>Re:PHOTO Peter Marshall - Thoughts on Photography

Woolwich to New Charlton Panoramas – 1995

Woolwich to New Charlton Panoramas: Continuing my occasional series of colour images from 1995 – I think this is the eleventh post – with some colour panoramas made in May 1995 on a walk from Woolwich to New Charlton.

*River Thames, Church Hill, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-342*

My walk had begun when I got off the train at Woolwich Arsenal on my way back from Dartford on May 7th and I think these pictures were made that afternoon as I walked from there to another station keeping close to the River Thames. But I did but return to Woolwich the following Sunday, May 14th and some of these pictures could have been made then.

A path leads up from the roundabout at the start of Woolwich Church Street to Church Hill and St Mary Magdalene Church, built on a spur of high ground leading out towards the river. Originally this ground went rather closer to the Thames, but much of it was quarried for sand though the digging had to stop at the church. Although the present church dates only from 1727-39 there had been a church on this site since the 9th century if not earlier and it was probably a much earlier site of settlement.

The road in front of the church, Church Hill, gives a splendid panoramic view of the Thames. In 1995 you could still see the remains of Woolwich’s riverside industry, but by the time I photographed here again in 2000 all had gone and the area was empty and derilect. Now it is filled with four tall blocks of flats and some other housing.

*Former Woolwich Dockyard Dry Docks, Europe Rd, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-343*

Woolwich Dockyard was the Navy’s most important dockyard for many years and ships were built here from 1512 to the Victorian era. By then it had become too small for the new ships and the Royal Dockyard closed in 1869. Parts remained in industrial use and a large area was bought by Greenwich Council in the 1960s where they built the Woolwich Dockyard Estate in the 1970s – part at the left of this picture. I think this is the Grade II listed Graving Dock.

*Ernest Bevin, Ferry Boat, River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-332*

Taken on the Woolwich Dockyard Estate this shows one of the old dry docks and at a mooring in the Thames the Woolwich Ferry Ernest Bevin. You can just see part of the south ferry terminal in the centre of the image.

The ferry across the Thames became a free ferry run by the LCC in 1889 – two days after they had replaced the Metropolitan Board of Works who had organised and funded it. A number of public bridges had been built to make crossing the river in West London easy and free and it had been decided that there must also be a free crossing in East London. The Ernest Bevin was one of three ferries in the third generation of ships which came into operation in 1963 and it was replaced in 2019. All have been named after local figues and Bevin was elected as MP for Woolwich East in 1950.

*Flats, Frances St, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-462*

These point blocks, close to Woolwich Dockyard Station were built for Greenwich Council are St Mary’s Towers, one of the more successful housing schemes of the late 50s and early 60s, opened by Princess Margaret in 1961. They remain now still in good condition and popular.

*River Thames, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-472*

Back to the River Thames and another cleared area of the former Dockyard with a view across the river to Tate & Lyle’s Silvertown works.

*River Thames, Warspite Rd, Woolwich, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-433*

Another former dockyard area still in industrial use. I think this is Thameside Wharf on Harrington Way. Some of the buildings here were once part of the Siemens Brothers Telegraph Works factory established in 1863 and became Thameside studios for artists around 1990.

Bugsby's Way, New Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-521 — *Bugsby’s Way, New Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-521*

Bugsby’s Way took its name from this part of the River Thames known from around 1830 as Bugsby’s Hole or Bugsby’s Reach which probably got its name from this once “marshy area to the south of Blackwall Point where executed criminals were formerly hung in chains.” As E.W.Green suggested in 1948, ‘bug‘ was the old British (ancient Welsh) word for ‘spook’ or ghost, and what could be a better place to meet with ghouls. Bugsby’s Way was built across this marshy area by the London Borough of Greenwich in 1984.

Beatle Line Ltd, Bugsby's Way, New Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-511 — *Beatle Line Ltd, Bugsby’s Way, New Charlton, Greenwich, 1995, 95p5-511*

Another picture from Bugsby’s Way. The Beatle Line perhaps got its name from the later meaning of ‘bug’, perhaps from a different Anglo-Saxon root, at first simply meaning beatle, though later coming into popular use for a wider range of species – including the famous moth found by Grace Hopper and colleagues in the Mark II computer at Harvard University in 1947.

More pictures from Charlton in a later post.

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TUC ‘March For The Alternative – 2011

TUC ‘March For The Alternative – On 26th March 2011 between a quarter and half a million people marched through London against planned public spending cuts by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in the largest demonstration since the 2003 protest against the plan to invade Iraq.

The TUC argued that what the country needed was not austerity but policies that would grow the economy, and that we should raise income from those more able to pay rather than by measures that had the greatest impact on the poorest in society.

