Tag: St Michael

St Michael, Gorillas, Pearlies & Urban Golf – 2006

St Michael, Gorillas, Pearlies & Urban Golf: Sunday 24th September was an unusual day for me, at times verging on the surreal as you can see from the pictures and the text below, a slightly corrected version of what I wrote at the time on My London Diary.

St Michael, Gorillas, Pearlies & Urban Golf

When I got up Sunday it poured with rain. What with that and the replacement bus service instead of trains, I almost stayed home, but I was glad I didn’t. By the time I arrived at Turnham Green, the sun was shining and four St Michaels were laying into a single angel with their plastic swords.

St Michael, Gorillas, Pearlies & Urban Golf

This was the Patronal Festival of the Anglican Church of St Michael And All Angels, a part of Bedford Park, the first garden suburb, begun in 1875. The event was complete with a not very fierce looking dragon and a colourfully dressed set of clerics and choristers.

St Michael, Gorillas, Pearlies & Urban Golf

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St Michael, Gorillas, Pearlies & Urban Golf

From there I rushed off on the District Line to photograph gorillas running through the centre of London. This was raising money for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund which helps to save the world’s last remaining gorillas from poachers, civil war, human disease and deforestation.

Running 7km in a gorilla suit isn’t my idea of fun, and by the finish the contestants – even those who had taken off their masks for the run – were swimming in sweat inside their costumes as they tucked into the free bananas and fruit smoothies.

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Things were a little more sedate at the Guildhall for the annual Pearly Kings And Queens (or Costermongers) Harvest Festival. As well as the pearlies and what looked like a pretty full set of inner London Mayors, along with a few donkey carts and a produce lorry there were people in various iinterpretations of Victorian dress, Chelsea Pensioners, and others of a vaguely traditional London character. The fairground organ looked good, although its music soon palls.

A colourful note was added by Donna Maria’s Maypole Dancers. Donna Maria was apparently a London May Queen having served her time in one of the South-east London realms. She revived maypole dancing with her group of girls dressed in flower costumes who give demonstrations at many events each year.

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The golfing event of the weekend was not of course the Ryder cup (where Europe were thrashing the USA) but the Shoreditch Urban Open Golf Tournament. 18 holes covering most of Shoreditch between the City Road and Great Eastern Street make it the only par 72 urban course in the world.

There are certain local rules that the Shoreditch Golf Club imposes, with the biggest change from the normal game being in the balls, which are considerably softer and lighter, to avoid damage to property and persons. Probably the greatest risk to both players and spectators (and photographers) were in the generously available free drinks thanks to the sponsors Jameson.

It was a nice afternoon, with a lot of people having fun, mainly watching the golfers. Some of the players looked very professional, a few even played as if they were, though I was please to see others obviously holding a club for the first time in their life. The caddies included some considerably more glamourous than you’d see at St Andrews.

The course seemed well-planned, with a pub or bar more or less at every green (and a few in-between.) I’m surprised there weren’t more golfers taking advantage of the opportunity, as this must be the best course in the country (or at least in the City.)

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A Walk In the City – March 1989

My walk in the City of London towards the end of March 1989 began at Bank Station, perhaps because the Bank of England is in many ways the centre of the City, but probably also because until 1994 the Waterloo and City line was a part of our railway network and I could travel there as a “London terminus” on my rail ticket. In 1994 it became part of the London Underground (they paid £1 for it) and from then on I needed to pay them for the journey. I think back then there were no services on the “drain” on Saturday aftenoons or Sundays.

War Memorial, Bank of England, City, 1989 89-3d-64
War Memorial, Bank of England, City, 1989 89-3d-64

Over the years I’ve taken many slight variations on this picture with the London Troops War Memorial and the Bank of England. The memorial to the troops of London who died in the Great War was designed by Sir Aston Webb, with carving and lettering by William Silver Frith and the bronze figures by sculptor Alfred Drury and was unveiled on the day after the second anniversary of Armistice Day on 12th November 1920.

