Happy New Year!

It's getting later and later. Apologies to those misguided enough to follow this blog for the delay in posting for the second week in a row. Much of the week has been taken up with aggravation over my Dad's stoma bag, the district nurse service and the problems caused by the inability to contact them direct. You could do so until they moved from the Bethnal Green Health Centre to the Mile End Hospital, but now you have to ring the 'single point of contact' and they pass on a message. That's progress for you - one step forward, two steps back.

Last weekend, there was excellent weather (after a very wet week) for my 'Battle for Bethnal Green' walk, featuring the likes of Sydney Waterlow and Angela Burdett-Coutts:

There were some good friends along: Julia Ingall, Ann Flowers and Rizia Begum, all former colleagues from Tower Hamlets. There was illustrious company as well: guides Daniella King (http://stepsinthecity.squarespace.com/about/)
and David Rosenberg
(http://www.eastendwalks.com/?page_id=71)
with Paul Talling, your man for Derelict London
(http://www.derelictlondon.com/authors-guided-tours-of-london.html)
and his charming wife.

What the walk shows is how philanthropists stepped in to take the initiatives which provided for the lack of a social infrastructure, particularly when it came to the housing and related health and hygiene issues. The need to provide properly administered dwellings with proper amenities (very basic by our standards, but good for the time) to rescue the victims of the rapacity of private sector landlords is a lesson very much for our times. Understandably, the landlords wanted a maximum return for their investment, but sadly this meant not spending money on providing amenities in their properties and not worrying too much about their tenants' living conditions. It was this that kept cholera in the area for decades. I can't help thinking that, since the 1980s, we've been steadily reversing all the advances that were made in the C19 and C20, and this seems to be ever more the case with the present government.

I'm still doing what I can on facebook to promote petitions etc against the cruelty of the fur trade, and of the dog and cat meat trade in China and Korea, with animals being boiled alive and dogs being tortured before being cooked to 'improve the quality of the meat'. There's a great deal of cruelty in this world meted out to animals. For some reason people seem to believe that it's alright that animals should be subjected to intolerable pain for our pleasure. Maybe one day we'll come to our senses.

I went along to the wonderful Geffrye Museum (http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/) to top up my Christmas spirit with their 'Christmas Past' exhibition. I have to get along there every Christmas. It's a marvellous exhibition, with each of the interiors decked out in Christmas decorations appropriate for the period. My favourite interior is the seventeenth-century room:

http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/whatson/special/gallery-2009/?id=11668

I shall leave yesterday's doings for the next post, in case there's nothing else to add! But that's all for now.

Best,

Dave Charnowalks

Hello Blogfolks,

Sorry for not blogging yesterday: I have to blame the beers I shared with good buddy Danny Warren at the White Hart on Boxing Day evening, which left me a little delicate Friday morning. Not as young as I used to be ...

Anyway, as for Christmas Day itself, I'm one of the rare people who are more than happy to spend Christmas Day on their own. Most of the day was spent with Radio 4 Extra's day-long tribute to Richard Briers until it broke off at 4:00 -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/posts/Ever-Increasing-Wonder-Remembering-Richard-Briers

As far as the walking is concerned, the application for the start-up loan has been received and is in order, so I just have to await the decision in the New Year. I've designed a leaflet, and have asked a few people's opinion of the design, and then I can print it up and get it circulated.

Sadly no-one was up for the Helping Hands walk today, which may have been because of fear about the weather - which has turned out splendidly, with lots of sunshine. Hopefully tomorrow's Battle for Bethnal Green walk (2:00 tomorrow afternoon) will enjoy the same weather.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-battle-for-bethnal-green-tickets-9644054627

Bethnal Green on Rocque's map of 1769



 

The walk next Saturday (4 January) should be fun, nosing around Theatreland while all the Christmas decorations are still up, indulging a little longer in the Christmas atmosphere before Twelfth Night. It will be followed by a catch-up drink with two special ladies, Kath Pykett and Denise Kent. Later that day another catch-up with two more special ladies: Nika Garrett and Valy Dumoulin.

 

I need to work out the order of the next few walks, including the pre-Fire City and Westminster, the seat of power bearing the fingerprints of various monarchs. No walk on Saturday 11 January anyway, because I shall be at the illustrious Big Boys' Beer Festival at my nephew Wesley's gaff at Bletchley.

 

In the meantime, having posted pictures of Bogart, here's a picture of Oscar (that's my hand behind his head).

 

That's all for this week - the Christmas week is always a little unsettled! I hope that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Mind how you go.

D

Howdy - the last post before Christmas, so I'm taking the opportunity of a mug of tea and a couple of mincies to put down what passes for my week. Like many peeps, I was struck with the here-comes-Christmas-so-just-to-make-sure-you-don't-enjoy-yourself-too-much rotten cold on Friday last. Thankfully, through the ingestion of much chilli (con carne, curry, sliced chilli on salads) and Tesco own-label lemon powders, it's been kept under control.

