Happy Holidays!!

Dear Companions

A good year for friends meeting friends: outings included visiting gardens, wildlife reserves, historic homes, and Winchester; riding the miniature railway from Hythe to Dungeness; Sadlers Wells’ Legend of the Sun ballet from China, Happy Days at the Young Vic starring Juliet Stevenson, and Suffragette; as well as the Gypsy Traveller Summer Fair; walking [Havering to Harold Wood - finishing the LOOP after only 13 years!; and Two Tree Island to Leigh-on-Sea].  The highlight was a fabulous day on PS Waverley, the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world, from Tower Pier - via Gravesend and Southend-on-Sea - out to sea, then paddling about to return up river into an outstanding sunset over London with Tower Bridge opening up to let us back into port.

Dining out in style: ‘Lunch like a Lord’ in the Peers Dining Room at the House of Lords; the Duchy Arms; Sherlock Holmes pub near Charing Cross; The Quality Chop House in Farringdon; brunch at The Red Lion; burgers at the Beehive; and the Magpie Kitchen at Roots and Shoots.  Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is next, so be in touch if you’re interested.

On the buses with our Freedom Passes took us out as far as Barnet, Uxbridge, Docklands, and past Romford to Gallows Corner. With over 400 bus routes we’ll need to live until we’re 120 to complete them so, to play it safe, we’ve started at the highest numbers working our way backwards as well.  It is a fabulous way to explore Greater London.  We’ll ride the # 36 on Sunday 27th December so let us know if you’d like to join us.

So many Companions helped with the recces for the ‘London after the Fire’ pub walk in the City, each time finding something else of interest.  Other walks were in Greenwich; and Belgravia; and this past week ‘Southwark: Prisoners and Playwrights’, which I’ll do for a couple of voluntary groups this year - so calling on Companions for more help on recces, please.

A good year for online sales of books and CD/DVDs for the Friends of the Durning Library:  since February 2014 we’ve raised £289.48 - £208.95 in the past year alone!  Another trolley load from the blue bin in the library this week and the shelves stacked again so a great start for the New Year!  Thank you for supporting this initiative.

Kennington News continues to be well read, with currently over seven and a half thousand page views a month, indicating that our local community is avidly interested in the neighbourhood; really quite remarkable for a London that once seemed so anonymous.

Enjoy the holidays!

Best wishes
Cathy