organised by New Cross Learning with St James School and The Hobgoblin pub.

There's also plenty of explicitly Anti-Jubilee stuff in South London. More than 500 people have signed up on facebook for a 'New Cross F**k the Jubilee Street Party' on Sunday afternoon - venue to be announced. A Never Mind the Jubilee picnic is also planned for Brockwell Park on Monday the 5th June.

And on the South Bank of the Thames by Tower Bridge, Republic are planning to stage the largest republican protest in living memory on Sunday 3rd June, timed to coincide with the Queen sailing by on her Thames pageant. The event will start at 12 noon, with the main focus being between 3 and 4 pm. Speakers will include Peter Tatchell, Joan Smith and Owen Jones. Meet by the 'Scoop' next to City Hall.

Of course it's not a proper Jubilee - the kind mentioned in The Bible involved freeing slaves and cancelling debts in a 50 year cycle. That would be more like it than an extra day's bank holiday.