Memory of a Free Festival

Memory of a Free Festival by David Bowie is a song I've known for years - it's on his 1969 Space Oddity album - but I've only recently discovered it is a true South London song.

Bowie's Beckenham connections have been documented here before, but I didn't realize that this song was apparently inspired by the Free Festival held in Beckenham Recreation Ground, Croydon Road on August 16 1969. The festival was put on by Bowie and others involved in the Beckenham Arts Lab held on Sundays at the Three Tuns pub in Beckenham High Street. As David Bebbington recalls at Beckenham History, 'Bowie played solo, and the bill also included singer-songwriters Bridget St John, Keith Christmas and Toni Visconti'. Comus and The Strawbs also played.



Here's the lyrics:

"Memory Of A Free Festival"

The Children of the summer's end
Gathered in the dampened grass
We played Our songs and felt the London sky
Resting on our hands
It was God's land
It was ragged and naive
It was Heaven

Touch, We touched the very soul
Of holding each and every life
We claimed the very source of joy ran through
It didn't, but it seemed that way
I kissed a lot of people that day

Oh, to capture just one drop of all the ecstasy that swept that afternoon
To paint that love
upon a white balloon
And fly it from
the toppest top of all the tops
That man has pushed beyond his brain
Satori must be something
just the same

We scanned the skies with rainbow eyes and saw machines of every shape and size
We talked with tall Venusians passing through
And Peter tried to climb aboard but the Captain shook his head
And away they soared
Climbing through
the ivory vibrant cloud
Someone passed some bliss among the crowd
And We walked back to the road, unchained

The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party
The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party
The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party
The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party
The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party."

Nunhead Soul

The Twisted Wheel.... Wigan Casino... and now.... the Old Nun's Head .

Northern Soul in Nunhead - what's not to like? Saturday 25th September sees Downtown Soulville bringing the noise to the pub on Nunhead Green, SE15. Further information at their Facebook page. I went to the Brockley Soul night some of these folks put on at the Wickham Arms earlier this year, and can confirm they have great record collections. Bring your own talc.

1960s Jazz and R'n'B in Blackheath

Interesting interview at Coventry Music History with Colin Richardson about the Jazzhouse Club in Blackheath, which he co-ran at the Green Man pub in 1962/63. As Colin recalls:

“The jazz club was held at the Green Man pub in Blackheath every Sunday evening, upstairs in what was euphemistically referred to as the "Banqueting Suite". It was a decent sized room, which originally had a tiny triangular stage across one corner of the room (though this was later enlarged to an oblong area which extended right across one end of the room). The 'house band' was the Ian Bird Quintet... Every week a different 'star' soloist would be booked... Tubby Hayes, Joe Harriott, Ronnie Scott, Don Rendell, Tommy Whittle... all the current premier league instrumentalists of the day. They all got paid the same fee...£5 (which was about 3 times what the resident musicians took home!) The resident band would play the first half, then, after the break, the 'star' would play, backed by the house rhythm section. Sometimes (depending on the whim of said 'star', the other guys would return for a jam session end to the evening. The atmosphere was always friendly, the audience usually around the 100 mark, depending on how strong a draw that week's soloist was. There was a bar at the rear of the room, but the audience, though enthusiastic, was always well-behaved and knew their jazz.”

Manfred Mann also played early gigs there with his band of the same name. In 1963, shortly after arriving in the UK from South Africa, he played a jazz gig at another club run by Richardson and friends at the Hackwood Hotel in Bromley. Soon he switched to R&B:

 'Next time we saw him, he pitched up at the Jazzhouse one Sunday and told us he had switched to Hammond organ and was playing R&B as Manfred Mann (he probably deemed his real name, Lubowitz, too unwieldy). He suggested that we open a 'rhythm and blues' night, saying that they would play every other Friday for a straight 50% of the door take (such was his confidence that they would draw a good crowd, which turned out to be well-founded)... On the first Friday, I turned up at my usual time of around 7 pm...30 minutes prior to opening the doors. Normally, on a Sunday, I would arrive to find maybe 15 or 20 people waiting in an orderly queue. On this occasion as I was approaching the venue, I noticed that there seemed to be a crowd milling around and wondered if there was a problem of some kind. As I got closer, I realised that it was 'our' queue...which stretched from the club entrance on the first floor, down the stairway, out the main entrance and around the block! Around 300+ fans were waiting (with incredible patience, it should be mentioned) to get in. We were, as they say, 'gobsmacked'! The gig was a resounding success and we cleaned up! Not every group did quite as well, but nevertheless, we always made money, whoever was on. 

As fate would have it, the success of the R&B night, with its much larger crowds, was indirectly the cause of its demise. It happened thus: On Saturday nights at the Green Man, a slightly dubious promoter used to stage what he described as "A Battle of the Bands", when he would assemble a bill of 5 or 6 local 'beat groups' (as they were known then) who would 'compete' for the title of the night's best group. They would 'win' the prize money of about a tenner..the rest got zilch! The promoter, of course, always made a bomb! There were often minor scuffles on these evenings...nothing serious...but one Saturday a fight broke out and a knife was used...enter the 'fuzz', who promptly closed ALL the clubs down... even though we were unconnected and had never had any trouble on our nights... [the jazz club was eventually allowed to continue] So, our venture into the world of 'commercial promotions' came to an end..but , at least we had made a bit of money, which we used to fund the formation of a 'big-band workshop', the brainchild of Clive Burrows, co-leader of the resident quintet. The rehearsal band eventually evolved into the New Jazz Orchestra'. 

The Green Man at the top of Blackheath Hill, replaced with Alison Close housing in the early 1970s, was obviously an important local music venue. As mentioned here recently, it also hosted a folk club where Paul Simon played. As for Manfred Mann (the man), he went on to have many hits with Manfred Mann (the band), and eventually bought a music studio at 488 Old Kent Road, called the Workhouse. Many great records were made on that spot, now covered by the Asda supermarket. Incidentally, Mr Mann/Lubowitz once lived in Southbrook Road, Lee. 