In the midst of all this, I managed to get in a couple of walks. Last Saturday, m'colleague Viv Schrager-Powell and I gave our Organised Finance walk in the City.

 

This was thanks to the good offices of my old schoolchum Brad Baxter, a fellow alumnus of Parmiter's School, Bethnal Green, who is now a mathematical guru at Birkbeck, and the walk was arranged with his M.Sc. Financial Engineering programme in mind.

Also, on Monday afternoon I gave my Westminster walk 'Of Commonwealths and Kings' for the UK Educational Development Agency - a group of Italian teens over on language experience.

An important development for Charnowalks is that, thanks to my good buddy and fellow University of Hull alumnus Graham Starling, I now have a website:
http://charnowalks.co.uk/
I'm getting to be increasingly professional, especially as I've added another walk to Eventbrite, my Theatreland walk 'Behind the Magic Curtain' on Saturday 4 January:

Time to see London's theatres before they all fall down!
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/behind-the-magic-curtain-tickets-9885243028?aff=eac2

Thanks to Play-by-Play (www.playbyplay.co.uk) I've got a ticket for 'Strangers on a Train' next Monday afternoon, which'll get me out of the flat for purposes other than researching walks. For a theatre addict, it's been difficult having my theatregoing so curtailed, but come the New Year, when things pick up, I shall be able to fit more in.

Anyway, that's a brief account of what's been going on, other than that I was with Brad yesterday evening, and we popped into the Wenlock Arms - still a top-notch beer selection, but it's lost a lot of its atmosphere since the change of management. It's more like the many pubs now geared towards the fake Bohemians who have settled in the East End over the years, rather than the warm, locals' pub it was before.

Well, that's all from me. I hope you all have an exceedingly enjoyable Christmas, and a New Year full of goodies. Stay warm, keep up your fluids and vitamin C, read a book or two, and get yourself out to see some proper live theatre.

With all that's warmest and best,

D

The best news of the week is that my very dear friend Nika Garrett passed her exam walk, and will now add City Guide to her considerable achievements.

My past week has been busy as usual. On Saturday I did my first Eventbrite-advertised walk, 'To Make the Punishment Fit the Crime', my walk which explores the problems the authorities experienced with the death penalty as well as moments where the due process of law was put in a questionable light.

 

Me doing my bit at the site of the Giltspur Street Compter, talking about George Sloane

 

Sloane arriving at the Compter in December 1850

I also did my Westminster Walk 'Of Commonwealths and Kings' for a small but select group yesterday afternoon. I also met with Antonio, my business mentor, on Tuesday, and he signed off my business plan. The Good Ship Charnowalks is getting onto the slipway.

I've been meeting with various interesting people, and today it was William Palin of the new East End Preservation Society. Things are happening in east London, and the more people who get behind this swell of interest the better. So much heritage is under threat in the East End, we need to make sure we give it a voice by telling its stories.

I'd like to post more, but today has been a little hectic for personal reasons (not my story, so I won't post about it), plus I need to get my head down because tomorrow my esteemed colleague Viv Schrager-Powell and I are giving our organised finance walk for a group from Birkbeck - through the offices of my good friend and fellow Parmiter's alumnus Brad Baxter - and I need to pile up some 'Z's.

Good night.

Zzzz

Hello Blogfolks,

As promised, a second weekly instalment of my adventures. Thankfully this time Bogart's not interfering, but here's a picture anyway:

I'll have to get pix of the other two uploaded for next time.

The week has been occupied with networking and trying to get things into shape. I met up with Simon of Hackney Tours:
http://hackneytours.wordpress.com/about/
and Angela of London City Steps:
http://www.londoncitysteps.com/#/about-us/4552120467
to discuss what I and my Walkie Talkie colleagues are up to, and had some interesting chat. Both groups do very interesting and important stuff.

Talking of the Walkie Talkie peeps, I didn't mention last week that a group of us were given a tour and explanatory chat about the Foundation of St Katharine by Mark Aitken, the Master:
http://www.rfsk.org.uk/
Originating as a hospital, it survived the Great Fire, the Reformation and the Commonwealth, but couldn't survive the expansion of the docks. It was a great evening, and we were invited back for supper by Judy Stephenson, one of our number.

Before and after pix of the Master's house - 1946 and now.

This week, John Ryan, head honcho of Oxford House, did the honours for us.
http://www.oxfordhouse.org.uk/
A major local venue which doesn't get the press it deserves. A Victorian university settlement which is an important community resource.

