Bermondsey Community Remembrance Service

Bermondsey Daily Message 175

Bermondsey Daily Message 174

Remember, remember

St James School Church Assembly

Bermondsey Daily Message 172

Bermondsey in bloom

 Nearly 100 years ago Ada Salter began her Bermondsey Beautification campaign and thousands of bulbs and trees were planted all over the area. 

 

 

This weekend, in celebration of the centenary, 10,000 tulip bulbs have been planted across Bermondsey - including after church today in St James's Churchyard (above) by members of the congregation - all part of the Greener Bermondsey #Ada100 project.

 

Shown below are some scenes of the churchyard in full bloom, thanks to Ada.

 

 The Observer wrote in 1931 “Outside the Royal Parks it would be difficult to find anywhere such masses of colour… when the tulips and daffodils are over they will be followed by armies of dahlias, geraniums and antirrhinums.” 

 

The Evening Standard wrote that Bermondsey was “the most optimistic place in London. Because of the flowers…”. It became a place where window boxes and front gardens were filled with daisies and chrysanthemums, and factory girls wore flowers pinned to their coats. ‘Flowers in Bermondsey are not a decoration but a symbol.”

 

 

 Roll on the Spring when Bermondsey will once again be in bloom.

 

 Ada Salter

Today's service

Bermondsey Daily Message 171

Bermondsey Daily Message 170

Bermondsey Daily Message 169

Today's service

South London Sketch

The London School Board buildings, designed by E.R. Robson, of which Alexis Street is one, feature in this poem by John Betjeman which also mentions Bermondsey.

 South London Sketch by John Betjeman

From Bermondsey to Wandsworth
So many churches are,
Some with apsidal chancels,
Some Perpendicular
And schools by E.R. Robson
In the style of Norman Shaw
Where blue-serged adolescence learn'd
To model and to draw.

Oh, in among the houses,
The viaduct below,
Stood the Coffee Essence Factory
Of Robinson and Co.
Burnt and brown and tumbled down
And done with years ago
Where the waters of the Wandle do
Lugubriously flow.

From dust of dead explosions
From scarlet-hearted fires,
All unconcerned this train draws in
And smoothly that retires
And calmly rise on smoky skies
Of intersected wires
The Nonconformist spirelets
And the Church of England spires.

 

E.R. Robson 1836-1917

Bermondsey Daily Message 168

Bermondsey Daily Message 167

Lighthouse on Alexis Street

Discover the remarkable story of the Alexis Street premises of St James's school, the vision of the architect, and the message that this building has conveyed for 144 years - in today's Bermondsey Daily Message:

Bermondsey Food Tour

 Here is the Bermondsey Food Tour which featured in our recent Community Harvest Festival

 

School assembly, through the roof

Bermondsey Daily Message 165

Today's service