Advert for The Gaff, jazz club at the Green Man with compere George Melly. The Green Man is described as 'South London's greatest jazz centre' (from Jazz News, 28 February 1962, found at great National Jazz Archive)

[post updated September 2022 with advert from Jazz News]

Henry Miller and Crystal Palace

A fine day off work spent on the book and coffee trail, starting off at the excellent Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace, then on to Kirkdale Bookshop in Sydenham and the various charity shops nearby (with refreshment stops at Domali in Crystal Palace and Blue Mountain in Sydenham). Came home with Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers and Adorno's The Culture Industry (the latter a 50p snip at the hospice shop), among other things. Pleased to report that Kirkdale still got lots of second hand London books downstairs, at Bookseller Crow they are doing a good line in new paperback editions of beat classics (Burroughs, Kerouac) at three for a tenner. What are you waiting for?

Anyway in a brief conversation with the Bookseller himself, I mentioned that the American author Henry Miller refers to Crystal Palace in his novel Sexus, first published in Paris in 1949. Here's the quote:

'It is to Covent Garden I go a few hours after landing in London, and to the girl I single out to dance with I offer a rose from the flower market. I had intended to go direct to Spain, but circumstances obliged me to go straight to London. A Jewish insurance agent from Baghdad, of all places, is the one to lead me to the Covent Garden Opera which has been converted into a dance hall for the time being. The day before leaving London I pay a visit to an English astrologer who lives near the Crystal Palace. We have to pass through another man's property to get to the house. As we are walking through the grounds he informs me casually that the place belongs to Thomas Burke, the author of Limehouse Nights' .

Of course the work is novel, albeit a fictionalised account of episodes in the author's life. So did Miller himself visit the Crystal Palace area? Quite possibly, as he was a friend of the writer Lawrence Durrell. According to Norbert Blei's blog 'Durrell had come to London with Henry Miller, another writer whom Dylan [Thomas] greatly admired. They were at that time editing an English language magazine in Paris together, originally called The Booster and later Delta.'

Durrell's novel The Black Book (1938) was written in 1935-6, a period during which he lived for a while at the Queens Hotel on Church Road, Crystal Palace (the work features local scenes). So as a friend of Durrell it's quite likely that Miller would have visited and been familiar with the area. The Covent Garden Opera was indeed turned into a dancehall at the start of World War II in 1939. Thomas Burke (1886-1945) was a South London born writer of books set in London's Chinese communities.

In a post on The Crystal Palace in Literature, Sarah J Young discusses other literary references, including George Gissing’s The Nether World (1889), E Nesbit's The Ice Dragon, or Do As You Are Told (1900) and The Enchanted Castle (1907), and Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda (1988). She has also discussed the differing perspectives of the Russian authors Dostoevsky and Chernyshevsky on the Crystal Palace itself, and even pondered whether 'Dostoevsky was thinking of the Crystal Palace dinosaurs when he wrote ‘The Crocodile’'.

Emile Zola's stay in Crystal Palace is covered in a previous Transpontine post.

Nollywood Now in New Cross

Nollywood Now, the UK's first festival of Nigerian film, is taking place at the Moonshot Club in New Cross in October. According to the organisers:

'The Nigerian film industry, popularly known as Nollywood, exploded at the beginning of the 1990s and is now the world’s second largest film industry in the world in terms of number of annual film production. The industry has an estimated turnover of US$250 million, and produces around 2400 films a year. Films are rarely released in cinemas, but are distributed in DVD and VCD format in markets and shops for home viewing. In London, many Nollywood fans rent or buy their films from shops in Deptford, Peckham and Dalston...

Nigerian film is popular with audiences from across Africa. In 2006, 42% of Nollywood films were made in English language, 37% in Yoruba and 18% in Hausa. The industry has taken influence from all around the world (including Bollywood melodrama, Latin American soap operas, low-budget American/British horror and Hong Kong gangster flicks) but transform these influences to address local concerns.'

The festival runs from 6 to 12 October, with the launch event on Wednesday 6 October featuring a panel discussion and screening of the documentary Nollywood Babylon. The venue is the Moonshot Centre, Fordham Park, New Cross, London SE14 6LU

Full details of all events at the Nollywood Now site.

New Cross: handy for Millwall

Another groundbreaking piece of social research in Monday's Evening Standard, looking at the impact of the East London Line on house prices:

'Exclusive research for the Evening Standard today showed the value of properties in areas such as Haggerston, Shadwell, Wapping and New Cross have risen sharply over the past two years.
Estate agents along the route from Dalston in the north to Crystal Palace and West Croydon in the south have seen a flood of enquiries from workers looking for quick transport links into central London'.

It includes summaries for some of the areas along the line, including New Cross and Brockley:

'New Cross/Gate [Average House] Price: £286,036 (+22.7%). Best roads: Billington Road and Pepys Road for Victorian houses. Why live there: Excellent if you are a Millwall fan. Good pubs include the Amersham Arms. “Outstanding” Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College. Who lives there: Musician Steve Harley grew up here.

Brockley [Average House] Price: £294,157 (+7.8%). Best roads: Five minutes' walk from the station, Wickham Road is rated one of the area's best. Why live there: The area is not short of green spaces with Blythe Hill, Brockley and Hilly Fields. Who lives there: actor David Haig and musician Nick Nicely'.

The article is based on the totally unbiased view of housing offered by local estate agents, who as usual are peddling two contradictory stories:

1. South East London is always already cheap, you can afford to live here.
2. House prices in South East London are always already rising, if you buy here you will be able to make money in the long run.

There's no questioning of the assumption that rising house prices are intrinsically a good thing - no interviews with people who might now not be able to afford to live locally (perhaps despite growing up round here) because of rising prices and their knock on effects on rents.

Anyway the fact that the Standard article highlighted the Millwall connection, complete with a photo of banner waving fans, should help to keep New Cross more affordable for a while longer!

Telegraph Hill Skate Park Latest

Earlier in the summer, the streets, pubs and cafes of New Cross and Brockley were abuzz with arguments about the potential location of a skateboarding area in Telegraph Hill top park. At a packed public meeting, the general consensus amongst skaters and park lovers was that it would be better to try and locate it in Telegraph Hill Lower Park. Since then a Skate Park Working Group has met three times and has come up with a proposal, as this report from Skate Park Action Group explains:

'The Skate Park Working Group includes: local councillors, Skate Park Action Group, designers, Park Users Group, Save Our Park and other interested people.The proposal is to use the path area on one side of the basketball court (East) and a small section at either end of this.

