A week ago I led the last in a series of ten walks around the Nine Elms area in Battersea. This was part of a programme of free activities for local people funded by Wandsworth Council, with my ‘Walks and Talks in Nine Elms’ billed as a chance for people to explore the area and meet new people.

When I was asked if I’d be interested in leading the walks I jumped at the chance. There was a short lead in time but I had support from Wandsworth Council’s Nine Elms Team, who handled the Eventbrite bookings and promotion. I started planning the first couple of walks, checking out routes that would take around an hour to walk at a gentle pace. The meeting place for the first walk was outside Battersea Power Station tube station, but how would attendees be able to identify their guide? Luckily I have a red clipboard, so this detail was added to the Eventbrite listing: Hilaire will be carrying a red clipboard.

The first walk took place on Friday 30th September, starting at 11a.m. I’d decided we’d walk around the Battersea Power Station site, with the grade II* listed building itself due to open to the public a fortnight later. The red clipboard held my attendee list and route outline, and soon I’d ticked off all the attendees. Off we went, at a leisurely pace, and conversation flowed. A couple of the participants shared memories of living nearby when the Power Station was still operating. Back in 2017, I was one of four guides leading tours of the Battersea Power Station construction site, and I’d reviewed the tour script before the Friday walk so had some interesting facts and figures I was able to drop into the conversation. One thing I remembered from those tours is that there were always at least a couple of people in the group who had a connection of some sort to Battersea Power Station, and that held true for this series of walks too.

The first walk ended back at the tube station, and it was gratifying to receive enthusiastic feedback and promises to come the following week. The numbers varied from week to week but gradually increased, and amazingly there was only one walk when it rained, and then only lightly for a short while. I really enjoyed working out the routes and researching more about parts of Nine Elms I was less familiar with, and it was a pleasure to share those discoveries on the walks and encourage others to notice more and maybe dig a bit further into the history of their surroundings.

Will there be more outings for my red clipboard? I hope so, and certainly many of the Walk and Talk participants were keen for the walks to happen again next year.