It was the largest march and rally organised by the trade union movement since the Second World War, and like other major trade union marches was perhaps largely worthy but not exciting – and like others it achieved nothing. The cuts went ahead and we all suffered – except of course the wealthy – who continued to grow richer and richer, helped by government bail-outs and the deliberate failures to tackle tax evasion, stop tax avoidance loopholes and raise taxes on those with excessive wealth.

The cuts particularly hit the public services, including teachers, nurses and other medical professionals – and eventually helped drive these areas into the critical conditions that they are now in. They resulted in financial problems and excessive workloads and also meant that those of us who rely on public provision for health and education often failing to get proper treatment. The gap between those who could afford private services and those who relied on the state provision increased.

Particularly hard hit by the cuts were the disabled and for them the situation continues to worsen with our now Labour government announcing huge cuts which will leave many considerably worse off – and greatly reduce their ability to lead normal lives and contribute to society.

As well as the TUC, other groups contributed to the march, announcing various feeder marches and other activities, many of which added a little life and colour to the day’s events. They also resulted in over 200 arrests and a number of injuries.

Too much was happening on the day for me to rehash it all here, but you can read my seven posts on my London Diary for my account of events. I started with the feeder marches from South London, disowned by the TUC. The ‘Armed Wing of the TUC’ brought its street theatre Trojan Horse, Spitfire, Tank and armed Lollipop Ladies produced by Camberwell art students to Camberwell Green where they marched to Kennington where the South London Feeeder March was gathering for a rally before the march in Kennington Park – the site of the final “monster meeting” of the Chartists on 10th April 1848 from where they marched to Parliament to deliver their final petition.

I left there to take the tube to Trafalgar Square where I found that the main march had started early and was well on its way to Hyde Park and I stayed around there for over an hour as marchers filed past, including photographing the Morris Liberation Front, an idea of Henry Flitton specially for the TUC demonstration, with music, provided by a couple of mandolins playing the Clash’s ‘I fought the Law’ and the Smith’s ‘Panic.

Later in the day Trafalgar Square was the site of bitter fighting as police made a largely unprovoked attack on a partying crowd, but when I was there things were peaceful.

I left the square to follow several hundred anarchists, dressed in black and mainly wearing face masks making their way up past the National Portrait Gallery, many waving red and black flags. I went with them through the back streets to Piccadilly Circus and then up Regent Street where they turned off into Mayfair and were held off by police when they attacked a RBS branch – one of the main banks to receive a huge government handout.

At Oxford Circus they attacked Topshop, then owned by the prominent tax avoider Sir Philip Green. As I went to take photographs of police arresting one of the protesters and holding him on the ground I was “hit full on the chest by a paint-bomb possibly aimed at the police, although many of the protesters also have an irrational fear of photographers. My cameras were still working and I continued to photograph, but I had also become a subject for the other photographers.”

It wasn’t painful, but it was very messy and bright yellow. I scraped and washed the worst off in a nearby public toilet for around 20 minutes, then went out to take more photographs, joining UK Uncut supporters who had come to hold peaceful protests at tax dodging shops and banks around Oxford St and to party at Oxford Circus.

Eventually I followed them down to Piccadilly Circus where 4 hours after the start of the official march people were still filing past. I stopped there and photographed until the end of the march passed, rather than going with UK Uncut into Fortnum and Mason. Inside the story they sat down and occupied the store peacefully. if noisily calling on them to pay their taxes. After an hour or more a senior police officer told them they were free to leave, promising they could make their way home “without obstruction”. 138 were arrested as they left the store, charged with ‘aggravated trespass’. Most of the cases were latter dropped but at least 10 were found guilty, given a six-month conditional discharge and a £1,000 fine.

Even after the official end of the march there were various other groups following the march route – including a group of Libyans with green flags, marching in support of Colonel Gaddaffi. I walked back to Trafalgar Square where there were still plenty of people around but everything was pretty quiet, so I got on the tube to come home and try to wash more of the paint off.

I think it was later when police made a charge to try and clear Trafalgar Square than almost all the arrests on the actual march took place – according to Google “Further clashes were reported later in Trafalgar Square. 201 people were arrested, and 66 were injured, including 31 police officers.” Had the police simply gone away people would have eventually dispersed and there would have been no trouble.

Back home I spent hours trying to scrub out yellow paint, but the rather expensive jacket I was wearing was only ever really fit to wear for gardening. The also expensive jumper underneath still has some small traces of yellow 14 years and many washes later, though I do sometimes still wear it around the house. Until my Nikon D700 came to the end of its life, beyond economic repair, a few years later I would still come across the occasional speck of yellow paint.