The Skate Park Working Group had a site meeting in the Lower Telegraph Hill Park and looked at all of the possible spaces. The site we agreed was best was to use the strip of path along the top side of the basketball court with a piece opening out at either end of this. It would create a dog bone / telephone type shape. The site benefits from banking and planting which screens views and noise, as well as being a good distance from houses. The fact that there are already activities (basketball / football) in the area was also seen as a plus. There is a path on the other side of the ball court so it wouldn’t affect access. The space chosen was far enough away from trees not to create problems, although drainage will be a consideration for the groundworks'.

The proposal will be put to a public vote at the next Telegraph Hill Assembly on Tuesday 21st September 2010, 7:30pm at Haberdashers’ Askes’ Hatcham Road College ( Jerningham Road site - lower school).

Upstairs in the Amersham Arms

Many bands have played at the Amersham Arms in New Cross over the years, and upstairs in the pub a few of them seem to be commemorated with their promotional photos framed on the wall (click to enlarge). Bit of a random collection - from top there's Beki Bond (also known as Beki Bondage from punk band Vice Squad); Attila the Stockbroker & John Otway; and The Barely Works.

Naturally this selection has got my musical archaeologist brain working. Obviously these photos date from the pre-internet days when a band's idea of self-promotion amounted to sending round black and white glossy pictures of themselves. London folkies The Barely Works existed from 1988 to 1993, so that narrows it down to a five year period. The caption on the Beki photo says Beki Bond (Bombshells) - the band she played with after Vice Squad and Ligotage from 1986 afterwards. Otway and Attila have been gigging for decades around London, separately and sometimes together. But in 1991 they made an album together called 'Cheryl, a Rock Opera'. So I am guessing that the Amersham Arms photo collection dates from around then.

Anyway back to the future, American songwriting legend Jonathan Richman is playing at the Amersham Arms on October 9th. Expect to hear the words 'One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six...'

172 to Brockley Rise

MC Jimit is seemingly an American house/hip hop MC and producer who was in London last December. He enjoyed his bus trip across town so much that he made this track '172 to Brockley Rise' (there's a sample of the title phrase at the end - obviously recorded on the bus). Not sure if he ever made it as far as Brockley, but the film shows a trip across the river, round the Elephant and Castle roundabout and down the Old Kent Road.

Melodica, Melody and Me

Brixton-based Melodica, Melody and Me have a sweet folkstep sound that combines folk and reggae influences. Their new single, Piece Me Back Together, is more towards the folky end, with a video shot at various Brixton and Herne Hill locations, including Brockwell Park (the front of the Prince Regent pub puts in an appearance).

Ballroom Boot Fair at the Ivy House

The next Ballroom Boot Fair at The Ivy House is happening on Sunday 29th August, 12 - 4 pm with 'art, wares, bric-a-brac, records, vintage clothes & cool junk!'.

Entrance is 50 p (kids free) at the Ivy House, 40 Stuart Road, Peckham Rye SE15 2PL.

Jude Cowan - Doodlebug Alley

Singer Jude Cowan kindly sent me a copy of her album and very good it is too - lots of uke-accompanied theatrical/melodramatic melodies. Jude played at Transpontine's legendary South London Songs day at the Telegraph Hill Centre a couple of years ago, where she performed her song Doodlebug Alley -named after the area of southern England/South London most vulnerable to Nazi rocket attacks during World War Two. This song is now the title track of the album, and here she is singing it:



More details at Jude's myspace site. You can catch her at the Montague Arms on 9th September.

Beautiful South Benefit

'Beautiful South' is a planned 'new free-of-charge anti-authoritarian South London newspaper', with the first issue due out in later this month. To raise funds for it there's a folk gig on Wednesday 18th August, 7.30pm @ The Windmill Brixton, 22 Blenheim Gardens, SW2 5BZ .

The line up includes:

* GRACE BANKS [ http://myspace.com/gracebanks]
* HANNAH SCOTT [ http://myspace.com/hannahscottuk]
* GABRIEL MESH [ http://myspace.com/gabrielmesh]
* MILLA TRAYLEN [ http://myspace.com/millatraylen]

Suggested donation: £3 waged / £2 unwaged.

For further information about the project contact beautifulsouth@riseup.net

Lewisham Booze Ban, No Thanks

As reported at Brockley Central, Lewisham Council is proposing to trial 'a borough-wide Designated Public Place Order (or Drinking Control Zone)' which 'will give police discretionary powers to stop people and confiscate, demand and dispose of any alcohol within the boundaries of Lewisham borough'. Failure to comply with a request from the Police to hand over alcohol would result in arrest and/or a fine of up to £500.

Is SE London now Straight Edge London, by order of the Mayor? Is Lewisham the new Saudi Arabia? Maybe not, but this is a pernicious plan

Firstly, there is nothing wrong with drinking in public as such. Sitting in the park watching the sunset with a drink in your hand, sipping from a can on the way to a party - these are some of life's harmless pleasures.

But wait, says the Lewisham press release, 'The DPPO is not a ban on alcohol consumption in a public place, and does not make drinking in public an offence, but is a measure that can assist in tackling problematic street drinking linked to anti-social behaviour'. So it's OK for some people to drink in parks and streets but not others, with the police deciding who can and who can't. If that's not a recipe for discrimination I don't know what is. In practice, as well documented for instance in Brighton, DPPO powers have been used to implement de facto bans on public drinking in some places, with people having drink confiscated while sitting in parks and on the beach, or even having unopened cans and bottles taken off them while walking back home from the off licence. The implementation certainly hasn't been restricted to 'problem street drinkers', but it has been used to target people who the police may not be so keen on, such as protesters.

Yes, say the advocates but this is just about tackling 'problematic street drinking'. It is true that there are places, such as outside betting shops, where heavy street drinkers tend to congregate. Some of these people clearly have alcohol problems, but for the most part don't cause anything more than minor inconvenience to other people most of the time. Sometimes drunk people do get aggressive and violent - but when they do, the police already have plenty of powers to deal with them.

There are some broader issues at stake here. The first is the use of arbitrary police powers. The historical relationship between police, courts and the individual in the UK requires the police to present evidence of wrong doing to a court, with the person accused having the right to defend themselves before a judgement is made on their guilt and a sentence passed. With the DPPO, the police officer is judge, jury and 'executioner' - they can impose a punishment on the spot, such as pouring away somebody's drink, with the person affected having no right to question their authority or decision before 'sentence' is implemented. Worse, under the Police and Criminal Justice Act 2001 (which gave Council's powers to introduce DPPOs), these arbitrary powers can be extended to other 'authorised officers' such as park wardens.

