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Amwell Street Summer Party 2019

Many congratulations are due to the hard-working organisers of the wonderful 11th Amwell Street Party which was held on Sunday 14 July.

The first fête was held in 2008 as a ‘thank you’ to local people for their support of the retailers when the London Borough of Islington was selling off Amwell Street commercial properties to a developer, threatening existing local businesses and the unique character of the Amwell Village. Those days seem a distant memory, yet we all benefit from the tenacity of the business owners in Amwell Street and thank them for sticking with us.

After a rainy start on 14 July, the weather cheered up and we had a brilliantly sunny day. About 1,500 people attended the party who enjoyed the four live music acts. There were more than thirty stalls set up on the day which were run by local people, local people, businesses and organisations including the Amwell Society.

There was a fun fair for the kids, a cake bake-off judged by food writer Felicity Cloake with actor-turned-baker, Daisy Brydon, open-air yoga classes for all ages and, of course, the ever-popular dog-show hosted by Amwell Veterinary Practice. The event this year was sponsored by Brownings Garage and Amwell Veterinary Practice both of whom also generously donated £500 worth of prize vouchers for the star raffles. We hope that the Party might be self-funded next year along with being awarded Islington Local Initiatives award towards the overall cost of the event. Once we’ve set a 2020 date, we’ll let you know and will look forward to an even bigger turn-out next year.

Architectural Soup: mixing traditional ingredients with a twist of new

Alain Head, a long-time former resident of the Amwell area and the architectural advisor to the society, gave an entertaining talk at the Annual General Meeting on May 14. His theme was architectural soup – and how the mix of different ingredients can often provide a satisfying unity.

To illustrate his different ‘soups’ we went on a whistle stop tour across much of the built-world to be surprised by the quirky additions, re-purposing and juxtapositions of buildings. Some surprising examples from places as diverse as Chicago and China, where new buildings are piled on top of the old ones to good effect.

Greenwich power station juxtaposed with Trinity almshouses

Closer to home came his example of Greenwich power station with the Trinity Almshouses nestling beside it, and a reminder that the glorious size of the turbine hall at Tate Modern arises from the repurposing of Bankside power station.

In Clerkenwell he talked to the importance of how we renovate houses within a conservation area. Often a modern alternative may be more in keeping than a fake period replacement. Indeed, the late, great Lubetkin favoured the newest window technology over a strict facsimile during the 1980s refurbishment of his pioneering modernist Spa Green estate. Buildings move on and assimilate the changes brought by new technology.

Planting a Tree for Liz Thornton

In the midst of an April hail flurry members of the Amwell Society and the Lloyd Square gardeners met to plant a tree in memory of Liz Thornton who died in 2018.
The tree is a mountain ash, Sorbus Joseph Rock, which produces yellow berries and brilliant leaf colour in the Autumn. Liz was a previous secretary of the Amwell society, and for many years led the gardening at Lloyd Square.

Inside the Box at Amwell Street Fête!

In glorious summer weather the tenth Amwell street fete on Sunday Ist July was a roaring success with more stalls, events, musical variety and visitors than ever before – a tribute to the hard work of the organisers.

The Amwell society ran a window box competition, and had plenty of excellent entries.  Joanna Ward, Camilla Jenssen and Sally Hull snapped all the entries and there were generous donations of prizes from Brownings Garage, The Hairdressers and Ground Control.

First, second and third prizes went to David & Ella Nazar of 45 Wilmington Square, Bozana Vesilinoska of 32 Amwell Street and Geoffrey Thomas of 44 Great Percy Street respectively.  The communal entry was won by the residents of 15-19 Percy Circus.  Warm congratulations to all the winners.

Winning Window Box 2018
…..and from above

Smithfield Redux

Alec Forshaw, former conservation officer with London Borough of Islington, has a deep knowledge of buildings and the local area. He gave us a masterly overview of the history of Smithfield from the beginning of the meat market –described in 1174 as

“A smooth field where every Friday ….. are placed vendibles of the peasant, swine with deep flanks and cows and oxen of immense bulk”

through the successful battle to prevent the demolition of the Western General Market for city offices, and continue the renewal of Smithfield by moving the Museum of London to this site.

The live meat market became an unmanageable nuisance as the population of London grew and in 1855 a Royal Commission required it to move, finding a new home in Copenhagen fields in the north of Islington. But it was railway development which truly secured the future of the new Central Market, designed by Horace Jones and opened in 1868. The glorious glass and iron extravaganza we see above ground is only the tip of the iceberg.  Below ground vast excavations provided for underground railway sidings where meat was delivered from all parts of the country and raised to the market with powerful hydraulic lifts.

 

In 1945 one of the last V-2 rockets of the second world war to hit London landed at Harts corner destroying the iconic tower at the junction of Farringdon Road and Charterhouse Street.

The rebuilding after the war, and after the 1958 fire in the poultry market, was only a temporary reprieve in what appeared to be a gradual decline of the market and the surrounding neighbourhood.

In Alec Forshaw’s first (1980) edition of ‘Smithfield: past present and future’ he somewhat gloomily predicted that the market might die. His 2015 edition is more upbeat about the future.  The Corporation of London completed a major modernization of the central market in 1997, but the outlying buildings including Horace Jones’ General Market, Fish Market and the Red House cold store were left to decay. Two public inquiries later and a massive amount of lobbying has saved the western markets for the future. This is a decision which challenges the hegemony of the financial market as sole solution, and endorses conservation led regeneration.

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  • Upcoming events

    Saturday, 7th September 2019 - Late Summer Party
    St Helena's Garden (between Lloyd Baker Street and Fernsbury Street), 6.00 - 9.00 pm. This year with lighting and more seats for those who prefer not to stand.
    Drinks provided, bring finger food to share. Bring a neighbour!

    Save the dates
    Sunday, 8th September
    Exmouth Market Street Party, 12pm - 5pm

    Saturday, 30th November
    Visit to Pantomime at Hackney Empire, 1.30 pm
    Tickets £20.50
    First come first served
    For tickets, click here

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