Much more about the day and many more pictures in the following posts on My London Diary

26March: Armed Wing of the TUC
26March: South London Feeder March
26March: TUC March – Midday
26March: Dancing in Trafalgar Square
26March: Black Bloc Goes To Oxford St
26March: UK Uncut Party & Protest
26March: The End of the TUC March

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Abolition of the Slave Trade Act: Bicentenary – 2007

Abolition of the Slave Trade Act: Bicentenary: On Sunday 25th March 2007 I was in Brixton and Clapham where commemorations were taking place on the 200th anniversary of the bill to abolish the Atlantic slave trade being given royal assent by King George III on 25 March 1807. It was a great step forward but despite this bill, slavery “remained legal in most of the British Empire until the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.”

The previous day I had photographed the “Anglican Church’s walk of witness to mark the abolition. The Church Of England has much to repent, with many of those who profited greatly from the ships that transported some 12 million African people over the years being pillars of the church and supporting it financially.“

As I continued on My London Dairy:

“When Christopher Codrington died in 1710 he left his Barbados plantations to its missionary society, who at least at first continued his regime of forced hard labour, punishment with the lash, iron collar and straight-jacket, and, at least for some years to brand its enslaved Africans across their chest with the word “society”. Even though the church claimed to have made various improvements in conditions, 4 of every 10 Africans bought by the society still died in their first 3 years there in 1740. Despite the efforts of abolitionists, slavery continued until made illegal by the 1833 act, which provided the church with a very large financial reward in compensation.”

This procession had been accompanied from its opening service in Whitehall Place by a small group who had walked from Hull, the birthplace of William Wilberforce who had led the fight for the abolition in Parliament. They had taken turns to march in a yoke and chains and ended their walk in Victoria Gardens at the Buxton Memorial Fountain erected in 1865 to mark the ending of slavery in the British Empire in 1834.

After photographing a ceremony on Lambeth Bridge acknowledging the 2704 ships that left the port of London to carry enslaved Africans the march then continued in a silent remembrance of those who died in the ocean crossings to Kennington Park. I left them to photograph a second march coming to join them from Holy Trinity, Clapham.

On Sunday 25th I began at Windrush Square in Brixton where another commemorative event was taking place, organised by the Brixton Society. After drumming, gospel music and speeches about the abolition people planted bulbs in the grass and there were prayers, The event then moved on to celebrating the contribution of those of black Afro-Caribbean origin to life and culture in Britain now with a number of speeches and then more gospel singing.

After a lunchtime walk by the Thames I went to Clapham, the spiritual and physical home of the abolition movement, where the London Borough of Lambeth had organised a commemorative walk.

This started at Holy Trinity Church, where the Clapham Sect at the centre of the movement, including William Wilberforce, Granville Sharp, John and Henry Thornton, John Venn, Zachary Macaulay and others had worshipped. But as tour guide Steve Martin pointed out Clapham was also home to many who had made fortunes from the trade and opposed the abolition, with both sides worshipping in the same parish church.

*One of the three groups of walkers at the probable site of the African Academy*

You can read much more about these events on My London Diary, and I won’t copy it all here, but here are my two opening paragraphs:

There is no escaping that all of us who live in Britain – whatever the colour of our skin or our personal history – are now benefiting from the proceeds of the trafficking of African people and their forced labour in our colonies over around four centuries. Fortunes made from slavery helped to build many of the institutions from which we still benefit, including many of our great galleries and museums. Slavery founded many of our banks and breweries and other great industries, and made Britain a wealthy nation.

But it is also true that the same wealthy elite that treated Africans so callously exploited the poor in Britain. My ancestors were thrown off their land and probably some were imprisoned for their religious beliefs by these same elites. Almost certainly some of my forebears were a part of the movement that campaigned against slavery and called for and end to the trade in human beings, although equally certainly they had little or no political power at the time, and probably no vote.

Much more on My London Diary

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Aldermaston 2008

Aldermaston 2008: Searching for what to write today I came to my post about my journey to Aldermaston, where the huge 750 acre Atomic Weapons Establishment is the UK’s main site for nuclear weapons research, design and manufacture. It was to here that people marched from London over 4 days at Easter1958 in a pivotal event in the anti-nuclear movement organized by the Direct Action Committee Against Nuclear War (DAC) and supported by the newly formed Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) – which took over the organisation of further marches.

The CND leaflet in 1958 gave the reason for marching:

“MARCH TO ALDERMASTON
WHY?
BECAUSE we must show our opposition to the Testing, Storing and Manufacture of the H-Bomb in Britain.
If we make no protest now we have given our consent to its use.
“All who are opposed on any ground to Nuclear Weapons, whether possessed by the British, American or Russian Governments, are welcome.”