The second wider issue is the creeping hyper-regulation of public space. The nature of public spaces is that people engage in lots of different behaviours and activities, some of which other people may find irritating, annoying or even mildly offensive. As long as people aren't actually harming others, they should be left to get on it. Just because some people disapprove of others' actions is no reason to ban them. Just because a few people engaging in an activity do cause harm to others is no reason to band everybody from that activity. In this case the 'drunk and disorderly' behaviour of a few people, already covered by existing laws, is being used as the basis to affect everybody's right to drink in public. It may not be a total booze ban, but it does mean that drinking in public is only permitted if the police choose to allow it.

A further comment on the consultation. The Lewisham press release states that the plans 'have been given the go-ahead by the Mayor, Sir Steve Bullock' but that 'Before the implementation of any DPPO, the Council is required by law to consult with the public'. The whole tone of the press release suggests the consultation is an afterthought to a decision already made. The consultation information provides no real rationale for the decision, or evidence that there is a major problem that requires it. It doesn't ask for view, but only a 'yes' or 'no' on a survey monkey questionnaire. If you want to take part in the consultation, you need to do so at the Lewisham consultation site before 27 August 2010.

The Manifesto Club have lots of information about Designated Public Order Orders and their implementation elsewhere, as well as some good arguments against them.

See also Deptford Dame on this.

The Only Living Boy in New Cross

Indie outfit Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (or Carter USM as they were often known) took SE14 into the top 10 of the UK singles chart in 1992 with 'The Only Living Boy in New Cross' - it reached number 7, though the album it was on, '1992 - The Love Album', reached number one.

Must admit it was years later that I realized that it was a pun on the lovely Simon & Garfunkel song, The Only Living Boy in New York. Puns on South London locations were Carter's stock in trade, with other songs including '24 Minutes From Tulse Hill' and 'The Taking Of Peckham 123'. I think they were actually Brixton/Streatham based - one of them used to live on my road in Brixton when I was over there.

With its reference to 'gypsies, the travellers and the thieves... grebos the crusties and the goths', I always imagine that this song was inspired by the 1990s scene in The Dewdrop Inn, a pub with just such a crowd (just as the Crystal Palace Tavern in Tanners Hill had in the 1970s, according to an interesting recent comment at this earlier post). Anyway here they are on Top of the Pops in 1992 (the original video for the song is here):



Sang this great South London folk song a lot when I was with the Brockley Ukulele Group.

Lewisham Anti-Cuts Alliance

Just starting off, complete with new blog and Facebook Group, the Lewisham Anti-Cuts Alliance. They say:

'On 27/07/10 several local trade unionists, former councillors and local campaigners met to discuss ways to fight the cuts in services that both the Con-Dem Government and Lewisham Council have planned. The people at the meeting resolved to all they could to campaign in Lewisham and work with community campaigns to defend services that we all rely on'.

More to come, no doubt.

Tidemill Parents Question Academy Plans

A campaign has been started to oppose plans to turn Tidemill Primary School in Deptford into one of the country's first primary 'Academies'. Legislation to create Academies - independent schools funded by the government, but outside of any influence by local authorities -has been rushed through by the new ConDem government.

In the first instance, concerned parents are campaigning for a proper consultation about the proposals. They say: 'To consult with and inform parents, it has been suggested that over the summer holiday a random selection of 5 parents from each year followed by a one hour meeting by the Board of Governors is adequate. This petition is for a full and unbiased consultation with all parents and the local community before this important and far reaching change is pushed through to become an Academy'. They further argue:

• 'The decision to become an academy can’t be reversed,
• It affects whole community, not just current parents
• Some claim it will mean more money, but others say this will mean taking money off other local schools
• Some claim it will mean more freedom but other say parents will lose rights over Special Educational Needs etc
• The school will be run by a ‘trust’ – a private company set up by the governors. We may like the current head and governors, but what happens when they leave?'

A public meeting has been arranged for Monday 6th September, 7 pm at the Albany, Douglas Way, SE8.

Truth to tell, the full implications of the ConDem Academy plans are still unclear as so little detail has been published. But what is clear is that the plans are driven by an ideological imperative to create a market of competing schools, with a greater role for private business, and a reduction in the already limited input for parents and the community on governing bodies.

South London Folk Clubs in the 1960s

Folk music in London (and elsewhere) is going through one its periodic revivals, with banjos and mandolins flying off the shelves of the capital's music shops.

Over at folk music site Mudcat they've been discussing the London folk clubs of the earlier 1960s revival, and a few SE London venues get a mention.

In the early 1960s, there was a Friday night folk club at the Railway Tavern on Catford bridge, and a club run by the Young Communist League in Forest Hill. Seemingly, 'There was often a sing song in the Three Tuns, Blackheath... a fine 'alternative' pub in those days'.

In 1967/68 venues for folk clubs included the "Rising Sun" at Catford, the "Mansion House" in Deptford, the two "Tigers Head" pubs (Old & New) in Lee Green, and a club called Tramps & Hawkers at a pub on Blackheath Hill. This may (or may not) have been at The Green Man at the top of Blackheath Hill, where a club was held in the mid-1960s with notable guests including Paul Simon. The pub has long gone, replaced by housing in Alison Close (according to Edith's Streets, developed in 1972).

There was also at some point (early 1970s?) the Quaggy Folk Club somewhere near Manor Park.

As with all SE London musical histories, would be interested in any memories of these or similar places.

Thais, Jhoselin and Justina belong in Lewisham!

Hope it's not too late to highlight the plight of this Lewisham family, facing imminent deportation. According to Lewisham Anti-Racist Action Group:

'Thais and Jhoselin arrived in the UK with their mother Justina Grajeda and their father in 2002. Their father died tragically in 2007 in a bike accident. The girls were 8 and 9 when they arrived, and have done very well in two Lewisham schools. Now aged 16, they are described as grade A students, and both have places at local sixth forms. The have integrated well into their schools and the community, and have made significant friendships.

Since coming to the UK, the girls have become disconnected from the customs and the way of life in Bolivia. Their education and future well-being would be severely affected if they were removed from the UK at this crucial time in their lives.