Later a further dedication to those who died in the Second World War was added. The quality of the statues and carving and overall its design make it one of the more impressive of war memorials. Grade II listed when I made this picture it was upgraded to II* more recently for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.

The memorial stands in the triangle of public space in front of the Royal Exchange but this picture was taken from the side to include the Bank of England as the background. It’s perhaps slightly unfortunate that I included the sign for the public toilets at the bottom edge, useful though they were – and then like others in the City – free to use.

George & Vulture, George Yard, City, 1989 89-3d-52
George & Vulture, George Yard, City, 1989 89-3d-52

The George & Vulture describes itself as a City institution and there has been an inn on this site since 1142 or 1175, depending on who you believe – or 1600 according to my picture. Before the 1666 Great Fire there were supposedly two inns here, the earliest The George and a later establishment, The Lively Vulture, but they were amalgamated in the rebuilding.

It gets numerous mentions in Dicken’s Pickwick Papers and has been the headquarters of the City Pickwick Club since it’s inaugural dinner in March 1909 when it was founded incorporating his earlier Pickwick Coaching Club by Sir James Roll. Initially limited to 30 members that has increased over the years and in 2009 was raised to 100; they still meet for dinner there four times a year, and it is also host to other Dickens events.

Rather than a pub it is now a City chop house or restaurant, though open some evenings for cold plates and drinks; run by Samuel Smiths Old Brewery it offers a full range of their beers as well as other drinks.

Fountain, George Yard, St Michael's Alley, City, 1989 89-3d-53
Fountain, George Yard, St Michael’s Alley, City, 1989 89-3d-53

The City’s alleys have long fascinated many, and I’d first explored them before I was taking many photographs, following walks from one of many guides to London. It’s still easy to get a little confused in following them, particularly when some parts such as George Yard has changed rather.

You will search in vain for this fountain which then stood in the open area at the end of George Yard and St Michael’s Alley (though you could also reach it from Bell Inn Yard or Bengall Court and it was just a few steps from the end of Castle Court.

Fountain, George Yard, St Michael's Alley, City, 1989 89-3d-42
Fountain, George Yard, St Michael’s Alley, City, 1989 89-3d-42

Both the George & Vulture and the the Church of St Edmund the King in the background of this picture remain, but much of the rest around here has been replaced.

Fountain, George Yard, St Michael's Alley, City, 1989 89-3d-43
Fountain, George Yard, St Michael’s Alley, City, 1989 89-3d-43

I assume the statue was of St Michael and to me it and the mosaic floor have a look of the 1950s or 60s about them, but neither this statue nor the fountain in which it stood get a mention in any of the books about London I own. Most of my pictures were of the mermaids who obviously appealed to me more.

I have no idea what happened to these sculptures, and have been unable to find any more information about them. The yard is now home to rather Dalek-like structures, surrounded by seats and flower beds, presumably provided ventilation for areas below. The whole site on the west side of Gracechurch Street south of Bell Inn Yard which was the headquarters of Barclays Bank was redeveloped shortly after I made these images, with the distinctively curved 17 floors of 20 Gracechurch being completed in 1994.

Sculpture, Lombard St, City, 1989 89-3d-46
Sculpture, Lombard St, City, 1989 89-3d-46

I walked out onto Lombard Street where I made several exposures of this Grade II listed bronze ‘Chimera with Personifications of Fire and the Sea’ by Francis William Doyle-Jones from 1914 on the 1910 bank building. I was at the time thinking of putting together a compilation of pictures of London’s ‘topless’ women.

Sculpture, Lombard St, City, 1989 89-3d-33
Sculpture, Lombard St, City, 1989 89-3d-33

A wider view taken from the corner with Birchin Lane, where the view today is little different to that in 1989, except that the hanging TSB 1810 sign on Falcon House at left, there until 2016, has since been replaced by one peculiarly illegible one for Falcon Fine Art.

My walk around the city continued, though I’ve digitised relatively few pictures from it and soon moved away further east towards Spitalfields, as you will see in my next post on it.