I didn’t go on that march as my parents thought I was too young, but both my older brothers marched. 50 years later at Easter 2008 I decided to take part in CND’s 50th anniversary event.

I had decided not to march but to cycle at least part of the way from London to Aldermaston with Bikes Not Bombs, but for various reasons (sloth, other events, lousy weather and a dislike of early rising) it didn’t happen, although I did manage to photograph the riders on Oxford Street, where they were going in exactly the wrong direction.

In the end I did ride from Reading to Aldermaston (and back) on Monday, but started an hour or two later than the organised ride, taking a more direct route at a faster pace and arriving before them. Here I’ll copy what I wrote on My London Diary in 2008 with a couple of minor corrections and post a few of the pictures with a link to many more on My London Diary.

Aldermaston – 50 years

Monday 24 March, 2008

Monday I got up too late to join the Bikes Not Bombs cyclists on their way from Reading, where I arrived by train. The train that goes from Staines to Reading is so so slow I’m convinced there is still a man with a red flag walking in front of it much of the way, and the 20 or so miles took almost an hour.

I took exactly the same route from Reading that I’d walked with Pat Arrowsmith and the other Aldermaston marchers in the 2004 march. Although a cool day, it was a pleasant morning for riding and I was quite enjoying it until a stretch of road called ‘Hermit’s Hill’ reminded me how out of practice I was at cycling. I can’t remember when I last had to push my bike up a hill, although in 2002 when my arteries were almost fully clogged with cholesterol I did once have to stop and rest in Normandy. Fortunately it turned out to be the only significant hill on the route.

I went first to the main gate and joined the other photographers who were there, and took a few pictures of people arriving, including the 30 or so cyclists who I had beaten there. I walked down with some of the other photographers to the Falcon gate, but not a lot was happening there.

Later I took a ride around perimeter, or at least the part of it which is on roads – the northern side is simply a footpath, and it was rather muddy and full of demonstrators, so I didn’t try to ride along it. I caught up with the cyclists again at the Boiler House gate where I stopped to take some pictures, as quite a lot seemed to be happening there.

They left before I had taken all the pictures that I wanted, and got a few minutes start on me, before I pedalled off in pursuit. The road leads down and through the actual village of Aldermaston (rich home counties, rather too tidy), but what goes down has to come up, and I found myself struggling uphill again through the queue of traffic held up by the ‘bikes not bombs’ group and their police escort of two cars and several motorbikes.

The Construction gate at the top of the hill had a Welsh socialist choir, and I took a few pictures before I saw the cyclists coming up again – they had stopped to regroup a little down the road. Further along the fence, near the Home Office Gate was another largish group of people and a veteran from 1958 was talking.

The incredible Rinky-Dink mobile cycle-powered sound system was also there – another reminder of 2004 when it accompanied us as we marched down the lanes to the base.

People were now beginning to link hands around the base, although the organisers had talked about one person every 5 metres. Most of it seemed to be surrounded considerably more densely than this, although there were some gaps.

Back at the main gate there was an opportunity to photograph some of the speakers who were touring the event, although I didn’t actually hear them speak. They included two labour MPs, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, Green MEP Caroline Lucas, veteran Labour Party member Walter Wolfgang and several guests from Japan, one of whom was a survivor from Hiroshima.

*Jeremy Corbyn, Caroline Lucas, Walter Wolfgang, John McDonnell and others*

After that people started to go home, and after a short but rather heavy shower I decided it was time to get on my bike too.

Many more pictures from the event at Aldermaston – 50 years, and I also took a few on my ride back to Reading Station.

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Redbridge 1995 Colour

Redbridge 1995 Colour: Redbridge is one of the boroughs in the north-east of London and not one that I visit very frequently. The only major town in the borough is Ilford, and had they called the borough that more people would know where it is.

*North Circular, Mll, River Roding, South Woodford, Redbridge, 1995, 95p4-2073*

Instead they named it after an area in the suburbs of Ilford, which got its name from a red brick bridge over the River Roding. It stood out as most other bridges were stone and shades of white. The bridge was demolished in 1921 but the name stuck.

*Industrial Estate, Roding Lane South, Woodford Green, Redbridge, 1995, 95p4-2063*

Much of the borough is covered by suburban sprawl, particularly from the interwar years, but significant parts of Essex’s Epping Forest remain, and where the red bridge once stood is now a huge road junction where the North Circular Road (here the South Woodford to Barking Relief Road) intersects with the A12 Eastern Avenue. And a little further north is Charle Brown’s Roundabout where the North Circular and other roads lead to the M11 in a complex interchange. The name came from the landlord of a pub, The Roundabout, demolished in 1972 to build M11 slip roads, and has no link to the more famous Limehouse pub.