The family’s application to remain in the UK has recently been turned down by the Home Office. This decision has brought great stress to this family, especially to the girls, who have been trying to come to terms with the unexpected recent death of their father. We call on the Home Secretary to grant this family the right to stay in the UK, where have built their lives. They are an asset to our community'.

There's a petition here.

Deptford spooks

Following on from the recent Brockley ghost tales, here's a couple from Deptford. The first comes care of Old Deptford History which recently reproduced a story from the Woolwich & Charlton Mercury 1994 (reprinted later in the Fortean Times). It tells of a resident of Watergate Street in Deptford who apparently suffered around that time from eery footsteps, doors slamming and a flying mirror, not to mention the sighting of a ghostly 'little girl with blonde curly hair'. The poltergeist activity was reported as coming to an end following the intervention of Gary Stock, a medium from Thames Street, Greenwich.

A more sceptical account of a Deptford ghost story comes from an interesting book entitled The Lone-Star of Liberia - Being the Outcome of Reflections on Our Own People by Frederick Alexander Durham. Published in 1892, this book by an African man living in London attempted to turn racist attitudes to Africans on their head by arguing that the natives of London were at least as superstitious and credulous as his compatriots.

The story, from 1891, is of a crowd of thousands turning out at St Pauls Church in Deptford to try and spot a rumoured ghost - said spirit apparently no more than a trick of the moonlight on some flyers posted on the church door.

The account remarks 'Just imagine the good people of Deptford believing in Junabaes!' The latter is obviously some kind of ghost, but does anyone know anymore? I googled that word and could find no trace of it.

Update 31 October 2016:

I have found a further account of the 1891 Deptford Ghost, from Maitland Daily Mercry (New South Wales) 15 July 1896. It adds the additional detail that 'a well-know local man who had committed suicide under somewhat romantic circumstances was at that very time awaiting inquest in the mortuary adjoining' and that this had fuelled belief in 'a ghost garbed in a flowing white sheet':

Goldsmiths Postgraduate Art Show

Some good work as ever in the Goldsmiths Department of Art MFA Fine Art exhibition last month. Coincidentally or not, a lot of my favourite work was by Korean students.


Highlights for me were Jin Hee Park's range of Ikea-like furniture with a twist...


... Hee Seung Sung's paintings (this one entitled 'The Garden of Eve')

Jin Yen-Lee's elaborate photo collages...

...and Hye Young Ku's performance/film piece, featuring Gaga-esque dance scenes shot in New Cross Road in that gap between Prangsta and the old Deptford Town Hall.

George Melly on Transpontine

Thanks to Stephen Troussé on Twitter for spotting this letter by Don Locke in this week's London Review of Books:

'George Melly would not have agreed with Peter Gillman that the East London Overground runs from, rather than to, West Croydon (Letters, 8 July). Melly borrowed Henry Mayhew’s description of a gentleman crossing Waterloo Bridge and entering a ‘transpontine brothel’, and used the word to sum up what was so different about his band’s drummer: ‘simply the fact that he came from, lived in and was loyal to South London’. When the drummer discovered what the word meant he pointed out: ‘All you c*nts is transpontine.’ ‘He had logic on his side,’ Melly commented, ‘but he knew it didn’t work.’

Actually somebody once picked me up on the same point - that transpontine refers to the area on the other side of the bridge, so strictly speaking for someone based in South London, transpontine should refer to North London. But historically in London, transpontine has always referred to the southlands - usually used disparagingly but now proudly reclaimed!

The Bones go Last: Austin Osman Spare film

The Bones go Last is a blog documenting progress towards making a new film about the South London artist and visionary Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956).

Spare's South London movements were traced a few years ago by my friend Chris Jones, who organised a Austin Osman Spare pub crawl around some of his old haunts. As a child's Spare's family home was at 15 Kennington Park Gardens, and from 1916 to 1921 he lived at 298 Kennington Park Road. From 1921 to 1933 his home and studio was on the Tabard Estate at 52 Becket House, then he moved to a flat at 56a Walworth Road, near Elephant and Castle. This was destroyed in a German bombing raid in 1941. In the immediate aftermath he stayed for a while at the Newington Reform Club at 86 Walworth Road., and then moved to a Brixton basement at 5 Wynne Road.

Spare drew much of the inspiration for his portraiture from the faces of the Walworth Road and East Lane market. He also exhibited his work in local venues. As a child artist some of his drawings were exhibited in Newington Library. After WW2 he staged shows in local pubs including the Temple Bar in 1949 (286 Walworth Road), the Mansion House Tavern in 1952 (46 Kennington Park Road) and the White Bear in 1953 (138 Kennington Park Road).

106 years after his exhibition at Newington Library, there will be a major exhibition of his work next door on Walworth Road at Southwark's Cuming Museum. Austin Osman Spare: Fallen Visionary will take place from Tuesday 14 September 2010 to Saturday 13 November 2010.

The makers of the new films have put out a request for any photos or stock footage of South London Circa 1880 - 1950: 'Kennington, Walworth Road, Snow Hill [in the City], Brixton and Bourough are what we are after really, we are an amateur production and so cannot pay a fee, but the film will be shown at a Spare exhibition later in the year and will receive full credit. This would be greatly appreciated if you could help us'. If you can help contact them at info@thebonesgolast.com

In the mean time here's a short psychogeographical ramble through some of the Spare's London - Spare Places by Jamie Gregory (2006):

Spare Places from Jamie Gregory on Vimeo.

Walworth May Day 1920

On May Day this year I gave a short talk at the Kit and Cutter folk club (at the Deptford Arms) on the history of May Day in South London. I didn't realize at the time that there's some great footage at the Pathe archive of Walworth May Queen festivities. These stills are from the 1920 newsreel, showing the crowning of a local girl as the May Queen, followed by a procession on a horse drawn cart accompanied by guides and scouts.

I am guessing that this was filmed in Browning Street, SE17 - as this was where the Browning Settlement was where this event happened.

Steve Harley : New Cross Gate Cockney Rebel

Steve Harley (1951-2024)

Glam rocker Steve Harley, who died in March 2024, grew up in New Cross Gate - to be precise at 37 Fairlawn Mansion, New Cross Road.  As Stephen Nice he went to Edmund Waller Primary School and Haberdashers secondary, where his classmates included Peter Perrett, later of The Only Ones

As he recalled in the Sunday Times (25/7/2010):

'In 1953 when I was two, my parents moved from a two-up, two-down in Deptford to a big flat, No.37 Fairlawn Mansions, in New Cross Gate. My father was a milkman, and I'd sometimes catch him cycling off to the depot at 3.30 am. But he also worked as caretaker of the block - there were five of us kids to keep in shoes, after all - which I think gave him a good deal with the rent. He was the hardest working man - which inspired me to take it easy.

