These Works Clearly Demonstrate That It Is The Novelist Rather Than The Theoretician Who Is Best Able

Hoxton  and the Geffrye to Bunhill Fields

Cutty Sark to Greenwich North - listening to 'Dockers' audio trail - part two

American Folk Art Museum :) today after my ferry adventures...

#100happydays keeping with my career theme - well any passions in life I have to say it makes me happy to see this building most the time I approach it and think of my lovely colleagues I'm about to work with. Also enjoyed a curry with my sis and her boyfriend this eve! :)

Botany on Your Plate at The South London Botanical Institute

June 2017

I recently developed and led three afternoon workshops for adults with learning disabilities at the South London Botanical Institute as part of their current Botany on Your Plate series of workshops and events. As far as I am aware, the workshops are the first to be developed there specifically for people with learning disabilities. However, there is already a rich educational programme in place for children and adults.

Founded in 1910, by Allan Octavian Hume, The South London Botanical Institute (SLBI) in Tulse Hill is situated in a Victorian house and garden and though smaller than the likes of the Natural History Museum, is a fascinating centre for heritage and botany alike. It holds a herbarium, library, education spaces and a botanical garden. I really wanted to develop these sessions in order to help make it more accessible for local people with learning disabilities.

I developed the workshops to cater for a variety of skills and interests. The first session was art based, the second cooking based and the final session used music and storytelling to explore the theme of botany on your plate.

The group that came are based just up the road in West Norwood and are members of the L'Arche London community. L'Arche is a local Charity with its roots in France where it was started by the philosopher, theologian and humanitarian Jean Vanier. L’Arche is very present in the local community and is about to celebrate 40 years of being in West Norwood.

I began planning these sessions with thoughts on what it would be about the theme Botany on Your Plate that could resonate with people. The obvious thing is that of food and my experience of most people's enjoyment of shared meal times together in the homes - where good food and conversation is often present! L'Arche has its own garden project and so the link between growing and eating food is a a connection that people will already make. However, I was keen to develop this further and help people get to know the layout of the house and garden.

In the first session I developed an activity where people could eat specific fruit and then find the corresponding plants in the SLBI garden. These plants were not necessarily bearing fruit, so I put photos of the fruit near to the plants and made the activity into a treasure hunt. We then searched for vegetables in the house to then use for printing to create our own plate designs. The second session saw us exploring herbs using out senses and working out what they were. This was good because we could use some herbs from the L’Arche garden as well as some from the SLBI garden and some extras from elsewhere! We made herbal teas from different recipes that I got from Rachel De Thample. The final session used a sensory story from Coralie Oddy (Remini-Sense) about gardening. This in concentrate on the seasons and the growing cycle and we also sung songs on this topic to complement it. We also had a search in the garden and brought things in to tell and/or show the rest of the group what we found on our search.

It will be interesting to learn what people took away from the session and what they remember of it. I hope that it is the beginning of a connection between the SLBI and L’Arche and will also pave the way for other local connections.

Sarah Glover is a freelance education practitioner who particularly works in the area of heritage, music, storytelling and accessibility. 

Some filter some no filter needed #redadmiral

Learnt all I know about how to have great learning interactions in museums. (My montessori training coming in handy too!) Can't recommend highly enough.

Crystal Palace Park Community Audio Trail

Welcome to the trail! I hope that you enjoy it. The trail started as a project for my final MA Museums and Galleries in Education coursework. It...

There are now 4 segments to the trail!! Have a listen if you have not before and especially to the new track entitled the 'Palace Site'. Hope you enjoy and there's more to come :) Please feel free to spread the word. It is a voluntary project - All the time and resources have been offered for free :) 

My musings from the Cutty Sark to Greenwich North on the Memoryscape 'Dockers' Audio Trail

Today I tried out the ‘Dockers’ Memoryscape Audio Trail. Here are my journey notes:

Easy starting point – you can’t miss the Cutty Sark.

Usual warnings about safety – which I always listen to, especially because I am not sure how deserted this route will be. I have never walked it before.

Toby Butler who narrates tells you not do it at home but to be on there and walk

I am told that we will not be looking at London landmarks but rather the hidden histories...

I’ve been here before. I remember taking my bike through it. The tunnel is smelly and cold and cramped and claustrophobic and its hard to hear the recording with the loud voices in the tunnel and the lift is out of service... I didn't know though that dockers used that tunnel – and it is certainly a place where you feel there is history there though!

 I notice again that it is hard to analyse and experience at same time. It is always the same when you are studying something.

The narration reassures you that you can play things back again if you need to and that sometimes we will be simply stopping and looking.

It feels like I am in tourist territory - completely the opposite of Dockers time? Or not?

It’s a high tide – the tide is lapping loudly and the bells of naval college are heard and the somewhat unexpected smell of the sea strikes me. I am already much more aware of my senses.

As on previous trails I have tried out, again I notice that I am not listening to everything they are saying - it's key words that I pick up – and now the smell of blossom.

There is also the smell of new building ... New buildings are going up.

I think about what a strong and important word community is to me – and is something that I have always valued and been lucky to experience.

I think about my definition of community, of which I mean individuals and groups, bound together by a connection with the local park in my case – even as a visitor to the park.

I see it as a trail made with the voices of or in consultation with the local community

I always forget what side of the river I am on, or more don’t realise.

I have walked too far at this point – it is hard to follow some of the instructions and I am not sure which pier I am near, but may have been that I didn’t listen well.

I find it a mostly deserted route, but in some places a wildlife paradise with butterflies and bees and I am sure much more; but mostly a deserted string of old wharfs.

At first, I couldn't see how to get into the areas he spoke of and didn't notice all of the places, but that doesn’t matter. I am out of sync but don't want to go back! I can't go onto jetties?

The trees by the water at this point of the Thames are a surprise to me too. The sound of the water and the sun beating down. I wouldn't want to be here alone later in the day. But I'm discovering a new part of my city!

Distances are hard to judge as I have not found the public jetty that is mentioned.

I have found the jetty and the info plaque is rubbed away in places and hard to read. I do find myself looking for visual signs of industry past anyway - noticing things not necessarily mentioned on the recording.

There are mostly lone travellers and some couples. Cyclists too.

Toby is narrating the trail on the whole, with the Dockers’ voices edited in.

Something is still making a noise and looks very industrial and as I turn the corner I see lots of different sands/materials and people busy working - Victoria tunnel it says....

I notice the lichen on the wood railing... this is because I have had a small interest in lichens since a nature day a few years back.

Suddenly a new part of the walk – it is newly paved in set colours- because I am nearer the o2? The Thames path is closed off and I must follow a new smelling still tarmac path – a new part of the adventure? I hear a seagull as well as the industry building sounds - no more lapping of the waves.

It took me about an hour but had to cut it short due to the closed road, but it was enough – I might listen to the rest at home. Toby keeps repeating to stay near the river but I can't anymore in North Greenwich...

I like the juxtaposition of old and new.... Even if it is hearing old and seeing the new... I enjoy comparing and contrasting. I realise yet again that I have more listened to the flavour of what they were saying rather than what they are saying. I did feel and came away with a feeling of nostalgia and privileged to have seen the remnants of the docks still. As Toby commentates, who knows how long they will be there.