Grandma's London Speaker John Neal
John was formerly a Met police officer and now a London Blue Badge Guide.
His story of Victorian/Edwardian London was told through his collection of postcards.The London we know well today was difficult to recognize from these century old photos with the streets bustling with horse drawn buses and ladies with voluminous skirts on bicycles. Their were interesting social differences too; the middle class men with their straw boaters and the working men in cloth caps. The new department stores in Oxford street opened cafes to provide incoming ladies from the suburbs with a place to meet and take tea.John mentioned that there must have been numerous stables all over London to cater for the horses drawing the buses;the horses had to be changed every two hours. Pedestrians had to be careful to avoid the mountains of horse manure which fouled the streets.
1909 was the peak of the postcard era. Afterwards other means of quick communication became more available. Shame really, as the postcards photo and message on the back give wonderful access to the every day life and concerns of ordinary people in the Edwardian period .
History of Garden Design Speaker Dorothy Jameson
Mrs Jameson traced the history of the English garden from the medieval monastic garden to the municipal gardens and suburban plot. Probably the first gardens were the physician's herb garden through to the formal gardens of Tudor and Stuart times influenced in the 17 C by Dutch gardens and in the 18C by classical architecture.The 19C /early 20C saw the introduction of exotic plants from abroad imported by the wealthy middle class, the rise of the Nursery industry for the propogation of plants and horticulture as a popular subject for the media. The grand parks and formal gardens of the rich have influenced the ideas the more modest gardener.
The large formal gardens were created in the period of cheap labour and are being restored today by enthusiastic volunteers and students.
Unfortunately, we were denied the photos of the gardens which illustrated this talk due to technical difficulties but they are all available on the internet and I have given some links below.