I was the second eldest, with an older sister and three younger brothers. I shared with my brothers until I was 15, sleeping in bunk beds, after which I slept in the front room for a couple of years. There was a communal yard for the 48 flats to share, and we would play ball games and cycle. I also had my first ciggy in the cellars there. I was a pupil at Haberdasher's Askes grammar school, but between the ages of 3 and 16 I spent about four years at Queen Mary's Hospital, in Carshalton Breeches, as I had caught polio in the 1950s epidemic...

My parents ended up moving to Spain, and last year my dad came over for a visit. I drove him to New Cross Gate, and all the memories came flooding back. One day, I'd like to knock on the door of No. 37 to see who lives there. I want to know if anyone sleeps in that big front room'.

Wonder if he ever made it back to Fairlawn Mansions?

[post updated with news of Steve Harley's death, March 2024]

Here's Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel performing their biggest hit  'Come up and see me (make me smile)' :

קריסטל פעלעס - Jewish Norwood

Bob from Brockley wonders about coming across a flyer with the Hebrew letters for 'Crystal Palace' on it - קריסטל פעלעס. Can't throw any light on that, but there's certainly an interesting Jewish aspect to the history of the wider Norwood area. Most notably, the area was home from 1866 for around 100 years to the Jews' Hospital and Orphan Asylum (renamed The Jewish Orphanage in 1928 and in 1956 the Norwood Home for Jewish Children). Former residents remembered "We enjoyed swings, skipping-ropes, hoops, walks to the Crystal Palace, rambles among the lovely hills, dales and woods of Norwood, Dulwich and Sydenham" and "Pictures twice a week at the old Norwood Palace, and later at the Regal. Then there were the concerts at Brockwell Park, and the mad scramble back afterwards - to be rewarded with sweets when we arrived."


The orphanage was demolished in 1961 - it was replaced by the Norwood Synagogue, but this too closed during the 1970s I believe. Norwood still exists as a Jewish children's charity, but no longer has any particular link with South London. The old orphanage site in Knights Hill, West Norwood now belongs to Lambeth Council as Norwood Hall - for which there are ambitious plans to build a swimming pool and health centre, albeit dependent on uncertain government funding and planning permission (see update at West Norwood News blog).

Ben Pimlott Building: the best view in New Cross?

The best views in New Cross, with the possible exception of those from Telegraph Hill Park, are to be had from the Ben Pimlott building at Goldsmiths, opened in 2005.

The outside area by the famous 'scribble sculpture' is the best viewing point, with the London landscape framed by bits of curly wurly metal - here's the top of Deptford Town Hall:

Not only that, but it is all reflected in the glass of the building itself...

If you get the chance to take a look, I recommend it. It is generally open to the public during degree shows and similar exhibitions.

Lewisham River & Nature Trails

Lewisham Council are arranging a number of nature walks and river walks with the aim of getting the people of the borough to “get to know the waterways and the green spaces in your area.”


All are free but some of the courses recommend you book by emailing Chris McGraw or phoning Chris on 07850 713 974. The list of events includes:

Friday 23 July, 2- 4pm
Discovering the Waterlink Way – a walk from Ladywell Fields to Lower Sydenham (part of London Discovering Places Weekend – meet by the café / ranger’s lodge).

Saturday 24 July, 11am- 1pm
Discovering the Waterlink Way. A walk from Bell Green to Ladywell Fields - part of London Discovering Places Weekend) Meet by the main entrance to Sainsbury’s Savacentre SE26 4PU.

Tuesday 3 August, 11am- 4pm
Training course: Trees in the urban landscape. A look at the trees of Deptford, wild and planted. Please phone or email to book.

Sunday 8 August , 2- 5pm
Training course: Wildflowers of urban areas. Wildlife in the streets and derelict places. Please phone or email to book.

Wednesday 11 August, 12noon- 4pm
Afternoon family event at Manor House Gardens (wading and wildlife in the Quaggy).

Friday 13 August, 11am- 2pm
Creekside low-tide wade. Please bring your own lunch for a picnic afterwards. Meet at Creekside Centre, Deptford SE8 4SA.

Tuesday 17 August, 7- 9pm
Bat walk at Beckenham Place Park. Please phone or email to book.

Thursday 26 August, 6-8pm
Walk from Grove Park to Beckenham Place Park. Finding the Downham tributary of the Ravensbourne. Meet at Grove Park Station.

And for the arm chair Lewisham nature enthusiast, we’re pleased to see that the TAGWORTS google map of Deptford wild flowers from the 2009 Deptford X festival. The map is probably still fairly correct for this year but the position of this years individual flowers may have changed.

Sea Monster in Tooley Street

In Mark Pilkington's recent talk at South East London Folklore Society, he suggested that military agencies had sometimes deliberately played along with UFO and related stories as a cover for their own clandestine activities. For instance he talked about the Lake Pend Oreille Paddler, Idaho's very own Loch Ness Monster, which just happens to frequent a lake used for many years for secret US submarine tests.

All of which makes me wonder, why is this particular sea monster in a flower bed in Tooley Street, SE1? Is it part of a plot to disguise dubious goings on in nearby City Hall? I think we should be told.

Cafe Crema Summer

Cafe Crema (306 New Cross Road) is opening over the summer from Monday to Saturday ,10 am til 6.30 .

On Friday, July 23rd ( 1 to 6 pm) and Saturday 24th (10-6) they are having their annual 'treasure sale... A rather special little market stall selling gems from the Cafe Crema basement...Russian dolls/picture frames/outdoor patio heaters/ books/trinkets jewels and antique cutleryas well as shoes and boots from the 60s and 70s, dresses, hand made velvet lined curtains...semi precious beads.....some things might need a good polish others have already had one...oh yes, and a duck/chicken/rabbit hutch and run, in case any of you were needing one'.

Their next music event is on Saturday 24th July with another New Orleans New Cross piano jam. 8 til late. Free.

