A Stroll through the City
with Dinner at the Rising Sun, Cloth Fair
16th August 2017
A late August afternoon saw 32 happy members of the Club gathering outside the London Museum enjoying the warmth of a perfect summer eve's sky. We were all awaiting the promised revelations of a "Mystery Stroll in the City" from our fellow member and guide, Derek Connell. But first, we were each presented with an aide-memoire of the highest quality, illustrating both in words and photographs, every object of note we were about to encounter (thank you Derek).
Our proposed stroll of one hour stretched to something over one and half hours while listening to Derek's commentary and sharing his enormous wealth of historical detail, the time simply flew past. While most of us were generally familiar with the whole of our route, few had given more than a passing glance at any of the buildings or mementos that had now been so brilliantly illuminated for us.
As our meanderings entered the alleyways of Smithfield - an area not within the City Walls, but witness to so much of its history, we were near the end or our Stroll. This terminated in Cloth Fair - adjacent to the once mighty "St Bartholomew the Great" and noticed the corner house John Betjeman so reluctantly relinquished when he could no longer tolerate the increasing traffic noise. Almost next door, the welcoming entrance to the Rising Sun appeared and many grateful bottoms were soon comfortably accommodated in the cosy upstairs dining room.
After a most convivial supper, our charming Master Sally, reminded us that the evening's events were not yet complete and introduced our resident three brave entertainers:
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Colleen McMath, who read a selection of her very own Poems, including "Dimples" which her young self so much desired, but never was rewarded.
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David Brown, who chose to recite his favourite verses from Les Barker.
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Finishing the evening with a flourish was Charles Hollingsworth who gave us his own rendition of "Twas on a Monday morning the gasman came to call ... ", with generous participation from the audience.
John Schrader
As mentioned above, our guide, Derek, produced a booklet of handouts for use during the walk. Click the image left to see them.
Here are a few pictures taken during the event. Click an image to expand and scroll through.
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