Do you remember a halcyon time when we could go to a place and have a drink with people we didn’t live with? Well those days will be upon us again in some kind of fashion on 4 July. Some of these pubs are gone forever, some others rebuilt, and few looking amazingly familiar. We could stare at the pictures all day, and enjoy….
The other day we were on our permitted one hour perambulation in Vauxhall and stumbled across a quite poignant sculpture. We put it on Instagram (where we’re much more clever) and that started a small conversation about its origins. This spiked our curiosity, so we decided to step back from trying to remember what day of the week it is our hectic schedule of Zoom meetings, to undertake some research.
Following the war there was a shift from commemorative to public sculpture as a way to lift spirits and add to public enrichment. However, after the war Lambeth were seriously short of cash. Equally skint was Hungarian artist Peter Peri, who was able to make works cheaply by means of applying moulded concrete onto wire mesh. When local authorities began commissioning artists to create works in newly constructed housing estates, he put has name forward and he was commissioned to create three works in Vauxhall and Oval.
The sculpture in Vauxhall is called ‘Following the Leader’ and was created between 1949-1952. This moving composition depicts children holding hands in a spiral to the sky, as an homage to children killed during the blitz. Fortunately it is Grade II listed. The other two sculptures are in Oval are of slightly lower quality but still very interesting (both below). ‘Boys Playing Football’ depicts a group of lads doing just that, kitted out in their awkward leather boots. ‘Children Playing’ depicts a mum playing ring o’roses with her children. Curiously, all three works face internal courtyards. Perhaps this testifies to Mr. Peri’s background as a socialist and champion of everyday folk.
One of our goals as the Runoff is to get people out of the house and explore, but of course this is largely not possible at the moment. But if you find that your daily exercise is getting a tad bit monotonous, set these little gems as your destination:
Following the Leader – on Darley House, Laud St.
Boys Playing Football – on Wareham House, Carroun St.
Children Playing – on Horton House, Meadow Road.
The pieces in Oval are very close to one another.
If you have a spare 14 minutes (and we know you do) have a listen to a delightful podcast about the current life and history of Kennington Park by Blue Badge tour guide and Walworth resident Isobel.
Once upon a time it was possible to go to a place and have a drink with other people. One of those places was in central Kennington and called ‘The Tommyfield’ and they had a cracking stand up night called ‘Always Be Comedy’. We wrote about ABC in July and have been regulars since its inception eight years ago. We’re big fans of the evening as it’s always nice to see up and coming comics in addition to big names, and of course they’re honoured to be in our manor.
Last week ABC started a virtual comedy night and we popped along, partially out of curiosity and partially to avoid watching another episode of ‘Tiger King’. They had a few tech problems but considering that they were switching between three comics and the MC, it went pretty well. They have a few upcoming shows and we highly recommend them for a change of pace.
Wed 15 April – Josh Widdicombe and others
Wed 22 April – Sara Pascoe, Nick Helm, and a ‘mystery guest’ (usually a pretty big name)
Wed 29 April – James Veitch and others
Wed. 6 May Iain Sterling (the guy who does the voiceover for Love Island….not that we watch it) and others.
All shows run from about 8 to 10 and the best bit is you can watch in your underwear without being picked on by the comedians. Tickets are a fiver and can be purchased here.
When this mayhem has subsided places like The Tommyfield and ABC will need our patronage more than ever. When it’s possible to go in the flesh again ABC has a good atmosphere with a fun mix of people. However, on your first visit it’s hard to escape the eerie notion that you’ve just stumbled into a reunion of contestants from ‘The Apprentice’.
Hang in there, folks. After all, by invoking that wartime spirit we all got through the great toilet roll crisis of late March.
In the 55 years that have elapsed since the middle of March, we’ve starting undertaking socially distanced walks around Greater Kennington. It was during one of these walks that we became more familiar with a true Kennington original and maybe the progenitor of all the Kennington eccentrics who have come after him; Richard Cuming.
Richard was raised in Walworth Road (intersection of Manor Place, now a McDonalds) in 1777. and it was here that his aunt and other family members sparked his curiosity for collecting all things unusual by giving him fossils, old coins, Indian arrowheads, and other ephemera which were easily available at the time, In adulthood Richard moved to 63 Kennington Road (below) and his collection grew to include items as varied as stuffed animals, ceramics, harpoons, footwear, and even early sunglasses. Unlike many gentlemen collectors of his era, Richard never actually left the UK but was given these items or picked them up in markets around London.