*Industrial Estate, Roding Lane South, Woodford Green, Redbridge, 1995, 95p4-2051*

The extension of the Central Line of the London Underground system to here – the Hainault Loop – was held up by the Second World War but opened in 1947 with some fine stations including https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gants_Hill_tube_station Gants Hill whose underground concourse between the platforms is often said to be inspired by the Moscow Metro.

*North Circular, Mll, River Roding, South Woodford, Redbridge, 1995, 95p4-2043*

It was designed by Charles Holden, better known for his 1930s stations on the Piccadilly and other lines, and who was doubtless responsible in part for the advice given to Moscow in the early 1930s. In turn London Transport produced a report on the Moscow system and decided to build an underground Underground station on similar lines, designed by Holden.

*Subway, Southend Road, Claybury, Redbridge, 1995, 95p4-2022*

Unlike his earlier stations, Gants Hill is almost entirely underground, with its ticket hall below the Gants Hill roundabout on Eastern Avenue. The line follows Eastern Avenue to the station after Gants Hill, Newbury Park where it comes to the surface and turns north until it exits the borough of Redbridge at Grange Hill.

*Subway, North Circular, Gants Hill, Redbridge, 1995, 95p7-342*

I think all the the pictures I made in 1995 were made on walks beginning and ending either at Ilford (on the District line) or stations on the Central Line, including South Woodford, Redbridge and Gants Hill.

*Splash, Hand Car Wash, Redbridge, 1995, 95c8-664*

*Splash, Hand Car Wash, Redbridge, 1995, 95c9-244*

*Subway, Eastern Avenue, Redbridge, 1995, 95c9-254*

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Stand Up to Racism & Kites Not Drones – 2014

Stand Up to Racism & Kites Not Drones: On Saturday 22 March 2014, the day following UN Anti-Racism Day (chosen to remember the 69 people killed by police in the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa on 21 March 1960), the TUC and Unite Against Fascism organised a march and rally as a part of a European day of action against racism.

Thousands – perhaps as many as 20,000 – turned up to march the short distance from Old Palace Yard opposite parliament to a long rally in Trafalgar Square – on My London Diary I list 19 speakers, though I think there were a few more on the day, but I didn’t stop to listen to all of them, going instead to Hyde Park where a smaller protest by peace activists tried without much success to fly kites in in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan.

Stand Up to Racism – Westminster

This protest stood out for the wide range of people and organisations who had come to join it, “many of whom are sickened by the anti-immigrant policies of successive governments and opposition parties who have long been engaged in trying to outdo each other in the ‘toughness’ of their immigration policies, and have recently moved even further to the right in an effort to neutralise the political threat of UKIP and Nigel Farage.”

And since 2014 the main parties have kept moving to the right. We continue to see this scapegoating of immigrants in the policies both of the current government and its recent Tory predecessors, particularly in the campaigns and legislation against those who cross the channel in small boats, but also in restrictions on those who claim asylum here and the harassment being suffered by many who have made their lives here and contributed to our society but are now threatened by deportation, dragging them away from families and friends. Still we have not set up safe routes for asylum seekers to come to Britain, still we have not offered amnesties to those who have worked here and made useful and essential contribution here for years.

I photographed many of the marchers in Parliament Square, where the march had been planned to start close to the statue of Nelson Mandela who had celebrated “the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and equal opportunities” as the aim of the fight for freedom and equality in South Africa.

*A man taking part in unusual dress for a protest*

Some posed in front on the grass with ‘Big Ben’ in the background, a name I like to use as it annoys pedants, but is what everyone except them still calls the clock tower which Wikipedia describes as “one of the most prominent symbols of the United Kingdom and parliamentary democracy.”

Among those taking part were people from our Roma and Muslim communities who bear no responsibilities for our country’s current problems and suffer more than most from them while at the same time being blamed by the racist right for them.

“In particular we have seen many promoting fear and hate of Muslims associating the whole community with the acts of a tiny few. Islamophobia is rife and has led to more attacks on the Muslim population, including murder and violent attacks on mosques. “

More from 2014 on My London Diary at Stand Up to Racism.

Kites Not Drones Solidarity with Afghanistan – Hyde Park

This protest by peace activists was part of a weekend of solidarity with the Afghan people who traditionally celebrate their New Year (Now Ruz) on the Spring Equinox by flying kites. (Until 1752 the New Year began at around the same time in Britain and its colonies on Lady Day March 25th.)

*Peace activist Maya Evans ties up the Drones on Trial banner ‘EVERY AFGHAN HAS A NAME, WAR IS NOT A VIDEO GAME’*

In 2014 I quoted the organisers statement:

‘Kite flying has become synonymous with Afghanistan as a well loved pursuit which was banned under the Taliban, now Afghans are more used to the presence of UK armed and surveillance drones flying overhead.’

