Weapons & Knives, Pineapple, Orange & Thames 2008

Weapons & Knives, Pineapple, Orange & Thames: On Saturday twentieth September 2008 after photographing a protest over gun and knife crime, a pageant in Stockwell and being assaulted at an Orange March I went to Open Home Day at Trinity Buoy Wharf after which crossed the river to stroll alongside the riverside path from North Greenwich to Greenwich.

The Peoples March – Kennington Park

The Peoples March’ towards gun and knife crime from Kennington Park was organised by the Damilola Taylor Belief and different organisations and supported by the Every day Mirror and Alternative FM and got here on the finish of London Peace Week.

In 2007 there have been 26 youngsters killed on the streets of London, and lots of of these on the march “had been the households and associates of younger folks whose lives had been ended prematurely by violent dying, and the grief felt by a lot of these I photographed was not possible to overlook. They had been stricken and offended and demanding that one thing was finished to cease the killing.”

These deaths proceed. They peaked in 2021 when 30 had been killed, however most years there have been round 20 such tragic deaths. Regardless of many marches corresponding to this and tasks such because the Violence Discount Unit arrange in 2019 by London Mayor Sadiq Khan these deaths proceed.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with victims’ households only a few days after the election and earlier this month held a knife crime summit at Downing Road geared toward halving it over the subsequent decade. Earlier within the 12 months King Charles and actor Idris Elba hosted a mini-summit on knife crime at St James’s Palace in July. A ban on the sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes will come into drive in 4 days time.

It stays to be seen if these initiatives can have any impact. Again in 2008 I commented that “Efficient motion would contain enormous cultural shifts and a course of change that will reverse a lot of what now we have seen over the previous 50 or so years” and sadly there nonetheless appears little probability of this taking place.

The Peoples March

Stockwell Pageant – Pineapple Parade

My spirits had been lifted by seeing so many individuals participating within the Pineapple Parade, a part of the Stockwell Pageant, clearly having fun with themselves participating with others within the occasion. As I commented, “Group festivals corresponding to this have an essential position in constructing the sort of relationships that result in wholesome communities.”

John Tradescant the Elder (1577-1638) and his son John Tradescant the Youthful (1608-1662) had their in depth nurseries a bit up the highway from the place I used to be taking photos and introduced many unique species to this nation within the seventeenth century, and probably pineapples had been amongst them, though sources differ on this. Some pineapples had been imported right here in that period however apparently they had been solely cultivated right here in heated greenhouses within the nineteenth century.

However as I wrote in 2008 “among the many dancing and fancy gown I additionally discovered a reminder of violent dying, Stockwell might be finest recognized for the brutal capturing by police of an harmless unarmed Brazilian man who had simply boarded an underground practice at Stockwell Station in 2005.”

Extra photos Stockwell Pageant – Pineapple Parade.

Apprentice Boys of Derry March – Temple

I shivered a bit as I went down the escalator and boarded the tube on my method to Temple to {photograph} the Apprentice Boys of Derry March wherein numerous Orange Order associations had been participating.

As you’ll be able to see from my photos, most of these participating had been proud to be there and pleased to be photographed.

“However at one level I discovered myself being pushed backwards by a big man in darkish glasses and instructed very fimly to depart. This sort of intimidation actually isn’t acceptable and naturally I continued to take photos of the occasion. But it surely was a reminder of the darker aspect of Loyalist Ulster, which I hadn’t anticipated to see on the streets of London.”

Extra photos on My London Diary at Apprentice Boys of Derry March.

Open Home at Container Metropolis – Trinity Buoy Wharf, Leamouth

I took the tube to Canning City after which walked down the lengthy method to Trinity Buoy Wharf, cursing that the trail beside Bow Creek and long-promised bridge had not been constructed. A part of the walkway is now open and an new bridge to the redeveloped Pura Meals website now offers extra handy entry.

It was Open Home Day in London and I took benefit of this to go to Trinity Buoy Wharf and the Container Metropolis there, a set of artists studios constructed utilizing containers. Begun on the positioning in 2001, this had by then expanded significantly.

Trinity Buoy Wharf is open each day of the 12 months besides Christmas Day, however in 2008 as this 12 months there have been many additional actions for Open Home. And on the finish of 2023 the one full Victorian steam ship in existence, the SS Robin has joined the gathering of Heritage Vessels there, although excursions for Open Home on Sat twenty first & Solar twenty second September 2024 are totally booked.

The containers had been fascinating however I feel it was different facets of the positioning and the view from it that me most, in addition to the possibility to take the specifically laid-on ferry throughout the Thames to North Greenwich.

Open Home at Container Metropolis

North Greenwich to Greenwich – Thames Path, Greenwich

The riverside stroll is one I’ve finished many occasions and its at all times of curiosity though the part at North Greenwich was solely opened up within the Nineteen Nineties and in newer occasions components of the stroll have been blocked throughout the building of a number of the new blocks of riverside flats.

A big mixture wharf stays though a lot of the riverside trade has gone, together with the silos and the remainder of the works at Morden Wharf. And solely Enderby Home stays of the positioning from which ships left to put undersea cables the world over.

Greenwich after all retains its grand buildings, now part of Greenwich College.

On My London Diary there are additionally some views throughout the river, each to buildings Canning City, Leamouth, Canary Wharf and the Isle of Canine. It’s a stroll I’ve finished a number of occasions since and would possibly nicely do once more, most likely ranging from North Greenwich Station. You may see photos from a stroll in 2018 on My London Diary. And there are nonetheless some good pubs once you attain Greenwich in your method to the buses or stations there.

Extra photos from September twentieth 2008 at North Greenwich to Greenwich.

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Tags: mixture wharf, Apprentice Boys, Brazilian, Container Metropolis, containers, Damilola Taylor Belief, Derry, Enderby Home, Enderbys, Greenwich, gun crime, harmless man, Jean Charles de Menezes, Kennington, knife crime, Lambeth, Leamouth, London, march, Mordern Wharf, No Give up, North Greenwich, Open Home, Orange march, Orange Order, Peoples March, peter Marshall, Pineapple Parade, pineapples, police killing, protest, riverside stroll, silos, Stockwell, Stockwell Pageant, teenage deaths, Temple, Tradescant, Trinity Buoy Wharf

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