 

The theatre at Oxford House

Guiding in Tower Hamlets looks set to get more and more important. There's so much life in the East End and people don't know about it. Even today someone said to me that there's nothing to see here!

I'm still working on my business plan: I need to get it to my business mentor before I meet him next Tuesday. In the meantime, tomorrow morning (Sat 7 Dec) I've giving the first walk I've advertised on Eventbrite, my judicial punishment walk 'To Make the Punishment Fit the Crime'. I've started getting stuff out now: two for the weekend after Christmas which focus on philanthropy and charitable enterprises in the City and in Bethnal Green, both at a bargain 25% off:
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-helping-hand-tickets-9643749715
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-battle-for-bethnal-green-tickets-9644054627

Finally, but by no means of lesser import, my good buddy from Hull University, Graham Starling, has been putting me a website together. The more astute can probably work out the address, but until I manage to get enough stuff to him to get the whole thing alright, I'll leave you hanging ...

I think that's all for the moment, so I'm going to have the last tea of the day and get my head down, ready for tomorrow's guiding.

Goodnight,

Dave Charnowalks

Hello everyone in Blogland,

I hereby make a firm commitment to putting out a weekly blog: I'm sure you're panting to hear what I'm doing, plus it reminds me what's been going on. The old loaf is fair spinning with trying to keep up. It's proving a bit difficult right now because the boy Bogart wants my attention.

On the literary front, I was able to give two readings for Red Army Fiction: I headlined their Hallowe'en special, Dead Army Fiction, and gave a reading as part of a Red Army Fiction slot at the local Lit Fest, Write Idea. Still trying to persuade people that Death and the City makes a good Christmas present!

Guiding in Tower Hamlets is developing in various ways. After the first five-week instalment of Walkie Talkie, we decided to break, regrouping in the New Year, and we'll concentrate on developing walks in a workshop format. In the meantime we've got some visits, including the Royal Foundation of St Katharine last Weds, and Oxford House this coming Weds, as well as the last of the programme of Saturday walks - Sean Patterson will be taking the group through Whitechapel and a bit of Spitalfields, in the footsteps of Charles Booth.

I've put my first walk on Eventbrite: 'To Make the Punishment Fit the Crime' is booking for Saturday 7 December:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/to-make-the-punishment-fit-the-crime-tickets-9261486355

We shall hear, for instance, the sordid story of George Sloane and how he just about escaped the mob:

So much to do, and so little time. I have to have my draft business plan ready before I meet my mentor on 10 December. December isn't really the best time to start up in business as a tour guide! Rather a slack period, but I'm sniffing out business where I can.

That's all for now, friends, so I shall head on out into the weekend with head held high, and see what hits me in the face first.

Mind how you go.

Dave Charnowalks

Unbelievably I haven't posted since August: sorry about that, but I've been a little busy ...

Apart from some health problems for Dad (no details - not my story), I've been getting involved in the New Enterprise Allowance scheme to get Charnowalks off of the ground.

My first meeting with my new business mentor went well this Friday morning: he seems to think that I've been approaching things the right way, developing the product before advertising it. Advertising must now become a priority, as well as expanding the more 'populist' aspect of the repertoire - look out for 'Of Commonwealths and Kings', the Westminster walk, as well as 'Red, White and Blue', policing the City (from the red-and-white chequer pattern favoured by the City police, in distinction from the blue-and-white sported by the Met).

A recent highlight was meeting the illustrious Nat Benchley on 21 September. A grandson of the great American humourist (or should that be humorist?) Robert Benchley, Nat is a writer and performer in his own right. We've been e-penpals for some years, but this is the first time we've met, and it was a genuine privilege to show him around the City. Sadly a trip to New York, New York is currently way out of the question, but hopefully before too long I'll get myself across the water.

Another project is Walkie Talkie, an adult education course I've devised which starts on Wednesday 9 October. It cultivates in novice guides and civilians the imaginative art of guiding, and introduces everyone to guiding in Tower Hamlets. The borough has no structured guiding culture, and given that it is an area rich with history and story, this is surprising. It also explains why low-level heritage is so vulnerable: King Cole's eucalyptus tree (look it up!), which once stood proudly, if rather crookedly, in Meath Gardens Park has now been reduced to a stump.

As well as advertising the walks, I must devote more time to advertising Death and the City, which (I am continually reminding people) makes an ideal and inexpensive Christmas present. I will be headlining with it at Red Army Fiction's Hallowe'en special Dead Army Fiction, but must do more. The writing has taken a bit of a drop in priority while I've been building up the walks, but now it must be stepped up the list. Also, the second book of stories will be self-published quite soon: thanks to Ronald Chapman for a really classy pic for the front cover.

Many plates are still spinning, and I mustn't let any fall, but I will try and post much more frequently to let you know of my adventures.

Love,

Charnowalks