Richard’s collection in Kennington Road eventually grew to include over 25,000 objects and he was happy to show off his curiosities to as many people a possible. The home was a haven for collectors, scientists, historians, and any passing Kenningtonian who shared his passion for all things unusual. The passion was passed on to his son Henry who, after his father’s death in 1870, moved the collection in a more populist direction by collecting objects that revealed the ordinary lives of south Londoners from rail tickets to cheap toys and good luck charms
When Henry Cuming died in 1902 he bequeathed the collection to what was to become the London Borough of Southwark with the proviso that the collection be exhibited ‘in a suitable and spacious gallery or apartments in connection with Newington Public Library’. This wish was realised when the Cuming Museum was opened in Walworth Road in 1906. With a few additions from other sources the museum became very popular, a sort of Welcome Collection south of the river. The museum thrived until 2013 when the town hall complex was engulfed in flames and the building gutted.
Luckily, 98% of Richard and Henry’s collection survived the great fire and it is in storage until Southwark figures out what to do with it. But fear not, dear reader, as the collection very much lives on online and its quirky highlights can be found here. Now wash those hands!
Last spring we provided you, dear reader, with a link to a fascinating film about a youth club in Kennington from the BFI Film Archive. Now that you have more time on those sparkling, germ free hands of yours, we thought we would send it your way once again. And if you still find yourself at a loose end after viewing it, there are about 1,000,000 other films in the archive to fill your days and nights….Original post below. Enjoy!
You could probably spend a day few days, or in our case years, exploring the BFI Film Archive of old films about London. We recently discovered this treasure called ‘We Are the Lambeth Boys’ and it gives a fascinating insight into Kennington circa 1959.
The film depicts the lives of the girls and boys of Alford House youth club, which still flourishes in Aveline Street, pictured below. To 2019 eyes the 49 minute film appears slightly condescending, but it was in fact intended to dispel conceptions of ‘Teddy Boys’ (hence the conversation about apparel early in the film) and the culture of youth clubs in general.
Examining the (nerd alert!) outside shots of the estates, we think they were filmed around Newburn Street. If you are a fellow fan of ‘ohh, I know where that is’ viewing, scroll to (nerd alert 2!) 33:30 for a distinct view of 50’s Kennington Cross (shown below). If you’re still on board scroll back to (nerd alert 3!) to 26:10 for a glimpse of Cleaver Street toward Cleaver Sq. If you have any further nerd revelations please drop them in the comments box….
I need some nicer clothes…..
We don’t know a great deal about classical music, but we do know a thing or five about having a good time in Greater Kennington. If you have the time you could do a lot worse than check out the upcoming ‘Classical Vauxhall’ series. It promotes itself as embodying ‘drama and emotion of classical music in three of Vauxhall’s most quirkiest venues’. This has KR approval stamped all over it, especially when you add in that there will be a bar and a chance to meet lovely locals.
The fun kicks off on Thursday, 6 Feb. in St. Peter’s Church in Vauxhall. If you’ve never been then you should check it out anyway as it’s a beautiful great mammy of Victorian Gothicness with what we imagine are pretty fine acoustics.
Thursday 6th Feb, St. Peter’s Church – Quatuor Zaide & Fiachra Garvey
On Friday, 7 Feb. the classical fun continues at that playground of Georgian reclamation, Brunswick House (home of LASSCO). Now you might be thinking ‘I never really intended on spending my Friday night in a traffic roundabout in south London’ but LASSCO is worth it, if for no other reason then see the amazing if wildly unattainable objects on sale.
Friday 7th Feb, Brunswick House – Sean Shibe
Moving northwards and forwards, on Saturday 8th Feb the classical wave vibrates on to a KR fave, the fascinating Gardening Museum located at the side of Lambeth Palace (also Lambeth’s oldest building)
Saturday 8th Feb, Garden Museum – Adam Walker & Fiachra Garvey
While you might not know a great deal about classical music either, imagine the fun you can have impressing your friends with a conversation along the lines of this:
SALLY – Hey Paul, get up to anything musical this week?
PAUL – Thanks for asking Sally. Well, I figured out that the giant Daisy on ‘The Masked Singer’ is probably Charlotte Church. You?
SALLY – I went to a classical concert at Brunswick House
drops mic
We know that you rely on us for riveting local matters, such as public toilets that might be turned into cocktail bars or scary garden gnomes which look like Tony Blair. However, once in a while public service beckons and we strive to join forces the larger community good.
A few years ago our Kennington friends over at the Earl of Bedlam posited the idea of a community information area in front of St. Anselm’s church to replace the one which has, quite literally, fallen off the wall in recent years. After consultation with an architect in Cleaver Sq. this evolved into more of a message board and 3D ‘monument’ taking more prominence towards the road and direct pedestrians to elevate their gaze above the isolation of their phones. The current project is called ‘CRIB’ or ‘Community Resources Information Board’.