A Floating Head at Brockley

Brockley Central has a good local ghost story from 1894, the tale of a man walking down Brockley Road and encountering 'the motionless figure of a man on horseback... Neither man nor beast was in the flesh. They were shadowy forms, but so distinctly did they show the man’s face under a three-cornered hat, his leather pistol pouches and the panting and swearing horse'. The story claims that hundreds of local people had made their way to visit the scene of the appearance on 'the lonely lane leading from Ladywell to Brockley Rise' - said lane is presumably the old Brockley footpath which ran (and still does run in parts) from Ladywell to Nunhead via Brockley, crossing Brockley Road by the Jack.

Here's another spooky local tale, from Real Ghost Stories by WT Stead (1897), this one featuring a floating head with green eyes and matted hair:

South London Cuts News

As the reality of long promised cuts begins to dawn, the number of protests seems to be increasing. Last night there was a lobby of around 100 people outside Lewisham Town Hall where Council cuts were being discussed (see reports at Hangbitch and Deptford Visions). Seemingly Labour mayor Steve Bullock called protestors 'Fucking Idiots' (see Newshopper). Charmed.

Meanwhile a Lewisham Anti-Cuts Alliance is being launched in the Red Room at the Deptford Albany at 7pm on July 27th. An initial focus will be the planned closure of the Deptford Job Centre in November. There is also a proposal, discussed at Brockley Central, to launch a group to save the threatened Crofton Park Library. A Save New Cross Library group has been started on Facebook.


In Southwark there is a public meeting against the cuts on Monday July 19th, 7 pm at the Salvation Army, 1 Princess Street, SE1, with speakers from Southwark Pensioners Action Group, Latin American Workers Association and unions.


In education, universities are already cutting back on anything outside of a narrowly defined 'core business'. Nursery World reports this week on protests against the closure of the nursery at Goldsmiths in New Cross. There was a lobby of the Governing Body of South Bank University this afternoon to protest against the potential closure of LLLU+, its pioneering development centre for adult language, literacy, numeracy, dyslexia and family learning. A campaign has been launched to save it.

Some differing perspectives on the Mark Elms affair (highly paid headteacher at Tidemill School in Deptford) at Brockley Central and Bridget McKenzie.

Lambeth Country Show this Weekend

It's the annual Lambeth Country Show in Brockwell Park this weekend, bringing its unique mix of farm animals, craft stalls, fair rides and music. There's a good line up this year; on Saturday the sheep shearers will be accompanied by the Alabama 3 playing an acoustic set (at 2.45 pm), followed by Jazzy B's Soul II Soul sound system. Then on Sunday Saxon Sound System step up, joined at 4.30 by Tippa Irie.

Blackheath Morris out and about in Deptford

If you're out and about in Deptford on Thursday night (July 15th) you may stumble Blackheath Morris Men doing a "tour" of local pubs, starting off dancing at The John Evelyn (Evelyn St) at 8pm, then off to the Dog and Bell (Prince St) from 9pm.

South London Anti-Fascists at Olympia

Continuing the occasional series on South London anti-fascists, we turn now to the British Union of Fascists notorious rally at Olympia in West London in June 1934. This was Oswald Mosley's first big attempt to hold a choreographed political rally along the lines of those deployed by Mussolini and Hitler, so it was very important to his opponents that it should not go according to plan. And indeed it didn't - not only did anti-fascist protestors in and out of the hall disrupt proceedings, but the extreme violence used by the BUF's stewards to eject hecklers showed the party's true face and scared away some of its wavering 'respectable' supporters.

Court reports show that a number of South London anti-fascists made the journey across town for the occasion, so let's just salute a few of them here:

- Charles Larry, 24, motor mechanic, Grenville Buildings, SE [not sure where this was], was charged with 'wilfully damaging an omnibus'.

- Alfred Goddard, 27, 'described as a bricklayer, of Longford Road, Camberwell, charged with insulting words and behaviour was fined 10 shillings'

- 'James Jeffereys, 20, described as a student, of Jerningham Road, New Cross was fined 10s for using insulting words, and 40s, for obstructing the police. A constable said that he was trying to disperse a hostile crowd around a man who was bleeding from a wound in the head. Jeffreys, who appeared to have adopted the role of leader, shouted: "Down with these dirty Blackshirts. Let us get together. Come on comrades, gather round". Jeffreys said that he asked the policeman why he did not do his duty and stop the obvious "beating up" that was going on before his eyes'. He told the court 'Fascists were hitting people about the head with fists and weapons, and were twisting their arms and forcing them out of the gates of Olympia'.

Source: The Times, 9 June 1934

Ernest Dowson Remembered

The local connections of the Victorian decadent poet Ernest Dowson have been covered at Transpontine before (born in Lee, died in Catford after spells in Paris and Brittany, buried in Brockley). His life will be celebrated on Monday August 2nd at 2 pm, with the unveiling of his restored grave in Brockley & Ladywell Cemetery.

There will be an introduction and a reading by Jad Adams, Author of the biography 'Madder Music, Stronger wine: The Life of Ernest Dowson, Poet and Decadent' followed by a memorial in the cemetery chapel, ending with a toast to celebrate the life of Dowson in the Brockley Jack Theatre.

I note that Ernest Dowson was familiar with the term Transpontine. In 1893 he wrote to a friend: 'Yesterday an advertisement in The Times was sent me, for a librarian, in a Public Free Library (under the Public Library Acts) ... I have been advised to apply for this, I fear, not very desirable post, and I have thought that if you, with your official signature of Librarian . . . could give me a testimonial, I might stand some chance. Could you consider me then, in a short missive a competent person to hand out dime novels to transpontine shop boys?' (source: Ernest Dowson, 1888-1897, reminiscences, unpublished letters and Marginalia, 1914).

The library in question was the (still open) Newington Library in Walworth Road - he didn't get the job. Transpontine proles like myself still frequent it.

(thanks to Mike Guilfoyle from the Friends of Brockley & Ladywell Cemeteries for the heads up on this)

Convoys Wharf - latest plans

This weekend I intended to go to the 'consultation' exhibition for the planned Convoys Wharf development in Deptford. Getting ready to set off on Saturday lunchtime I checked the times and realized that it was actually only open until 2 pm and I was going to miss it. It had also been open on Friday, but less than two full days for the public to see plans that will potentially transform the river front at Deptford is hopelessly inadequate. It was a similar story last December, when an exhibition on the Convoys Wharf site was only open for two days with no outside signage that I could see to inform the local residents who will be most affected that it was happening. On that occasion I did manage to find it after wandering around the site for a while (photos in this post were taken then).