‘We are encouraging peace groups, Afghans in the UK and the Muslim community to fly kites in solidarity with Afghans who now have to live under the mental pressure and physical destruction which British drones (currently operated from RAF Waddington, Lincoln) now reap upon Afghanistan.’

None of those taking part appeared to have had any previous experience in actually flying kites, and although the photographers present helped, the gusty conditions only allowed some short and erratic flights, with one kite getting stuck up a tree. For once a police officer was sympathetic, and having come across to tell the protesters that flying kites was not allowed in this or the other Royal Parks told them that so long as they stayed in this empty area of the park and were not a nuisance to others he would not stop them.

More at Kites Not Drones Solidarity with Afghanistan.

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Spring Time for Druids – 2007

Spring Time for Druids: in 2007 the Spring Equinox was on 21 March, though I think in most years it is a few hours earlier on the 20th. Yesterday, in 2025 it apparently came at 9.01am, though for me it had come around ten days earlier when a patch of my garden was deep in flowering crocuses (or crocus or croci.) And for weather forecasters Spring starts on March 1st.

Later in the day The Druid Order will have come out at 12 noon yesterday at Tower Hill Terrace, but I didn’t feel moved to go to join them. I photographed their ceremonies on several years, both there and at the Autumn Equinox on Primrose Hill, and also published some more detailed reports (having done some research in the Mount Haemus lectures and other sources) with some of my pictures of later events.

The pictures here are from March 21st 2007, the first time I had attended a Druid ceremony and I then knew very little about them, and my comments on My London Diary perhaps reflect this. But the pictures I made were rather similar to those I made in later years and as with some other events I no longer feel I have anything new to say and no longer go.

I think druids might say their ceremonies were timeless, and certainly The Druid Order still use the order of service which they invented and printed aproaching a hundred years ago and I think the banners they carry and the other items used have a similar inter-war history. But I understand they only began this anunual event at Tower Hill in 1956.

We have very little real evidence of the druids of the distant past in our country, though I think their ceremonies may well have involved rather more bloodthirsty sacrifices than the current rather anodyne public festivities.

But here are some of my thoughts from this first encounter back in 2007:

It was in some ways impressive, with their white robes, but rather to staid and measured for my taste. Celebrations need to be done with much more joy. This had more the feeling of a funeral – despite the white dress.

There was an air of dusty scholarship, of dull Victorian scribes trying to major on gravitas in the Order of Service, and a sermon of mumbled though possibly worthy boredom. Hard to imagine William Blake as chief druid of this tribe, I’m sure they must have done things differently in his days.

I’m not sure how far back these celebrations go at Tower Hill. Modern Druidry revived in the eighteenth century, partly as archaeologists re-discovered sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury and asked themselves what went on there. What relationship the rites they came up with bear to those of pre-Christian times is impossible to know (though one suspects rather little.)

My pictures on My London Diary (link at bottom of this post) are in the order they were taken and together with the captions give a fairly detailed account of the event, although I think I did it a little better in some later years.

William Blake was among a long list named in the ceremony as a former druid. According to the article A Note on William Blake and the Druids of Primrose Hill there is no evidence for the claims that William Blake was a druid or chief druid, although he may have known some who did take part the annual rituals on the hill which were begun by some Welsh Bards in 1792 claiming that their Bardic traditions “had preserved the true esoteric lore of the Druids.”

*Back inside the church hall, where I left them and went in search of a cup of tea.*

In fact Blake commented negatively on Druids in his writing and images, particularly objecting “to reported Druid practices of ritual human sacrifice, and forced submission to priestly rites and rituals.“

More pictures and captions from the 2007 The Druid Order: Spring Equinox on My London Diary

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Cabin Crew, Education, Living Wage & Light Up the Night – 2010

Cabin Crew, Education, Living Wage & Light Up the Night: Saturday 20th March 2010 was an unusual day for me, including protests in two parts of London I seldom visit, Hatton and Hampstead. It was also the start of a campaign on Oxford Street to get the London Living Wage for shop workers and there was a march to Downing Street against education cuts.

BA Cabin Crew at Heathrow – Hatton

Cabin Crew, Education, Living Wage & Light Up the Night - 2010

BA cabin crew on the first day of their 2-day strike at Heathrow held a rally outside Bedfont Football Club a short distance from Hatton Cross, where several hundred strikers came to listen to speakers, including Len McCluskey, Unite assistant general secretary, and show their determination to fight management plans to downgrade their conditions and make BA into a cut-price airline. Others kept up their pickets at gates around the airport.