The initial purpose of the monument was hybrid. One was to act as an epicentre for local people who want to meet or impart a message, and also to act as a permanent stone monument to celebrate our collective Kennington lives. Following a very well attended consultation last summer, the organisers decided that their plans might have been a bit ambitious in a community where resources were being cut, and this was scaled back to a message board with a stone seating area. Also in the mix was rotating art exhibits and contributions from City and Guilds art school in Kennington Park Road.
The current proposal is the creation of a four sided stone plinth with four protected message boards and the aforementioned arts contributions from City and Guilds. The plinth will be made of a stone called Swaledale, which has preserved fossils from many millennia. This has been used previously in the very handsome new exit to Green Park station next to the Park. A current concept is that the stone will be engraved with the names who have contributed to the project, in Caroline’s words ‘from pennies to the thousands’.
We celebrate these kinds of initatives not only as they create and perpetuate a sense of civic pride, but it also reaches out to the many people in our community who do not have access to the internet or who are not confident in using it. If you are reading this we assume that you are probably interested in this project and how it might improve our special community. There are loads of ways to get involved in this project and the first way is to join their facebook group called ‘CRIBSKennington’. That bit doesn’t cost anything!
It’s a bit unorthodox to be writing about gardens in the bleak midwinter, but we all need a bit of greenery in our lives, especially when the sky matches the grey Kennington pavements.
Harleyford Road Community Garden in Vauxhall wsd created by the demolition of a terrace of Georgian properties in the 1970’s which featured inordinately large front gardens. In 1984 the progressive residents of nearby Bonnington Square agreed to work in partnership with Lambeth to turn the site into a place of quiet refuge amongst the nearby smog and snarl.
The arboreal product of the partnership created 36 years ago persists to this day, and even in winter offers a great place for the public to stroll, eat a sandwich, reflect, or just experience an element of silence. The garden is divided into several different areas and includes a children’s play area, lawns, benches, picnic areas, and a mossy green pond. It prides itself on being the only accessible wildlife site in the area.
The Garden is still maintained by volunteers from Bonnington Square, and it without question possesses the quirky, ‘planty’. and independent aesthetic of the Square. This is evident in the mosaic wall and paving stones implanted with chipped china and rocks. In reality the entire layout of the Gardens are the masterwork of Bonnington residents, and well done.
With no small amount of surreal irony our quiet, pastoral refuge is sponsored by the rather notorious nightclub ‘Fire’. As intrepid and responsible local journalists we approached Runoff management about getting to the bottom of this relationship (in a strictly professional capacity of course) by actually going to Fire at 3am last Saturday. We were rapidly rebuked and informed that this would be ‘inappropriate’ and ‘compromise the ethos of the site’. Well lets see about that and watch this space.
The Gardens are very kid friendly and also placid and safe for people on their own who seek solace and serenity. Enjoy!
Pull those chairs a little closer still, boys and girls, as promised this is the second installment of the Duchy of Cornwall’s influence on the architecture of our area. This time we move forward and north east towards Oval and Vauxhall. Sorry Walworth, we will spread our pixie dust on good yourselves as soon as possible. We’re currently investigating zebras and lions in Pasley Park.
As mentioned last week, the town planner and architect Stanley Ashtead is responsible for the look and feel of much of post Victorian Kennington. He was influenced by the Georgian architecture of Kennington Road and this is heavily in evidence at Kennington Palace Court, below, circa 1922. There are also other examples in Black Prince Road and Sandcroft St. However, at the same time change was afoot in our area, and there was an increasing need for more high density housing.
Following WW1 the Duchy undertook a number of projects to further alleviate some affects of local deprivation. In spite of the Duchy’s many achievements conditions of poor housing endured, and as land became available (called ‘disposals’ for the nerdy sort) London County Council demanded that something be executed. As a response the Duchy sold sites to the east of the Oval to LCC (which later became Lambeth Council). The Kennington Estate was the result, and the buildings live on as mighty tributes to famous Cricket players of the past, such as George Lohman and Bill Brockwell. You can even see the influence of the Duchy incorporated into the columns at the Oval end of the Cricket ground, if you look closely. If you don’t fancy looking closely we have a picture below
We again post an interesting doc about the Duchy of Cornwall estate and it can be found here. The Kennington funness kicks off at minute 41. If you’ve read this far then you probably have an interest in buildings. If this is the case we are going to a consultation this week about a proposed high rise slated for Kennington Lane, and we will let you know what we find….A case of history repeating, if ever there was one.
