I'm thrilled to have been awarded a micro-commission as part of Wandsworth Council's year as London Borough of Culture. Alongside a programme of large scale events and festivals, the Council has put in place a light-touch application process for Wandsworth artists to apply for a small grant to create new work on the theme of …
Category: walking
a toot or two on my trumpet
A fortnight ago, I reprised the walk I'd devised for this year's London Festival of Architecture in June: Beyond the New Builds: Voices from Nine Elms' Past. I'd made a few tweaks to the route, and was pleased with the turnout - a baker's dozen of attendees. The weather also played ball, holding off the …
how is it almost September?
All afternoon I've had Kurt Weill's September Song swimming around my brain. Weill composed the beautiful, liltingly melancholy tune; the lyrics, which I erroneously thought were by Bertolt Brecht (well, he and Weill did work together a lot), turn out to be by the American playwright Maxwell Anderson. I've just listened to a recording of …
jam-packed June
Wandsworth's London Borough of Culture year is well and truly in swing and June promises rich pickings for culture vultures. For the first time, the Wandsworth Arts Fringe and Wandsworth Heritage Festival are overlapping for one week, from 13th to 22nd June. During that period, on Saturday 14th June, History Speak and I will be …
Twixtmas comes but once a year
Twixtmas. That quiet period betwixt Christmas and New Year. It's one of my favourite times of year, when London slows down a bit. The streets are quieter. People seem less harried, more relaxed. It's a good time to explore and maybe walk off a bit of the festive excess. In this spirit, I'm reprising my …
strolling, chatting and scribbling
I've just compiled the feedback from the two Stroll, Chat, Scribble events I ran for this year's Brighter Living Fair in Wandsworth, and I'm feeling a rather chuffed. It's very gratifying to realise that what I set out to deliver pretty much hit the mark. Each session began with a stroll around nearby streets for …
ageing well in Wandsworth
Wandsworth Council’s Brighter Living Fair takes place throughout October, and aims to encourage older people to stay active and try new activities with a series of free events. As part of this month-long celebration of ageing well, I’m pleased to have received a micro grant to lead two walks and poetry workshops. Starting at …
two Festivals and a Fringe
June is shaping up to be a jam-packed month for me. The Wandsworth Heritage Festival is already underway and runs until 9th June. I've managed to get to one event so far, the launch of new public artworks by the railway arches that adjoin the new Prince of Wales Drive development. The weather did not …
a Twixtmas walk in Nine Elms
I've missed walking around the Nine Elms area, checking out the latest pieces of the huge redevelopment jigsaw slowly being pieced together. So I've decided to lead my Open Spaces in Nine Elms walk one last time this year, and what better time than Twixtmas, that quiet(ish) period betwixt Christmas and New Year. I took …
ruminating while running
While I was running around Battersea Park this morning, I started thinking about how much I hated exercise and sport as a child, and then well into adulthood. My younger self would have been amazed, and possibly appalled, to see me pounding along paths between trees and gambolling down grassy knolls. Running isn't my favourite …
Hilaire 