BA management under CEO Willie Walsh had refused to come to an agreement with the union, BASSA, and had threatened any workers who spoke at the meeting or appeared in media interviews with dismissal. So none of the strikers spoke at the meeting, but there was thunderous applause when speakers including local MP John McDonnell criticised BA management.

I photographed the picket at Hatton Cross on my way to catch the Piccadilly line into central London.

More at BA Cabin Crew at Heathrow.

March Against Education Cuts

A couple of thousand teachers and students met outside Kings College in Strand to call for the reversal of planned education cuts which they say abandon a generation of students and will damage our economic recovery.

Police had insisted that they march on the pavement, but the numbers and the banners made this impossible and after a hundred yards or so they moved onto the street. At Downing Street they filled both carriageways for several minutes with a short token sit-down before police and stewards persuaded everyone to move to one side of the road, but the crowd was still a little large for the space available and there seemed to be a few dangerous incidents – including a rather uncontrolled police horse – but fortunately no injuries as police appeared keen to get a lane of traffic moving past without due regard for public safety.

As speakers at the rally said, Labour had come into power on the mantra ‘Education, Education, Education‘ but 12 years later were proposing the largest cuts in education funding for a generation or more, estimated to lead to the loss of more than 20,000 jobs in Further Education, Higher Education and Adult Education. They will disproportionately affect the poorer and more disadvantaged in our society, in particular immigrants and young people who are unemployed or lacking in qualifications.

As Jenny Sutton, branch secretary of the UCU at the College of North East London pointed out the proposed cuts of £1.1 billion on education contrasted with the £21 billion spent on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the £500 billion given to the banks, one of which, the 84% publicly owned RBS is now paying out £1.3 billion in bonuses.

In protest Sutton was standing against the then Education Minister David Lammy in the May 2010 election. Lammy kept his seat and she lost her deposit, but the election put a Tory-led coalition into power. Education suffered even worse in the following years.

March Against Education Cuts

London Living Wage Launch in Oxford St

The London Living Wage campaign began in 2001 and has had the support of all London mayors since. Calculated annually by the Greater London Authority it takes into account the higher living costs in London, and Living Wage employers also have to provide fair employment conditions including holiday and sick pay and allowing employees to belong to a trade union.

Although some of London’s larger employers have adopted the London Living Wage, the retail sector, one of the most profitable areas of business in London, still had many of many of its workers struggling on wages below this level.

London Citizens, a grassroots charity working for social, economic and environmental justice , has led the campaign for a London Living Wage, and held a training session for its members before coming to Oxford Circus. Here they took advantage of the recently introduced diagonal crossing system to cross and recross several times with their banners before going off in smaller groups to continue the campaign inside the larger stores on Oxford Street.

They intended to give letters to all the general managers of shops on the street inviting them to meet with London Citizens to discuss the Living Wage.

London Living Wage – Oxford St

Light Up the Night in Hampstead

‘The Commons‘ candidate for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency Tamsin Omond had organised a ‘Light Up The Night‘ candlelit march to show community solidarity against violent crime and make the streets safe for women at night.

Around 30 people, mainly women, turned up outside the Hollybush pub in Hampstead for the march, where there was a short speech by Sam Roddick, noted for her campaigning on issues related to human rights, feminism, pornography and for taking Fair Trade into hitherto unexplored areas through Coco De Mer, her Covent Garden ‘erotic emporium.

It was a wet and windy night and it was hard to to keep the candles alight as the marchers made their way down the hill from Hampstead and the streets were emptier than usual.

‘The Commons’ campaign hoped to reach people who are fed up with politicians and appeal to ordinary people, many of whom, like Roddick have never bothered with voting because they felt it made no difference. But it made little progress. The election was closely fought with Labour’s Glenda Jackson gaining a narrow victory by 42 votes over the Tory candidate, but Omond was over 17,000 votes behind both of them with only 123 votes and the turnout was low.

More at Light Up the Night in Hampstead.

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Bring the Troops Home – 2005

Bring the Troops Home: On Saturday 19th March 2005 I photographed the Stop the War march on the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. From Hyde Park it went past the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square on to a rally in Trafalgar Square. I published text and pictures on My London Diary.

This is another slightly hard to find post from the early years of My London Diary before I redesigned the site with links to every post on top of each monthly page and discovered the Shift key. Then I felt it was somehow cool not to capitalise, but I now regard as an unfortunate affection – like those photographers who think turning their digital colour images to black and white somehow makes them more authentic.

Back in 2005 I was very critical of Stop The War – and I still feel they lost the initiative after the huge February 2003 protest against the invasion of Iraq and that a more radical approach could have prevented Blair taking Britain into the war beside the USA.

