CoolWalk's Southwark Library tour continues.

This month CoolWalks visits Blue Anchor Library & Bermondsey. 

We explore Bermondsey, an area that contained many factories that turned the raw ingredients landed at the near by docks into our family stock cupboard favourites. 

Walk with us to learn new things, have fun and get in a bit of exercise whilst together we discover which jams, biscuits, chocolates, custards, pickles and much, much more besides, helped make Bermondsey the pantry of London; the pantry of the UK and almost each and every corner of the globe.  

We take in the site of the chocolatier's swimming pool, try not to get in a pickle about pickles and discover the cracking story of the of the great egg-stink of World War 1. 

Together we'll go on a walk of fun, fresh air and picnics. Hopefully, we'll not get too hungry.

Starts inside Blue Anchor Library at 11am and finishes around 12:30pm.

Dates:
·         Thursday 31st March 2016

The walk is approximately 3 miles and we would ask participants to wear sensible walking footwear and weather appropriate clothing.  Participants can leave at any time.

Meet:  Blue Anchor Library, Market Place, Southwark Park Road, SE16 3UQ
Bus: 1, P12, 381
Tube: Bermondsey

Many smells!
A Poem by Leslie Davidson

Smells that vary with the weather,

Smell of hops and smell of leather,

Smell of jams and smell of glue,

Smell of chocolate at the Blue,

Smell of frying fish and chips,

Smell of heavy oil that drips,

Smell of stale ice left to trickle,

Smell of vinegar and pickle,

Smell of foreign bales and bags,

Smell of damp and steaming rags,

Smell of sweat and smell of dirt,

Smell of many an unwashed shirt,

Smell of humanity

In Bermondsey.

TWISTS & TRANSFORMATION: Dicken’s London Borough

This is a walk through the streets of Old Borough and London Bridge following the ‘Twists and Transformations’ of Dickens’ early childhood. 

This walk revisits the highways and byways of early Victorian London encountering the traumatic twists in Dicken’s early years as he took his first tentative steps into this new city of opportunity starting with the debtors prison of Marshalsea and in the places Dickens frequented: the quiet graveyard of St George the Martyr, the bustling fruit and veg market, Old London Bridge. 

These places were  where his imagination grew, fed by the energy and incident of this rapidly growing city. We become aware of his acquaintance with Victorian ‘low life’, and with the twists in life, the unexpected hardships. These grand themes and encounters that he later transforms into some of the most vivid characters and plots in London’s celebrated literature: Little Dorrit, Oliver Twist, Nancy, Bill Sykes. By exploring these concealed aspects of Victorian London we come face to face with the inspirational back stories that gave birth to Dickens’ extraordinary fiction.

This free guided walks reveals something of his restless spirit, manifest in his compulsive night-walking and his feelings of ‘houselessness’.

Meet: Borough Tube (finish near London Bridge station)
Walk: Free
Date: Saturday 13 February
Time: 11am –1pm

Part of Southwark Hidden Stories Walks with CoolWalks.

CoolTan CoolWalks - Film Locations in the Borough

Lights! Camera! Action!

Enjoyed your favourite films and box-sets over Christmas? Why not join CoolTan Arts CoolWalks on a free, guided walk to work off a mince pie or two and follow in the footsteps of Charles Dickens, Bridget Jones, Harry Potter and a host of other films, getting up close and personal with the streets and buildings of Borough and Bankside familiar from many of our favourite films.  

Learn new things, make friends, get fit and have fun.

Meet inside John Harvard Library at 11:00am and finish at Tate Modern around 12:00pm.

• Friday, 29th January, 2016

The walk is approximately 1.5 miles and we would ask participants to wear sensible walking footwear and weather appropriate clothing.

If you have any queries or would like any further information contact Robert on 020 7701 2696, via email coolwalksinfo@gmail.com or tweet @CoolWalks.

Walworth Through The Ages

Walworth Through the Ages

Join CoolTan Arts CoolWalks on a free guided walk to explore Walworth through the ages, learning about the areas history and evolution over time. 

Learn new things, make friends, get fit and have fun.  

We start at East Street Library, (168-170 Old Kent Road, SE1 5TY) at 12:30pm and finish about 2:30pm at the Elephant and Castle.   Transport to library - Bus: 21, 42, 53, 63, 172, or a 453.  

• Saturday 5th December
• Thursday 17th December

The walk is approximately 3 miles and is suitable for all walkers.  We would ask participants to bring a bottle of water, wear sensible walking footwear and weather appropriate clothing.  

If you have any queries or would like any further information contact Robert on 020 7701 2696, via email coolwalksinfo@gmail.com or tweet @CoolWalks.

Walworth & Beyond at War (Saturday 8th November 2014)

On Saturday, 8^th November, for Remembrance Weekend, CoolTan Arts CoolWalk invites you to join us on a free walk to reflect on the stories and experiences that war has had on the citizens and landscape of Walworth and nearby.

We start at Newington Temporary Library, Elephant Artworks, 2^nd floor, Elephant Road SE17 1LB at 12:30pm.  We finish at Imperial War Museum around 3:30pm.

The walk is approximately 4 miles and is suitable for all walkers.  We would ask participants to bring a bottle of water, wear sensible walking footwear and weather appropriate clothing.  There will be a short stop where you will be able to eat your own snack or purchase something to eat.