Deptford Dame did manage to make it this weekend, and reports that the plans on display were not very informative. The site of the former Royal Dockyard has most recently been used by News International, but is now owned by Hutchison Whampoa who are proposing to massively redevelop it with 3,500 new homes (only 25% 'affordable') plus office blocks and bars. As DD points out it is proposed that there would be 2,300 car parking spaces which will significantly increase traffic on local roads. What community facilities, if any, will be provided is unclear. There is mention of a school, but if this is dependent on government funding to build it... well, don't hold your breath.


There is little to defend in the present site, an empty expanse of warehouses surrounded by a wall that blocks access to the river. From that point of view some would argue that anything is preferable, but that's hardly a reason to sit back and allow a global property developer to unilaterally impose its vision on this important site. What they have in mind seems to be a kind of identikit high rise office/flats/leisure complex of the kind that can be seen all over the world. How this connects to the needs and wishes of current and future Deptford dwellers, let alone to the history of the site, is another matter.

It's no surprize that a property developer should want to maximise profit by cramming in as much as possible on the site, and to focus the development on an affluent minority who can afford to purchase luxury riverside flats. It would be good for others though to develop alternative visions of how a space like this could be used, no matter how utopian, as a yardstick against which to measure what is being put forward. For instance, when the scheme was first mooted in 2000, Creekside Forum did set up 'Convoys Opportunity' to develop alternative plans for the site. They published a number of proposals, with a main focus on the site being a working wharf, including the idea of developing a Cruise Liner terminal there.

Looking along the river we can see that to a certain extent campaigns by local people have been successful in preventing the riverside becoming entirely corporate - for example in Rotherhithe, Surrey Docks Farm was preserved as well as council housing on the riverfront, while on the South Bank too there is substantial public space (including parks) and Coin Street social housing right by the river (not tucked away in a corner of the site as a concession to planning requirements).

Anti-Cuts Lobby at Lewisham Town Hall

There's a demonstration outside a Lewisham Council meeting next Wednesday 14th July at 5:15 pm (at the Town Hall in Catford), called by Lewisham National Union of Teachers and others opposed to plan cuts in Council jobs and services. Libraries, Children's Services and Adult Social Care are amongst the areas identified for cuts - further details on the leaflet below (click to enlarge).

Of course it is true that Lewisham is being compelled to make cuts by big reductions in the funding it receives from national government. But that doesn't mean that cuts are inevitable. It is a choice that that the ConDem government is making cuts in this way, just as ultimately it is wider political choice by governments across the world to allow 'the market' to determine that people's wages, pensions and living conditions should be cut to pay for a crisis not of their making. And ultimately governments could be forced to make different choices if they meet enough resistance.

Song and stories tour of Bermondsey

From the One Eye Grey crew:

'Singer songwriter Nigel of Bermondsey and tour guide Chris Roberts are teaming up to deliver a walking tour with a difference. At every stop from Crossbones Graveyard in Borough to the Thames water front Chris will relate stories about the location and Nigel will perform a song from his album the Bermondsey suite. Both the songs and stories will reveal the history of area and some of the tragic tales associated with it. Expect giant shift shifting rats, hidden graveyards, buried rivers and lost industry. The tour will last roughly two hours and, although free, must be booked as numbers are limited.

To book a place on the tour please e-mail penny@fandmpublications.co.uk

For more information about Nigel please visit http://www.nigelofbermondsey.com/. Chris edits the 21st Century Penny Dreadful One Eye Grey stories which will feature on Radio Four’s London season in late July'.

Ash - Kung Fu in the Venue

Irish band Ash filmed the live scenes for their 'Kung Fu' video at the Venue in New Cross:

I believe it was filmed in March 1995, when they played a gig there. Check out some of the other names on the flyer - Creaming Jesus, BMX Bandits, Headbutt, Prolapse, The Sultans of Ping and The Longpigs.

The Abuses of Enchantment

The always entertaining and erudite Mark Pilkington (of Strange Attractor) is talking at South East London Folklore Society this Thursday 8th July on 'The Abuses of Enchantment': 'How beliefs in UFOs, ghosts, vampires and other folkloric and supernatural phenomena have been exploited by military and intelligence operators. Mark Pilkington is the author of the forthcoming book Mirage Men: An Adventure into Disinformation, Paranoia and UFOs'.

It will take place as usual at The Old King's Head, Kings Head Yard, 45-49 Borough High Street, London, SE1 1NA. Talks start at 8.00pm, £2.50 / £1.50 concessions.

Happy Birthday Peckham Library - can we keep one in New Cross too?

Peckham Library recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, with kids from local schools producing some birthday messages that were displayed outside.

All of this reminded me that it must be getting on for ten years since we were first promised a new library in New Cross through the New Deal for Communities. The earmarked site in Briant Street is still a wasteland; the NXG Trust (which has superseded NDC) reports that : 'Despite getting planning permission for our development and putting three parcels of land together the project has been setback by the general recession and slump in the property market. All is not lost. We have a new developer, Building Better Health who have a great track record in building great new facilities for communities across London. They built the recently completed Waldron Health Centre in New Cross. They are convinced they can make minor adaptations to the existing design to make it feasible and we hope to sign a development agreement with them in the next few months.After that it will still take some years before we can have a completed new healthy living centre and all the new community facilities this area deserves'.

Building Better Health incidentally is owned by Meridiam, a property company in turn sponsored by AECOM (global engineering firm with US origins) and French financial institutions. So like other public services, whether we ever see a new library in New Cross looks likely to depend on the roulette wheels of the global market.

In fact as things stand, we may not even have the existing small library in New Cross Road - it is apparently one of a number of smaller libraries across Lewisham earmarked for possible closure as a result of Government cuts in funding to local authorities. Blackheath Bugle has the full story and links to a Lewisham Council report suggesting consulting on closing Sydenham, Blackheath, Crofton Park, Grove Park and New Cross libraries.

New Mural at the Broca

New mural at the Broca coffee shop next to Brockley station. It has a bit of a Mexican day of the dead feel, doesn't it?

Footballs flood Potters Fields

If you noticed lots of people walking around by Tower Bridge today holding footballs here's why. There was some kind of BT promotion happening at Potters Fields Park (SE1) with loads of balls being given away.