Window Shopping

Museum of London will be having an exhibition of John Londei's photos of independent traders in London. His project lasted for 15 years, photographing shops, from button makers to foam traders, all over Britain. Visit his online portfolio and then click on 'shops' to see quite a moving collection of traditional shops in Britain. What a brilliant idea for a photography project. I love this work.

Sneaky Peek

I've been working hard on trying to get posters, flyers and invitations ready for "The Winter Entertainments Club: October Meeting - Nature Theme". They are nearly all done. I've hand stamped invitations all weekend. The handmade invitations are extra special as I've only made 250. I'll be handing them all out soon. I won't be sending them by post so make sure you get your hands on one. Here is a peek at the poster.

Oranges and Lemons

I just found out recently that the thraditional children's nursery rhyme is about churches surrounding the city of London. I never knew. Here is a little history about it and the original lyrics. This picture is from the Museum of Childhood's website which also explains the party game. I forgot all about this game. We used to play it at my birthday parties so maybe we will play it at The Winter Entertainments Club!

Art Deco London

I haven't been keeping up with my posts as much as I'd like as I've been busy moving house but I've got a list of some subjects I'm going to write about. I'll also be writing about the progress I've been making with Winter Entertainments Club preparations and showing some sneak previews to. So keep a look out.

Whist in the removal van we drove past the Hoover Building (pictured) in London. What an amazing building! Built in the 1930s, it was used as the offices and factory for Hoover. I'm going to have to go back and get a closer look. Also take a look at this map of all the art deco buidings in London on the V&A website. I think I might go and visit some, especially the brockwell Lido.

Just for girls

A friend recently told me about her friend joining the Womans Institute. When handed a form on arrival in the interests box she wrote 'learning burlesque dancing'. A few weeks later a teacher came and taught the whole group burlesque dancing. So I guess the W.I. isn't just crocheting doillies and making jam. I'm thinking about joining. This branch in Shoreditch looks really good. They're mostly under 25 and they all like craft, this Telegraph article tells us all about them. Or the East End branch (pictured) looks fun with a more varied age range of people to meet.

The brilliant news is.....

That you can all put THURSDAY 16th OCTOBER 2008 as the date for the return of The Winter Entertainments Club into your diaries ! ! ! I'm so excited about it. It will be held at Bethnal Green Working Mens Club. I've visited the venue and it's a lovely room. Not the room upstairs with the heart shaped stage but the working men's club down stairs which is much fancier and lovely. I've got all sorts of ideas so keep popping back to find out more. I'll keep you posted.

Wondering along

I haven't posted for a while because I've been doing this walk using the lovely book pictured. It was really very special and reading Wainwrights book as I went along was fun. Using his intricately hand drawn maps to find our way. Well I'm back now and I have some brilliant news for The Winter Entertainments Club.

One bread pudding for me please.

I found this photo of E. Pellici's from this website about classic cafes in the uk. I'm pleased to see that the Pellici family have returned from their holidays and are at work in their lovely cafe again. The Classic Cafes website is a bit out of date and a lot of the featured cafes have since closed down but it's definately worth a look. I can't believe I missed out on New Picadilly when I had the chance, and now it's gone.......