That protest and the many before and after showed our nation united in a way no other campaign has succeeded in doing, with protests in almost every town and village in the country. Even in Surrey where driver after driver hooted support as we stood at the side of our local bridge with posters during Friday evening rush hours.

I’m still sorry I had to miss that big one in 2003, which came just the day after I was discharged from hospital following a minor heart operation and I could only walk a few yards. My family went leaving me at home. But I did cover all of the other main protests in London against the invasion and they are recorded in My London Diary.

In my 2005 post I was also very critical of Stop the War’s attitude to photographers, which has mellowed slightly over the years. It can still be difficult to photograph the front of their marches though the stewards are generally much more friendly.

But for all their faults, Stop the War and other organisations they work with have kept up protests over many issues, particularly in recent times over the genocide taking place in Gaza. And have been doing so in defiance of Tory and Labour governments, laws restricting our right to protest and clearly political policing.

Bring the Troops Home – Stop the War March and Rally

I remember standing in Trafalgar Square listening to Tony Benn and Tariq Ali urging us all to take immediate and radical action should our troops invade Iraq. At the time a majority of the British people was clearly against the war, and we should have taken to the streets to stop it. Instead Stop the War organised marches and peaceful demonstrations the government could easily ignore. And they did.

So the latest in the series of anti-war demos was a sad case of déjà-vu from the blinkered dinosaur. Not least because again Tariq Ali (and doubtless Tony Benn) again urged radical action and again we cheered.

Tariq Ali has the perfect anarchist hair-style, and it’s hard to get a bad picture of him. Nenn wasn’t looking at his best, but there were plenty of others to photograph, including those who had made their stand as soldiers (and a diplomat.) And some very bubbly school students.

Stop the War are also tough on the press, or at least tough on photographers. Most demonstrations welcome publicity, but they train stewards to get in the way. One colleague was physically prevented from taking pictures at one point in the march, I was obstructed and threatened quite unnecessarily by a couple of stewards, and all of us were generally ordered around and hassled.

More pictures of the march and rally on My London Diary.

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Troops Home from Iraq; Don’t Invade Iran – 2005

Troops Home from Iraq; Don’t Invade Iran: Saturday March 18th 2006 I went to the large protest on the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, photographing as the march gathered in Parliament Square and then as the march went along Victoria Street on its rather indirect route to a rally in Trafalgar Square. As often with large marches, by the time the end of the march had passed me I was too late for it to be worth going on to the rally.

Here – with the usual tidying of capitalisation and a few minor clarifications is the post I made on My London Diary at the time. Of course things have become much worse in various ways but particularly so far as civil liberties in the UK are concerned, the situation in Iraq has been dire and there remains a real threat of military action against Iran, an odious regime but whose people would still suffer greatly from any any invasion.

As always there are many more pictures on My London Diary.

Troops Home from Iraq; Don’t Invade Iran

The Troops Home From Iraq; Don’t Invade Iran march on the 18th was another large event organised by Stop The War, part of an international protest in cities around Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Asia and Africa – a total of around a couple of hundred places. In London there were roughly 20,000 who walked out of Parliament Square past where I was taking pictures, although many like me will not have made it to Trafalgar Square, and others will have joined in later on the route.

The event marked three years since the invasion of Iraq on 20 march 2003. At the front of the march were Theatre Of War representing both Tony Blair and George Bush along with two police and two judges holding placards declaring the two leaders guilty.

*Put your head in a sack, Guantanamo style…*

Behind them were the march leaders, including representatives of families of soldiers killed in Iraq. They had a long, long yellow ribbon with the names – no ranks – of soldiers who have died so far in this illegal war and occupation. Of course many more Iraqis killed – more than 100,000 have died so far.

The invasion, doubtful on legal grounds, was justified on the basis of false information, including information that was known to be incorrect when it was presented to parliament and the people.

Already it has led to deaths in Britain; only a small handful of people (that’s Tony Blair and some of his cabinet) doubt that the London bombings would not have happened if Britain had not joined in the invasion plans. Actually it is hard to believe even they doubt it, but rather they just can’t bring themselves to admit it.

*A protester from Glasgow is warned for using a megaphone in Parliament Square*

We’ve also seen the passage of draconian measures that attack civil liberties in this country (and attempts still being made to get more.) Muslims in particular have been targeted, with a rise in Islamophobia.

*At last the march moved off, with stewards pushing photographers away from the front*

The expenditure in Iraq has been vast. If you want to know why there isn’t the money to raise pensions (and a week of pension protests was ending today with a conference in London) there is a simple 4 letter answer. IRAQ.

Another four letter country, Iran, is currently under threat. Perhaps most chilling are the denials from Blair and Straw, who state that invasion is not on the table. For too many of us that just seems to make it more likely.

Many more pictures on My London Diary

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